3.5
The Scapegoat
ByPublisher Description
By chance, John and Jean—one English, the other French—meet in a provincial railway station. Their resemblance to each other is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking —until at last John falls into a drunken stupor. It's to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, Jean has stolen his identity and disappeared. So the Englishman steps into the Frenchman's shoes, and faces a variety of perplexing roles - as owner of a chateau, director of a failing business, head of a fractious family, and master of nothing.
Gripping and complex,
is a masterful exploration of doubling and identity, and of the dark side of the self.
"What a magnificent thriller this is." —
Praise for Daphne Du Maurier:
"No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature," something very few novelists ever do." ―Margaret Forster, author of
"She wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality" —
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Scapegoat Reviews
3.5
“This was not for me.
I didn’t appreciate the writing, it was far too pretentious and boring. The story was bland at best. Nothing exciting happens, nothing captivated me and I didn’t really like any of the characters.
I understood the assignment but failed to see the point. The full story was pointless.
But beautiful use of the English language, as always.”
“I found this a struggle. The language was too descriptive for my preferred style so felt it took away from the story for me. There were points of character development that I liked and some introspection for our English John but overall, I found the plot slow. I think I’ll be in the minority of readers with this opinion though because I can understand why others would love this.”
“Daphne DuMaurier is an incredible writer. The characters were alive. The scenery, the place lived and breathed. The whole story oozed with a creepy, eery atmosphere and feeling. Scapegoat is a story of mirror images and being changed by circumstances. On the surface, it should not be that creepy, but she writes it in such a way that everything feels unsettling.”
About Daphne du Maurier
(1907-89) was born in London, the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald du Maurier and granddaughter of the author and artist George du Maurier. Her first novel,
, was published in 1931, but it would be her fifth novel,
, that made her one of the most popular authors of her day.
Besides novels, du Maurier wrote plays, biographies, and several collections of short fiction. Many of her works were made into films, including
,
,
, "Don't Look Now," and "The Birds." She lived most of her life in Cornwall, and was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1969.
Other books by Daphne du Maurier
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