Rebecca

As someone named Rebecca, people always asked me “like the book” all the time and all I knew about the book was (a) it is old, (b) Rebecca was dead from the beginning (c) the narrator was unnamed and (d) it was gothic

For a book pushing 100, it holds up decently well. The unnamed protagonist, the looming atmosphere of Rebecca both are deeply evocative literary choices. The pacing is decent, although the protagonist's flights of fancy (social anxiety?) got a little old. I liked having a narrator who was as unfamiliar with high society at the time as the modern reader was.

I am so torn about this book. It is exceptionally well-written, which is I'm sure what makes it a classic and keeps people reading it. But the narrator was such a frustrating character to me. As I read the book, I kept telling people, I'm really enjoying reading this book, but I don't like it! I don't know if I've ever read another book that I would say that about. There is no book without the main character's obsession with Rebecca and Rebecca's influence over her husband and all the people in their lives. And yet that obsession, self-doubt, and misinterpretation of everything going on was so frustrating to read. Ugh! I don't know what to think of this.

The first chapter was a toss-away, a dream whose purpose was simply to describe the house and grounds of Manderley. I always dislike dreams in books because they feel like lazy writing; the author is trying to wedge information into the story without actually figuring out how to work that info in naturally. So the first (brief) chapter was read in supreme irritation, and the second (brief) chapter hurried through since our story doesn't start there, either. The third chapter - that is when things get rolling. And holy cow do they roll, taking us on a journey between low-level dread and white-hot tension. A true thriller in the highest sense of the word, creating the exact right mood for the end of October.

Highly recommend.

4.5 - Wonderful writing that sears into the mind. I loved the characters and settings, but found the meekness of the unnamed narrator pushing belief at times. Aaron kept laughing when he noticed my nose in the book while walking around or trying to do some chore. I have qualms with the quote ‘romance', as well as some racism/abelism, but it's a fun novel to turn on its head and examine. The Netflix adaptation falls extremely flat to the novel, so I'll be watching the Hitchcock version soon.

While I enjoyed the story and the murky figure of Rebecca hovering ghost like around Manderley, I found the two main characters rather appalling. The narrator is a spineless snivelling child most of the time and Maxim is patronising and aloof in his treatment of her. Of course they redeem themselves in the end (thank goodness). The plot was addictive though, even though, lets be honest, somebody got away with murder. CSI would have solved that in 1 hour. 3.5 stars.

Chapter 1: the writing is so beautiful I'm already so intrigued why Manderley is no more, and why they are living in a small bedroom hotel instead?!

Chapter 4: omg this book is already so good! I love that we know from the start that later in their lives, they are going be okay, enjoying peace and safety, and having a nice daily routine. Their time at Manderley is going to be so tumultuous, I can sense it so easily!! Also, Du Maurier must have loved botany, her descriptions of nature, woods and flowers are so vivid!

Chapter 6: what a turn of events, they got married. There is something romantic about this sudden proposal and adventure, but also a dark presage in the form of her dreams, of the tangerine, and of Mrs. Van Hopper's words. I know they are now older and happy in a hotel, but still

1. I ADORE her writing. It's so beautiful and detailed and it makes it so easy to walk with them in Manderley and understand where everything is. Also, great character development!

I just finished chapter 13: is it becoming a murder mystery? Ben remembers when Rebecca told him not to tell anyone that she sailed that day. And who is this mysterious visitor/intruder, Mr. Favell, who knows very well Mrs. Danvers and called Mr. Winter ‘Max'. What are they hiding? Why did he came so often. Also, he gives me the creeps . There is something also about the body found 2 months later, which could still apparently be recognized. The scent of the flowers, the heaviness of the atmosphere in the house... Also, we can tell that a breakdown is about to happen in Maxim... So much tension contained.... I wish the main character didn't have to feel so stressed out all the time. She feels so free and liberated when she is on her own in nature. She just wants a simple life, where she doesn't have to entertain people and is not always ‘measured' to such high standards. She is sweet and kind, I hope later when they travel again it's going to really be better.

I finished it! Omg I finished it! What was even this last 10%!
It felt like new crucial things were happening on every single page on the last 3-4 chapters that I had to be so careful to not read what was on the other page. Well, sometimes I would look to give myself some tiny spoilers, and I would get even more intrigued to see how things would unfold. Omg this story! 5 stars, soooo easily. Except for the middle that was a little bit slow, I didn't dislike a single page of this book. I mean, the middle was good too. I understand why it's a classic! I need to go to sleep and rest on it and write more tomorrow. Wow!

