Author: Daphne Du Maurier
Genre: fiction
Number of pages: 304
First published: 1932
Setting: London, Sweden, Paris
Rating: 4 stars
First sentence: When the sun had gone, I
saw that the water was streaked with great patches of crimson and gold.
One sentence comment: With an evocative
prose, the book told a growing-up story.
The protagonist, Dick, was initially whiny
and unappealing, and the first part of the story, focusing on his friendship
with Jake, felt unengaging. However, the narrative sharpens in the second half
with the introduction of Hesta, a music student in Paris. Their love story
became genuinely fascinating, radiating the intense emotion of falling in love
and leaving me intrigued to discover their fate.
The greatest irony was that Dick's initial
Bohemian outlook on relationships ultimately became the weapon that destroyed
him. As Dick grew emotionally invested and devoted himself to writing, he
stopped craving adventure and began longing for a settled home. However, Hesta,
whom Dick had perhaps spoiled with his own earlier attitude, only desired to
enjoy the moment—no marriage, no babies. Consequently, she felt no remorse in
taking a new lover. Writing this book in her early twenties, Du Maurier already
demonstrated a mature understanding that a purely hedonistic, 'enjoy the
moment' attitude often leads to personal ruin and is detrimental only to the
person who holds it.
The novel skillfully portrayed a male
chauvinist viewpoint through Dick, who, while growing "crazy" and
jealous about intimacy, found it "beastly" when Hesta expressed the
same desire. Crucially, Dick quickly recognized this absurdity in himself, a
moment of self-awareness that shows he is a complex and evolving person. I
admire the book for its willingness to debate and critique these specific
philosophies of youth and love. However, the suddenness of Jake's drowning
remains jarring and abrupt. Perhaps this tragic event was intended to imply
that Dick needed to be violently severed from that older, stabilizing, fatherly
figure in order to truly find his own identity.
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