Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Rebecca

Rebecca is a captivating, mysterious and dark gothic romance. In many ways, it is also a highly unconventional ghost story. Despite being a slow-burn, it is undeniably an incredibly engrossing novel; I just can't get it out of my head.

It is consistently unpredictable, and the various twists and turns it took genuinely managed to shock me. Everything builds to an unforgettably tense climax.

I absolutely loved Daphne du Maurier's masterful characterisation. The unamed protagonist is probably one of my favourite narrators of all time; I really liked her uncertainty and insecurity, and I loved how she constantly drifted into elaborate day-dreams. I also really liked how every character, to an extent, is extremely unreliable, lending a degree of ambiguity to the events of the novel.

I am also in love with du Maurier's gorgeously gothic and strikingly atmospheric writing; she manages to make the setting of Manderley feel like a character in itself.

Unfortunately, it is very much a product of its time, with some dated and abhorrent racist and abelist moments.

But overall, Rebecca is an iconic tale of obsession, love, gender, trust, power and the haunting force of the past. There's a reason it's a classic.

Content Warnings

rhi_reading's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.5

While this classic novel does have some elements that haven’t aged well, the overarching theme of the story has undoubtedly stood the test of time.
Frequently undersold as a ‘gothic romance’, du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’ is a masterclass in character work, suspense, and atmosphere. The titular character never appears or speaks a word throughout the novel but is so incredibly well written through the accounts of all the supporting characters that she stands out more than any of them.

The contrast of the headstrong and fiery Rebecca with the diminutive and awkward nameless narrator is one of the highlights of the book and a sharp take on the classic Madonna-Whore complex. Du Maurier manipulates her readers until the very end in to sympathising and hating the characters she wants us to despite their actions and motives, and asking us to consider what these feelings say about our own morality - after all, the truth doesn’t mean anything against a well crafted story.

Content Warnings

cgibson25's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense slow-paced

1.5

Content Warnings

mishasbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

maeverose's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

3.75

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.

Content Warnings

exlibrissum's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

bookish_bry's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The beginning of this book was so very intriguing. I love that the main character never is named and it really emphasizes how she's in the shadow of Rebecca. Rebecca's name is on the cover of the book, but the character we follow never even is named. It's such a great way to tell a story.

This novel was shaping up to be a knock out 5 star, but the plot twist wasn't to my taste.

Max's murder of Rebecca wasn't really... justified enough. Sure. She sucked (according to Max), but our main character probably should have questioned that a bit more. I honestly was disappointed by Rebbeca being framed as the devil incarnated. I think she should have had flaws that were slowly discovered, but it kind of undermines the main character's journey to finding her place in Max's life after Rebecca when she eventually learns it's fine because Max never loved her anyway.

I did like the end and the fact that the epilogue was the beginning. Despite some things not being exactly to my taste, I still loved this book and the writing style was superb even when I didn't like the plot direction.

Content Warnings

More...