Literary A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

[sun surfer]

'After a terrible hurricane levels their Jamaican estate, the Bas-Thorntons decide to send their children back to the safety and comfort of England. On the way their ship is set upon by pirates, and the children are accidentally transferred to the pirate vessel. Jonsen, the well-meaning pirate captain, doesn't know how to dispose of his new cargo, while the children adjust with surprising ease to their new life. As this strange company drifts around the Caribbean, events turn more frightening and the pirates find themselves increasingly incriminated by the children's fates. The most shocking betrayal, however, will take place only after the return to civilization.

The swift, almost hallucinatory action of Hughes's novel, together with its provocative insight into the psychology of children, made it a best seller when it was first published in 1929 and has since established it as a classic of twentieth-century literature - an unequaled exploration of the nature, and limits, of innocence.'

Goodreads


This is the MR Literary Club selection for January 2018. Whether you've already read it or would like to, feel free to start or join in the conversation at any time, and guests are always welcome! So, what are your thoughts on it?

[bfisher]

Fascinating, but oh so dark - and I'm only a few pages in yet.

[BenG]

I read this about 10 years ago. It a very unsentimental portrayal of children, to say the least.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by BenG

It a very unsentimental portrayal of children, to say the least.

Yes, even Nature is not unscathed. But the prose is wonderful.

[fantasyfan]

”Mandrake” gives a very interesting personal reaction to the novel as a customer review here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Wind-J...ind+in+Jamaica

It has plenty of spoilers so you might want to read it through first.

My first reaction is that the approach to children is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies. Civilisation (represented by the external world) is an artificial construct which has little ability to impact on the basic tendency of humans to be selfish and amoral. The endings to both books are resolutions of rather than solutions to the conflicts presented.

One should not take the resemblance too far. In fact, there are a number of significant differences between the two works. Golding is writing what is very much a psychological allegory of of the means by which human beings embrace evil and the way it is reflected in human civilisation as a whole. There is a temptation to see this in HWJ in that the children--Emily in particular--do function from a pragmatic morality rather than from "civilised" ideals and will accept betrayal and falsehood as working methods. But the children in Hughes' novel are in the presence of adults and are not isolated on an island microcosm.

I think, too, that while this novel is bleak it is not as utterly desolate and dark as Golding’s Work.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I'm at 75% and expect to finish this weekend.

It is dark. Right from the very first paragraph. All the adjectives that could have been used and instead keeps repeating ruined, ruined, ruined. Occasionally there is a light veneer on top, but it is still dark underneath.

Random trivia from IMDB. Martin Amis was John in the movie when he was 15. It was the only time he made an appearance in a movie; the rest of his movie credits are for writing.