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jannyslibrary's review
4.0
Hungry Hill jumped to the top of my queue bc my a Grammie had just read it and I like to talk books with her! Another Daphne du Maurier joint & it’s an epic family saga.
The fam are Irish landowners /castle dwelling rich folks in the 1800’s.. the storyline takes us through five generations up to the 1920’s.
I already wrote a very long email half way through about my thoughts on each character… a generational story combined with the historic is a great way to get in the head of each character.
The fam are Irish landowners /castle dwelling rich folks in the 1800’s.. the storyline takes us through five generations up to the 1920’s.
I already wrote a very long email half way through about my thoughts on each character… a generational story combined with the historic is a great way to get in the head of each character.
alba_marie's review against another edition
5.0
{4.5 stars}
"Now the hidden wealth of Hungry Hill would be revealed at last, her strength harnessed, her treasure given to the world, and her silence disturbed in the name of progress."
"You should have asked permission of the hill first, Mr Brodrick. Ah you can laugh with your Trinity education and your reading and grand progressive ways... but I tell you your mine will be in ruins, and your house destroyed, and your children forgotten and fallen into disgrace, but this hill will be standing still to confound you."
So curses the patriarch of the Donovan family in 1820 when the stern "Copper John" Brodrick proposes to build a copper mine on his newly-acquired land in western Ireland, and so starts this epic and desperate saga of the Broderick family, their mines, their great house Clonmere, and their never-ending feud with the Donovans, whose family used to own this land before it was granted to Brodricks (we assume because they are "British"/loyalists and the Donovans are "just Irish."). From here, we wander through the lines of Brodricks from the start of the mines all through the 19th century, until the mines are closed, and yes, until we see the end of Clonmere.
This is a heavy, weighty tome - not just because it clocks in at 500+ pages but because it chronicles a century of turbulent Irish/English history - all without once using the word "Ireland." It is addicting and oddly able to pull you into the story, onto the hill and the moors, into the oppressive and bewildering world of Anglo-Irish country families in western Ireland, when Ireland was still under British rule. This is not a political tale - the Brodricks are famously anti-politics - but even so, as we follow the Brodricks and the Donovans through the years, we get a sense of the depressive, tragic lives of this part of the world. The mines bring wealth to the owners and yes they give employment to to the Doonhaven villagers but they also serve as a symbol of us vs. them, keeping the locals in abject poverty and the elite in silks and satins. The heavy, dismal atmosphere of the story and the setting is oppressive and formidable, and yet every Brodrick (and the reader) feels drawn back here, to Clonmere and the mines and Doonhaven village.
The family does indeed seem cursed - they have money but not happiness, and for generations, new Brodricks are doomed to grow up with just a single parent, the other having died tragically young. For a book spanning so many generations, the pacing somehow feels just right, with just enough fast forwards to keep the story moving, and just enough scenes zooming in on both daily life and important events to keep it feeling real, to keep us feeling part of the story (unlike another family saga read recently Liars and Saints, which was too short and jumpy to offer the same intimate look at each generation).
And somehow, even though most of the Brodricks are pretty awful (or at least selfish), Du Maurier still manages to invoke sympathy with them. Heck, even the mines, the terrible scar on the landscape, might earn a tear or two when they.
This book felt so different than the other Du Maurier books I've read - a testament to her strong writing skills that she can succeed in so many different genres and styles of writing. I wasn't sure how I felt about it because, as the Forward warns, the start of the book is a little dull, lacking the usual explosive Du Maurier start. But once the reader plods through Copper John's section and we start swimming through a rushing river of Johns and Henrys, some almost interchangeable, and the women they love, lose or leave behind, you realise that you've somehow read hundreds of pages that you were unable to put down.
Clonmere comes alive on the pages, and. I wasn't sure what I thought about this novel - it's nothing like Rebecca or Jamaica Inn or her other thrillers - but in the end, I ended up loving it just the same.
"Now the hidden wealth of Hungry Hill would be revealed at last, her strength harnessed, her treasure given to the world, and her silence disturbed in the name of progress."
"You should have asked permission of the hill first, Mr Brodrick. Ah you can laugh with your Trinity education and your reading and grand progressive ways... but I tell you your mine will be in ruins, and your house destroyed, and your children forgotten and fallen into disgrace, but this hill will be standing still to confound you."
