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New York Review Books (1999), 279 pages
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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.
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LibraryThing member kidzdoc
This novel was originally written in 1929, and is centered on the lives of two sets of British children who live with their parents in Jamaica in the late 19th century, after slavery was abolished and while the country was taking its first steps toward independence. The seven members of the
The island is devastated by a fierce hurricane that destroys the Bas-Thornton's home, and the parents decide to send the children back to the safety of England, where they can receive a proper education and upbringing. The Fernandez children join them, along with a servant, and all are placed in the care of the captain of a small barque, as neither family can afford to send them to England on a steamer. En route, the ship is captured by a motley crew of pirates dressed as women, and the children are taken as booty. The pirates are unable to rid themselves of the children, and are forced to sail with them onboard while they search for other prey. Children being children, they adopt to and thrive in their new home, as they drive the pirates to perpetual distraction while endearing themselves to them.
[A High Wind in Jamaica] is a mostly rollicking but occasionally tragic novel about imperfect but engaging and lovable children—and pirates—and a most enjoyable sea adventure that ended far too soon.
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Bas-Thornton family reside in a dilapidated house on an isolated and ruined sugar cane plantation, where the children enjoy each others' company amid the exotic flora and fauna, with minimal contact from the black Jamaicans who live in the surrounding hills. Their only contact with other whites is with the two children of the Fernandez family, who live along the seaside. The island is devastated by a fierce hurricane that destroys the Bas-Thornton's home, and the parents decide to send the children back to the safety of England, where they can receive a proper education and upbringing. The Fernandez children join them, along with a servant, and all are placed in the care of the captain of a small barque, as neither family can afford to send them to England on a steamer. En route, the ship is captured by a motley crew of pirates dressed as women, and the children are taken as booty. The pirates are unable to rid themselves of the children, and are forced to sail with them onboard while they search for other prey. Children being children, they adopt to and thrive in their new home, as they drive the pirates to perpetual distraction while endearing themselves to them.
[A High Wind in Jamaica] is a mostly rollicking but occasionally tragic novel about imperfect but engaging and lovable children—and pirates—and a most enjoyable sea adventure that ended far too soon.
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LibraryThing member JimmyChanga
This is one of the best books I have ever fucking read. Don't even read this review... Just go read the book already! Then you can come back and read the rest of this review.First of all the subject matter cannot be better: pirates, kids, pigs, monkeys, goats, earthquakes, hurricanes, clue-less
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adults.Secondly, it's the language, stupid! The language is so fucking great. Hughes sometimes forms the most un-intelligeable sentences with the weirdest fucking words, but string them up in a way that gets across something you wouldn't get with a sensible one.Next, the narrator: he is so funny. He's always coming in at odd times to tell us his opinion, but rarely outright. He's subtle about it.Also, the book is full of surprises. Every other chapter presents a weird twist. But it's not a plot-heavy book, by that I mean it doesn't rely on the plot or the twists to make it good. Considering the 500-pages worth of shit that happens in this 200-page book, it is surprisingly leisurely and pleasantly aimless in its plot, until closer to the end.This book is brilliantly crafted to lull you into one state while shocking you constantly out of it. This book resists to the very end in giving you the sentimentalism you want, in giving in to your pre-conceived ideas of how things should be. And for that it is pure genius.This book is entertaining in that page-turning way, to the highest degree.This book is often laugh out loud funny.This book does not moralize. It is light reading, but also very heavy if you want to read into it. But most of all, it is light. There is no lull in this book. It goes straight through. Show Less
LibraryThing member CBJames
Children are evil. Not evil, but so amoral in their innocence that their actions are sometimes difficult to distinguish from evil.
Richard Hughes examines this supposition in his comic novel A High Wind in Jamaica. Set at the end of the 19th century, when steam ships were beginning to replace
The Bas-Thornton's have raised their children on a ruined sugar plantation in Jamaica where Mr. Bas-Thornton has a 'business of some kind.' Mrs. Bas-Thornton has not tried to maintain any sense of proper decorum. Instead her children, three boys and two girls, have been left to themselves, much to their delight.
It was a kind of paradise for English children to come to, whatever it might be for their parents: especially at that time, when no one lived in at all a wild way at home. Here one had to be a little ahead of the times: or decadent, whichever you like to call it. The difference between boys and girls , for instance, had to be left to look after itself. Long hair would have made the evening search for grass-ticks and nits interminable: Emily and Rachel had their hair cut short and were allowed to do everything the boys did--to climb trees, swim, and trap animals and birds: they even had two pockets in their frocks.
After an earthquake followed by a hurricane which destroys much of their home, the Bas-Thornton's decide to send the children back to England for their safety. Two months later, the Bas-Thornton's receive a letter from the ship's captain--their children have all been killed, murdered by pirates who raided the ship shortly after they set sail.
