Ohhhhh the pain!

This is precisely the reason why I avoid reading classics.

I had the distinct impression that I was engaged in a never-ending game of clue that seemed to stretch on for days. It was so overly drawn out, with such exaggerated drama, and yet, in so many aspects, it was entirely predictable.

This particular literary offering was most definitely not to my taste.

It is classified as romantic/suspense, but I would classify it as dreadfully dull and boring. Eek! This is just my personal opinion, of course.

Rated 2.5 stars.

Perhaps others may find merit in this classic, but for me, it failed to capture my interest and left me feeling rather disappointed.

Nevertheless, I will continue to explore different literary works in the hope of finding those hidden gems that truly speak to me.

What can I say about this book that hasn't been said already? It is truly a masterpiece of slow-burning suspense.

When it was first published, some critics viciously panned it. But here's the thing, years later, the book is still widely read.

It has withstood the test of time and continues to engage readers with its captivating story and thrilling plot twists.

As for those critics who were so quick to condemn it, I have only this to say: nobody remembers who you are.

Their negative opinions have faded into oblivion, while the book remains a beloved classic.

It serves as a reminder that true quality will always shine through, regardless of initial criticism.

This book is a testament to the power of great storytelling and the ability of a well-crafted work to endure.

It is a must-read for anyone who loves a good mystery and enjoys being kept on the edge of their seat.

My only point of reference for Rebecca is a Comic Strip Presents... episode called Consuela, written and starring Jennifer Saunders. It's loosely based on this iconic novel and contains one of my all-time favourite Rik Mayall comedy quotes (\\"Jennifer, did you kill all these people?\\"). Throughout my read, I was envisioning that episode. I suppose you could say it spoilt it for me, but not in the way you'd think.

Rebecca was sublimely written. The prose flowed beautifully, taking you into every nook and cranny along with the characters. It had a supremely strong beginning, brisk and purposefully vague, which was enjoyable. It's a wonderful example of an early psychological thriller without the butch masochism the genre is known for.

However, I didn't like it as much as I wanted to. I think I had higher expectations than I should have. I never liked the new Mrs de Winter. I thought she was a mess, though I loved her little fantasies as they felt so real. She's a female protagonist who feels real and well-rounded, but I still didn't like her. Nor did I like Mr de Winter. I thought they suited each other perfectly.

I also didn't like how small the world was in the novel. I understand that was the point, but I expected more about Manderley. We barely scratched the surface of the place and I didn't get much of a feeling from it. I could feel how the characters loved it or not, but I didn't have those feelings myself. The description always seemed to move on too quickly. It could have been better, but perhaps I expected too much.

There were plenty of twists and turns and I was engrossed at times, but also completely fed up and bored. It was a strange mix throughout and I found myself yawning a couple of times too many. I can't really say I enjoyed it; it just felt like a book from a list.

**Rebecca: A Captivating Classic**

In a Nutshell: Well worth the hype. An excellent character study. Great for literary fiction and classic readers.

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Skipping the usual ‘Story Synopsis’ as many might have read this classic. If not, the Goodreads blurb suffices.

I wasn't initially planning to read ‘Rebecca’. It wasn't on my school list and no one around recommended it. But about 6 years ago, Amazon's recs section caught my eye, and I bought a paperback. It lay unread until recently.

Two things pushed it to the top of my list. One of my ARCs, ‘The Fiction Writer’ by Jillian Cantor, has Rebecca in a primary role. Also, the BOTM in my Facebook group, ‘The Reading List’ by Sara Nisha Adams, has a section titled ‘Rebecca’. I prefer reading the source material first to avoid spoilers.

Bookish Yays:

I can't recall what exactly possessed me to move Daphne du Maurier's 1938 Gothic mystery so high up on my reading list.

Rebecca was the source material for the Academy Award-winning Best Picture of 1940, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. I remember the film being visually stunning, but its plot development was very un-Hitchcockian. It had more in common with Gone With the Wind than Strangers on a Train. My desire to give more female authors a fair read and to find something to write glowing reviews about prevailed.

Judging from this novel, I couldn't be a more passionate fan of du Maurier's.

Rebecca begins with a sentence that is as captivating as it is airtight: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." The story is told from the first-person perspective of a naive and unsophisticated girl who, in one of the author's several bold moves, is never revealed by her given name, only later referred to as "Mrs. de Winter" or "the second Mrs. de Winter." She is an escort for an obnoxious American woman vacationing in Monte Carlo. The girl's employer latches onto any hotel guest she recognizes from the society pages and makes a victim of an English widower named Maximilian de Winter, the heir to an estate in the West Country called Manderley, a place that everyone agrees is like a dream.

