Ashley’s Comments (group member since Jun 05, 2020)

Ashley’s comments from the #ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge group.

Fun plan! I may or may not join you for Strawberry Girl. I just read it recently, but I did love it, so I may be ready for a re-read by then. I didn’t love Five Children and It, so I probably won’t read that again. But I’m excited about all the others. If you’re taking votes, I vote for either of the books that aren’t the Princess Bride (another one I read last year- and the other 2 sound fun!). I would also propose Twig. It doesn’t matter to me if you pick that since I’ve read it (though I’d read it again with you) but I’m throwing it out there because I randomly picked it up last year and had never heard of it. I think it was on Kindle Unlimited. But it was amazing!! I don’t know why it’s not talked about more! I think you all would enjoy it.

I would love to read Tale of the Gengi! I plan to read more Wendell Berry too.

Neele- that’s why this book is tricky I think! I totally agree that I was rooting for them! It felt ok because it’s a novel, not real life. So strange!

Yes Neele, I think that is the point. It doesn’t mean you have to like the book, but I don’t think we are supposed to look at him and say “now that’s the kind of love I want!”

I bet I will too! Most books get me excited when I dive in! That’s the beauty of book clubs! They push you to read a variety!

I forgot to come back when I finished! I really enjoyed this! I was excited, but it was even better than I hoped! I loved his writing and plan to read more Capote. It is my first experience with him. I expected this to be more of a short story, but I’d call it a novella. It was the perfect length, I thought. I’ve read a few books lately that I loved, but which dragged on. It was like they were trying to fill space that didn’t need to be filled. But this said only what needed to be said and stopped. I loved the characters, which is always something I look for. I haven’t seen the movie in a long time, but the book is at least as good!

Neither of these books excite me, but I’m always open to mew things with groups. The Enchanting April is apparently on my TBR list here, so I must have decided it sounded good at some point. The GR description leaves a lot to be desired and I don’t really get what it’s about. I’ll have to do some research to get excited.

I finished it a couple days ago and loved it!

I waited a long time to start this. I got excited about a blanket I’m crocheting, so I have been doing that a lot. But I read half last night and the beginning really felt like Rebecca. So interesting! The way they talked about a time and place long ago and a woman there. She’s all mysterious and interesting. Did anyone else see any resemblance?

I know I've seen the movie, but it's been so long (and I have memory problems from a car accident and head injury) that I don't remember any details. I plan to watch again after I read. For me old movies based on books are hit or miss. I either love or hate them. Musicals are usually love. A lot of slow movies are miss. I know I liked this one, though, so let's hope. I guess I'm just so picky with my time too. I could be reading! Or doing something with my kids! It needs to be 100% worth my time.....though I waste a lot of time, so it's really an unrealistic way to look at things, so I should stop! Anyway, I'm excited!

Here's something embarrassing! I had NO IDEA it was Truman Capote!!!! I haven't looked it up or anything. I think I always assumed the movie was based on a book, but didn't really know. I will definitely read any short stories of his I can find. I haven't read any of his works, but he intrigues me. My library has a kindle version of "Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories" so I'll also be reading House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory.

Miriam wrote: "I don't know if I have a morbid imagination, but for me the relationship between Mrs Danvers and Rebecca was not only a kind of mothernal love.
Mrs Danvers worshipped her as a goddess. She was in ..."

I agree! There was something more than a typical mother's love going on. Worship is a good word to describe it. Maybe obsession too? That was one of the most gothic elements for me. She was creepy and weird.

Nada wrote: "I appreciated this book much more the second time around. Even more so after reading Sally Beauman's afterward about how the author's life and inner struggles were reflected in the story. I'm now q..."

Why do you think he's so hard to figure out? I had the same thoughts. And you can see in my comment above that I'm really torn about his character. Only because it's fictional, though. A real person would be much easier to judge. Haha. Are we supposed to feel this about him? My book didn't have any intro or information at the end, so I have no context or interpretation of this work. Maybe I should do some research!

Shannon wrote: "Ashley wrote: "1) I can't decide if she loves him because she loves the idea of him and Manderly, which she's been obsessed with for a while, and because she's young and naive OR if she loves him b..."

That's so hard. I don't know that the narrator was right to support him. Those are just some things I assume the characters are thinking. My desription of it being ok he killed her was what I assume was going on in the narrators mind specifically. I say it's hard because if I heard this story in real life I'd say put him in jail! But this book was written to make us like him before we know what happened, so it's hard to say that. I bet its totally different reading it and picking up on things once you know what he did. But for a first read, I didn't pick up on anything and was kind of liking him. Though I guess he's not really the greatest guy even without the whole killing his wife things. Books are so tricky! Haha. They suck us in and manipulate us!!!

Oh man! You asked why HE fell in love so fast, not SHE! I don't know. I don't disagree with anything that has been said so far. I'm not sure I have anything to add. He is hard for me to figure out. He had a lot of secrets!

