Scan barcode
shimmery's review against another edition
4.0
To begin with I loved this book and found myself thinking about it a lot between reading. I loved the writing style and the detail, and liked a lot about the main character. Nameless to us and painfully shy, she spends all her time daydreaming about possible situations, imagining what people say when she isn’t there to hear, speculating about the future. Of course when she becomes a second wife to a widower, the absent first wife becomes a fixation for her imagination.
It’s very clever how most of the first half of the book isn’t things that actually happened, but rather describes things the narrator imagines. The whole plot is very internalised, and that makes it different and I thought worked well.
Rebecca, known only to the narrator through stories people tell her, in which she is beautiful, clever and gregarious, becomes hugely intimidating and a standard the narrator feels she will never meet. She worries her husband will never love her because she will always look poor in comparison. Yet when things turn out to be not how they first seemed and she finds out her husband actually hated Rebecca and in fact murdered her, the narrator’s first reaction is to be relieved thinking that he didn’t love Rebecca after all! I’m sorry, but what star sign do you have to be to be unconcerned that your husband murdered his previous wife, only glad because it means he might prefer you to her?! I began to lose patience with the main character at this point. Is it believable that for all her imagining she can’t imagine that Max might be a terrible person for shooting a woman and disposing of her body?
Nevertheless I did enjoy this book, wild as the ending was.
It’s very clever how most of the first half of the book isn’t things that actually happened, but rather describes things the narrator imagines. The whole plot is very internalised, and that makes it different and I thought worked well.
Rebecca, known only to the narrator through stories people tell her, in which she is beautiful, clever and gregarious, becomes hugely intimidating and a standard the narrator feels she will never meet. She worries her husband will never love her because she will always look poor in comparison. Yet when things turn out to be not how they first seemed and she finds out her husband actually hated Rebecca and in fact murdered her, the narrator’s first reaction is to be relieved thinking that he didn’t love Rebecca after all! I’m sorry, but what star sign do you have to be to be unconcerned that your husband murdered his previous wife, only glad because it means he might prefer you to her?! I began to lose patience with the main character at this point. Is it believable that for all her imagining she can’t imagine that Max might be a terrible person for shooting a woman and disposing of her body?
Nevertheless I did enjoy this book, wild as the ending was.
12344566's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
karina_andrea's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
jesslongden's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
sophie_so's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
callienicole's review against another edition
4.0
I'm going with 3.5 out of 5 stars, because I DON'T KNOW WHAT IN THE WORLD I THINK ABOUT THIS BOOK!
Plot: The book follows a young woman, Caroline, who marries a wealthy man who owns an estate, called Manderly. But Maxim was married before, and when he brings his new bride to the estate, she can't shake the feeling that wherever she turns, traces of Rebecca linger - does Maxim really love her, or is he still in love with Rebecca?
Language: Mild cussing here and there, one or two uses of Jesus's name in vain.
Sexual Content: Some affairs are referenced by some of the characters - nothing explicit.
Writing: I love, love, loved the writing in this book. The style reminded me of a mix between Jane Austen's books and the feeling of Jane Eyre, and I was eating it up. The way she describes Manderly as well almost makes the estate into a character itself. I've never really read a book before where the setting is so rich it almost becomes a character, and I just loved that aspect. You can also see the main character changing before your eyes by the end of the book, and it is done in a really skillful way, in my opinion.
My Thoughts: The first 3/4 of the book was so enjoyable - I honestly loved it. The writing, the way the author gave this feeling of Rebecca looking over the main characters shoulder at every turn, the mysterious Mrs. Danvers, and wondering what is going on with Maxim. But then I hit "the twist" about 3/4 of the way in, and I thought "What just happened???" Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I didn't, and then I honestly didn't know what I thought of the characters, or who I was rooting for anymore.
I won't ruin it for you, but I'm not sure I love the message of this book. There was some sort of justice in the ending, but NOT in a "be sure your sin will find you out" way, and I just don't know what I think about it. I don't think it was enough justice for me - and at the same time that I was wanting justice, a part of me wanted the characters to be happy. So yeah, I'm just really torn about whether I'd recommend it or not! It was interesting, but no great moral of the story here. I wouldn't let my girls read this one unless I was confident they had a solid sense of right and wrong first, because this book attempts to mess with that, and you can't really root for the characters in the end. It's a great one for discussion though.
Plot: The book follows a young woman, Caroline, who marries a wealthy man who owns an estate, called Manderly. But Maxim was married before, and when he brings his new bride to the estate, she can't shake the feeling that wherever she turns, traces of Rebecca linger - does Maxim really love her, or is he still in love with Rebecca?
Language: Mild cussing here and there, one or two uses of Jesus's name in vain.
Sexual Content: Some affairs are referenced by some of the characters - nothing explicit.
Writing: I love, love, loved the writing in this book. The style reminded me of a mix between Jane Austen's books and the feeling of Jane Eyre, and I was eating it up. The way she describes Manderly as well almost makes the estate into a character itself. I've never really read a book before where the setting is so rich it almost becomes a character, and I just loved that aspect. You can also see the main character changing before your eyes by the end of the book, and it is done in a really skillful way, in my opinion.
