Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Rebecca

Rebecca was a rather vexing read for me, because I both enjoyed it and wanted it to end. There was something captivating in its mystery, in the lush gardens and its beautiful writing, but at the same time, there was something utterly repulsive about almost every character, and the way they looked at themselves, the world, their relationships and each other. It is a story about revenge and manipulation, control and trauma, and it is as powerful as all these words suggest. However, the constant mention of the main character's feelings towards Maxim, as well as his behaviour towards her made me extremely uncomfortable (that might have been the purpose though).

This book is full of characters who are burning with a million of emotions, usually passion, guilt, fear and anger, and rhododendrons bloom like bloodstains in strong vines and flood the world. I do not know if I recommend this, but I do recommend going in blind if you intend to read it. I also watched both movies for the university, and I enjoyed both adaptations (I recommend these as well).

Content Warnings

bethsicle's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

Content Warnings

sofipitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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

4.75

I really loved this book, I love the gothic setting and although the book was very slow paced around the last 1/3rd the pressure was turned up to max, very tense, I couldn't put it down. There's some very good foreshadowing, I knew the revelation about Rebecca before reading this, so I caught it. The choice of having the narrator call back to it was meh, I kind of like to do that on my own as a reader, makes me feel smart, lol.
I really liked the character of the second Mrs. de Winter, I understood her and her low self-esteem and social anxiety A LOT. I thought not choosing to name her also really highlighted that about her, she's too shy to even tell you her name. But she does become more confident, the reason I'm not giving this 5 stars is I can't believe

she actually stays with her husband, I fully expected that her husband in the future, described in the beginning was Frank. He seemed SO much nicer than Maxim I couldn't understand what she saw in him other than she was young and it was her first love so she didn't know she should demand better

Content Warnings