Reviews with content warning for Cancer - Rebecca

Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

135 reviews

gvstyris's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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 distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.

Very unsure about how to rate this book. Rebecca has been on my mental TBR for years, primarily because of its enduring influence on other media I love (Gone Girl, even various Taylor Swift songs hahah), so my expectations were probably unfairly high.

And, in many ways, they were met. I loved the Gothic setting and eerie tone, as well as the slow build of tension -- although I totally get where it'll bug other readers, given how long it takes to reach any action. Manderley is almost a character in-and-of-itself, which was super compelling, and du Maurier's prose really is gorgeous. I also really admired the shift in the narrator's voice throughout the novel as she lost her youthful naivety and grew into her role of 'Mrs de Winter.'

Docking my rating over a couple things. I'm pretty unobservant and honestly really bad at guessing plot twists, but even I didn't find the main reveals in this novel particularly shocking or compelling. That's probably in part because Rebecca helped pioneer specific thriller tropes, and has influenced many more creative thrillers, but it still made for an underwhelming conclusion. I'm also not sure how I feel about the social commentary of the main reveals...

Maxim comes across a bit too favourably in the end, and Rebecca a bit cartoonish.

It definitely reminded me a bit of my misogynistic undertone qualms with Gone Girl.

I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say.

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emily_ford16's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

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graceheartsbooks's review against another edition

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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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kirstencholewa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I struggled to get invested in this book and didn’t feel it picked up until around 60% of the way through.

It may have been the audio format, but was difficult at times to know when the narrator was imagining scenarios or if it was actually happening.

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