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Rebecca

Daphne du Maurier

Start date: September 1, 2018

Finish date: October 31, 2018

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Oct 10, 2018 Denise Cormaney rated it it was amazing

Sometimes you find the right book at the right time. It was the weekend of Kavanaugh being confirmed, and I was feeling rather distraught. I couldn’t focus on anything, and I needed a book to take me to a completely different time and place. Rebecca was sitting on my Kindle, waiting for a moment such as this.

This book is a classic for a reason. It’s the kind of book you curl up with, cup of tea in hand and a blanket across your lap, getting swept up in the story. This starts out as a slow burn; ...more

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Jan 19, 2021 Molli B. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-other, 2015-shelved, bingo-2020, 2020-read, length-novel, format-paperback, format-audio-audible, genre-m-f, genre-romance, genre-mystery-thriller-action

I feel like I already wrote my review for this, but this box seems to be empty, so I guess I didn't.

It was listening to the audio that saved this for me. It took me...quite a while to slog through the first half (or so) in the paperback, so I picked up the audio and finished it relatively quickly. The narrator's voice wasn't at all how the second Mrs. DeWinter's voice sounded in my head, but ah well, such is life.

As for the story...I think it was her (the second Mrs. DeWinter) naiveté that reall I feel like I already wrote my review for this, but this box seems to be empty, so I guess I didn't.

It was listening to the audio that saved this for me. It took me...quite a while to slog through the first half (or so) in the paperback, so I picked up the audio and finished it relatively quickly. The narrator's voice wasn't at all how the second Mrs. DeWinter's voice sounded in my head, but ah well, such is life.

As for the story...I think it was her (the second Mrs. DeWinter) naiveté that really drove me batty. She was just so...sheltered isn't quite the right word, because it implies an intentional sort of state of being...I guess naive is the right word, although it doesn't quite capture what I have in mind. But she really hasn't been anywhere or done anything or met anyone, and she is just...sorta clueless. And that's fine, but I think what drove me nuts is that sometimes things were just so OBVIOUS, and she was still wandering around like it was her first day on earth. IDK.

I have to say that I imagined Mrs. Danvers would play a larger role than she did. I've seen the movie (with Joan Fontaine), and maybe she was a bigger figure in that? It's been a few years since I've seen it. Or maybe it's sort of...pop culture that's given her more of a role. Oh, she was definitely creepy and weird and out to get the second Mrs. DeWinter, but she wasn't quite the...Annie Wilkes/Wicked Stepmother character that I'd been expecting. Or maybe that's just my 21st century bloodlust overwhelming the book's 1930's sensibilities :)

Anyway. The book is fine. The characters are fine. I do think Du Maurier actually pulls off never giving us the narrator's name. After a while, I didn't even think about it. It could have been seriously annoying, but—maybe primarily because the book is in first—it's just not a concern. I also think there's a great deal of suspense through the book...you know something is going to happen but you just don't know what and you're not sure when and you're left looking over your shoulder and biting your nails for a good chunk of the book.

A classic, for sure. And I'm glad I read it, even if it was a bit of a struggle. ...more

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Jul 08, 2018 Adjrun rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a really interesting novel. It’s the point on a line in-between Jane Eyre and modern thrillers like Gone Girl. I had no idea how much of the novel was almost a literary remix of Brontë’s work, but the reference and resonances are clear. And I can’t help but think that modern unlikeable heroines have their footing in both Rebecca and the second Mrs. DeWinter.

The book says a lot about femininity and power and relationships and honesty. More than honesty - candor. Openness about feelings an ...more

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