The Scapegoat (Virago Modern Classics)

Product Information

Having enjoyed many Daphne du Maurier books, The Scapegoat comes as a big disappointment. The premise of a stolen identity and the deception that followed sounded fantastic and was too inviting to pass. But now, I wish I had.

Probably some time around half way through the book I realised that I’d put aside all my concerns regarding the realism of the story in favour of just enjoying the tale. From this point on it was easy – and hugely enjoyable. As I approached the end I started to worry whether du Maurier would land a bail out happy ending on her readers, even though I couldn’t really work out what this would look like. I needn’t have worried, the story was tied up brilliantly and in a way I couldn’t have foreseen. The man takes up Jean de Gue's life, penetrating the several mysteries of the family's past and in a bumbling fashion manages to fix everything and restore the family to happiness. All the while, though the reader is hoping this man will succeed, du Maurier in her inimitable fashion leaves you feeling that it cannot possibly end well. Of course it doesn't but the final scenes do support the title and the theme of the scapegoat. Will John fool them all and turn his madcap Shadow's Evil plans into Good - and finally give his own life purpose in the process?

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? Years of study, years of training, the fluency with which I spoke their language, taught their history, described their culture, had never brought me closer to the people themselves.”

The basic plot is that a Frenchman in his early 40s runs into another man, an Englishman in his early 40s, who is a body double of him (doppelgänger). By clever means and not to his liking the Englishman finds himself forced to impersonate the Frenchman and inherits the Frenchman’s life and family…a brother and a sister and a mother and they’re all messed up to varying degrees, and a wife, and she is unhappy because her husband has been essentially ignoring her and only married her for a potential buttload of money if she produces a son for him (complicated legal arrangement regarding her dowry). Oh and that’s just the beginning…he inherits a precocious 11-year old daughter, a sister-in-law (who he is having an affair with), a valet, a mistress, a glass factory that is floundering… And given this is a du Maurier novel there have been sinister things happening well into the past…that this Englishman now fake Frenchman is going to have to deal with. Perhaps vaguely reminiscent of ‘Heaven Can Wait’, a film from the late 1970s starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie (and a gaggle of other good actors)…although that was a comedy/love story when push comes to shove. Not a whole lot to laugh at in this novel. In fact nothing really. Two men....one English, "John"...( the narrator), the other French, "Jean de Gue", meet by chance one evening. It's like looking into a mirror: they look almost identical- other than the color of their eyes. I did not see the ending coming. I thought I knew how it was going to end…Dame du Maurier it appeared to me was right near the end leading me and other readers down the primrose path to the denouement. Not so fast. 😮 Take a look around you, at all those vast legions of cynical, weary, burnt-out souls - lost in their private hells.

Customer reviews

I have read several of Daphne Du Maurier's books and loved every single one. Rebecca is my favorite but this book came very close to it. drunk and when he awakes, he discovers a chauffeur at the door: 'Monsieur le Comte is awake at last?' I could not ask forgiveness for something I had not done. As scapegoat I could only bear the fault." Matthew Rhys of 'the Americans' is a good actor and it's quaint to hear him speak with a British accent since he is more well know internationally always playing an American. He thinks the only motive force in human nature is "GREED". People in Jean de Gue's life were never satisfied--[from his point of view].

John learns that Maurice Duval, former head of the glassworks, was killed during the German Occupation. Marie-Noel goes missing and everyone but Françoise searches for her. When she's found in the well at the glassworks, John discovers that Jean murdered Duval and threw his body in the well, accusing him of being a Nazi collaborator. Marie-Noel climbed down the well as an act of penitence on behalf of her father. John also learns that Blanche had a relationship with Duval. depressed and melancholy at the thought of returning to his lectures: 'the real meaning of history would have escaped me, because I had never been close enough to people' (p.1). John feels lonely, isolated, and as though his outward life is a meaningless facade. 'I One of the triggers was that while out for a walk in a square in a French town, Daphne du Maurier saw a man who looked identical to someone she happened to know. According to one of her biographers, Judith Cook, she then watched a family scene through a window, and began to put the two incidents together in her feverish imagination. Typically, she began to wonder about the people; who they were, and what their secrets might be,John is left to himself in a strange château, with a strange new identity and even stranger new family. I'm not really sure what to take away from this novel. Main theme is greed and how it manifest in bad as well as good situations. Seven days is all John got but what was accomplished in those seven days was remarkable changes for the whole family of Comte de Gué of St. Gilles and the family business of Verrerie (glass-work) and which all members reside in the stately Chateau. Various other reviewers have offered the caveat along the lines of "suspend disbelief and read/enjoy this book." I was able to thoroughly enjoy the book without ever really needing to overcome disbelief because the storyline and its telling were so strong as to not give me any real pause. That's not to say that I'm gullible, simply that Ms. Du Maurier's narrative is as superlative as ever, possibly even better than Rebecca. Surely not? You be the judge of that. Either way, the narrative is just excellent and totally engrossing, and Paul Shelley's narration merely adds a little icing on top. Un-put-down-able, as my headline states. 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.