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emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A classic from 1938 about an unnamed, naive young woman who becomes the new wife to a wealthy widower twice her age, but cannot escape from the shadow of his first wife, Rebecca. Billed as a "Gothic romance", I suppose there is some merit in that. I read it more as a drama about class and gender and our roles in life. Of overt romance there is not so much.
I'm glad this book has an afterword that discussed the themes and gave context from the author's life, as it helped me reflect on what I had read and better appreciate it. The coming-full-circle nature of the plot is very clever, and the duality/mirroring of the unnamed protagonist and Rebecca becomes more interesting when read against the author's life and bisexuality.
As a read it felt a slog in places, it did not always hold my attention and the dated language and often florid description required more effort. I got more from the interactions between our protagonist and the other human characters than from her interactions with Manderley itself. Still, as a story I appreciated it.
I'm glad this book has an afterword that discussed the themes and gave context from the author's life, as it helped me reflect on what I had read and better appreciate it. The coming-full-circle nature of the plot is very clever, and the duality/mirroring of the unnamed protagonist and Rebecca becomes more interesting when read against the author's life and bisexuality.
As a read it felt a slog in places, it did not always hold my attention and the dated language and often florid description required more effort. I got more from the interactions between our protagonist and the other human characters than from her interactions with Manderley itself. Still, as a story I appreciated it.