But the truth is that the children willingly went with the pirates who afterwards found no one would take them off their hands. Over time, the pirates become attached to the children and, for a while, keep them on-board ship enjoying their company. The children quickly adopt the pirates as surrogate parents, big brothers really. They are enthralled by the ship's monkey. They become attached to both of the pigs kept on board for future use, treating them as foot cushions, thrones, and horses. The youngest girl, Laura turns everything she finds into a baby doll she can stash in it's own 'home' somewhere on board. (In the end she'll try to take them all with her, fighting the cook over a soup ladle baby she can't bear to be parted from.) Her brother Edward is overjoyed at his good fortune; he gets to be on a pirate ship without even having to run away from home.
It all appears very innocent, but Mr. Hughes is interested in darker aspects of childhood. Early in the novel one child, John falls to his death while everyone is on shore. That night the children look at his empty bed wondering what to make of it. Afterwards, no one mentions John at all. He is forgotten by the children until their mother asks where he is once they are rescued. Emily, the captain's favorite, is devoted to him until one night when he has too much to drink he looks at her in a way she does not like. After that, she turns against him, which is understandable, but through her innocence she later exacts a terrible revenge which the captain does not deserve.
A High Wind in Jamaica is a book about children, but it is not a book for children. Mr. Hughes enjoys the games and frolics of his child characters, but his sympathies lie more with the pirates. They are taken in by the children, the pirates find they are unable to properly civilize the children who find the absence of civilizing parental guidance a 'kind of paradise.' When it becomes clear that the children cannot stay on board any longer, the pirates must decide what to do with them. A true pirate would toss them in the sea, which is suggested, but the captain has become too fond of them to do this. Instead, he will see them safely placed which will lead to his downfall.
Richard Hughes examines this supposition in his comic novel A High Wind in Jamaica. Set at the end of the 19th century, when steam ships were beginning to replace
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schooners, something that worries the novel's pirates, A High Wind in Jamaica is the story of a group of children kidnapped by pirates while on their way to homes in England. Which group will turn out to be closer to the barbaric nature of uncivilized humanity: pirates, or children freed from proper adult supervision?The Bas-Thornton's have raised their children on a ruined sugar plantation in Jamaica where Mr. Bas-Thornton has a 'business of some kind.' Mrs. Bas-Thornton has not tried to maintain any sense of proper decorum. Instead her children, three boys and two girls, have been left to themselves, much to their delight.
It was a kind of paradise for English children to come to, whatever it might be for their parents: especially at that time, when no one lived in at all a wild way at home. Here one had to be a little ahead of the times: or decadent, whichever you like to call it. The difference between boys and girls , for instance, had to be left to look after itself. Long hair would have made the evening search for grass-ticks and nits interminable: Emily and Rachel had their hair cut short and were allowed to do everything the boys did--to climb trees, swim, and trap animals and birds: they even had two pockets in their frocks.
After an earthquake followed by a hurricane which destroys much of their home, the Bas-Thornton's decide to send the children back to England for their safety. Two months later, the Bas-Thornton's receive a letter from the ship's captain--their children have all been killed, murdered by pirates who raided the ship shortly after they set sail.
But the truth is that the children willingly went with the pirates who afterwards found no one would take them off their hands. Over time, the pirates become attached to the children and, for a while, keep them on-board ship enjoying their company. The children quickly adopt the pirates as surrogate parents, big brothers really. They are enthralled by the ship's monkey. They become attached to both of the pigs kept on board for future use, treating them as foot cushions, thrones, and horses. The youngest girl, Laura turns everything she finds into a baby doll she can stash in it's own 'home' somewhere on board. (In the end she'll try to take them all with her, fighting the cook over a soup ladle baby she can't bear to be parted from.) Her brother Edward is overjoyed at his good fortune; he gets to be on a pirate ship without even having to run away from home.
It all appears very innocent, but Mr. Hughes is interested in darker aspects of childhood. Early in the novel one child, John falls to his death while everyone is on shore. That night the children look at his empty bed wondering what to make of it. Afterwards, no one mentions John at all. He is forgotten by the children until their mother asks where he is once they are rescued. Emily, the captain's favorite, is devoted to him until one night when he has too much to drink he looks at her in a way she does not like. After that, she turns against him, which is understandable, but through her innocence she later exacts a terrible revenge which the captain does not deserve.
