Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

14 reviews

sarah_zaffiro's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

My least favorite du Maurier so far. She is usually an artist with her words, but the beginning of this felt contrived somehow. I also kind of guessed the ending. I wanted her to surprise me, but I was a little disappointed. I will probably read Rebecca again to make myself feel better lol 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent

starzzz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Beautifully written. I’m a sucker for a happy ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

basil_touche's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I enjoyed the atmosphere and mystery in the first half of the book, but the later half really dragged on and meandered in parts. The fact that this book is well known for

smuggling and wreckers

but in reality features very little of it was very disappointing.

The main twist was incredibly predictable & how the narrative described the villain seemed a tad ableist to me. With that, the final act didn't live up to the build up the book was trying to create and went out with a wimper. I found it very difficult to make it through the last 100 pages or so, and I lost count over how many times the moors were described. It seemed as though the description took over the narrative for large chunks of it and when the scenery is mostly empty moors it gets repetitive. fast.

The romance was so lackluster as well, there wasn't enough time spent on it and some of their interactions came off as creepy, so that how it ended

(that Mary gives up her hopes of returning home to travel with Jem Merlyn, who very clearly doesn't see her as his equal)

annoyed me. Also there's a lot of sexism, I know it's from the 1930s but even for what I've read of Du Maurier's other works there is quite a lot here. Please read Frenchman's Creek by Du Maurier instead if you want to read a good romance by her.

This just wasn't what I was looking for, perhaps I'll have better luck with Rebecca if I want some good gothic literature from her and Moonfleet by John Meade Falkner for a story about

smuggling.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death, Gun violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs and Death of parent

kirstym25's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

sarasreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was hoping to rate this book higher. Had it been my first Daphne du Maurier, it may have been, but it's my third. I was expecting a more compelling through line of mystery and suspicion that pulled me through the book, making it as unputdownable as her others. This one seemed to meander about, plot wise, which I wasn't expecting. It was still good, and surprising, and darker even than her other books I've read. I think I was just expecting more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and Death of parent

amelia_joan's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

jessthanthree's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Classism

blewballoon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

There is a lot of unpleasantness in this story. Most of the characters are terrible people, the atmosphere is bleak, and there's a sense of isolation for the main character as she deals with a lot of difficulties alone. I did like her, she's smart and she fights back as hard as she can when faced with any kind of attack, mental or physical. If it weren't for her strength of spirit, the book would have been rough to get through. I didn't care for the romance, though. Overall, not as appealing as Rebecca but it does build a strong sense of atmosphere and the prose is well done.

Bit of unfortunate implication for the albino person to be evil, even with the main character trying to remind herself not to be creeped out by his appearance before he's revealed as the villain

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty

yolanda_h's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Alcohol

oceanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I started reading this back in 2017 and I’ve only now picked it up again. I’ve read quite a few of Daphne Du Maurier’s works and I found this book to have the most unsettling tone of all of them all (a reason I initially put it down). The story was fantastic and gritty as always, but I had trouble getting into this one as I have with the others. I don’t know if the large reading gap contributed or not. I’m curious to watch one of the many screen adaptations of this to see if it influences my lasting opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Death of parent