Rebecca

Was trying to figure out why my spredsheet had 1 more book than my goodreads and this is why, For some reason I didn't Post about or review this book!!

I absolutly loved this book, i actually only read it because there is a taylor swift song based on this book (Tolerate it) and yep that song sums up the romance in this book perfectly.

I cant remember much about this book but there are definatly things that still stand out, even tho I read it over 3 months ago

Actual rating: 3.5
This book really surprised me. I did not expect the plot to go in this direction. But overall it wasn't super original. I know, my thoughts on this book are confusing (like my thoughts on every book tbh), but i liked it and at the same time sometimes thought that this story had no point.

This was a wonderful reading! Rebecca had a very slow start but once we get to Manderley the story picks up and I was completely hooked. I loved the way the story was structured, the flawed characters and the emotions it caused.

The book has a beautiful prose and has some of the most odious characters ever written. I just didn't want to stop reading on the last third of the book and, although I was expecting some of the twists, I was surprised with others.

This is another perfect example of why some books became classics.

For some reason, I never wrote a review for this book when I first read it in 2016... not uncommon at this point in my life but I've been regarding it as one of my all-time favorite books since then. Nothing has changed the second time around. I opted to listen to the audiobook this time. Initially, I just wanted a comfort read to help me fall asleep. That didn't work so much. I was only reminded how much I love this story. There's so much I identify with and the suspense is unmatched. 

What gets me most with the book is the narration. We never learn the second Mrs. de Winter's name, and yet, it's so intimate with her every thought and emotion surrounding each event. We watch from grow from a shy and timid companion to a strong and unabashed wife of a tormented widow. Then of course there's Mrs. Danvers who is perhaps my favorite antagonist of all-time — book, stage, or screen. Her presence is as haunting as Rebecca's memory, and yet there is something so human about her that you can't help but sympathize. 

Between the original film and the two subsequent mini-series (as well as a musical), I have almost every bit of this story memorized and still the twists hold up. The tension continues to build up to the very end. Listening to it on audiobook made it a new experience with an old friend. 

I was under the misapprehension that Rebecca was a classic ghost story. It wasn't. It's a classic, but not a ghost story, at least not in a literal sense. I did enjoy it though, for the most part. The writing was good, and a little different than I'm used to with long, drawn-out sentences. I enjoyed how the narrator had no name while Rebecca's name carried so much significance. I particularly liked the second half of the book, which moves much faster than the first half. The characters were completely unlikeable, though, and hard to relate to. That led to some frustration but not so much that it lowered my rating. I liked the ending... and I read how the author ended up taking her epilogue and making it her first chapter which really works in this book. Looking forward to the movie.

Maybe it doesn't have the same social clout as Sense and Sensibility or even Jane Eyre (which DuMaurier is clearly inspired by) but Rebecca still holds high esteem for many a bookish nerd. “Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderly again...” is as recognized as “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” and “Call me Ishmael.” And that first chapter is as delicious a gothic introduction as one could possibly want.

Our protagonist is a child prone to wild day-dreaming discursions. Her flights of fanciful imaginings meander for pages at a time, more often than not imagining herself dull and plain, living in the long shadow of the beautiful and charming Rebecca. It is at once swooning then sinister.

At first I was sure this was a novel about the impermeability of memory. How we find the de Winters aging in a dull and listless present day which prompts our protagonist into the past to find some remembered colours, that she is willfully remembering herself the romanticizing child. Perhaps there is elements of that given how the story takes a third act turn that renders everyone in a dark, unflattering light.

Things do take a turn and it's delicious to see this play out amongst the characters in the story, but only at a bookish remove. Otherwise it's just a story of ridiculous rich people problems.