The Scapegoat (Virago Modern Classics)

Product Information

The ending comes swiftly, too swiftly, and leaves the reader feeling cheated, wishing to tarry a little longer. I for one, could have happily endured a full year with both Jean de Gué one and two to see what the future holds for them and the family.

John, the first person narrator, is lonely and miserable and wants to be French. He’s thinking about becoming a Trappist monk. He meets his double, Jean de Gue, a French count, in a railway station bar in Le Mans, and without any volition on his part he’d forced to change places with him. He knows nothing about de Gue’s family or circumstances or life, he has to improvise. He’s suddenly thrust into what he wants—having a family, being French, having responsibilities, belonging to people and a place—and he has to cope with it as best he can.I've often fantasized about escaping my own life and transplanting somewhere else entirely. Better yet, trade places with my dog, Zelda. Du Maurier explores that idea here, through the characters of John (the English man) and Jean (the French man) who meet by chance one night and discover that while they might be strangers, they look exactly alike. Time for the old switcheroo? I could not ask forgiveness for something I had not done. As scapegoat I could only bear the fault." which of these two men's life sounds most attractive to you? Would you rather be without a family, with no responsibilities, but also feel lonely, depressed and empty?

Off to join my group and read what others are saying! A book so much richer than many of the newer fiction books I often read. Just sayin! and discovers that it is a child who declares: 'I swear to you, that if you don't come to me by the time I count a hundred, I shall throw myself out of the window' filled with an intense desire to get away from that dingy, shabby hotel and never set eyes on it again, and as my anger rose and self-disgust took possession of me..." According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, the original choice for Barratt / De Gué was Cary Grant, but Daphne du Maurier insisted on Guinness because he reminded her of her father, actor Gerald du Maurier. [4]Indeed there are at least two other contenders for the description of "scapegoat". Either the daughter or the wife could be seen in these terms. Marie-Noel seems over-eager to sacrifice herself for her father, as does Françoise, the Count's wife. The intensity of the little girl Marie-Noel's relationship with her father is clearly a reflection of that between the author, Daphne du Maurier, and her own father, the charismatic actor-manager Gerald du Maurier. is more reminiscent of Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in which the two selves are part of the same person. In The Scapegoat, Real-life dogs are another device. There are heart-stopping moments where the readers wonder whether the dog will recognise the supplanted character of John, in the place of César's master, the Count. In "Rebecca", the dog is suspicious for a long time of the new wife. In both cases the apprehension devolves on the viewpoint character. When César, the dog, finally accepts John, the author says,

John-as-Jean arrives at his chateau. His earlier attempts to explain what has happened are taken as poor joke, and he takes the path of least resistance. It’s rather an ingenious way to introduce the new cast to us – because John, narrating, is as clueless as the reader as to who they are. There are several women, a child, an older woman, a man. Gradually, he works out how Jean relates to all of them – sussing out the histories and relationships without being able to ask outright. Why does he have bad blood with one of the woman, and apparently secrets with another? Which is his wife??

Change Website Language

As usual, du Maurier's writing is wonderfully atmospheric. She has a way of making you feel as though you're actually there in the hotel room in Le Mans, the grounds of Jean de Gue's estate in the French countryside and Bela's antique shop in the town of Villars. I just looked at an Excel database I have kept for some 15 years or so and have discovered I read this in 2001. How could I forget reading this book??? It’s like I read it for the first time today! In fact you can see from my review above I was assuming this was the first tine I had laid eyes on this book. I know some books are certainly worth reading two times��but yeesh. Maybe I should be taking a buttload of Prevogen. After all, it contains an ingredient found in jellyfish. Or so the ad says…I wonder if jellyfish have good memories? Apparently they have better memories than I.🤨

John, our narrator, is a lonely academic, someone who always felt like an observer rather than a participant in life. Jean, on the other hand, describes himself as a "family man" who evidently doesn't enjoy the title and is only too happy to jump ship. It held my interest pretty much throughout, although maybe about two-thirds of the way through my interest flagged but then accelerated again — just a minor bump in the road. Otherwise I think I would have rated it as ‘5’ rather than ‘4’…but in my rating system a ‘4’ is “a memorable read and if there is anything else the author has written I would be quite interested in it”, thank you very much. would have killed herself if he had not returned: 'And then I should have burnt in hell. But I would rather burn in hell than live in this world without you'

Preview Book

As our narrator uncovers the secrets of Jean’s life, he begins to insert his own sensibilities into the lives he controls. But does he see these people as they are, or does he supply his on version of them? Does he help them, or does he simply confuse and disrupt their lives? What would they think if they knew he was just a stranger playing at being their son, husband, father, brother, lover or master? And, what does he discover about himself along the way? Soon John finds himself enmeshed in a complicated web of lies and intrigues, with a grand house full of women and various strangers, most of whom seem angry at him. And then there is a great big beastly woman upstairs he is astounded to find looks like himself but in drag with a huge amount of flesh added on; Jean's mother, which he can't help but call 'maman' and feel real affection for. Nobody takes him seriously when he tells them outright he is not Jean, but an Englishman called John, and that the real Jean has made off with his clothes and his car; they all dismiss his story as yet another one of Jean's pranks, or a consequence of too much drink. Instead a man angrily demands how the trip to Paris went and whether he's gotten the papers signed. John slowly untangles the mystery, starting with figuring out who the various individuals are, what Jean was meant to do in Paris, why everyone is angry with him, and then, taking a liking to the man's various family members and employees despite their faults of character, trying to improve everyone's life and atone for Jean's shortcomings, bumbling along all the while. Matthew Rhys does an excellent job playing the two men, John the school teacher who had recently lost his job and Johnny the aristocrat who was not well-liked by his own family, and seemed desperate to escape his situation.