What do You think about The Parasites (2013)?
Filled with character stories and sordid affairs, this book had me riveted. I couldn't put it down. The only reason that I didn't give it five stars was I was highly disappointed in the end. It's not like one of those endings where it's not what you want, so you're disappointed - no, it just kind of trails off. I suppose du Maurier wants the reader to draw her own conclusions, and I always hate endings like that.I loved how suggestive du Maurier could be without crossing the boundary into smut. I absolutely loved how Maria did not really want to be a mother, found no satisfaction from it, and was shocked when her husband was surprised that she wanted to go back to work after having her first baby. I thought that Maria was a very modern woman and I admired her for what everyone else considered "selfish". She refused to fit into the stereotypical female role.I also related to Celia, and how she kept doing the same old thing - taking care of people - because she was afraid.I related to Niall in that he was successful, but only for music that he considered to be lame and taking the very least creative effort.In addition, there was something very disturbing, but not "Flowers in the Attic" disturbing about Niall and Maria's relationship, and yet it seemed to make complete sense - more sense, in fact, than Maria's relationship with Charles.Overall a fantastic story, and another du Maurier novel that I will be coming back to again and again.
—Lynette
This was very different to du Maurier's more famous novels, with none of the drama or suspense of Rebecca or Jamaica Inn - yet her storytelling ability still swept me up and kept me interested in the lives of the protagonists until the very end. It begins with the three Delaney siblings, Maria, Niall and Celia, reminiscing on a winter's evening - or rather forced into analysing their collective and individual pasts by a sudden outburst from Maria's husband that gives the book its title. By way of extended flashbacks we then trace their lives through childhood, trailing their glamorous theatrical parents around Europe, to the establishment of their own careers and adult lives. It is a study of character, of the conflict between family bonds and ambition, and the eventual denouement is poignant - even tragic - in the protagonists' realisation and quiet acceptance of their failings. We are left with the image of each trying to come to terms with the fracturing of their lives, a moving if melancholy sense of the eternal human struggle with life.
—Kitty
Holy underrated book, Batman! I actually liked this one quite a bit more than Rebecca and the only thing keeping it from being five stars was that I kept getting distracted by the weird choice for the book's narrator. This story followed the lives of three semi-related siblings, Niall, Maria, and Celia. All of them having at least one parent different from the other. The narrator appears to be either a conglomeration of all three siblings or an omnicient unnamed, unvoiced fourth sibling. A little wierd.Otherwise, this was brilliant. I love that the senses play a huge roll in this. du Maurier's descriptions of smells, sights, and sounds, especially of music, are really lovely. The majority of the book is set in the 20's/30's via flashbacks from the three siblings to their youthful days. The three siblings themselves made for a really interesting story, their characters were very different from each other. And the thing that really bumped this book up in my opinion was how well tied together the plot was. The ending was phenominal and fit each character's personality to a tee. (view spoiler)[After only a short while, Maria comes to terms with her divorce, heads back onstage, and prompty moves onto the next chapter of her life, while Niall sets off in his sailboat for France, knowing that he probably won't make it and as the water starts seeping in he simply let's it all go. Perfect. (hide spoiler)]
—Jayme
