theduckthief’s Comments (group member since Apr 10, 2008)

theduckthief’s comments from the The Classics group.

I love how this book keeps revealing plot twists right up until the very end.

Just as we don't really see the protagonist, we also don't really see Rebecca. We get an idea of her personality, her beauty and her appearance but her face is always left to the imagination. Even the protagonist never gets to see her. The painting done of her hangs in the Academy and not in Manderley.

Finally in this section we get to the crux of the matter with the narrator and Rebecca. "I had so identified myself with Rebecca that my own dull self did not exist." She also mentions her "own dull personality submerged at last" when she dresses up for the ball. Her weak personality is almost always oppressed by Rebecca at the house and put down by Mrs. Danvers and occasionally Max.

I also love how she finally gets a backbone after the incident at the ball as well as how they talk about absolutely nothing when Col. Julyan first comes over.

I thought the morning room was a great example of Rebecca's personality. Cold but exacting.

Anyone else suspect that Beatrice knows exactly what's going on? The hints she kept dropping, the way she looked at Mrs. de Winter II.

I loved the description of Happy Valley as well as the description of the cottage on the beach. "Cobwebs spun threads upon the ship's models making their own ghostly rigging." Again, more references to death. Naked eucalyptus like a skeleton.

At least MdWII is smart enough to not buy any of Favell's bull.

Rebecca's room reminded me of Norman Bates and "Psycho", this palpable feel of trying to keep the dead alive. Notice how MdWII says the smell of azalea scent was stale and musty while "Danny" says the scent is still fresh. Also, it looks like Danny had a serious thing for Rebecca.

Alright so it's that time of the month again. I went to Random.org for a random number generator and it came up with 2, 12, 5, 16. That means our choices for next months book are:

2. Emma - Jane Austen
5. The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
12. Gulliver's Travels
16. East Lynn - Ellen Wood

You have until midnight, Friday October 24 to vote. That will give everyone a week to get the book.You can find the poll here. http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/26...

If you'd like to recommend books then add your suggestions to the Master Book List and they'll be input for December's book pick. You can find the Master Book List here.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

You can watch it on YouTube. Olivier looks gorgeous in the movie.

Vivian Leigh actually did a screen test to play opposite him because they were together at the time but she came off as too strong.

I don't know how many of you have watched "Rebecca", directed by Alfred Hitchcock but it's an interesting take on the book. It won Best Picture and star Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson.

Has anyone else seen it? I thought the portrayal of Mrs. Danvers by Anderson is truly creepy. Also, Joan Fontaine plays the part perfectly.

Having watch the Hitchcock version first I found it interesting how much more there was to the book and how it's incorporated into the movie.

The movie ending is somewhat different so it will be interesting to see how the book version turns out.

I think it's interesting to see how much focus is placed on nature and how menacing the plants are to help contribute to the overall unease with the approach to Manderley. For example, on their approach to the house she mentions the rhododendrons saying there was "nothing but the slaughterhouse red, luscious and fantastic." Mrs. Danvers is referred to as having a skull-like face. Maxim's earliest memories is of the rose gardens, his mother removing the dead heads. There are these little hints at death throughout the beginning of the book.

Also notice how little we know about the 2nd Mrs. de Winter. We don't know her name though Maxim does. We know she's 21 but the rest of her family is deceased. The focus is always on Rebecca. The protagonist is present but almost is pushed into the background, Rebecca isn't present but is thanks to her mysterious death and hold over Maxim and Manderley.

The chapters end on cliffhangers which is interesting and makes me want to keep on reading but du Maurier is somewhat wordy with overly descriptive passages.

This is for discussion on Chapters 22-27.

This is for discussion on Chapters 15-21.

This is for discussion on Chapters 8-14.

This is for discussion on Chapters 1-7. I've broken the chapters into four chunks for the four weeks we have to read and discuss the book.

As we're still stuck at a tie my vote goes to "Rebecca" as I've read "Dracula" before. I'll try to pick up the book today and set up topics.

I'd also like to remind you guys that the Master Book List is up and we'll be voting on books on that list from now on. If there's a book you want us to read or discuss, then make sure you add it to the list. Thanks.

