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1.0 out of 5 stars
I must agree, Jun 17 2001
I read Rebecca and adored it - the subtle darkness and drama, the nuances that one only picked up on the second and third readings, the intense yet always likeable characters, the delectable prose...I hardly even glanced at "Parasites" when I bought it (thankfully, I only spent a dollar at a used bookstore) and eagerly sat down to read it. Two hours later I tossed down the book, feeling depressed and cynical about humanity in general. This books follows the lives of three siblings, the children of equally self-absorbed actors, who are "parasites." Each one has the capacity for greatness, given their respective talents, but each wastes them on cheap, unnoticeable books, music, and stage plays. If you're a fan of flashbacks you might like this - their lives in the 20s to 40s are covered over a massive number of pages, after a look at them in the "present" day. But this book hadn't DuMaurier's other books' sparkling prose and intense dialogue, or any of the spinetingling atmosphere that sucks you in. It also wasn't helped by the fact that the main characters ARE parasites, living off whoever they are nearby. Their whininess and complaints augmented their selfish personas. I spent much of the book wanting to slap them. There don't really seem to be ANY likeable characters, and while I didn't expect the ending, I felt even more depressed when I read what one of the characters did. I advise you to read "Rebecca" or "Jamaica Inn" for a first book. Had this been my first Du Maurier book, there would have been no second.
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