Reviews with content warning for Body shaming - Rebecca

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.

Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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3.0

Finished reading: September 29th 2023

"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."

WARNING: unpopular opinion ahead!!

I've been meaning to read Rebecca for years now, and after I saw one of my favorite books of 2023 The Hacienda being compared to this classic I decided to not wait any longer and finally pick it up. I had high hopes for this story, as I do love a good gothic thriller... But in the end I guess it wasn't ment to be. I know that the fact that I've been struggling with a reading slump might have been part of the problem, but I can't look past the fact that it took me eleven! days to finish reading a book that would usually only take me a day or two. I was warned of the slow start, and I definitely agree with that warning. I'm not sure if I would have continued reading if it hadn't known about the slow start, because the beginning is rather dull and tedious. Things do improve when the couple arrives at Manderley, and there are some clever twists and developments along the way. Sadly, I found the second Mrs. de Winter to be such a frustrating character to deal with though; having to spend so much time inside her head only made it more difficult to fight that slump and pick up my copy of Rebecca. The fact that she is basically a human doormat and lets everybody walk all over her became SO annoying, and she never fully redeemed herself for me. I did appreciate the descriptions of Manderley and the general gothic feel of the plot, but it wasn't enough to properly enjoy this story. I still might try a reread at some point to see just how big of a role the reading slump played when it comes to my reaction to this classic...

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atamano's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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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daniellarae's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.75

Beautifully written but not that much actually happens. The book focuses mainly on relationship dynamics and society of the time period which is interesting to interpret and dissect. Beatrice Lacy was the only enjoyable character for me, but Frank was a sweetheart.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of ghostly presence and atmosphere that I was expecting. I thought it would be creepier. The twist was also quite predictable.

A classic nonetheless.

(My content warning tags may contain some minor spoilers)

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