A High Wind in Jamaica is a book about children, but it is not a book for children. Mr. Hughes enjoys the games and frolics of his child characters, but his sympathies lie more with the pirates. They are taken in by the children, the pirates find they are unable to properly civilize the children who find the absence of civilizing parental guidance a 'kind of paradise.' When it becomes clear that the children cannot stay on board any longer, the pirates must decide what to do with them. A true pirate would toss them in the sea, which is suggested, but the captain has become too fond of them to do this. Instead, he will see them safely placed which will lead to his downfall.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
Richard Hughes has crafted a unique tale of children at sea in the Caribbean. His novel is well written, bringing just the essential details of the world of the Bas-Thornton children to our attention. He also portrays a psychology of children that is precursor to that of Golding's Lord of the
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Flies. Hughes most carefully introduces the character of the children (especially Emily) slowly building suspense. The pirates do not have a chance. Their voyage is a violent voyage from innocence to experience, yet, as the novel accurately portrays them, they will probably gradually forget most of what has happened. This can be seen as an allegory on the level of those by Melville and others who have gone before. Show Less
LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
Whether or not you think that Richard Hughes' "A High Wind in Jamaica" works as a wholel, you've got to give him this: like Bill Watterson and Roald Dahl, he recognized that children occupy an entirely different psychological space than their elders. Of course, occasionally a judgement from the
Hughes, unlike, say, Harper Lee or Roald Dahl, who wrote their child characters using a friendly, accessible indirect third person, draws a careful distinction between his own authorial voice and the lives of his young protagonists. Instead of using the children as narrators, he describes childhood in the same way that an anthropologist might describe a foreign culture: he makes incisive descriptions, draws comparisons, and makes inferences about their self-made social and moral structures, but he relates their story in a style that is complex, eloquent, and undeniably adult. In fact, there are places where I'm not sure that Hughes wasn't satirizing, or perhaps criticizing, the Victorian age's own well-formed ideas about a "separate space" for childhood and their concerns. With its seafaring narrative and "A High Wind in Jamaica" and its wild scenes of play and children's games, this might be the first novel influenced in equal measure by "Peter Pan" and "Heart of Darkness." Some readers, will, I think, find these extreme tendencies hard to accept; this is a novel that makes it difficult to believe in childhood innocence at all. Still, I came away from it think that it's pity that Hughes wrote only four novels, and only two aimed at adults; I suspect that he would have written superbly on any subject he chose.
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world of adults does make it through to this novel's youthful protagonists, but it usually bears little resemblance to the lesson that the adults intended to teach, and the adults themselves never seem to realize this disconnect. As others have mentioned, the novel's most interested in the moral dimensions of childhood: does the children's lack of knowledge about the world around them contribute to a naturally occurring amorality? I'll leave that for other readers to figure out, though, because "A High Wind in Jamaica" could also be read as a case study in the uncanny resilience of children. The Bas-Thorton and Fernandez children adapt without hesitation to just about any situation they're thrown into, and Hughes seems intrigued by the existence of a stage of human development where our preconceptions are almost infinitely malleable. Emily, for example, reacts to a minor earthquake, a pirate kidnapping, and a pet alligator with varying levels of interest, boredom, and quiet delight – someone who lacks experience, as she does, can't be expected to tell the difference between the extraordinary and the merely ordinary, or the difference between right and wrong, for that matter. Still, I was also charmed by the way that the boys started planning their own careers in piracy almost from the moment that they were kidnapped. Hughes seems to realize that for imaginative children, life holds an almost unlimited number of possibilities: why should a lifetime spent on the high seas be considered any more remarkable than a quiet life lived in England? Hughes, unlike, say, Harper Lee or Roald Dahl, who wrote their child characters using a friendly, accessible indirect third person, draws a careful distinction between his own authorial voice and the lives of his young protagonists. Instead of using the children as narrators, he describes childhood in the same way that an anthropologist might describe a foreign culture: he makes incisive descriptions, draws comparisons, and makes inferences about their self-made social and moral structures, but he relates their story in a style that is complex, eloquent, and undeniably adult. In fact, there are places where I'm not sure that Hughes wasn't satirizing, or perhaps criticizing, the Victorian age's own well-formed ideas about a "separate space" for childhood and their concerns. With its seafaring narrative and "A High Wind in Jamaica" and its wild scenes of play and children's games, this might be the first novel influenced in equal measure by "Peter Pan" and "Heart of Darkness." Some readers, will, I think, find these extreme tendencies hard to accept; this is a novel that makes it difficult to believe in childhood innocence at all. Still, I came away from it think that it's pity that Hughes wrote only four novels, and only two aimed at adults; I suspect that he would have written superbly on any subject he chose.
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LibraryThing member BCCJillster
Disappointing. My book group read it because we saw it on a list of 100 Best of the 20th century; not even a contender in my view. None of the characters were even likable and it was no Lord of the Flies for psychological tension among kids. Nope. It just didn't work for me. Sorry to those who love
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it. Show Less
LibraryThing member abergsman
The High Wind in Jamaica was first published in 1929 as The Innocent Voyage. If you want to draw comparisons, one could consider the story one part Treasure Island, one part Lord of the Flies, with a sprinkle of Lolita thrown in for good measure. Taking place in the late 19th century, we meet the
The nature of children is an essential element to the story: how hard it is to tell what they are thinking, how easy it is for them to forget, and how dangerous that can be.