My Thoughts: The first 3/4 of the book was so enjoyable - I honestly loved it. The writing, the way the author gave this feeling of Rebecca looking over the main characters shoulder at every turn, the mysterious Mrs. Danvers, and wondering what is going on with Maxim. But then I hit "the twist" about 3/4 of the way in, and I thought "What just happened???" Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I didn't, and then I honestly didn't know what I thought of the characters, or who I was rooting for anymore.
I won't ruin it for you, but I'm not sure I love the message of this book. There was some sort of justice in the ending, but NOT in a "be sure your sin will find you out" way, and I just don't know what I think about it. I don't think it was enough justice for me - and at the same time that I was wanting justice, a part of me wanted the characters to be happy. So yeah, I'm just really torn about whether I'd recommend it or not! It was interesting, but no great moral of the story here. I wouldn't let my girls read this one unless I was confident they had a solid sense of right and wrong first, because this book attempts to mess with that, and you can't really root for the characters in the end. It's a great one for discussion though.
reydeam's review against another edition
4.0
Full Review of Rebecca can be found at Mom-Musings
I am at a loss for words. I am not certain how to sum up how I felt about this story.
Let me start by saying...Wow! This book gave me a sense of strangeness. The narrator, the second Mrs. de Winter, is never spoken of by her Christian name and she tells her tale as if she is looking upon the events from the outside - this made me feel a bit surreal.
There were times that I was confused in my reading as the story shifts from past, to present, to dreamlike wishing thoughts and so forth. Once I got a handle on this flow, the story was smooth as the writing is incredible with the lush and lavish narrative. The narrative was expressive in her thoughts of perception - her impressions and observations while all the while being utterly ignorant of the depths of turmoil that Maxim was experiencing.
I truly felt compassion for our narrator - Mrs. de Winter - as she was so insecure of her worth in life, in her worth as Mrs. de Winter. I felt she had her heart in the right place but did not have the resources to sort it all out. Maxim was of no help in trying to build up his wife's security in his life. Yet, I could not also help to feel a bit disheartened that Mrs. de Winter let things happen to her instead of being a bit more forthright. All though, both herself and Maxim are at fault with lack of open and honest talk of how they felt towards one another. Their example of faulty communication illustrates how a relationship can be stunted.
Rebecca provided many twist and turns. There were several events that took me by surprise and left me with my heart-pounding while my brain was reeling at trying to make sense of it all.
The ending was abrupt and a bit disturbing for me as I just could not shake this overall feeling of heaviness, dread, strangeness, sadness and sense of the surreal.
Did I like this story? One would think that with the desolate atmosphere that I would say, "no, I did not like this story."
However, that would be an untrue statement.
In its very surreal way, I fully liked this story! Why? The story grabbed and held on tight to me. I could not put this book down as I read into the wee hours of the night. I needed to know what was happening, what would come of Mrs. de Winter. I needed to "listen" to her telling. I needed to read this haunting tale.
Rating 4.75/5 stars
I am at a loss for words. I am not certain how to sum up how I felt about this story.
Let me start by saying...Wow! This book gave me a sense of strangeness. The narrator, the second Mrs. de Winter, is never spoken of by her Christian name and she tells her tale as if she is looking upon the events from the outside - this made me feel a bit surreal.
There were times that I was confused in my reading as the story shifts from past, to present, to dreamlike wishing thoughts and so forth. Once I got a handle on this flow, the story was smooth as the writing is incredible with the lush and lavish narrative. The narrative was expressive in her thoughts of perception - her impressions and observations while all the while being utterly ignorant of the depths of turmoil that Maxim was experiencing.
I truly felt compassion for our narrator - Mrs. de Winter - as she was so insecure of her worth in life, in her worth as Mrs. de Winter. I felt she had her heart in the right place but did not have the resources to sort it all out. Maxim was of no help in trying to build up his wife's security in his life. Yet, I could not also help to feel a bit disheartened that Mrs. de Winter let things happen to her instead of being a bit more forthright. All though, both herself and Maxim are at fault with lack of open and honest talk of how they felt towards one another. Their example of faulty communication illustrates how a relationship can be stunted.
Rebecca provided many twist and turns. There were several events that took me by surprise and left me with my heart-pounding while my brain was reeling at trying to make sense of it all.
The ending was abrupt and a bit disturbing for me as I just could not shake this overall feeling of heaviness, dread, strangeness, sadness and sense of the surreal.
Did I like this story? One would think that with the desolate atmosphere that I would say, "no, I did not like this story."
However, that would be an untrue statement.
In its very surreal way, I fully liked this story! Why? The story grabbed and held on tight to me. I could not put this book down as I read into the wee hours of the night. I needed to know what was happening, what would come of Mrs. de Winter. I needed to "listen" to her telling. I needed to read this haunting tale.
Rating 4.75/5 stars