Here's the link to the Master Book List.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If no one else has voted by Monday morning then I'll make the deciding vote.

It looks like we're currently at an impasse in voting with the tie being between "Dracula" and "Rebecca".

I'm thinking it may just be the two of us. Hopefully with October's book we'll have more participants and therefore, more discussion.

Well it looks like we have our nominees. I'll set up a poll for you to vote on your favourite. Voting will be open from September 27 - October 3.

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/40...

Sadie, don't feel bad about it. Technically I haven't read the book either. The Children's Classic eliminated a lot from the book.

On the upside though, I have seen the Elizabeth Taylor, June Allyson and Winona Ryder movie versions.

But you know what, I really like the idea of having a themed book for this month. It's official then. I've changed my vote to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

Any suggestions?

I'm all for "Little Women" having only read the Children's Illustrated Classic a long time ago.

In order to cut down on the two weeks it usually takes us to decide on a book I've taken a page from the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Club. They've set up a Master Book List where anyone can suggest a book. Two weeks before the beginning of the month I'll select by random number generation, about four to five books that we can then vote on. That way everyone gets one week to acquire said book before we start discussion.

Okay so from here I'll take book suggestions and combine them into one giant list on here. For months with holidays like October we could do a themed list to vote on or add a few themed books to vote from.

*Important: If you have a book suggestion please include the title and author. I'll be organizing them on here in alphabetical order. Thanks.

Updated June 30/10

1 Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
2 Peter Pan - J.M. Barrie
3 Emma - Jane Austen
4 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
5 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
6 Lorna Doone - Richard Blackmoore
7 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
8 Lady Audley's Secret - Mary Elizabeth Braddon
9 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte
10 The Professor - Charlotte Bronte
11 Shirley - Charlotte Bronte
12 Evelina - Fanny Burney
13 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
14 Death Comes for the Arch Bishop - Willa Cather
15 The Canterbury Tales - Geoffery Chaucer
16 The Awakening - Kate Chopin
17 Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
18 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
19 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
20 Hard Times - Charles Dickens
21 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky
22 Notes from Underground- Fyodor Dostoevsky
23 Foucault's Pendulum - Umberto Eco
24 Middlemarch - George Eliot
25 The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot
26 Silas Marner - George Eliot
27 Absalom, Absalom!-William Faulkner
28 The Hamlet-William Faulkner
29 The Sound and the Fury-William Faulkner
30 Uncle Silas - J.S. Le Fanu
31 The Good Soldier - Ford Madox Ford
32 A Room with a View - E.M. Forster
33 The Magus - John Fowles
34 Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
35 Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell
36 Ruth - Elizabeth Gaskell
37 Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell
38 Dead Souls-Nikolai Gogol
39 The End of the Affair - Graham Greene
40 The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy
41 The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy
42 Tess of the d'Ubervilles - Thomas Hardy
43 The Woodlanders - Thomas Hardy
44 House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
45 The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
46 A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
47 The Sun also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
48 The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
49 Ulysses - James Joyce
50 Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Pierre Choderlox de Laclos
51 The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux
52 The Golden Notebook-Doris Lessing
53 Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
54 Bel Ami - Guy de Maupassant
55 Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained - John Milton
56 Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
57 Utopia - Thomas Moore
58 Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle - Vladimir Nabokov
59 Pnin - Vladimir Nabokov
60 Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
61 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge - RM Rilke
62 Scaramouche - Rafael Sabatini
63 Franny and Zooey - J.D. Salinger
64 Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare
65 Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
66 East of Eden - John Steinbeck
67 The Grapes of Wrath-John Steinbeck
68 Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde - R.L. Stevenson
69 War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy
70 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
71 Candide - Voltaire
72 The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
73 The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
74 House of Mirth - Edith Wharton
75 The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
76 The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
77 East Lynn - Ellen Wood
78 The Swiss Family Robinson - Johann D. Wyss

I did read the introduction. I don't know about your edition but mine was written by a Leonard Tancock. It sort of gave away a lot but it was nice to understand where Diderot was coming from before reading the book.