"It is a fact that it takes experience before one can realize what is a catastrophe and what is not. Children have little faculty of distinguishing between disaster and the ordinary course of their lives. If Emily had known this was a Hurricane, she would doubtless have been far more impressed, for the word was full of romantic terrors. But it never entered her head: and a thunderstorm, however severe, is after all a commonplace affair." (p.31-32)
Reading A High Wind in Jamaica feels like a surrealist dream, following the Bas-Thornton and Fernandez children from a decaying plantation to the high seas and beyond. Hughes is a master of showing, not telling, and leaving the reader to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions. As a reader, I appreciate that, it is a skill that is lacking in many modern-day bestsellers. It is a classic that should be more well-known and discussed than it is.
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Bas-Thornton children as they explore the jungle and water-holes surrounding their family's Jamaican plantation. After a hurricane practically demolishes their home, the Mr. and Mrs. Bas-Thornton decide to send their children back to England for their safety. Saying anything more than that is hard to do without introducing spoilers. :) The nature of children is an essential element to the story: how hard it is to tell what they are thinking, how easy it is for them to forget, and how dangerous that can be.
"It is a fact that it takes experience before one can realize what is a catastrophe and what is not. Children have little faculty of distinguishing between disaster and the ordinary course of their lives. If Emily had known this was a Hurricane, she would doubtless have been far more impressed, for the word was full of romantic terrors. But it never entered her head: and a thunderstorm, however severe, is after all a commonplace affair." (p.31-32)
Reading A High Wind in Jamaica feels like a surrealist dream, following the Bas-Thornton and Fernandez children from a decaying plantation to the high seas and beyond. Hughes is a master of showing, not telling, and leaving the reader to connect the dots and draw their own conclusions. As a reader, I appreciate that, it is a skill that is lacking in many modern-day bestsellers. It is a classic that should be more well-known and discussed than it is.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
This is a weird and disturbing book. Too much so for me to be honest, which is what loses it a fifth star, because I can't quite give it that accolade even though I recognize the craft behind what Hughes did. It's a story about a group of children, but this is not children's fiction. The original
Being nearly four years old, she was certainly a child: and children are human (if one allows the term "human" in a wide sense): but she had not altogether ceased to be a baby: and babies are of course not human--they are animals, and have a very ancient and ramified culture, as cats have, and fishes, and even snakes: the same in kind as these, but much more complicated and vivid, since babies are, after all, one of the most developed species of the lower vertebrates.
It is true they look human--but not so human, to be quiet fair, as many monkeys.
Subconsciously, too, everyone recognizes that they are animals--why else do people always laugh when a baby does some action resembling a human, as they would at a praying mantis? If the baby was only a less-developed man, there would be nothing funny in it, surely.
Possibly a case might be made that children are not human either: but I should not accept it. Agreed that their minds are not just more ignorant and stupider than ours, but differ in a kind of thinking (are mad, in fact): but one can, by an effort of will and imagination, think like a child, at least in a partial degree--and even if one's success is infinitesimal it invalidates the case: while one can no more think like a baby, in the smallest respect, than one can think like a bee.
And that's the fascination--but also the creepiness--of this book: the way it inhabits the child mind. This is utterly unsentimental in its depiction of children and as utterly convincing in its portrayal. Hughes is constantly underlining children's connection to nature--not in a sweet hummingbird and butterflies and bunny way, either. Think more savage and red in tooth and claw. And the book is well-written, with lines to savor and a sly humor that makes the at times macabre content all the more disturbing. There's no trace of the supernatural here, no vampires or werewolves, yet I'd be tempted to classify this as horror. There are pirates--but they're by no means as ruthless or callous as the children. And these aren't evil, psychotic children--just ordinary ones. The book is short, quick paced--and, I suspect, unforgettable, down to that last punch of a last line.
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title apparently is The Innocent Voyage, and is rather ironic. The novel has been compared to Lord of the Flies if that gives you a clue:Being nearly four years old, she was certainly a child: and children are human (if one allows the term "human" in a wide sense): but she had not altogether ceased to be a baby: and babies are of course not human--they are animals, and have a very ancient and ramified culture, as cats have, and fishes, and even snakes: the same in kind as these, but much more complicated and vivid, since babies are, after all, one of the most developed species of the lower vertebrates.
It is true they look human--but not so human, to be quiet fair, as many monkeys.
Subconsciously, too, everyone recognizes that they are animals--why else do people always laugh when a baby does some action resembling a human, as they would at a praying mantis? If the baby was only a less-developed man, there would be nothing funny in it, surely.
Possibly a case might be made that children are not human either: but I should not accept it. Agreed that their minds are not just more ignorant and stupider than ours, but differ in a kind of thinking (are mad, in fact): but one can, by an effort of will and imagination, think like a child, at least in a partial degree--and even if one's success is infinitesimal it invalidates the case: while one can no more think like a baby, in the smallest respect, than one can think like a bee.
