Reviews tagging 'Dementia'

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

28 reviews

amzthebookdevourer's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I found the first half of the book to be excruciatingly slow at points, with excessive detail. However, I'm so glad I stuck with it as the second half was phenomenal! Secrets were revealed, tension was masterfully built, and the twists and turns were so unexpected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence

Minor: Ableism, Incest, Infertility, Suicide, Dementia, Cultural appropriation

zulmiro's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infidelity, Sexism, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Dementia, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Classism

kurumipanda's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Grief, Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Cancer, Incest, Terminal illness, Dementia, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation

rsoule7's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infertility, Terminal illness, Dementia, Cultural appropriation

blacksphinx's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infertility, Suicide, Terminal illness, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury

arayo's review against another edition

4.5

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Dementia, Cultural appropriation

atamano's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Infidelity, Sexism, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Murder, Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury

sadiaa's review against another edition

4.75

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Wish it didn't end the way it did 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cancer, Death, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, Murder, Alcohol

singalana's review against another edition

4.0

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Rebecca is an atmospheric story about a young woman who marries a newly widowed man and soon realises that the dead wife's presence is everywhere.

The main character is working as a companion to an insufferable older woman, when he meets Maxim de Winter, a recently widowed, wealthy man. They soon get married and return to his estate, Manderley, where she soon discovers that the former Mrs de Winter might be dead but not forgotten. 

The first half of the novel slowly builds atmospheric tension: the great Manderley by the seaside is a gloomy place. The tension rises to a breaking point, where events start to unravel, and the fog starts to lift. The first half of the book felt slow, and the second half felt perilous. And after I had finished, I had to return to read the first few chapters again. 

It is an atmospheric book with morally grey characters and an ending that is abrupt (for the lack of a better word). I think you need to be in a certain mood to read this book, and the types of things I previously listed. 

Spoilers ahead! 

There are a few things I found interesting. First of all, we don't know the main character's name at all. Rebecca was the previous Mrs de Winter, so in a way her Shadow is so strong that it suffocates the main character's entire identity. Then there's Rebecca's character and how the way she's represented in the book changes as the story progresses. There are a few hints of this earlier in the story. And lastly, there's Maxim de Winter. How should we feel about him and his actions?

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infertility, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol

maeverose's review against another edition

4.0

slow-paced

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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, Cultural appropriation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cancer, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, 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.