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emlave 's review for:
Jamaica Inn
by Daphne du Maurier
Following her mother’s dying wish, Mary leaves her farm and childhood home and heads south across the Cornish moors to live with her once vivacious Aunt Patience at the Jamaica Inn. Upon arrival she finds her aunt a shadow of the women she once was, abused and downtrodden by her villainous husband Joss Merlyn. Whispers of the inn’s criminal reputation and the cruelty of Joss should send Mary running in the opposite direction, but she can’t leave her aunt to suffer alone.
Gripping, atmospheric and evocative, Jamaica Inn is everything you could hope for in a coastal thriller. Daphne Du Maurier’s descriptions of the harsh and unforgiving Cornish moors bring the book to life, and her talent for story telling and pacing makes this a definite page-turner.
It excels as a piece gothic literature, but is very much a product of its time when it comes to the characterisation of our heroine, Mary. She isn’t quite the traditional damsel in distress, but she does get herself into many a situation which would be seen as unseemly for a women, and men are consistently portrayed as coming to her rescue. She came across as naive and impulsive, and whilst her flaws did contribute well to the plot, I honestly wanted to shake her for wondering the roads alone at night or boldly facing a pack of criminals without considering the consequences. I absolutely adored Du Maurier’s descriptions of her villains, subtly pointing to traits that made them uncanny and suspicious, rather than explicitly naming them the villain. Joss Merlyn has become one of my all time favourite antagonists.
Gripping, atmospheric and evocative, Jamaica Inn is everything you could hope for in a coastal thriller. Daphne Du Maurier’s descriptions of the harsh and unforgiving Cornish moors bring the book to life, and her talent for story telling and pacing makes this a definite page-turner.
It excels as a piece gothic literature, but is very much a product of its time when it comes to the characterisation of our heroine, Mary. She isn’t quite the traditional damsel in distress, but she does get herself into many a situation which would be seen as unseemly for a women, and men are consistently portrayed as coming to her rescue. She came across as naive and impulsive, and whilst her flaws did contribute well to the plot, I honestly wanted to shake her for wondering the roads alone at night or boldly facing a pack of criminals without considering the consequences. I absolutely adored Du Maurier’s descriptions of her villains, subtly pointing to traits that made them uncanny and suspicious, rather than explicitly naming them the villain. Joss Merlyn has become one of my all time favourite antagonists.