And that's the fascination--but also the creepiness--of this book: the way it inhabits the child mind. This is utterly unsentimental in its depiction of children and as utterly convincing in its portrayal. Hughes is constantly underlining children's connection to nature--not in a sweet hummingbird and butterflies and bunny way, either. Think more savage and red in tooth and claw. And the book is well-written, with lines to savor and a sly humor that makes the at times macabre content all the more disturbing. There's no trace of the supernatural here, no vampires or werewolves, yet I'd be tempted to classify this as horror. There are pirates--but they're by no means as ruthless or callous as the children. And these aren't evil, psychotic children--just ordinary ones. The book is short, quick paced--and, I suspect, unforgettable, down to that last punch of a last line.
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LibraryThing member SandDune
I think I was vaguely conscious of this book as a child, as one of those traditional children's books (perhaps something along the lines of Treasure Island) that I'd never got around to reading. But recently I've heard it strongly recommended (twice) in the BBC Radio 4's 'A Good Read' programme, so
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Bas-Thornton children live a somewhat uncontrolled but idyllic life on the island of Jamaica, where their father has a business, albeit a not very profitable one. When a hurricane strikes and destroys their home, their parents decide that the Caribbean is too dangerous, and the children must be sent home to England to be educated. They are duly dispatched on the Clorinda under the care of Captain Marpole, but within a few days of setting out the ship is captured by pirates and the children are taken. Captain Marpole kindly writes from Havana to comfort Mr & Mrs Bas-Thornton:
There is one point on which you will feel some anxiety, considering the sex of some of the poor innocents, and on which I am glad to be able to set your minds at rest, the children were taken into the other vessel in the evening and I am glad to say there done to death immediately, and their little bodies cast into the sea, as I saw with my own eyes. There was no time for what you might fear to have occurred and this consolation I am glad to be able to give you
Of course, the children are not dead, but they are too young and ignorant of the ways of the world to understand what is really going on around them. Margaret Fernandez, a rather older girl travelling with the Bas-Thorntons, is inconsolable on the first night of their capture because she has more understanding of what might happen, but she is dismissed as silly ...
This is a story of lost innocence, in more ways than one. Its original US title was The Innocent Voyage and clearly that was meant ironically. There is very little that is innocent about this voyage ...
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when it was one of the choices in the BAC, I thought I'd give it a try. And having read it, I can't help being a little surprised that anyone would have ever considered it a children's book in the first place. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Bas-Thornton children live a somewhat uncontrolled but idyllic life on the island of Jamaica, where their father has a business, albeit a not very profitable one. When a hurricane strikes and destroys their home, their parents decide that the Caribbean is too dangerous, and the children must be sent home to England to be educated. They are duly dispatched on the Clorinda under the care of Captain Marpole, but within a few days of setting out the ship is captured by pirates and the children are taken. Captain Marpole kindly writes from Havana to comfort Mr & Mrs Bas-Thornton:
There is one point on which you will feel some anxiety, considering the sex of some of the poor innocents, and on which I am glad to be able to set your minds at rest, the children were taken into the other vessel in the evening and I am glad to say there done to death immediately, and their little bodies cast into the sea, as I saw with my own eyes. There was no time for what you might fear to have occurred and this consolation I am glad to be able to give you
Of course, the children are not dead, but they are too young and ignorant of the ways of the world to understand what is really going on around them. Margaret Fernandez, a rather older girl travelling with the Bas-Thorntons, is inconsolable on the first night of their capture because she has more understanding of what might happen, but she is dismissed as silly ...
This is a story of lost innocence, in more ways than one. Its original US title was The Innocent Voyage and clearly that was meant ironically. There is very little that is innocent about this voyage ...
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LibraryThing member Cecrow
This is a whimsical statement on what beastly things children are, or childhood innocence at any rate: rather than a moral good it's chaotic neutral, something best not forgotten or else you'll be liable to misconstrue all manner of things, overlook the real issues and be dealt some nasty
Children who don't act like children, pirates who don't act like pirates ... this book has a peculiar tone to it, like magical realism without the magic, that had me viewing it almost as a farce during the middle portion which I found difficult to weather. Making it out the other side, I felt my perseverance was rewarded. So much so, this might land on the re-read pile. I don't often experience a flip like that, so this one's going to stand out in memory.
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surprises. Cling to that message and you'll understand what you're reading.Children who don't act like children, pirates who don't act like pirates ... this book has a peculiar tone to it, like magical realism without the magic, that had me viewing it almost as a farce during the middle portion which I found difficult to weather. Making it out the other side, I felt my perseverance was rewarded. So much so, this might land on the re-read pile. I don't often experience a flip like that, so this one's going to stand out in memory.
