A High Wind in Jamaica [NOOK Book]

( 18 )

Overview

Richard Hughes's celebrated short novel is a masterpiece of concentrated narrative. Its dreamlike action begins among the decayed plantation houses and overwhelming natural abundance of late nineteenth-century Jamaica, before moving out onto the high seas, as Hughes tells the story of a group of children thrown upon the mercy of a crew of down-at-the-heel pirates. A tale of seduction and betrayal, of accommodation and manipulation, of weird humor and unforeseen violence, this classic of twentieth-century ...
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A High Wind in Jamaica

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More About This Book

Overview

Richard Hughes's celebrated short novel is a masterpiece of concentrated narrative. Its dreamlike action begins among the decayed plantation houses and overwhelming natural abundance of late nineteenth-century Jamaica, before moving out onto the high seas, as Hughes tells the story of a group of children thrown upon the mercy of a crew of down-at-the-heel pirates. A tale of seduction and betrayal, of accommodation and manipulation, of weird humor and unforeseen violence, this classic of twentieth-century literature is above all an extraordinary reckoning with the secret reasons and otherworldly realities of childhood.

New edition of a classic adventure novel and one of the most startling, highly praised stories in English literature.

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781590173718
  • Publisher: New York Review Books
  • Publication date: 6/23/2010
  • Series: New York Review Books Classics Series
  • Sold by: Barnes & Noble
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 296
  • Sales rank: 155,437
  • File size: 428 KB

Meet the Author

Richard Hughes (1900-1976) was born in Surrey, England, but his ancestors came from Wales and he considered himself a Welshman. After an early childhood marked by the deaths of two older siblings and his father (his mother then went to work as a magazine journalist), Hughes attended boarding school and, with every expectation of being sent to fight in the First World War, enrolled in the military. Armistice was declared, however, before he could see active service, and Hughes was free to go to Oxford, where he became a star on the university literary scene, with a book of poems in print and a play produced in the West End by the time he graduated in 1922. Hughes’s first novel, A High Wind in Jamaica, came out in 1928 and was a best seller in the United Kingdom and America. In Hazard followed ten years later. Hughes also wrote stories for children and radio plays, but his final major undertaking was the “The Human Predicament”, an ambitious amalgamation of fact and fiction that would track the German and English branches of a single family into the disaster of the Second World War while offering a dramatic depiction of Hitler’s rise to power. The work was planned as a trilogy, but remained incomplete at the time of Hughes’s death. The first volume, The Fox in the Attic, appeared in 1960, to great critical acclaim; volume two, The Wooden Shepherdess, was published in 1973. All of Hughes’s completed novels are available from NYRB Classics.

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 3.5
( 18 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(6)

4 Star

(4)

3 Star

(5)

2 Star

(2)

1 Star

(1)

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Sort by: Showing all of 18 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 29, 2005

    Overrated

    Having read many reviews before reading the book my expectations were very high. After reading the book I wonder why it received such high marks. Hughes' style of writting can be confusing and hard to follow. However, his descriptions of the physcial world are great and depiction of thoughts and motives of characters is wonderful. The tale's end is what turned out exceedingly shocking. Till the very end I was expecting a moment where the guilty character would 'come clean' or something would happen to set everything 'right'. The travesty of justice that ends the book left me with a very fowl taste for the book and the author. It's not a terrible book, but it's not something I would recommend to anyone to whom I wanted to remains friends.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 24, 2002

    AN OKAY BOOK

    Based on the reviews, I thought I would enjoy this more. While I liked the children in the story and the story itself, when I got done with it, I was left kind of feeling like 'so what?'! So, while I wouldn't highly recommend this book, I wouldn't tell someone not to read it either.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 8, 2013

    Classic!

    This is a old classic, a must read. I grew up watching this the movie but had never read the book. I finally got my library to track down an old copy for borrowing, finally reading it. I must saw i was disapointed in some things but over all i enjoyed this book. I know of people who didnt like this book themselfs so i reccomend borrowing from your local library first before u spend money on a book u might not like. This movie is more children/family based but my opion is the book is more based for older kids (teens) and adults.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 13, 2012

    Infernopaw

    I snatch up the dead thrush and sprint out.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 13, 2012

    A dead thrush

    Lays on the ground.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 7, 2012

    Whispering Willow and MoonFlower

    The Whispering Willow is a large weeping willow tree that seems to glow in the moonlight. The leaves can cure any sickness only if they are picked by a medicine cat. At the bottom of the tree, there is a hole. If a cat goes inside it, they are met with a beautiful flower, named the Moonflower because of it's silvery white hue. If a medicine cat or leader chews on one of the petals, they fall asleep where they can speak with StarClan. But if a cat other than a leader or medicine cat chews on one of the petals, they fall into a deep sleep which can only be cured by a mushroom in StarClan, which is still waiting to be found.

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  • Posted December 28, 2009

    A fantastical glimpse into another time and place...

    I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel but came away from it feeling like I just got to read a pirate's tale for grown-ups...

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  • Posted October 3, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Not a thrilling high seas adventure

    When I heard the story on NPR about this book I was very, very excited and could not wait to bring this book into my book club. I have however since, read the book and was truly disappointed. The radio article hyped this story as being about the children who were captured by pirates and end up being more cruel then the pirates. The actual book was about children, inadvertently captured by pirates, followed by series of mishaps that can happen to children put into an exotic and sometimes hysterical state. I kept reading and reading hoping that with the turn of a page the story could only get better. I do think this book could be a good discussion topic for a group to review, only to gather the different opinions.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 13, 2006

    Insightful, but flawed

    The way the children just accept changes and don't think too deeply about some matters will remind you that children can be 'innocents' in the world. A a couple facts (about brother John and the parents) are not believable. It is a swashbuckling tale, and the children are swept into the adventure. The book leaves the reader with some points to debate, and that makes it a better read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 10, 2003

    A WONDERFUL SWASHBUCKLING TALE!

    I am so happy to see this wonderful classic back in print! It is about the children of a group of white Jamaican planters who are shipped off to boarding school in England. The youngest is 6, if I remember correctly, so they are all somewhat traumatized at leaving their parents and homes to sail to the unknown. And their ship is attacked and captured by pirates!!! They are scared to death, but find the pirates treating them rather humanely. This is a must read for everyone and should be on every school library's shelves.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 16, 2000

    a wonderful book

    i found this book last summer among the heaps the discarded books in the basement of our public library. it's spine was cracked in half and it's pages yellow--but what a wonderful book it turned out to be! i'm glad to see it's been printed again. please read this book.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 15, 2000

    Bait and Switch?

    A true classic, not a minor classic. The quintessential tale of lost innosence. A collectors' book. All of that said>>I bought this new nyrb book with a different cover? Online, to send it as gift, I see the 'new' nyrb classic is new again>>so much for a timeless handsome collection. I am not buying this one. Bait and Switch? I bet the reviewer below is back to his first impressions! How do I find the first new version?

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 7, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 5, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted April 25, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted July 28, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted August 2, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

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