The House on the Strand

Rating:
Summary: A Dismal Book with No Meat.
Review: After absolutely loving DuMaurier's Rebecca, I had high expectations for this book, especially since the storyline based on time travel sounded promising. I was disappointed and frustrated when the novel did not deliver what it promised. First of all, it contained barely anything resembling a plot. The main character just wandered around, secretly used the drug, and became violently ill. Lather, rinse, repeat. The detailed descriptions of his pain and retching were especially unpleasant. The time-travel scenes did at least have a storyline, but it was disjointed, confusing, and incomprehensibly written; this was compounded by the fact that the historical characters had near-identical surnames (I realize that there was a minor reason for this, but it proves a huge disadvantage for the reader). The spark of romantic connection between Isolde and the main character was also promising, but nothing came of it. I read the entire book, hoping that there was a point somewhere, but not even the smallest payoff ever surfaced. This book just rambled around in the gloom without any direction or destination, and I found it dry, unenjoyable, and a waste of my time.

Rating:
Summary: Easy-to-read and immensely enjoyable
Review: After fighting my way through Rebecca, this author wasn't on the top of my 'must-read' list. But for whatever reason I tried The House on the Strand, I am grateful. An interesting story well told that wraps you up and carries you along.

Rating:
Summary: I guess I just didn't get it
Review: Anyone who has ever read Rebecca knows that Daphne du Maurier was always ahead of her time. Her concern with what we now call Women's Issues was a hallmark in all of her works.

In none of her books is that more apparent than in The House on the Strand. Although the viewpoint character is male, the concern for women's rights still shines through.

If you have seen the TV miniseries 'The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan' or the motion picture 'Somewhere in Time' you will at first think that both of them somehow got their inspiration from this book when you first start reading it. But this is much deeper than either of those stories. While the major character does indeed flash backwards and forwards in time, his discoveries in the past help him understand his present circumstances. The emphasis then is not on his wanting to 'escape' the present, as in the two movies, but on wanting to understand how the present and the past interrelate.

Also, some of the minor characters are historically real, and this adds a lot of interest to the tale. It makes you want to go visit the area in southern England where the story is set, and do a little investigating for yourself.

Provides some real food for thought.

Rating:
Summary: years ahead of its time
Review: Anyone who has ever read Rebecca knows that Daphne du Maurier was always ahead of her time. Her concern with what we now call Women's Issues was a hallmark in all of her works.

In none of her books is that more apparent than in The House on the Strand. Although the viewpoint character is male, the concern for women's rights still shines through.

If you have seen the TV miniseries 'The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan' or the motion picture 'Somewhere in Time' you will at first think that both of them somehow got their inspiration from this book when you first start reading it. But this is much deeper than either of those stories. While the major character does indeed flash backwards and forwards in time, his discoveries in the past help him understand his present circumstances. The emphasis then is not on his wanting to 'escape' the present, as in the two movies, but on wanting to understand how the present and the past interrelate.

Also, some of the minor characters are historically real, and this adds a lot of interest to the tale. It makes you want to go visit the area in southern England where the story is set, and do a little investigating for yourself.

Provides some real food for thought.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed, but Worthwhile...
Review: As a lifetime fan of time travel stories, I was enthralled by this somewhat outdated, but nonetheless absorbing, Du Maurier gem. In a departure from her usual period pieces, Du Maurier has used a then-modern setting for this tale of a man who dabbles in time travel experimentation while house-sitting for a friend. As the time travel becomes more addictive (and simultaneously destructive) the reader is alternately amused by his role as the harried husband and father, and caught up in the time travel episodes he experiences, wherein he becomes a voyeur to the lives of a long-dead clan. While the novel occasionally becomes bogged down by overly elaborate details, it is well-worth the read and left me feeling satisfied at its end.

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Piece of Literature
Review: Daphne du Maurier has a very rare talent, and that is to concisely describe the little details that make up such a great part of her stories. She notices the dust on the windowsill, a certain glance of light, the ant crawling through the grass, and turns it from a trivial, fleeting thought into a concrete one. It's so natural. The human mind is capable of so many thoughts, but few human minds can capture them so perfectly.