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LibraryThing member SamSattler
Welsh writer Richard Hughes published A High Wind in Jamaica in 1929 (sometimes published in the U.S. under the title The Innocent Voyage), and the playwright’s novel would go on to be turned into a Broadway production by dramatist Paul Osborn in 1943. The novel was also adapted for a 1965 movie
Despite all of that, I was unfamiliar with the novel and its author until I heard Ann Patchett praise it at the San Antonio book festival a couple of weeks ago in a conversation she had there with author Elizabeth McCracken. It is Patchett’s theory that A High Wind in Jamaica has served as the blueprint for countless novels about children who are totally oblivious to the dangerous circumstances they may suddenly find themselves in. She admits to more than once having used the pattern herself, including in her current novel, Commonwealth (a novel that turns out to be much more autobiographical than I would have imagined before hearing the author speak about it).
A High Wind in Jamaica tells the story of a group of children being sent to England from Jamaica by their parents so that they can attend boarding schools in the mother country. The children, all of them roughly between the ages of three and ten years old, are sent on their own – the youngest children being in the complete care of their older brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, the rather lazy and negligent captain of the vessel on which they leave for England, allows his boat to be boarded and taken by a small group of the most incompetent “pirates” in the history of piracy. The cowardly captain, in fact, makes a run for his own freedom, abandoning the children to the pirates who had temporarily moved the kids to their own little boat. Now, the Danish pirate captain and his crew are stuck with a bunch of kids they have no idea what to do with – try as they might to figure it all out.
To the kids, who never realize that their very lives are in jeopardy, it is all one big adventure and soon enough they are climbing ropes and getting into trouble at a pace that astounds even the roughest of the pirate crew. The captain knows that he has to get rid of the children one way or the other if he is going to be able to avoid capture and prison – or worse – but no one wants to take them off his hands.
Richard Hughes tries to take the reader inside the minds of the children and what they see from their distinctive points-of-view, his theory being that the minds of children do not work anything remotely like the minds of adults work. This is a point that none of the adults in the story ever seem to figure out – and the repercussions stemming from this oversight are both comic and tragic. In the end, the children who live through the prolonged “kidnapping” may be the least affected by what happened to them on the high seas around Cuba.
Bottom Line: A High Wind in Jamaica is clever piece of satire that manages to be both a comedy and a tragedy. It is easy to see why the short novel (191 pages) has been popular for so long, and if Ann Patchett’s theory is correct, why it will remain a studied piece of writing for decades to come. Despite its sometimes-tedious writing style, this one makes for an interesting read.
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of the same title that starred Anthony Quinn and James Coburn, and was performed as a radio play on two occasions (once in 1950 and then again in 2000). To say the least, the novel has had a good run.Despite all of that, I was unfamiliar with the novel and its author until I heard Ann Patchett praise it at the San Antonio book festival a couple of weeks ago in a conversation she had there with author Elizabeth McCracken. It is Patchett’s theory that A High Wind in Jamaica has served as the blueprint for countless novels about children who are totally oblivious to the dangerous circumstances they may suddenly find themselves in. She admits to more than once having used the pattern herself, including in her current novel, Commonwealth (a novel that turns out to be much more autobiographical than I would have imagined before hearing the author speak about it).
A High Wind in Jamaica tells the story of a group of children being sent to England from Jamaica by their parents so that they can attend boarding schools in the mother country. The children, all of them roughly between the ages of three and ten years old, are sent on their own – the youngest children being in the complete care of their older brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, the rather lazy and negligent captain of the vessel on which they leave for England, allows his boat to be boarded and taken by a small group of the most incompetent “pirates” in the history of piracy. The cowardly captain, in fact, makes a run for his own freedom, abandoning the children to the pirates who had temporarily moved the kids to their own little boat. Now, the Danish pirate captain and his crew are stuck with a bunch of kids they have no idea what to do with – try as they might to figure it all out.
To the kids, who never realize that their very lives are in jeopardy, it is all one big adventure and soon enough they are climbing ropes and getting into trouble at a pace that astounds even the roughest of the pirate crew. The captain knows that he has to get rid of the children one way or the other if he is going to be able to avoid capture and prison – or worse – but no one wants to take them off his hands.
Richard Hughes tries to take the reader inside the minds of the children and what they see from their distinctive points-of-view, his theory being that the minds of children do not work anything remotely like the minds of adults work. This is a point that none of the adults in the story ever seem to figure out – and the repercussions stemming from this oversight are both comic and tragic. In the end, the children who live through the prolonged “kidnapping” may be the least affected by what happened to them on the high seas around Cuba.
Bottom Line: A High Wind in Jamaica is clever piece of satire that manages to be both a comedy and a tragedy. It is easy to see why the short novel (191 pages) has been popular for so long, and if Ann Patchett’s theory is correct, why it will remain a studied piece of writing for decades to come. Despite its sometimes-tedious writing style, this one makes for an interesting read.
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LibraryThing member stef7sa
Another weird book, hovering between a children's story and a tale of horror for adults. The combination of these two genres isn't always convincing. Magnificent evocations of atmosphere.
