Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

20 reviews

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: Murder, Death, Suicide, and Grief

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

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: Murder and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

Minor: Cancer, Incest, and Infertility

zulmiro's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

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

daryn's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide and Misogyny

Minor: Cancer and Fire/Fire injury

time4tori2read's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Death

Minor: Terminal illness

strawb3rrysugar's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This book definitely starts slowly. Events won't start picking up until halfway through the book. However, the payoff is worth it. Du Maurier takes the time to establish Rebecca's presence in Manderley and in the narrative, haunting the narrator and all other characters. Definitely a good book to start with if you want to get into gothic literature but aren't sure where to start. It was pretty easy to follow, save one or two google searches.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Murder, and Misogyny

Minor: Ableism

Mrs. Danvers tries to get the narrator to kill herself in one chapter. A disabled character named Ben is described in many derogatory ways, and says he's afraid of being sent to an asylum.

When Rebecca's real body and boat are discovered, there's some brief description of her body having dissolved from being in the water for so long. Not terribly graphic, but a little disturbing.

This book never approaches being overly graphic, but how the overall storyline pans out might be upsetting to some who have experienced domestic abuse.

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Animal death, Violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

quabbityash's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Colonisation, Xenophobia, and Racism

Minor: Murder, Domestic abuse, and Death

froukjemelenhorst'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

My god there is SO MUCH to unpack here😵‍💫😵‍💫

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide and Domestic abuse

Minor: Cancer

brynhayes's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Death, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gun violence