Although twice her age, de Winter is drawn to the girl's innocence just as she is to his gentleness and experience. Not many afternoons pass in Monte Carlo between the time he allows her to call him "Maxim" and he offers to take her away from her dreadful employer by marrying her. The couple returns to Manderley, where Mrs. de Winter is overwhelmed by the house with its unoccupied rooms, its staff eager to cater to her every need, and the neighbors requesting social calls. She immediately feels the scorn of the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, a cold-hearted woman she is certain intends to destroy her.

Rebecca is a ghost story in which no actual visitations from beyond the grave occur. The second Mrs. de Winter is haunted by her predecessor, a combination of beauty, brains, and breeding who drowned in a boating accident but lives on in every furniture arrangement and in the eyes of everyone she meets at Manderley. Mrs. Danvers does rank as one of the great antagonists in literature, her battle of wills with the second Mrs. de Winter as one-sided as a cat playing with a mouse, but it is Rebecca who proves to be the force threatening the couple. I was surprised to find myself rooting for the protagonists to defeat Rebecca and live happily ever after. It's shocking how great writing can reduce me to a 16-year-old girl.

Du Maurier has a great ear for dialogue and propels the story forward with a lot of it, which I always think is great. Her prose is as intoxicating as it is concise, detailing the landscapes and rooms her characters move through with lush confidence and without turning the book into a furniture catalog. Manderley is based on a Cornwall estate called Menabilly that du Maurier became obsessed with, but instead of writing a history of the estate or the people who lived there, she focuses on a new arrival, a novice who must prove herself and overcome her fear of the house or risk being driven out and destroyed by it. I liked that.

I also liked how du Maurier doesn't force a conventional whodunit on the reader. Mrs. de Winter doesn't assert herself into the story as much as a contemporary heroine might. The plot unfolds around her in a very effective way. Her motivation is to make her marriage work and keep her husband happy. If she fails, she risks going back into the world where she has fewer opportunities to survive. In addition to examining what more marriages were like before women's liberation, this aspect of the story elevated the tension extremely well. I'll be moving more of du Maurier's fiction to the top of my reading list.

RE-READ

Just as good as the first read!! I couldn't believe all the details that I had forgotten. It's truly amazing how a story can unfold differently with each reading.

Ms. Danvers still takes the cake as the creepiest housekeeper I've encountered. Her presence alone sends chills down my spine. The way she manipulates and haunts the narrator is both terrifying and captivating.

The Mansion Manderley was such a prominent character as well. du Maurier's writing really captured the household tension, the gothic vibes, and the good VS evil embedded in the story. The description of the mansion, with its dark corridors and hidden secrets, adds an extra layer of mystery and intrigue.

Still my FAVORITE classic mystery. It has all the elements that make a great story - a complex plot, interesting characters, and a spooky atmosphere.

Waiting for the upcoming Netflix version this month!! I'm excited to see how they bring this classic to life on the screen. I hope they do justice to the original story and capture its essence.

"Rebecca" is an incredibly captivating and endearing read. It features vivid world-building that transports the reader to the enchanting town of Manderley. The characters are strong and well-developed, although the plot may move at a relatively slow pace. However, this is compensated by the presence of gothic and suspense elements that keep the reader on the edge of their seat.

The protagonist, whose name remains unknown throughout the novel, interacts with a diverse cast of characters. Her journey from timidity and self-doubt to confidence and self-assurance is a central theme. Maxim De Winter, her husband, is initially portrayed as cold and non-sentimental, but undergoes a transformation as the story progresses.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the novel is the character of Mrs. Danvers. The authoress creates a perfect air of mystery and creepiness around her, making her a truly sinister figure. Her actions and words have a significant impact on the protagonist, and she adds an extra layer of tension to the story.

Overall, "Rebecca" is a 5-star read that offers a rich and engaging experience. The atmospheric setting of Manderley and the complex characters make it a novel that is worth re-visiting. Whether you are a fan of gothic literature or simply enjoy a good mystery, "Rebecca" is sure to satisfy.

In Rebecca, the wide-eyed observations of a young bride who is thrust into a world of old wealth and stuffy etiquette brought me far more excitement than I had expected.

The initial few introductory chapters, although enjoyable, did not really pique my substantial interest. The writing was pleasant, but in a rather broad way, at best. Then, when the prosperous Maxim de Winter brought home our unnamed narrator as his new, second wife, everything underwent a transformation.