And speaking of secrets, how did both of them know who Dr Baker was? One of the last chapters, when they saw Rebecca's appointment book, Mr and Mrs De Winter immediately knew who he was and that he would be trouble. But he wasn't. What did they think he was going to say and how did they know him? I feel like I missed a big secret there!

I'm also trying to decide how I feel about the ending. I almost want more thing tied up, but it also ended with everything looking good for them. Some things moved fast, like Mrs Danvers leaving and we never figured out why Max felt like something terrible had happened at home, causing him to drive all night. Just a few things that weren't totally addressed, but still a great read!

1) I can't decide if she loves him because she loves the idea of him and Manderly, which she's been obsessed with for a while, and because she's young and naive OR if she loves him because she understands and wants to support him. I am leaning more toward the first, but think there is a bit of the latter in there. Especially because at the end we get an insight into what Rebecca may have been going through, which kind of allows us, the readers, to let him off the hook. She wanted to die, maybe, so it's ok he killed her even if he didn't know that. Also, as Miriam mentioned, she was jealous of Rebecca, but when he tells her of the murder, she knows she has "won". He chose her, not Rebecca. He wasn't longing for Rebecca and didn't miss her. He loved HER. That feels good!

2) I did NOT suspect her in that moment. I did know she didn't like the new wife, but I didn't think she was that "evil" (in the more relaxed sense we use the word today, not as in pure demonic evil). She ended up being a catty woman in the end, who was loyal to her past mistress. Not surprising, but not what I assumed at first.

3) I remember my 20s. We were spontaneous and did crazy things. She didn't really have a chance to even think about it. Given the time period, it made a lot more sense to go with him as his wife than it did as a girlfriend or something more casual. So when she was leaving and never going to see him again, she didn't really have time to think. He offered her to come with him and she did. She had to decide right then. It was a pretty easy change to make. She hated her job and thought that was as good as life was going to get. Then she got an amazing offer. Why not take it? She wasn't really leaving anything behind and she had nothing to lose.

4) Haha. First cousins weren't as taboo then, but yes. I cringed! Yuck! I was very surprised by the big reveal! The book kept me interested, though I'm a little annoyed by a few things. I'll bring those up in my next post.

5) I have not seen any movies of this book. I do not like to watch movies before books and I knew I would read this some day. This is my first time through and I just finished a couple minutes ago. I planned to read it in October, but had too many books, so put it aside. I picked it up for this group, but couldn't get into it because I was also forcing myself to get through The Pickwick Papers, which I really wasn't enjoying, so I was grumpy. Anyways, I'm glad I stuck with this book and read it BEFORE Pickwick each day so I wasn't in a bad mood.

David, that is so interesting. I don't see how she could NOT be creepy. Haha. I'm going to have to re-read those early chapters when she is introduced and see if I change my mind. The last half of the book seemed so different and she's not creepy there. I saw that parallels trying to be made. Or I assumed that's what was trying to be said. But the first half just seemed so strange and creepy.

Shannon, I forgot to say that yes, I'd love to read more fairy tales. I always enjoy reading them as an adult and getting to study them more than I did as a child.

I forgot to come back when I finished! But I change my mind a little. I ended up liking it more than I was liking it half way though, but I still don't know if I'll read the second one. The thing I liked the most was the relationship between Irene and Curdie, which was developed in the second half of the book. I like his character and that title of the second book almost makes me want to read it.

I think the author was going for a really good lesson with the grandma and the thread. For those who are Christian (I think McDonald is too) it suggests a route back to God that we can't see, but can follow when we listen to Him or listen to his word. It would have worked if he didn't make the grandma so dang creepy! What the heck? And why was she kept a secret from the grown ups? I am in groups with people who won't let their kids read any books that show kids disobeying parents, like Harry Potter. I don't fall in that camp. I think kids are capable of making their own decisions without following characters in a book and are smart enough to see a bad decision when it happens. But this was extreme and I didn't like it. Why could no one see her but Irene? What does that say about the adults and others around her? It's not like Santa Claus movies where the grown ups don't believe any more and the kids help them find the magic. It was just plain weird. And then she had to keep it a secret. Grandma even asked her to. That's creepy. And grandma seemed almost evil. So I'm confused by the message McDonald was trying to send. Was it meant to be a way back to God or was grandma supposed to be creepy and maybe evil? The last part made it seem like it was a good thing that they followed her string. It saved Curdie and then Curdie was able to save her, so grandma's string had to be good. But then why was she so creepy? I guess I should stop beating the dead horse here, but it really bugged me.

The rest of it would have been good though. I think the first boring half could have been worth the end if some weird things were taken out. But it's definitely not a classic that I'd say everyone has to read and I'm not even sure I'll ever read it to my kids. I don't care if they read it when they are older, but I don't think it's one I need to read to them when there are so many other good books out there! I'm glad I finally read it though, and I'm tempted to read the second one so that I know what's in it and can say I've read the series. But it's not a priority. We'll see!

This is one of the must reads on my list for this year! Can’t wait to start it!

Yay! I’ve never read this! I’m excited!

Tolstoy really understands human nature and writes as if he is in the mind if his characters, even when those characters are nothing like him. Anna Karenina is a great start.