Reviews

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

nepentheaud's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

eviesellers's review against another edition

4.0

i read this book because taylor swift said it was her inspiration for writing tolerate it, and i DEFINITELY see the vision.

i like the way in which the unnamed second mrs de winter is an unreliable narrator; her naïveté and love for maxim paint his actions in a light that they may not have been viewed in if the book had been written from an impartial third person perspective. maxim manipulated the young narrator from the beginning, and withheld his affections until he confessed his actions toward rebecca. long story short, he was a dick.

i also loved the amount of things that were hinted at or left for the reader to infer rather than being told outright; was rebecca goading maxim into killing her so she wouldnt die slowly from her cancer? did mrs danvers set the fire at manderly? what happened to favel? what was rebecca going to tell favel in the note she left him? did ben truly know more than he let on and if so, why did he not tell the colonel?

this was an extremely interesting read and quite hard to put down. it is absolutely INSANE, however, that people describe this as a romance or a romantic story whatsoever. perhaps the narrator would describe it that way, but from an outside perspective it's much more of an exploration of manipulation in relationships, power dynamics, and exploitation.

alisarae's review against another edition

5.0

Wow I cannot believe I had never read this before! What a ride.

laurenreed's review against another edition

mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

carlottag's review against another edition

1.0

Skimmed it mostly.
The book would've been better without the 3 page long descriptions about nature and more on the characters. It didn't need to be 400 pages when the story was so bland.
The characters were flat, the only thing they evoked from me was "WTF?" And not in a curious kind of way. It was a "I cannot believe they are so stupid" kind of way.

paule_sibbi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

purplequeen's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't believe it took me this long in life to finally read this book. It has so many themes. It is a bit of a slow start, but it's worth it to keep going. It is one of those I wish I could read for the first time again. 

So much can be affected by a person in life and death. The themes explored throughout are interesting. I can't say too much without spoiling it for those who haven't read it yet. 

I am so glad I took the time to finally read this classic.

ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

[Review from Aug 2020]:

“I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”

This is one of my new alltime favorite books. I’d been meaning to read this for ages but I’m glad I waited until I was in the exact right mood for a story like this because I think otherwise I might not have appreciated it as much.

I don’t think I ever quite knew what this book was about before reading it, even though I’ve heard it mentioned a lot. You definitely want to go into this book knowing as little as possible about it because it is a huge mystery and discovering what was actually going on in the book is what makes or breaks this book for the reader I think.

Although I also quite liked the literary writing style and how every description added to the unsettling atmosphere of the story. In fact the writing style more than anything else is usually why I love these gothic novels.

And I didn’t mind the sudden, somewhat vague ending. I think I’ve come to prefer those sorts of endings to too-neat endings so that the book is sort of left open to whatever interpretation the reader chooses.

Speaking of interpretations the reader chooses…

Let’s talk about Rebecca herself. 😈 Is she the villain of the story? Or the victim? What did du Maurier intend vis a vis her character? Is the MC an unreliable narrator? Is Maxim the villain for killing Rebecca? I’m leaning to the interpretation that Rebecca is a villain mostly because she abused that horse and harassed Ben—and that did not sit well with me at all. Also she was in love with Favell who was pretty gross. I hated how he was making fun of Robert. 😖 BUT did she really deserve to be *killed* by Maxim?? I mean. That’s pretty shitty. Of course I think I also buy the interpretation that she meant for him to kill her to spare her a painful death from her disease as well as to take her final revenge on not only Maxim but what he represented—a world that privileged only a select few, determined by birth alone, to have all the advantages. WHICH also kind of makes her something of the hero of the story imo… 🤷🏼‍♀️ Idk! I like the complexity of it and the vagueness of the ending. I think that’s a big part of what makes this such an excellent book. 🥰

★ ★ ★ ★ ★  

srubykeene's review against another edition

5.0

To think I voted against this for my book club’s most recent choice! I didn’t realize it was written so long ago, as my only knowledge of it was tied to that recent film version. I love gothic novels and listened to this one on audible.

tamsinkate's review against another edition

5.0

Loved! Delayed reading the last 2 chapters because I didn’t want it to end haha