I'll Never Be Young Again (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
It is with great sorrow that I am putting this book ‘on-hold’ after 160 pages. I detest not finishing a book and therefore can’t bear to drop it completely but I can’t say that I am going to rush to finish it so it felt right to review it now.Some of my favourite stories (novels and shorts) have been told by Daphne du Maurier. She has a writing style that is both elegant and engrossing and so the reader cannot help but engage with her stories. This style is present, to a degree, in “I’ll Never Be Young Again” and, to be fair, that’s probably the only reason why I managed to read it for so long.I’m afraid that the rest of this review is not going to be so positive.My major criticism is the narrator. He is impossibly whiney, childlike, and annoying. This may be exactly what du Maurier wanted but in making this character the narrator she has also made the book an incredibly difficult read. I also feel that it is this narrative voice that limits her other characterisation. It seems that Richard doesn’t really have an interest in anything outside of himself and his own tumultuous emotions (again, this could work if he wasn’t the narrator) which means that we don’t really get an insight into any other characters. By the end of the first part “Jake” I was left feeling as though I knew nothing about Jake, other than a few facts, and certainly couldn’t see any signs of a “passionate friendship”. Richard and Jake seem like strangers to each other throughout and, instead of their relationship growing in familiarity, it seems to develop in contempt.The plot itself should have worked really well, and I think that it probably did. That said, it seemed overly episodic, flashing from one thing to another. The narrator seems emotionally detached, and disinterested generally, and this transfers to the reader and stops the reader from being sucked into the events themselves. Never was this more true than in the Swedish pub (I don’t really know quite how any of that happened!) or on the boat at the end of the part “Jake”. These are key scenes and yet they happen in a flash which lessens their effect.I tried to read on after “Jake” but stopped about a chapter into the next part because I simply couldn’t face it. It seemed like we were flung back to the beginning of the novel and would have to live through it all again.Overall, I wouldn’t waste your time with this one unless you’re a huge du Maurier fan. Despite the fact I couldn’t finish it, I couldn’t give this book one star as it has a glint of better things in the basics of the plot and in the writing style (sans characterisation) but it’s a low two.
Jake was gay, right? Y'all read that the same as me? The man he loved dearly on the ranch but turns against when he finds out he's a mad shagger of women, and has nothing but contempt for the humps he leaves behind, that's clearly a thinly veiled queer story, I'd bet my buttons on it. You don't knock someone's nose into their skull because you're disappointed in a pal.I really, really didn't like this book. I adore Daphne Du Maurier and she writes this beautifully but I couldn't stand the main character. Privileged young white guy goes from being eyeball-clawingly ignorant to being slightly less ignorant. It was a coming-of-age story for a wee twerp I'd cheerfully have punted into the Clyde. Drifted off and didn't finish. Couldn't bare him that much.
What do You think about I'll Never Be Young Again (2013)?
I'll Never Be Young Again, Daphne du Maurierعنوان: جوانی از دست رفته؛ شاهکار: دافنه (دافنی) دو موریه؛ مترجم: محمدمهدی پورکریم؛ تهران، موسسه تیسفون، 1347، در 279 صدافنه دو موریه، با نگارش رمان ربه‌کا 1938 نام آور شد. داستان کوتاه ایشان به نام «پرندگان» را نیز همگان میشناسند. این دو کتاب را آلفرد هیچکاک به تصویر کشیده است
—Ahmad Sharabiani
"But then dreams are apart from the business of living; they are things we shed from us gently as we grow older"Du Maurier's second novel begins in London as Richard (Dick) is snatched from attempting to take his own life by wanderer Jake. The two men strike up an instant friendship and begin a devil-may-care look at life and jump on the first ship leaving town and head for Sweden. They trek the mountains and party with tourists as a steamboat cruises the fjords until they finally end up in a brawl that sends them catching the first boat out of Stockholm - although that boat is destined for a fate that forever separates the two friends. Adrift again but no longer suicidal, Dick leads a shiftless life in Paris drifting from job to job as he dreams of becoming a writer like his famous father, until one day he meets young music student Hesta and they settle into a relationship - although Dick still shrugs responsibility and puts off writing his "great book". Dick eventually begins to mature through his relationship with Hesta, but the relationship becomes strained as Dick's influence in her life changes her from a sensible grounded student into a carefree partying drifter no longer interested in her music lessons. Ironic, isn't it? But so true to life - didn't we all hate our parents and do really stupid things when we were young? I believe this is the first time Du Maurier used her famous "male voice" and she shows remarkable insight into Dick's not so very likeable character (I did want to smack him on Hesta's behalf a few times). While not up to what she wrote in her later years, if you're a fan of Du Maurier's you might want to give this one a whirl - It’s one that will definitely stay with you for a bit as you reflect back on your own misspent youth. I almost gave it three stars, but then it _is_ Du Maurier after all. 4/5 stars.
—Misfit
This is the third book by du Maurier that I''ve read and the second out of these three that has a male protagonist. Unlike Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, this novel is much more focused on the inner feelings of the main character rather than mysteries. The language of Dick is so man-like, with all the indecent thoughts at times, that I would never guessed the author is a woman if I had not known it before. All in all, this was a great read; the pages ran faster than a wolf, and the ending was truly in the best traditions of Maurier - sudden and unpredictable.
—Agnese
