Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

6 reviews

atelopxobia's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

maeverose's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.75

TL;DR: I have mixed feelings. I like the overall story, the atmosphere, I really enjoyed the first third/half, then it got way too slow, repetitive and boring. This review will be very negative despite my overall feelings. I didn’t hate the book at all I just have more to say about the negatives.

This is the most atmospheric book I’ve ever read, but imo it’s to a fault. I like slow atmospheric books, and I really liked the writing in the beginning, but the long drawn out descriptions started to take away from the scene we were in and it got frustrating. It was obvious at times when it was being used to add suspense, drawing out the scene making you wait for a reveal or conversation to happen. Some people might like that, I found it irritating. Narrator’s daydreams were funny and relatable at first, but again, got to be too excessive and were inserted at times that felt unnecessary or inappropriate. I found myself internally screaming at her to go talk to someone rather than sulk and daydream. The book overall is very slow, not much of the plot happens until the last 20%.

This book is so repetitive. Narrator has a lot of similar conversations and social interactions throughout the book. She has similar daydreams (too many daydreams), repeating thoughts, etc. Another annoying thing is something will happen or be said, and then the characters will talk about or explain the thing that we just saw happen. Sometimes multiple different characters will explain the same thing, so we end up reading about that same event or statement two or more times before we move on.. not to mention all the unnecessary
‘ “Yes,” I said. ’s

I hate Maxim. Of course this book isn’t a romance novel, and it was written over 80 years ago so the misogyny is not at all unexpected, but being as they remain a couple by the end it’s irritating to me. He’s so patronizing and misogynistic towards Narrator from the beginning and it only gets worse later on. Frank had much better chemistry with Narrator, I didn’t feel like Maxim actually liked her at all, we hardly even saw them together. And the fact that he was so much older than her but also liked that she was young and innocent grossed me out.

This book is very ableist, specifically towards people with intellectual disabilities.

On a less critical note (though still negative because it’s depressing), I was surprised how much I related to Narrator with her social difficulties. I think the intention was that she was young and wasn’t used to all the social obligations of being a more well known person, but to me it read very similar to social anxiety or maybe even autism/adhd. She also had pretty intense insecurities and didn’t think very highly of herself (rejection sensitivity?), which honestly made me a bit sad while reading because I related to so much of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Murder, and Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual content

Ageism. Minor spoilers related to the pedophilia and suicidal thoughts:

Mrs Danvers is queer coded in her feelings towards Rebecca but it’s stated that Mrs Danvers cared for her since Rebecca was a child. They also mention men being attracted to Rebecca when she was a child. Mrs Danvers suicide baits narrator and Narrator almost follows through. You’re in Narrator’s head in that moment.

clairew97's review against another edition

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

This novel honestly surprise me (in the best possible way). I’m not much of a classics person, so I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it. But with stunning plot twists and a ominous mood, I was was flying through pages while simultaneously wanting to savor the book for as long as I could.
Rebecca follows a young bride as she marries an older man with a mysterious past. All she knows is that he lives in an incredible manor and his wife, Rebecca, recently died. As the narrator begins to unravel the truth in Rebecca’s death, the life as she knows it changes.
I loved Du Maurier’s use of imagery and setting, which are definitely a staple in the gothic genre. This, along with the beautiful writing made the narration incredibly strong.
However, the pacing seemed a little bit off, which is why I rated Rebecca the way I did.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book during  October, since the vibes are right:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Sexual content

reebeee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

this was stressful read for me tbh, but the tension is appropriate for the genre, and du maurier uses it expertly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Infidelity, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Blood

Minor: Infertility, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, and Islamophobia

nickoliver's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

The first half of the book drags a lot and is very uneventful and dare I say boring. I found especially the characters, particularly the main character, to be frustrating. She was very shy and easy to push around, so to read about her never standing up for herself was sometimes kind of a pain. However, in the second half, there was a plot twist - it wasn't the most unexpected one, but it did turn the story around a bit and made it more intriguing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

More details to the CW: incest: it's between two cousins, and it's not really seen as something scandalous, so it might've been normal back then suicide: a character is implied to have killed themself, but as a reader, you know that's not true Also CW for casual racism (a character does blackface, for example), murder, and drowning and hanging (both of these two only talked about)