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Hungry Hill (1943)

by Daphne du Maurier(Favorite Author)

3.49 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0316253545 (ISBN13: 9780316253543)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Little, Brown and Company

review 1: This medium-length book fictionalizes the saga of the Irish Puxley family and their connection to the copper and tin mining industry of Southern Ireland. DuMaurier christens them the Brodricks and locks them in their ancient feud with the Donovans of Doonhaven, over the land and castle Clonmere and its mountain, Hungry Hill, whose metals make the Brodrick family rich over the five generations chronicled in this story.Through entailment, we meet the eldest son and his family of each succeeding generation. DuMaurier's excellence in storytelling ensures that each character is well-developed, although the brevity of the book does lead to some stereotyping. Some of the elements of "Rebecca" are evident here: the vacation marriage, dramatic fires, one perfect woman and another... more overbearing. Had she made this a 1500-page tome with no detail spared, we would have another Forsyte Saga to enjoy. As it is, this reads rather quickly and leaves the DuMaurier fan wanting for more. Although this was made into a rather anemic film in 1947, some enterprising BBC type could take this up and create a compelling six-part series telling the story; so much of it is vivid and graphic, and it seems meant for the screen rather than the page. Perhaps someone will re-discover Daphne DuMaurier and bring this back to life. I think the world is ready for a revival.
review 2: Haven't really got time to review this book at the moment so I will leave writing the full review for another time, which is all honesty means never. It's written by Daphne Du Maurier so of course I was always going to find it a very enjoyable read, I've yet to read one of her books that I haven't enjoyed. The story is simple enough following the history of an wealthy Irish family through the lives of the sons and heirs, it's probably not a brilliant storyline or a terribly interesting story by Du Maurier's writing style really brings it to life. less

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