Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Rebecca

Beautifully written but not that much actually happens. The book focuses mainly on relationship dynamics and society of the time period which is interesting to interpret and dissect. Beatrice Lacy was the only enjoyable character for me, but Frank was a sweetheart.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of ghostly presence and atmosphere that I was expecting. I thought it would be creepier. The twist was also quite predictable.

A classic nonetheless.

(My content warning tags may contain some minor spoilers)

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archiveofrasa's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

the very cool thing (to Literature nerds at least) about classics is that they're much more obscure with depth and complexity, which ultimately results in a far more interesting read.

I thoroughly enjoyed annotating my copy like I was back in my English class, only I was actually appreciating and reading what I was analysing. du Maurier's use of dialogue is by far my favourite aspect of this book as they brought up tension so quickly and intensely. her characters are also what carried the story for me, with how nuanced and smartly she wove the character interactions and feelings into every scene. It was so easy to immerse myself into the story as if I was there and not reading a book, but seeing it play out before me.

people have said they hate specific characters and while I personally don't like any of them, I don't particularly hate them either because of how complex they are. the only character I can think to like the least is Maxim but even then we're not entirely sure how unreliable he is compared to everyone else. I do agree with how sinister Mrs Danvers is but even she's unreliable and clouded with grief and her actions do match the time period this is set in. there are things she does that are terrible, but also parts where I feel her mind turning, her feelings breaking the surface. every character felt so real, it's incredible how du Maurier captures them in this story. even with Rebecca and the narrator, their phantom relationship was crafted so well I doubt I'll forget it anytime soon.

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frantically's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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? Yes

2.5

Sadly just could not get into this! I found it very hard to put down a certain time period in which this was set — for me at least it swung between regency-ish and more modern fiction and just made certain aspects seem out of place. I did love how class-concious this novel is but for a classic written by a woman, with all its misogyny and unnamed female main characters, I did expect a bit more. It takes so long for anything to happen, that when it did I was just happy knowing that we were close to the end.

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