Rebecca
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Summary
Add a SummaryThe story concerns a woman who marries an English nobleman and returns with him to Manderley, his country estate. There, she finds herself haunted by reminders of his first wife, Rebecca, who died in a boating accident less than a year earlier. In this case, the haunting is psychological, not physical: Rebecca does not appear as a ghost, but her spirit affects nearly everything that takes place at Manderley. The narrator, whose name is never divulged, is left with a growing sense of distrust toward those who loved Rebecca, wondering just how much they resent her for taking Rebecca's place. In the final chapters, the book turns into a detective story, as the principal characters try to reveal or conceal what really happened on the night Rebecca died.
The second Mrs. Maxim de Winter enters the home of her mysterious and enigmatic new husband and learns the story of the house's first mistress, to whom the sinister housekeeper is unnaturally devoted.
Quotes
Add a QuoteLast night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.
"They were all fitting into place, the jig-saw pieces. The odd strained shapes that I had tried to piece together with my fumbling fingers and they had never fitted. Frank's odd manner when I spoke about Rebecca. Beatrice and her rather diffident negative attitude. The silence that I had always taken for sympathy and regret was a silence born of shame and embarrassment. It seemed incredible to me now that I had never understood. 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 wall in front of them that hid the truth. This was what I had done. I had built up false pictures in my mind and sat before them. I had never had the courage to demand the truth. Had I made one step forward out of my own shyness Maxim would have told these things four months, five months ago."
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Add a CommentWonderful. Just wonderful. A new favorite.
A very good book. I found it interesting that the book was written so long ago, yet there was really nothing in the book that made me not get fully immersed in it, as though the story could have happened today. Well written and an entertaining story.
The first line is so famous that most people have probably heard it: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." And that one sentence draws the reader in, to a tale of a young innocent girl rescued from a life of drudgery as a rich woman's companion by the first man she falls madly in love with -- the much older, sophisticated Max de Winter. (I mean, even that name!) After all this time I still didn't know the truth of the situation so it was a surprise when I turned the page to find out...well, I won't say, so that if anyone else hasn't read it they might still be surprised as well. DuMaurier is a marvellous writer, with descriptions of the landscape and of each individual reflecting the development of the story as well as drawing pretty clear characters in just a few lines. There is a certain adjustment to be made to the style, as it is more expository and lengthy than many modern tales but it's so worth it. There are some fabulous quotable bits and enough drama to sustain a reader through a long evening. Well recommended.
A blast from the past, this has always been one of my favourites, and judging by the recent comments, it's time to revisit. (An every 10 years or so event!) Started Thursday night, Feb 9, 2012. Enjoying it again. I think I now know where my fantasy of owning a big musty ole library in my own house has come from! Loving Daphne's descriptions, I can feel it all. Can't remember how it ends.....looking forward to the discovery again! (Feb 11) Finished Wed morning Feb 15, 2011. Great read! Think I'll read the sequel (by another author). On to "April Fools Day" by Bryce Courtenay.
One of the best romantic suspense novels ever written. The unnamed heroine, a painfully shy "nobody" is swept off her feet by the aristocratic Maxim DeWinter. But...can she escape the increasingly long shadow cast by her predecessor, the infamous, beautiful Rebecca? Although clearly influenced by _Jane Eyre_, this is a gripping and original tale of suspense, horror and desperate love.
You start out thinking you’re reading a suspenseful, gorgeous, gothic romance. You can smell the blood-red rhododendrons in the garden, feel the mist on your face at the turbulent beach, hear the footsteps of the sinister housekeeper outside your room … and then BAM! You’re suddenly reading an entirely different, suspenseful, gorgeous gothic romance, one with shocking plot twists that were perfectly hidden in front of you the whole time. And on the final page, you realize you’ve just read a masterpiece of brilliant and beautiful execution.
I loved this book, and like another reviewer commented, much better than the movie.
I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. Very good read.
If you like Rebecca, I recommend another book by Daphne DuMaurier, My Cousin Rachel. Of the same genre, it also deals with a mystery and the interplay within human relationships.
How often have we dreamt of a place that we can't go back to - it is just a memory. The narrator lives with a past that enroaches on daily life giving seeminly innocent happenings a portent that build into one of the best gothic suspense books ever. The fact that the narrator has no other name than to be the second Mrs. DeWinter lends to how anonymous she feels against the first wife.