Read and reviewed: 2022-05-20

I've had this on my TBR for a little while and had always been hesitant to pick it up. As others have said, I expected a stuffy, pompous romance and that's just not me. Wow I was wrong!! I LOVED IT!!

I wouldn't say it's my favourite book ever or the best book in the world but I loved it for what it was - a dark, gothic, suspenseful mystery. It certainly doesn't feel like it was written in 1938, du Maurier writes with excellent pacing and such atmosphere that it's so easy to sit and get lost in Manderley for hours on end. It's the perfect book to curl up with on a gloomy wintry day and feel like you're there.

I can see how it's become so beloved and is rightly seen as a modern classic, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a gothic mystery or has never tried Daphne du Maurier before. It was the first of her novels I've read and I'll certainly be reading more.

Short review: I am a huge fan of the Hitchcock movie. But the book is considered one of the best of the 20th century on its own. It was very good. For the most part the movie and the book have the same story line. But there is a very different ending.

Full review: http://www.mrshields.com/rebecca-by-daphne-du-maurier/

The unnamed main character is prone to lengthy reveries that are invariably misguided and clich??d. The book is slow. The women all defer to the men in their lives. A man gets away with murdering his wife. An overwhelming majority of the characters are loathsome. But it's not simple. The book is complex, the reader feels the plot shrouded in fog until the very end, never knowing for certain what's coming next. I loved it. 

PS. I'd never call this a romance. 

Jak to jest, że bohaterowie tej powieści byli ogromnie irytujący, a ich historia mimo wszystko tak bardzo mnie wciągnęła? Czy to kwestia pięknego języka? Czy jednak świetnie rozpisane psychologiczne studium charakterów? A może tajemnicza rezydencja i inne elementy powieści gotyckiej? Tak czy siak – bardzo mi się „Rebeka” podobała!

“Some of us would go away, or suffer, or die, the future stretched away in front of us, unknown, unseen, not perhaps what we wanted, not what we planned. This moment was safe though, this could not be touched. Here we sat together, Maxim and I, hand-in-hand, and the past and the future mattered not at all. This was secure, this funny fragment of time he would never remember, never think about again.”

I liked the book but there were details that prevent me from enjoying it more.
I liked the fact that we don't really know the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter's first name. It enhances the fact that she is so overshadowed by Rebecca.
At the same time, I was annoyed by it. I kept on rolling my eyes everytime the second Mrs. de Winter met a new character in Maxim's life. Her lack of confidence irrated me to no end. Her character never seemed to develop and she was constantly complaining about how she would never be the same as Rebecca but still, she didn't do anything to try to convince people that she was a REAL person.

The plot twist was pretty obvious and I saw it coming a mile away but I still enjoyed how the events unfold. Which brings me to my next “criticism”. I don't understand this woman's reason for marry Maxim. Yeah, he's rich but they have nothing in common and they practically ignore each other, except when Maxim bullies her. And still she claims to love him after he confesses having killed Rebecca. I really don't see it possible.

I guess I liked the concept of the book but I didn't enjoy the way it was executed.

A great read. What impressed me most about Daphne du Maurier's story about a young woman marrying a wealthy widower with a secret, were how well she wrote descriptive passages. She illustrated the environment as well as she did the players. It was a suspenseful read, one I did not want to put down, even though I had some memory of the story, which I saw portrayed in Hitchcock's film of the same name.

This was a gripping book about identity as the nameless new wife tries to make sense of her place at Manderley, believing that she could never replace the memory of Rebecca. I enjoyed reading this book and seeing the 1940 Hitchcock film version starring Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson.

An unlikely meeting, coupled with an unlikely attraction, makes this gothic romance a very likeable reading experience.

A young lady gets swept away to live with Maxim de Winter at his enormous ancestral home named Manderley. Maxim's previous wife, Rebecca, passed away, and the new shy, inexperienced, yet loving wife tries her best to fill Rebecca's shoes. But what happens when she tries to learn more about the family's past?

The answer to that question leads the reader down a rabbit hole filled with mystery, jealousy, scandal, and trepidation. Daphne du Maurier attacks all the senses and ratchets the tension of this ‘fish-out-water' story in many interesting ways.

One of the more sadistic angles is the psychological turmoil inflicted by the infamous Mrs. Danvers. I actually quite liked her character from start to finish. Hopefully I am not alone on this.