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amdame1's review
3.0
The generations of white privilege in this family that opens a copper mine on their property that it considers their land by rights...
Loss, greed, alcoholism, violence.
Loss, greed, alcoholism, violence.
amyvl93's review
2.0
2.5 stars
Ah, it breaks my heart that I have to give a du Maurier novel a low rating because I just love her normally. However, Hungry Hill, which has a really interesting idea behind it, just fell totally flat for me.
Hungry Hill is a multi-generational tale of the Brodricks, who settle on Hungry Hill in Ireland, and the original patriarch establishes a mine on the hill, which is cursed by the original family who lived there, the Donovans. The novel then follows down the male line of the family, as they deal with their place within Clonmere and their relationship with the Donovans.
On the plus side, du Maurier's descriptions are still great. She evokes the landscape of Hungry Hill and all the houses that the Brodricks inhabit brilliantly. Her female characters are also well drawn, especially the vivacious Fanny-Rosa(who I could have read a novel about)and the pretty darn unlikeable second wife of her son Henry (whose name escapes me but she was hideous).
However, with the exception of the original Copper John, I felt that the male characters were pretty much carbon copies of each other-either slightly more sensitive & uninterested in financial matters or hardcore charismatic businessmen. This meant that being engaged in their often tragic stories was fairly difficult. The novel is a chunky one too, but still not quite long enough for long explorations of character, which meant that frequently the timescale would bounce around, with years passing in a single paragraph.
Whilst Hungry Hill certainly isn't awful, I definitely went in with overly high hopes. Would recommend to other massive du Maurier fans only.
Ah, it breaks my heart that I have to give a du Maurier novel a low rating because I just love her normally. However, Hungry Hill, which has a really interesting idea behind it, just fell totally flat for me.
Hungry Hill is a multi-generational tale of the Brodricks, who settle on Hungry Hill in Ireland, and the original patriarch establishes a mine on the hill, which is cursed by the original family who lived there, the Donovans. The novel then follows down the male line of the family, as they deal with their place within Clonmere and their relationship with the Donovans.
On the plus side, du Maurier's descriptions are still great. She evokes the landscape of Hungry Hill and all the houses that the Brodricks inhabit brilliantly. Her female characters are also well drawn, especially the vivacious Fanny-Rosa(who I could have read a novel about)and the pretty darn unlikeable second wife of her son Henry (whose name escapes me but she was hideous).
However, with the exception of the original Copper John, I felt that the male characters were pretty much carbon copies of each other-either slightly more sensitive & uninterested in financial matters or hardcore charismatic businessmen. This meant that being engaged in their often tragic stories was fairly difficult. The novel is a chunky one too, but still not quite long enough for long explorations of character, which meant that frequently the timescale would bounce around, with years passing in a single paragraph.
Whilst Hungry Hill certainly isn't awful, I definitely went in with overly high hopes. Would recommend to other massive du Maurier fans only.
lols_cat's review
challenging
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
balancinghistorybooks's review
2.0
Whilst preparing for my Du Maurier December posts, I decided that I would read her 1943 novel, Hungry Hill, rather early on. It was the book which I can safely say I was least looking forward to. I generally find du Maurier’s historical fiction rather mesmerising, but on the face of it, nothing about Hungry Hill really appealed to me at all.
I love visiting Ireland, the country in which the story of Hungry Hill takes place, but I oddly do not tend to enjoy books which are set there. Largely, those which I have encountered thus far follow the same kind of pattern; they are generally familial sagas in which none of the generations are particularly likeable, they often share similar themes, and they tend to become a little predictable and quite unexciting in consequence. The storyline of this novel, too – ‘It is a passionate story of five generations of an Irish family and the copper mine on Hungry Hill [previously a beloved picnic spot of the children] with which their fortunes and fate were so closely bound’ – held very little appeal for me. Despite this, I thought that as du Maurier is one of my favourite authors, I would purchase the novel anyway, mainly to see how she rendered her material, and to discover whether she could make the story an interesting one for me.
The novel is split into five separate parts, every one of which follows a member of each consequent generation of the Brodrick family, who live at Clonmere Castle. The first part begins in 1820 with patriarch ‘Copper John’, the second in 1828 with his son ‘Greyhound John’, the third in 1837 with his brother’s son, known as ‘Wild Johnnie’, the fourth in 1858 with Henry, and the fifth in 1874 with his son, Hal. The novel’s epilogue is set in 1920, and deals with John-Henry, the sixth generation of the family.
Almost the entirety of the first generation whom we are introduced to are not very likeable; they largely exude a sense of pompousness and self-importance from the very beginning, thinking themselves above everyone else merely because of their father’s projected wealth. The local community feels animosity toward the mine – and, in turn, the Brodricks – as, when it was established, rather than calling upon the local workforce to man it, John Brodrick shipped over miners from Cornwall. Hostility between the two reigns from the very beginning, and, somewhat predictably, the ore soon begins to be stolen.
Du Maurier demonstrates the odd and, in some ways, very fitting of-the-time family relationship which exists within the Brodrick clan. Despite this, some elements of the family dynamic are a little peculiar; John Brodrick’s ‘natural brother’ Ned acts as his agent, but is ‘careful never to presume upon his relationship in any way, so that John Brodrick was always “Mr Brodrick” and his nieces “the young ladies”‘. As one might expect in a novel which begins in 1820, sexism within the family is rife. In the first generation – as is traditional, of course – the boys are sent to Eton and Oxford University, but the girls receive no education whatsoever. No Brodrick child is more treasured than the eldest son, Henry. Whilst slightly different things do happen to each generation’s protagonist within Hungry Hill, details and many aspects of personality are repeated. It felt rather predictable, particularly as it went on.
