Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

115 reviews

cyberhavok's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Dementia, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Infertility and Fire/Fire injury

kingcrookback's review against another edition

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

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Minor: Incest and Infertility

ratnix's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

 

I absolutely loved the question posed throughout the book: "Has Rebecca won?"

Rebecca has won. In fact, she had already won before even her murder took place, even before the nameless heroine meets Max, even before the narrative begins.

Mrs. Danvers is a scion of Rebecca, she is there to continue her influence on Manderley and even she has lost to Rebecca, though she does not see it; her full allegiance to Rebecca has subjected her to a kind of monstrification fuelled by her hate for both the heroine and Max.

Rebecca not only haunts the narrative, she takes full control of it by creating and enhancing the heroine's insecurities, plaguing her with nightmares of Manderley even after the events of the book have taken place [as the first line of the book suggests] and of Rebecca herself, by unintentionally turning Mrs. Danvers into a loyal servant willing to drive the nameless heroine into committing suicide, by haunting Max's reality.

Rebecca's rage at Max's convenient escape from being imprisoned for his crime is seen in the fire of the mansion. You can almost hear her scream Manderley will go down just like I did, but I will always be there

So, yes. Rebecca has won.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming and Cancer

meganrina's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Infidelity, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Incest, and Terminal illness

hannahsbookshelf's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

4.0

I didn't know what to expect as I purposely didn't read much about this book before reading and I think that was the right decision for me. It gave me "naïve girl marries rich older man who lives in a beautiful house with large grounds" vibes similar to Austen, etc, but there is more intrigue and mystery and revelations, that I absolutely ate up. 

Rebecca is an enigma even though she is all anyone at Manderley talks about, and we gather tidbits of information as we read along and the mystery surrounding her death is fully revealed by the conclusion of the novel. 

A clever decision from du Maurier was that the book is named after a deceased character, and yet our protagonist, the narrator of this tale, is never named. She is only ever referred to as Mrs de Winter or "my wife" etc, ironic as the deceased Mrs du Winter's name is so prevalently used, and her predecessors first name is never even revealed despite it being written from her perspective, prehaps to solidify the theme of feeling inadequate when she compares herself to Rebecca but is it all in her head...?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity and Murder

Minor: Cancer

stories's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

4.5

Very capital R Romantic, filled with symbolism and literary allusion. 

Would be fascinating to study, and even fascinating to reread: the abrupt ending certainly had me jumping immediately back to the opening. 

Plenty of ambiguity, as well as foreshadowing, and endless musing on hypothetical scenarios. Gorgeous descriptive language. Lots of mystery, and drawn out reveals of information. Written for the journey of coming to understand, not just arrival at the destination.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

jayjayjers's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity, Suicide, and Grief

Minor: Incest and Terminal illness

graceheartsbooks's review against another edition

4.5

Rebecca is one of my mom’s favorite books and I finally got persuaded to read it. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to love it as it started out slow but as I kept going, I started to really enjoy it. At first it appears as a story about a woman being haunted by the shadow of her husband’s previous wife but underneath the surface this book is much more than that. It’s a book about abuse, power dynamics, gender roles, obsession and (in my opinion) how we speak about the dead. Also Daphne Du Maurier’s prose are beautiful and really makes you feel the tension and isolation of a scene/during the novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Murder

Moderate: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Incest, and Infertility

eva_jean's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Murder

Moderate: Incest and Infidelity

Minor: Terminal illness and Cultural appropriation

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Infertility and Pregnancy