The Scapegoat (1957)

Now this is a creative writer-- not perhaps an enjoyable book, but certainly not what you'd expect (and it would be interesting to try to write the sequel?) What struck me most of all-- when in doubt, just go ahead and tell the truth. ( )

Daphne du Maurier's tale of double identities is set in 1950s France, and hinges on how John copes when Jean le Comte steals his identity and forces him to assume the life and personality of an impoverished French country squire. The premiss may sound far-fetched but don't let that put you off, as once again du Maurier deftly and realistically explores how the themes of loss, memory, and identity are challenged by the concept of commitment. The writing is beautiful, and it submerges us in le Comte's unfamiliar and disturbing world. In only a few places did the story feel dated, which again is testament to du Maurier's skill and total expertise as a writer. If this was published today, she would be showered with all manner of literary plaudits, and I am sure that The Scapegoat would be on the final list of the Booker Prize.
© Koplowitz 2011 ( )

Finally starting this book. Looks interesting from the synopsis on the back cover. Well, I'll see soon, I guess.

Very entertaining, nice and quick read that kept my attention. I 'only' was totally annoyed by the real Jean character. Can't help it! Hard to beleive that the wole book covers only one week in the life of John and the people he's come to live with. Hard to believe.

Interesting to see that despite he's a total stranger, he manages to fool all people he comes in contact with, but one. And of course the dog. How John manouvres to disguise that he's not Jean, trying to figure out the sensitivities, the motives, the past that binds all those at the chateau.
Well done!

And then the end: the two switching again! If I were John, I would have tried harder to see that I could stay Jean. All the more, because Jean destryed his life back in England thoroughly.
Disliked the very end too. So, all in all a nice read with a disappointing end. ( )

By chance, two men - one English, the other French - meet in a provincial railway station. Their physical resemblance is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking - until at last John, the Englishman, falls into a drunken stupour. It's to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, his French companion has stolen his identity and disappeared. So John 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.

My Thoughts:

This wasn’t my favourite book by Daphne du Maurier. My all time favouite is ‘Rebecca’ and I feel that it has lot to live up too. I do love books that have the rambling old houses and the creepy housekeeper. This one doesn’t but there is still a mixed bag of interesting characters.

Daphne du Maurier does diverstify with her books. She writes about rambling houses in the likes of ‘Rebecca’then there is time travel in ‘The House on the Strand’, then this book I would say is in the thriller genre.

There may be spoiler in this section. I did enjoy the book, I can’t say that I didn’t but there was just something missing. I think it needed to be a bit more sinister. At the end of the book John was going to kill Jean to continue living his life but is actions were stopped. The book for me would have been better at the end if John had killed Jean and then turned John from perhaps the good guy to the bad. Another ending couldhave been that the gun went off and you didn’t know whether it was John or Jean that survived. That just me !

However I am glad I reead this book and would highly recommend reading Daphne du Maurier and it will be interesting to watch the new ITV drama of the book. ( )

I snapped up a practically brand new copy of Du Maurier's The Scapegoat whilst staying with family over Christmas and I just can't stress how much I loved this brilliant book; the story completely surprised and bowled me over and you must all go out and buy it right now! But...what is it about? **Warning** I'm going to be very sparing on the details here..

'John' is a pretty dull English university lecturer, travelling back home to England through the village of Le Mans following a brief sojourn in France; a country that is very close to his heart. Thoughts of returning to work and his solitary, bachelor lifestyle is beginning to take its toll on our professor and his loneliness is driving him to pay a visit to the local abbey when he bumps into Comte Jean de Gué in the local watering hole; a man with an extremely dramatic life and some very messy relationships indeed.

This is sadly where my narration ends because I couldn't bare to spoil this book for anyone and think I would if I were to reveal any more. There are some formidable and typically 'Du Maurier' characters and atmospheric locations to be grappled with here and the prevailing feeling of displacement and tension kept me completely hooked to the very end. The premise of this story is just brilliant; terrifying, creepy, you name it. Du Maurier was apparently going through a particularly intense time in her own life at the time and the novel was written in a quite frenzied six months; a manner of birth that, although I'm sure was not pleasant for the author, merely lends weight and magic to this dark tale.

The plot may stumble into the realms of predictability for some people at times, but my only genuine criticism of this book is that the story only spans a period of a week and that I couldn't go on enjoying her writing for ever. There's a lot of room for introspection in John's tale; a deep exploration of desire, morality and identity that I just couldn't get enough of. What ever will happen to me when I run out of her books to read?

http://relishreads.blogspot.com/2012/02/scapegoat.html ( )