Rebecca in The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club

Mar 20, 2019 Juneta Key rated it really liked it

I enjoyed the vivid prose and the mystery told only from a single point of view. The imaginary brushes the emotions which help you relate despite this happening in a different time and place. It has that dark mystery aura romance feel to it. I enjoyed reading it.

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Feb 16, 2019 Toi Thomas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, rated, romance, classics, historical-fiction, thriller

I enjoyed this book, but it took me a while to get into it. Once I did start to get sucked in, it felt more like a mystery than a romance, but perhaps that's what gothic romances are like; I honestly haven't read that much of it.

The first thing that stood out to me, was the narrator/MC had no name and was never given one. Why?

The second thing that stood out to me was that I didn't like any of the characters in this book. Not one of them felt relatable to me, but that doesn't mean that they were I enjoyed this book, but it took me a while to get into it. Once I did start to get sucked in, it felt more like a mystery than a romance, but perhaps that's what gothic romances are like; I honestly haven't read that much of it.

The first thing that stood out to me, was the narrator/MC had no name and was never given one. Why?

The second thing that stood out to me was that I didn't like any of the characters in this book. Not one of them felt relatable to me, but that doesn't mean that they weren't realistic. I can easily imagine people being this boring, or conceited, or bashful, or simple, or elitists, etc...

The third thing that really stood out in this story was the descriptions of the setting. Granted, this was a book club read for me and our focus was on the setting, but even without that caveat, the settings clearly set the tone and mood for every scene in the book. Sometimes, I felt like the places being described had more character or personality than the people in them. The house at Manderley seems to be an additional character, a pawn to be moved around the chessboard of this crazy relationship, or perhaps it is the board in which all the pieces can move about only in ways specific to them.

The color red has never seemed so vile and wretched in such a beautiful and dainty way... Hope I didn't lose you there, but that's what I got from the book.

This book is reminiscent to works of Austen I've read, only in the ways they heavily rely on etiquette, perception, and restrictive and judgment social standards to build tension and drama. If you go into the book expecting that, then it will live up to and even surpass the dramas of Austen. For me, I kept having to remind myself of the type of book I was reading to keep from punching my Kindle screen (so glad I rented this from the digital library). I just kept wanting to scream at all the characters, "practice better communication and stop making assumptions," but then there would be no story.

In the end, (and for me it was imperative that I make it to the end, thus my rating may have been different) the story came together nicely and made sense. By the end, I was ready for the "shocking" conclusion that is eluded to at the beginning of the book.

Recommended to fans of classic literature, gothic romance, Hitchcock films, and slightly darker more depressing tales similar to Bronte and Austen. ...more

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Feb 24, 2019 Roland Clarke rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed

Review 5 stars

This was a classic that I thought I had read, but I hadn’t. Now I’m glad I did as it’s memorable and worthy of multiple reads.

Although the novel is described as gothic – and by some as a romance – for me it was also a mystery. Its style by today’s standards might be called dated and yet it was ahead of its time – as was the author.

Much of the narration is as chunks of description mixed with reflection and conjecture by the un-named protagonist living in the shadow of Rebecca. In c ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Susan rated it really liked it

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Read this book several times. Each time with great pleasure. I loved the atmosphere and suspense. The one-sided POV of REBECCA is what keeps the mystery alive. Also saw the film several times with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. I recently read a fictional biography of Daphne de Maurier. Her time in her house on the river Dart. ...more

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Mar 16, 2015 Beverly Fox rated it it was ok · review of another edition

I had such incredibly high hopes for this book, which I suppose was a bad idea since it set me up perfectly to be so disappointed. The first chapter is an exemplary education in the meaning of the word atmospheric and sets the stage for a story much bigger than this ended up being. But, because the writing itself is so skillfully done it's important to separate that from the plot, so let's do that.
The quality of the writing rivals some of the best authors I've ever read. Du Maurier is so adept a I had such incredibly high hopes for this book, which I suppose was a bad idea since it set me up perfectly to be so disappointed. The first chapter is an exemplary education in the meaning of the word atmospheric and sets the stage for a story much bigger than this ended up being. But, because the writing itself is so skillfully done it's important to separate that from the plot, so let's do that.
The quality of the writing rivals some of the best authors I've ever read. Du Maurier is so adept at the nuances of stage-setting that it's possible for the reader themselves to start having dreams about Manderley. From the descriptions of the house to the servants to the ever tangible ghost of the title character it's impossible not to get chills sometimes when reading these sentences. If you wanted to learn how to build a setting using poetic prose you could do a heck of a lot worse. It almost has a "Fall of the House of Usher" feel to it in how large the house itself looms.
But perhaps that's part of the downfall of the story- the house eclipses the characters themselves. I believe, for example, that one is supposed to like or at least root for Maxim. I hated him. HATED him. I couldn't find one redeeming characteristic in the whole damned book. And the narrator herself is so wimpy and wilting that's it's easy to not really care what happens to her- and you can't have genuine fear if you don't care what happens to the characters.
I tried to remind myself that it's a different time period- women didn't have a whole heck of a lot of options back then. But I often found myself thinking that she would have been much better off if she had stuck with Mrs. Van Hopper- who, coincidentally, was way more entertaining than either of the main characters.
It didn't help that once the narrator went to Manderley nothing happened for the first 200 pages that she was there. I get that thrillers are supposed to have a slow build but this is ridiculous. And when things finally do start to happen the reading goes much quicker- but it's not a rewarding end.
At the finish I find myself glad for having read this book for the writing far more than for the story. I've heard that the movie is actually superior simply because the genre allows for the slow build without the drag you feel in reading and that the characters are larger due to being well-acted. I haven't seen the movie but I'm planning to, and given everything I've heard about it I wouldn't be surprised if it's one of a very small number of cases where the film outranks the book. ...more

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