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Loading... Rebecca (original 1938; edition 2002)by Daphne du Maurier
Work InformationRebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938)
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I enjoyed this more than I thought I was going to for the first half of the novel. I was getting desperately tired of the weak, insecure, silly schoolgirl of a narrator. What kept me going was the vivid, sometimes insightful daydreams of the narrator. At least when she wasn’t wallowing in her paranoia and insecurity. For instance, when she’s visiting Maxim’s grandmother: Maxim’s grandmother suffered her in patience. She closed her eyes as though she too were tired. She looked more like Maxim than ever. I knew how she must have looked when she was young, tall, and handsome, going round to the stables at Manderley with sugar in her pockets, holding her trailing skirt out of the mud. I pictured the nipped-in waist, the high collar, I heard her ordering the carriage for two o’clock. That was all finished now for her, all gone. Her husband had been dead for forty years, her son for fifteen. She had to live in this bright, red-gabled house with the nurse until it was time for her to die. I thought how little we know about the feelings of old people. The last quarter or so of the novel had me turning pages to find to what was going to happen, but it read very much like an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, and I much preferred the more introspective sections. The ending sent me back to reread the beginning, made so much more poignant the second time around. But, wow, I need to read a feminist analysis of this book. And how about that Mrs. Danvers, right? I think this is the only book I’ve ever read where the murder victim was a house. It is very well done, with a nameless protagonist who feels overshadowed by her husband’s first wife. The atmosphere is sufficiently chilling, with hints of ghosts and a malevolent housekeeper. I find it a bit shocking that some people feel it is romantic. Du Maurier knew what she was doing in trying to create a sympathetic murderer, she only hints at most of Rebecca’s depravity, but includes sleeping with her cousin on the grounds of her husband’s home in an attempt, I believe, to justify the murder. The fact that he went right out and found a nice, young pliable replacement is glossed over. The story owes a lot to Jane Eyre.So much so that one wonders if Du Maurier read Jane Eyre and started wondering what would have happened if Mr. Rochester had killed his first wife instead of keeping her in the attic. Anyway, an enjoyable read deserving its place as a classic. . Belongs to Publisher Series — 8 more Is contained inA Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volumes 1-2 by Howard Haycraft (indirect) ContainsIs retold inHas the (non-series) sequelHas the adaptationIs abridged inWas inspired byInspiredHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a supplementHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Anyone of my generation is going to immediately flash to Jan Brady complaining about her perfect older sister and dramatically whining, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!" Unfortunately, without Carol and Mike to provide guidance, our heroine's problems aren't resolved in 22 minutes, and we have to follow her along for several hundred pages as things just get worse and worse.
Long before the Brady vibe kicked in, this book felt like off-kilter homage to Jane Eyre, another marriage with a third wheel looming over everything.
Overall, I found myself pulled along through Rebecca by the style of the prose, but it did prove a bit boring for long segments and overlong in general. A lot of plot developments feel like they'd play better on a soap opera than between the covers of a book, but they effectively hooked me and kept me going even as I got a little impatient with the pacing.
For me, the biggest problem is the twenty-year age gap in the marriage, which the husband sums up in the skeeviest way possible with this bon mot: "It's a pity you have to grow up."
In the end I couldn't really like any of the flawed people in the book, but I rather enjoyed watching their turmoil unfold. ( )