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Yes, insightful, provocative, gorgeous, tragic, - but there's also plenty of fun if one reads it as a straitforward adventure. There's even humor. It's one of those books that should be considered a 'classic' and is worthy of being part of curriculum - but maybe it's just as well it's not listed
If you do attempt to read it, and for some reason you feel you can't finish, at least turn to the back and read the cook's speech. It's a bit too long, and a bit too spoilery, to quote here, but it is one of the best insights re' the adults in the book. (The insights re' the children are myriad.)
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so, as then I'd have been too intimidated to pick it up and would have missed a glorious, albeit almost too brief, experience.If you do attempt to read it, and for some reason you feel you can't finish, at least turn to the back and read the cook's speech. It's a bit too long, and a bit too spoilery, to quote here, but it is one of the best insights re' the adults in the book. (The insights re' the children are myriad.)
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LibraryThing member beabatllori
Slumming! Pirates!! Creepy children!!
This book has it all.
This book has it all.
LibraryThing member OmieWise
Excellent story of children and pirates.
LibraryThing member Esta1923
A High Wind in Jamaica or The Innocent Voyage: by Richard Hughes
This book had been on my shelf unread for many years. Mention of it on the radio prompted me to read it. Tho pirates are in the news now the plot here is quite different from the current accounts.
Two families of children become hostage
This book had been on my shelf unread for many years. Mention of it on the radio prompted me to read it. Tho pirates are in the news now the plot here is quite different from the current accounts.
Two families of children become hostage
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to pirates and as the book progresses the balance of power is disturbed in ways a reader would probably not anticipate (I did not). The sequence of events has a subtle influence on both the children and the men. There are moments of levity but they are few. Confusion and death both mark the voyage and its end, perhaps inevitable, leaves us wondering how the memories of their ordeal will affect the children in their adult lives. Show Less
LibraryThing member doxtator
After both an earthquake an a hurricane, the Bas-Thornton's decide to send their brood of children away from the wild elements of Jamaica, back to England where they shall attend school. Along with two neighboring children, the Bas-Thornton children--John, Emily, Edward, Rachel, and Laura--all
While this is a story about children, it is not a book for children. It is a novel meant for adults, particularly to challenge both our memories of being children, and our concepts of children. What notions of overlaid innocence and wickedness that the reader might have are over and over again dashed by the transpiring plot, and the actions of the children, the pirates, and the grown-ups otherwise involved. All are complicit, some far more than others, in the fates of those around them.
This book's tale departs radically from the usual expected sorts of tales told about children and pirates. It will not please those who lap up the adventurous treacle usually doled out teaspoon by teaspoon, like a placating placebo. There are no heroes in this book, and no redemption. It is not a coming of age story, but rather a telling of an age (both time-setting and one's chronological measurement) that is lightly written even when the material is cudgel-heavy.
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board the Clorinda. Before reaching their destination, they are beset by pirates, and taken onto the pirate vessel where their future becomes murky. While this is a story about children, it is not a book for children. It is a novel meant for adults, particularly to challenge both our memories of being children, and our concepts of children. What notions of overlaid innocence and wickedness that the reader might have are over and over again dashed by the transpiring plot, and the actions of the children, the pirates, and the grown-ups otherwise involved. All are complicit, some far more than others, in the fates of those around them.
This book's tale departs radically from the usual expected sorts of tales told about children and pirates. It will not please those who lap up the adventurous treacle usually doled out teaspoon by teaspoon, like a placating placebo. There are no heroes in this book, and no redemption. It is not a coming of age story, but rather a telling of an age (both time-setting and one's chronological measurement) that is lightly written even when the material is cudgel-heavy.
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LibraryThing member Cygnus555
My wife gave this to me after hearing a review on NPR about it. I had never heard of it, but plowed into it nonetheless. It was a bit odd at first, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. But then I got it... I felt the tension, not from the antagonists in the story to the protaganists, but
I highly recommend this book. It is not an idealized, romantic adventure - it is real and difficult.
- Mini-Spoiler Alert-
I felt that the children were so very real. Hard in the way that children can only be and yet fragile. The Pirates were also hard - but very human and caring at the same time - almost despite themselves. When the made it to England, the typical way that adults see children was well captured and at the end of the story, as Emily faded into the pattern of the school she was attending, you saw her as no different than any other girl... but knew that underneath she was.
Very good book. Read it!
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the other way around. I was really amazed at how the story was crafted - the good bled into the bad and the bad bled into the good... I'm trying not to say too much about the story so as not to spoil it. I found great enjoyment discovering it for myself without knowing where it was going!I highly recommend this book. It is not an idealized, romantic adventure - it is real and difficult.
- Mini-Spoiler Alert-
I felt that the children were so very real. Hard in the way that children can only be and yet fragile. The Pirates were also hard - but very human and caring at the same time - almost despite themselves. When the made it to England, the typical way that adults see children was well captured and at the end of the story, as Emily faded into the pattern of the school she was attending, you saw her as no different than any other girl... but knew that underneath she was.
