Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Rebecca

I wouldn't necessarily say I enjoyed this so much as I found it interesting - in the sense that I think I'd have liked to have studied it in a literature class. There's a richness to du Maurier's writing that would lend itself to literary analysis. (I still might head over to JSTOR to see what's been written on.) If I'd read this in my early twenties or my teens, I think I would've wanted to interpret the story as a romance. As it is, I currently read the narrator as an impressionable young girl, eager to please, being manipulated by an older man who has power and influence.

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meganrina's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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gvstyris's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer, because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.

Very unsure about how to rate this book. Rebecca has been on my mental TBR for years, primarily because of its enduring influence on other media I love (Gone Girl, even various Taylor Swift songs hahah), so my expectations were probably unfairly high.

And, in many ways, they were met. I loved the Gothic setting and eerie tone, as well as the slow build of tension -- although I totally get where it'll bug other readers, given how long it takes to reach any action. Manderley is almost a character in-and-of-itself, which was super compelling, and du Maurier's prose really is gorgeous. I also really admired the shift in the narrator's voice throughout the novel as she lost her youthful naivety and grew into her role of 'Mrs de Winter.'

Docking my rating over a couple things. I'm pretty unobservant and honestly really bad at guessing plot twists, but even I didn't find the main reveals in this novel particularly shocking or compelling. That's probably in part because Rebecca helped pioneer specific thriller tropes, and has influenced many more creative thrillers, but it still made for an underwhelming conclusion. I'm also not sure how I feel about the social commentary of the main reveals...

Maxim comes across a bit too favourably in the end, and Rebecca a bit cartoonish.

It definitely reminded me a bit of my misogynistic undertone qualms with Gone Girl.

I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say.

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ranee_samaniego's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.0

I was disappointed with this book. I have heard so many wonderful things about this classic, gothic novel. However, it was not nearly as suspensful as I hoped it would be.

My biggest qualm with the novel was that the "romance" between Mr. and Mrs. de Winter was entirely unhealthy, manipulative, and nothing to be desired. I cannot stand to read a novel where the main female is constantly afraid of angering her partner, both of them pretending to be "ok" around others, and her desparately trying to making their relationship work while he keeps telling her that she should work harder at it all. That kind of story hits a bit too close to my personal trigger warnings.

However, it could be said that Daphne du Maurier hit the nail on the head creating that kind of unhealthy romance, and that she was commenting on society.

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