Home, in this instance, turns out to be a well-maintained manor on the Cornish coast. It is complete with its own forest, winding trails, beautifully manicured gardens, and a private cove. The settings are truly memorable and are exploited to perfection by Daphne du Maurier. However, it is the mystery surrounding them that makes the story truly captivating. The first Mrs. de Winter, who died under unclear circumstances, seems unable to fade from the lives of the occupants, including the staff. Instead, she lingers there to the point of obsession for many. This is to the great dismay of our newly married and naïve narrator, as she unknowingly finds herself living in a house full of secrets, all of which seem to revolve around her predecessor.

I absolutely loved this book. I can't believe the direction the plot took after a rather tepid start, nor the intensity that the characters managed to develop. I might very well read this again someday.

Five haunting, oh-my-god-was-this-ever-good stars.

I want to start by expressing my gratitude to the 49 people who liked my non-existent review! I will now make an effort to rewrite my previous review, and this time, I'll remember to back it up!

Recently, I read Bag of Bones by Stephen King, which I adored. It inspired me to move Rebecca to the top of my reading list. If I had read Rebecca first, I would have recognized Stephen King's references to it with a smile. As it was, I read Daphne du Maurier's story with Bag of Bones as my reference point, and I think it worked just as well.

This novel is beautifully written. Often, when I read, I jot down sentences that I find particularly lovely or poignant. However, with this book, I didn't even attempt that because I would have ended up copying the entire thing. The opening line, 'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again', is brilliant. It appears several times in Bag of Bones, and the main character, Mike Noonan, observes, \\"If there is any more beautiful and haunting first line in English fiction, I've never read it.\\" I'm inclined to agree with him. The entire first chapter, which describes the dream of Manderley, hooked me immediately. I was eager to know what Manderley was like or had been like, especially since the narrator remarks, 'We would not talk of Manderley, I would not tell my dream. For Manderley was ours no longer. Manderley was no more.'

Chapter two reveals a couple living in exile, and chapter three jumps back in time to their first meeting in Monte Carlo. Our unnamed heroine is working as a lady's companion, and Maxim de Winter is a handsome, wealthy widow. After a short time, he proposes abruptly, and we follow them to Manderley.

Manderley is one of those mind-boggling houses that I find both fascinating and a little hard to fathom due to its excess. If you search for Manderley images on Google, you'll see pictures of both the house from the 1940 film and the real house called Menabilly that inspired its fictional counterpart. I haven't seen the film yet. I mistakenly thought it starred Olivia de Havilland when it's actually her sister, Joan Fontaine. Given their supposed rivalry, I doubt either of them would appreciate the mix-up! I was right about Laurence Olivier playing Maxim - without looking it up, he definitely contributed to my mental image of the character.

Manderley dominates the story to such an extent that it almost feels like a living, breathing character. Maxim is devoted to it, his new wife feels unworthy of it, and the loss of it (as revealed from the beginning) seems to have brought their lives to a standstill. Even when it no longer exists, it still appears to be the focus of their lives.

And then there's the titular Rebecca. Just like Manderley, perhaps even more so, she is everywhere. The house is still being run the way she did. People speak of her in tones of awe. The new Mrs de Winter finds herself creating an image of a perfectly ideal wife, convinced that Maxim will never love her as much as he loved Rebecca. Surely every time he looks at her, he is reminded that he made a mistake in marrying her? Every clumsy, awkward step she takes only serves to remind him of all the ways in which she isn't Rebecca - or so she convinces herself.

The housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, remains devoted to the first Mrs de Winter. The absolute cruelty of her dress suggestion was rather horrifying to read. I wouldn't have expected a scene involving a dress could feel so devastating, but it was. I felt a little ill after reading it. Not to mention the scene on the balcony.

Much of the first 300 pages or so are filled with events that never actually occur, as the new Mrs de Winter concocts scenarios in which everyone is laughing at her, deeming her unworthy, and judging her to be nothing compared to Rebecca. I still found it gripping, enthralling, and then suddenly, a revelation was made. Maxim killed Rebecca and falsely identified a different body. Now her sunken boat, with her actual body inside it, has been discovered. Our narrator doesn't care all that much that her husband is a murderer - her focus is on his revelation that his marriage to Rebecca had been a sham. He never loved her - he never loved her! Yay! Here he declares his love for his current wife. I'm still unsure as to whether he meant this, or whether this was simply a way to keep her with him? I don't know, perhaps you're not supposed to know? I know that this is a novel that I will want to reread. There is so much to explore, and once you know everything, I wonder if you'll notice it all in a different way during a second reading, with some things taking on greater significance.

