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epanama's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship
sheryl_reads's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.5
I really wanted to enjoy this story. But it’s awful.
I’ve given it 1.5 stars because I did finish it. But it’s so longwinded and ponderous I barely made it to the end. Luckily, the story picked up in the last 100 pages, but getting there was a chore.
The main character is so frustrating and annoying. I spent most of the book wishing that she’d stand up for herself. What is written as shyness is taken to an extreme of social awkwardness, to the point where I wondered how she ever managed to survive to adulthood. The situation she finds herself in is awkward, however hiding from servants in her own house and having trouble just functioning (and when I say function, this is posh English people functioning - so having tea and scones and finding ways to amuse yourself all day cos you don’t actually work) seemed too extreme.
Mr De Winter is horrible - his treatment of the main character (we don’t get to know her name) is psychological abuse. I’m avoiding spoilers in this review, but the end comes as no surprise.
The first 300 pages read like a really boring episode of Downton Abbey. There’s lots of lengthy descriptions of how our narrator fills her days - mainly being debilitatingly shy and self conscious. The last 100 pages or so are an improvement, but all the description are just soooooo long and unnecessary. I thought the shipwreck section would never end!
I had high hopes for this, since it’s a classic and a lot of people love it. But I couldn’t wait to escape Manderley. And I’d be there with Mrs Danvers at the end!
I’ve given it 1.5 stars because I did finish it. But it’s so longwinded and ponderous I barely made it to the end. Luckily, the story picked up in the last 100 pages, but getting there was a chore.
The main character is so frustrating and annoying. I spent most of the book wishing that she’d stand up for herself. What is written as shyness is taken to an extreme of social awkwardness, to the point where I wondered how she ever managed to survive to adulthood. The situation she finds herself in is awkward, however hiding from servants in her own house and having trouble just functioning (and when I say function, this is posh English people functioning - so having tea and scones and finding ways to amuse yourself all day cos you don’t actually work) seemed too extreme.
Mr De Winter is horrible - his treatment of the main character (we don’t get to know her name) is psychological abuse. I’m avoiding spoilers in this review, but the end comes as no surprise.
The first 300 pages read like a really boring episode of Downton Abbey. There’s lots of lengthy descriptions of how our narrator fills her days - mainly being debilitatingly shy and self conscious. The last 100 pages or so are an improvement, but all the description are just soooooo long and unnecessary. I thought the shipwreck section would never end!
I had high hopes for this, since it’s a classic and a lot of people love it. But I couldn’t wait to escape Manderley. And I’d be there with Mrs Danvers at the end!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, and Terminal illness
Minor: Body shaming and Grief
nickoliver's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The first half of the book drags a lot and is very uneventful and dare I say boring. I found especially the characters, particularly the main character, to be frustrating. She was very shy and easy to push around, so to read about her never standing up for herself was sometimes kind of a pain. However, in the second half, there was a plot twist - it wasn't the most unexpected one, but it did turn the story around a bit and made it more intriguing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Panic attacks/disorders
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Sexism
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence
More details to the CW: incest: it's between two cousins, and it's not really seen as something scandalous, so it might've been normal back then suicide: a character is implied to have killed themself, but as a reader, you know that's not true Also CW for casual racism (a character does blackface, for example), murder, and drowning and hanging (both of these two only talked about)
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