Very good book. Read it!
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LibraryThing member redbudnate
I absolutely loved this book. My comments don't have any special insight others have not noticed, but the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence with piracy sucked me in quickly and kept me there. The book is so rich it almost drips with emotion and fantastic descriptions of the surroundings. You
Here's a quote from early in the book that I thought represented the spirit of the story:
"They soon came near him: where an orange tree loaded with golden fruit gleamed dark and bright in the moonlight, veiled in the pinpoint scintillation of a thousand fire-flies sat the old black saint among the branches, talking loudly, drunkenly, and confidentially with God."
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don't see the events through the eyes of the children, but you have a vivid understanding of how they perceive things around them. Here's a quote from early in the book that I thought represented the spirit of the story:
"They soon came near him: where an orange tree loaded with golden fruit gleamed dark and bright in the moonlight, veiled in the pinpoint scintillation of a thousand fire-flies sat the old black saint among the branches, talking loudly, drunkenly, and confidentially with God."
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LibraryThing member dickmanikowski
I had been meaning to read this 1928 classic (not that I read many classics) ever since hearing a glowing review of it on NPR's All Things Considered.
I nearly gave up when I had difficulty slogging through the post-colonial references and the British slang, but about 50 pages in I got hooked.
The
It's been many years since I read Lord of the Flies, but I suspect this book is far more disturbing than that one was.
I nearly gave up when I had difficulty slogging through the post-colonial references and the British slang, but about 50 pages in I got hooked.
The
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story concerns a band of children who find themselves guests on a pirate vessel after the ship is highjacked that they're aboard while being evacuated from a dismal Jamaica to an England that only one of them even vaguely remembers. Stereotypes about childhood innocence (and piratical villainy) are smashed as we peer into the selfish minds of these kids.It's been many years since I read Lord of the Flies, but I suspect this book is far more disturbing than that one was.
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LibraryThing member saskreader
This novel has been on my "to read" list for quite some time, and I am SO glad I finally picked it up. This is absolutely the best coming-of-age story I have read; it's perfect, really.
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
The most interesting thing about this novel is the language, it's a short book but the sentences are carefully crafted and have a great classic feel to them. The next thing to consider is the theme, which explores the amorality of children (it's Lord of the Flies written by J. M. Barrie). The idea
Although it's easy to see why the book is widely praised I wasn't too enamored with it, an evil clown seemed to have written it, I much prefer Treasure Island and Lord of the Flies. I respect it though because it was attempting to break molds, move literature forward, and the language in places is beautifully done.
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of amorality in children's literature originated 40 years prior, in Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883), as seen in the character of Long John Silver. Before Stevenson, pirates were black and white evil that had to die in the end, but Silver was both good and bad, and lived on. Treasure Island was one of the first books written for children that had an amoral character and Hughes paid tribute to Stevenson by writing an anti-Treasure Island, reversing the roles by making the pirates good and the children the amoral ones. Stepping back further, he was really making a statement about the crumbling righteous morality of the Victorian/Edwardian era. In further historical context, this kind of reversal and flipping of the known world into uncharted waters was characteristic of the inter-war period which saw society undergoing the radical changes of modernity, including modernism in literature, enough to make one seasick.Although it's easy to see why the book is widely praised I wasn't too enamored with it, an evil clown seemed to have written it, I much prefer Treasure Island and Lord of the Flies. I respect it though because it was attempting to break molds, move literature forward, and the language in places is beautifully done.
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LibraryThing member coffeezombie
Darkly comic seafaring adventure about a group of children on their way to England who end up captured by pirates. Hughes tone is wryly detached as he reveals in full detail the casual insanity and cruelty of his young protagonists. One of the most honest novels ever written about children.
LibraryThing member Matke
Hughes wrote a book that’s kind of a precursor to Lord of the Flies, except not really.
I disliked this book for a variety of reasons. Of course there’s the derogatory attitude toward the former slave population. There’s quite a bit of cruelty to animals. Much worse is the unbelievable, as in
I found the book unsatisfactory after looking forward to it for a long time.
Not recommended.
I disliked this book for a variety of reasons. Of course there’s the derogatory attitude toward the former slave population. There’s quite a bit of cruelty to animals. Much worse is the unbelievable, as in
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completely incredible, behavior of some of the children. And I don’t mean our main character, Emily. She is the one child who remains consistently in character throughout the book, and is the reason for my 3-star rating. Well, Emily and Hughes’s excellent writing.I found the book unsatisfactory after looking forward to it for a long time.
Not recommended.
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LibraryThing member Lucy_Skywalker
I should re-read this book, I'm sure it would be worth it, though my memories are very faint, I was some 14 when I read it.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1929
Physical description
279 p.; 5 inches
ISBN
0940322153 / 9780940322158
Other editions
A High Wind in Jamaica, or The Innocent Voyage by Richard Hughes (Paperback)