Regarding everything I mentioned under the spoiler tag, I had suspected the second revelation but not the first. Perhaps I should have, but I was so caught up in all the worries and the despair over what Mrs Danvers did that it was a genuine shock to me. Despite myself, I wanted Maxim to get away with it. Terrible, isn't it? You can't just kill your wife because she is a'sexual deviant' - in real life, I would never find that acceptable. Get a divorce, separate, live miserably with each other if you're unwilling to 'fail' in marriage. Goodness me! But, in this fictional setting, I wanted him to remain free - and he did, but also didn't. Manderley was everything to him. Perhaps it was fair that he lost it. Possibly justified or not, he did still murder someone. He didn't know she was dying, so he didn't approach it with any sense of compassion. It wasn't a mercy killing.

My copy of the book has an introduction written by Sally Beauman. I think I saw that some editions have it as an afterword instead, which is more appropriate. I always approach introductions with caution because so many outline the entire plot - as this one does. It is an excellent piece, very informative, but I'm glad I glanced at it first and decided to leave it until the end of the book since it covers everything. I loved this point that she makes: \\"There is a final twist to 'Rebecca' and it is a covert one. Maxim de Winter kills not one wife, but two. He murders the first with a gun, and the second by slower, more insidious methods. The second Mrs de Winter's fate, for which she prepares herself throughout the novel, is to be subsumed by her husband. Following him into that hellish exile she glimpsed in the opening chapters, she becomes again what she was when she first met him - the paid companion to a petty tyrant. For humouring his whims, and obeying his every behest, her recompense is not money, but 'love' - and the cost is her identity. This is the final bitter irony of this novel, and the last of its many reversals.

It is a novel that has generated controversy for me.

On one hand, it comes with high ratings from readers and I can understand why. The descriptions of Manderley are truly sublime, painting a vivid picture of its grandeur. The psychological depth of the characters adds another layer of complexity, making them feel real and relatable. The landscapes and atmosphere are also beautifully crafted, creating a sense of mystery and allure.

However, on the other hand, the novel has its flaws. It seems to have half of the pages left over, as the same descriptions of Manderley are repeated countless times. I get tired of reading about its trees, path, flowers, gardeners, birds, and the rest of the landscape. The protagonist's role as a shy woman who is incapable of waking up can also be tiresome, as is the bipolar master who switches from kindness to depression in a matter of seconds.

For a large part of the novel, not much happens beyond the mundane activities of drinking tea and choosing the menu. It's a total bore until the end, when things finally pick up a bit. The ending, while not overly dramatic, does manage to fix some of the novel's problems. But it's nothing to get too excited about, as everything still happens slowly and calmly.

The dialogues are also not the best I've ever seen, often feeling stilted and uninteresting. Overall, the novel is like Manderley itself: a beautiful mansion that may look impressive on the outside, but is ultimately slow and dull on the inside. In comparison, the film is by far better, capturing the essence of the story in a more engaging and exciting way.

Rebecca walked so Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne could run!

All in all, the writing in this piece is truly gorgeous. There is an intense and keen sense of suspense right from the beginning that had me completely riveted to the page. It presents such a gnawing and permeating portrait of anxiety. It vividly paints the feeling of being wound up so extremely tight, like a piano wire that is pulled so taut that it might snap at any given moment.

However, unfortunately, the novel does not manage to sustain this level of suspense throughout. Somewhere around the middle, the thrill seems to sag a bit. Respectfully to our unnamed narrator, I firmly believe that this would have been an even more compelling read if it had switched to Rebecca’s perspective at some point.

What can I say? I wholeheartedly support women's rights, but I have to admit that I really fucking dig women's wrongs. It adds an interesting and complex layer to the story that keeps me engaged and intrigued.

I'm truly delighted that I delved into this modern classic.

Recently, I watched the latest Netflix adaptation, yet it had its drawbacks. Something simply didn't click.

When my 'buddy reader' friend, Marge from the US, recommended this, I hesitated but then thought, what the heck, let's give it a try.

Thank you, Marge. You did me an enormous favor.

Although I've reviewed several novels that translate better on the big screen, this one is the opposite. Kudos to Daphne du Maurier's masterful writing. I was captivated by almost every sentence, and all the melodrama (which I adored!) soared from 'ho-hum' to lofty heights with her prose.

Her use of seasons, weather, and the natural environment to evoke moods and atmosphere rivals that of Thomas Hardy and the Brontë sisters.

Hint: Don't watch or Google anything about 'Rebecca'. Go in blind.

If, like me, that's not possible, it's not the end of the world. A post-Netflix movie read could make du Maurier's storytelling even more impressive.

I might check out Alfred Hitchcock's interpretation from the 1940s. Did he have a thing for Daphne? He also adapted one of her other famous novels, 'The Birds'. That's on my 'to read' list too...

Also, I encourage you to check out Marge's review as well: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...