But enough digression... This was a grand and glorious book, about a guy and his scientist friend Magnus. Written in first person as many of D du M's books are, right away the story draws the reader into the very mind of the main dude (whose name I cannot remember so I'll call him "I"). Basically, the main guy is Magnus' guinea pig. Magnus is one of those scientists who, like Dr Jekyll or Dr Frankenstein, delve into the unknown and in the end destroy themselves or others. Magnus does both. In a way, more than Magnus or Mr I, the drug Magnus creates is the main character. It is a dangerous menace. And addicting. Magnus and Mr I cannot be content with only one trip. The trips take them many years back in history to their town as it used to be, and "I" particularly is caught up in the lives of certain people there. Magnus is the same to a less determined degree.

The trouble is that when Magnus extracted Mr I's promise to do the experiment, "I" was not counting on his wife and sons coming around to see him at Magnus' house...

So he has to be careful when and where he takes the drug. Sometimes he winds up very far from home. Sometimes it leaves him ill. But he is caught up in history and will not be content to stop.

The ending is unrivalled. There is no other book that I've ever read with such an unexpected last paragraph. Do me and yourself a favour and don't dare look at the last page until you get there. The entire impact of the book rests on that last line.

I recommend this book with all my heart. It is altogether fascinating and I want to read it again very soon.

Rating:
Summary: Very captivating & yes, very intriguing book
Review: I am a Daphne Du Maurier fan. Reading this book has confirmed that all over again. If you like intriguing books this is it. It takes you to 14th century and you become a part of the story. The characters are very distinct and each has it's own personalities. Roger with whom we travel 14th century is so powerful you can feel what he thinks. The author has made a excellent job of relating 14th century events and emotions to Dick's current life. The story stays with you for a long time , even after you have finished the book

Rating:
Summary: New Twist on Time Travel
Review: I like time travel books and will go out of my way to seek out a good one. In this novel, the author uses an unusual device for moving the hero around in time -- a potion that he drinks takes him to a time where he seems to have emotional connections with the people he meets.

While he is walking about in the past, in this case the Middle Ages, he is unseen by the people of the time. And in another interesting twist, while his mind is firmly experiencing past events, his body remains in the present, walking around the same terrain that his mind is exploring in the past. This means that his body can encounter present physical barriers that did not exist in the past, and vice versa. That makes for some oddly humorous, as well as dangerous scrapes for the hero. He is routinely injured, and one of his friends actually dies during time travel when he walks into a moving freight train.

This time travel device used by Du Maurier reminded me of the technique empolyed by Carl Sagan in his novel, Contact. Bear with me here, because this similarity is not as far-fetched as it might seem at first. In Sagan's book, the heroine travels through space/time to meet aliens, even though it looks to observers on the ground as though she went nowhere. Her body remains in the spacecraft, but somehow her mind makes the journey solo. This is essentially the same device used in the House on the Strand, although the latter has additional nice touches, such as a bond between the characters of both centuries and the land on which they live.

Overall, this is a very good adventure with a moral undercurrent that is subtle and resists being too "in-your-face" preachy. For me, that underlying message has to do with being present for one's life and resisting the impulse to spend too much time living in your head, regardless of how compelling you might find your own thoughts.




Rating:
Summary: Don't miss a chance to read this book!
Review: I love this book. Daphne DuMaurier has the ability to make the reader feel that he REALLY is back in 14th century England. Have you ever thought what it would be like to have your mind travel back into time, yet at the same time your body is still here? That other people can see you walking blindly along the road and up hills, yet your mind is in another world and you're seeing something totally different? This story is hauntingly real and has several surprising twists to the plot that will keep you mesmerized. I'm a voracious reader, yet this is my favorite book of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting story but leaves a lot unanswered
Review: I really enjoyed The House on the Strand because Du Maurier made wonderful transitions between the 14th century and the present in the novel, and entwined these transitions with an interesting story line. From a scientific point of view, however, the author left a lot of things very vague in relation to the drug, possibly because it is a wild and imaginative idea to have a "time control" drug, but I would have preferred a little more detail. No one even mentions what this drug-weilding professor really researches throughout the novel. But, taking all into consideration, it was a very intersting book