Whilst Hungry Hill is well written, there are very few characters with whom one is able to sympathise. The descriptions are well rendered, but are certainly quite dreary on the whole, and set the tone well in consequence. In a few instances throughout, the dialogue which du Maurier has crafted feels a touch too modern for the period in question; an odd and quite jarring mistake, since she normally excels at such things. Whilst some of the scenes are quite vivid, this has not been sustained throughout, and parts of the novel which should be dramatic are rendered rather flat and insipid. Many of the facts and technicalities which du Maurier weaves in tend to feel quite dull and repetitive; it feels as though one is reading a piece of non-fiction at times.
It perhaps goes without saying that Hungry Hill is my least favourite du Maurier to date, and if she had not penned it, I would never have picked it up. In some ways, it presents an interesting portrayal of days gone by, but I personally believe it to be the weakest of her historical novels. Whilst part of this is certainly due to the fact that the book does not appeal to me, it does not feel as though its atmosphere and storyline have been captured as well as books such as The House on the Strand and Rebecca. The characters within Hungry Hill are also not overly memorable. Hungry Hill feels something of an anamoly in du Maurier’s otherwise sparkling literary career.
I love visiting Ireland, the country in which the story of Hungry Hill takes place, but I oddly do not tend to enjoy books which are set there. Largely, those which I have encountered thus far follow the same kind of pattern; they are generally familial sagas in which none of the generations are particularly likeable, they often share similar themes, and they tend to become a little predictable and quite unexciting in consequence. The storyline of this novel, too – ‘It is a passionate story of five generations of an Irish family and the copper mine on Hungry Hill [previously a beloved picnic spot of the children] with which their fortunes and fate were so closely bound’ – held very little appeal for me. Despite this, I thought that as du Maurier is one of my favourite authors, I would purchase the novel anyway, mainly to see how she rendered her material, and to discover whether she could make the story an interesting one for me.
The novel is split into five separate parts, every one of which follows a member of each consequent generation of the Brodrick family, who live at Clonmere Castle. The first part begins in 1820 with patriarch ‘Copper John’, the second in 1828 with his son ‘Greyhound John’, the third in 1837 with his brother’s son, known as ‘Wild Johnnie’, the fourth in 1858 with Henry, and the fifth in 1874 with his son, Hal. The novel’s epilogue is set in 1920, and deals with John-Henry, the sixth generation of the family.
Almost the entirety of the first generation whom we are introduced to are not very likeable; they largely exude a sense of pompousness and self-importance from the very beginning, thinking themselves above everyone else merely because of their father’s projected wealth. The local community feels animosity toward the mine – and, in turn, the Brodricks – as, when it was established, rather than calling upon the local workforce to man it, John Brodrick shipped over miners from Cornwall. Hostility between the two reigns from the very beginning, and, somewhat predictably, the ore soon begins to be stolen.
Du Maurier demonstrates the odd and, in some ways, very fitting of-the-time family relationship which exists within the Brodrick clan. Despite this, some elements of the family dynamic are a little peculiar; John Brodrick’s ‘natural brother’ Ned acts as his agent, but is ‘careful never to presume upon his relationship in any way, so that John Brodrick was always “Mr Brodrick” and his nieces “the young ladies”‘. As one might expect in a novel which begins in 1820, sexism within the family is rife. In the first generation – as is traditional, of course – the boys are sent to Eton and Oxford University, but the girls receive no education whatsoever. No Brodrick child is more treasured than the eldest son, Henry. Whilst slightly different things do happen to each generation’s protagonist within Hungry Hill, details and many aspects of personality are repeated. It felt rather predictable, particularly as it went on.
Whilst Hungry Hill is well written, there are very few characters with whom one is able to sympathise. The descriptions are well rendered, but are certainly quite dreary on the whole, and set the tone well in consequence. In a few instances throughout, the dialogue which du Maurier has crafted feels a touch too modern for the period in question; an odd and quite jarring mistake, since she normally excels at such things. Whilst some of the scenes are quite vivid, this has not been sustained throughout, and parts of the novel which should be dramatic are rendered rather flat and insipid. Many of the facts and technicalities which du Maurier weaves in tend to feel quite dull and repetitive; it feels as though one is reading a piece of non-fiction at times.
It perhaps goes without saying that Hungry Hill is my least favourite du Maurier to date, and if she had not penned it, I would never have picked it up. In some ways, it presents an interesting portrayal of days gone by, but I personally believe it to be the weakest of her historical novels. Whilst part of this is certainly due to the fact that the book does not appeal to me, it does not feel as though its atmosphere and storyline have been captured as well as books such as The House on the Strand and Rebecca. The characters within Hungry Hill are also not overly memorable. Hungry Hill feels something of an anamoly in du Maurier’s otherwise sparkling literary career.
lnatal's review
3.0
This is the story of Emma (English region in Cornwall) who wakes up one morning to discover that the world is completely upside down: there is no correspondence, telephone and radio do not work, a warship is docked in the port and there are American soldiers advancing toward the house. What happens is that the action of the novel takes place in the future, a future in which Britain withdrew from the European Common Market, is on the verge of economic collapse and concluded that his only salvation lies in a political, economic and military with the United States. Theoretically it is a union where there is equality between the parties, but for some people it starts to look more like an occupation.
Even if this book is controversial, it has Dame du Maurier unique style of writing since it's a mixture of science fiction, history with a lot satyrical historical points of view both from Cornwall people and the American "invaders".
Even if this book is controversial, it has Dame du Maurier unique style of writing since it's a mixture of science fiction, history with a lot satyrical historical points of view both from Cornwall people and the American "invaders".
raehink's review
3.0
Four generations of Irish mine owners are examined, none as strong in purpose as the original generation. This book is full of memorable characters and interesting historical information.
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