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Rebecca

Daphne du Maurier,

Sally Beauman (Afterword)

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 3, 2012

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What Members Thought

Nov 02, 2017 Ali rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, audiobooks, rory-gilmore-book-challenge, 2017, classics

this was the PERFECT audiobook to read about Halloween and when the weather was dark and gloomy

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Mar 18, 2012 Erika B. (SOS BOOKS) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mind-blown, classic, favorites, clean-read, favorite-boy-award, intense, pg-romance

This is one of my all time favorite books! It's a psychological thriller and also a thrilling love story. This one will stay on my top 10 list for a really long time! Creepy Mrs. Danvers will always be an ultimate villain to me!
"Last night I dreamed I went to Manderly again..." ...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Sheila rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, romance, gothic, national-book-award, boxalls-1001

There's something about a first-person narrative that always satisfies me as a reader, especially when the narrator is an outsider or trying to fit in, with good or bad intentions notwithstanding. It's easier to feel some kinship, some loyalty to a character who is less than perfect. We do prefer suffering because it's familiar.

A few of my favorite narrators include the deceptive and maniac, Mr. Humbert Humbert, of Lolita, the insecure scholar, Lee Fiora, of Prep, and who can ever forget the tr There's something about a first-person narrative that always satisfies me as a reader, especially when the narrator is an outsider or trying to fit in, with good or bad intentions notwithstanding. It's easier to feel some kinship, some loyalty to a character who is less than perfect. We do prefer suffering because it's familiar.

A few of my favorite narrators include the deceptive and maniac, Mr. Humbert Humbert, of Lolita, the insecure scholar, Lee Fiora, of Prep, and who can ever forget the tragic subversive hero, Winston, of 1984? Even the voice of Claire Randall in Outlander was irresistible simply because she's a twentieth century English woman traveling in 18th century Scotland.

In Rebecca, Mrs. De Winter wasn’t always Mrs. De Winter, mistress of the seaside estate, Manderley. She was a paid companion of a rich, bored widow visiting Monte Carlo. Her experiences before that are nothing extraordinary, save for the time when, as a young sketch artist, she bought a postcard of the dreamy Manderley estate.

In Monte Carlo, she met her future husband, the older and mysterious Maximilian De Winter. That he is also the master of her dreamy postcard copy seemed like a premonition. An almost too pure a coincidence not until the unnamed heroine was faced with a decision of going to New York with her employer or staying with Mr. De Winter.

Of course, by the succeeding chapters, the reader will have known better that what seemed like a natural turn of events such as leaving your job, getting married, and staying a few weeks in Venice for your honeymoon, is only a slow build up to a nightmare.

You'll notice the mood, created through the insecure and inexperienced eyes of the new Mrs. De Winter. It's absorbing, the way everything unfolds. Manderley comes alive with its wall of rhododendrons, abandoned rooms and cabins, barking mad dogs, harmless but strange idiots, and scary if not indifferent house staff.

The stories of its former mistress, Rebecca De Winter, together with the people’s attitude towards her, create a character of its own. So by the time that the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, reveals her wild obsession, I'm no longer surprised. Every horror story needs a character like Mrs. Danvers. The devil in a black uniform.

But the climax is yet to come in the much-awaited costume party and in the appearance of evidences that will reveal the source of Mrs. De Winter’s and, ultimately, Manderley’s misfortune.

Next to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this is the gothic novel to read.

Du Maurier reveals her secrets slowly, taking her time to allow the reader to get attached to Manderley. The ending, one of the best I've ever read, reminds me of Anton Chekhov's writing tip: if there is a gun hanging on the wall in the first act, it must fire in the last. ...more

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Sep 24, 2019 Madge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, kindle-books, three-and-a-half-stars, gothic

Hm. I might need to sit with this one a bit longer, but I'm a little let down, honestly. It did end up being a better experience than I'd feared around 25%, and I still think I would have absolutely loved this if I'd read it 15 years ago, but I'm not totally sure how I feel about it yet. The writing was great, and it was atmospheric and all that, but I have conflicting feelings. I hated the characters, mostly (which I'm fine with), I thought a lot of it was kind of boring and sometimes frustrati ...more

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