So curses the patriarch of the Donovan family in 1820 when the stern "Copper John" Brodrick proposes to build a copper mine on his newly-acquired land in western Ireland, and so starts this epic and desperate saga of the Broderick family, their mines, their great house Clonmere, and their never-ending feud with the Donovans, whose family used to own this land before it was granted to Brodricks (we assume because they are "British"/loyalists and the Donovans are "just Irish."). From here, we wander through the lines of Brodricks from the start of the mines all through the 19th century, until the mines are closed, and yes, until we see the end of Clonmere.
This is a heavy, weighty tome - not just because it clocks in at 500+ pages but because it chronicles a century of turbulent Irish/English history - all without once using the word "Ireland." It is addicting and oddly able to pull you into the story, onto the hill and the moors, into the oppressive and bewildering world of Anglo-Irish country families in western Ireland, when Ireland was still under British rule. This is not a political tale - the Brodricks are famously anti-politics - but even so, as we follow the Brodricks and the Donovans through the years, we get a sense of the depressive, tragic lives of this part of the world. The mines bring wealth to the owners and yes they give employment to to the Doonhaven villagers but they also serve as a symbol of us vs. them, keeping the locals in abject poverty and the elite in silks and satins. The heavy, dismal atmosphere of the story and the setting is oppressive and formidable, and yet every Brodrick (and the reader) feels drawn back here, to Clonmere and the mines and Doonhaven village.
The family does indeed seem cursed - they have money but not happiness, and for generations, new Brodricks are doomed to grow up with just a single parent, the other having died tragically young. For a book spanning so many generations, the pacing somehow feels just right, with just enough fast forwards to keep the story moving, and just enough scenes zooming in on both daily life and important events to keep it feeling real, to keep us feeling part of the story (unlike another family saga read recently Liars and Saints, which was too short and jumpy to offer the same intimate look at each generation).
And somehow, even though most of the Brodricks are pretty awful (or at least selfish), Du Maurier still manages to invoke sympathy with them. Heck, even the mines, the terrible scar on the landscape, might earn a tear or two when they
Spoiler
get sold by Henry, who hasn't seen them in over a decade, and then closed down a short time later, leaving his son and the miners unemployedThis book felt so different than the other Du Maurier books I've read - a testament to her strong writing skills that she can succeed in so many different genres and styles of writing. I wasn't sure how I felt about it because, as the Forward warns, the start of the book is a little dull, lacking the usual explosive Du Maurier start. But once the reader plods through Copper John's section and we start swimming through a rushing river of Johns and Henrys, some almost interchangeable, and the women they love, lose or leave behind, you realise that you've somehow read hundreds of pages that you were unable to put down.
Clonmere comes alive on the pages, and
Spoiler
like Manderley or Thornfield Estate in the Bronte novel that inspired it, is destroyed in flames, ending the long family saga heredebsd's review
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.25
hbelle01's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
forever_amber's review
5.0
Absolutely astonishing Daphne, I must say I was sure I will like this novel, but I did not expect such a thing! Marvelous work with characters, with the plot, with the flow of thoughts and impressions. It is one of the best family sagas I have read (a genre I adore). Such profundity and insight, such understanding of what lays beneath a person's self. This is characteristic for Daphne, but still, here it is enormously brilliant, much more than in "Rebecca", for example. And the ways she speaks about nature...
I love this lady, she is so gifted, and also so physically beautiful. Equally delicate both in appearance, and in her way of writing. Oh, such a gem for humanity!
I love this lady, she is so gifted, and also so physically beautiful. Equally delicate both in appearance, and in her way of writing. Oh, such a gem for humanity!
justasking27's review
4.0
3.5 stars. Never have I enjoyed a book so much where I didn't really like most of the characters.
sewingdervish's review
5.0
the pace was a bit slow, but it was a compelling book andI found myself crying for the last two books. Interestingly, there was never a character that you loved totally or hated completely it was both for everyone.
yangyvonne's review
5.0
The only copy I could get from my library was large print, so I felt ridiculous reading it, but it was worth the effort. Such an amazing epic story of the Brodrick family and the tragedies that follow them for a century. Du Maurier is brilliant and this novel is just as gripping as Rebecca or Jamaica Inn.
juniperpages's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5