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A review by thepurplebookwyrm
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Went into this without really knowing much about it. I'd call this a gothic psychological drama, with very mild psychological horror elements... if only because of how creepy I found Mrs. Danvers!
Positives:
• Really good, evocative prose; very atmospheric writing in terms of psychological set and environmental setting as well.
• Engaging, introspective writing with interesting, even relatable bits of insight into the subjective experience of time, one's movement through it, and the impact of said movement on perceptions of self, past and present.
• Effective notes of what I'd honestly call (very mild, mind you) psychological horror.
• Effective mystery plot, with a final twist I didn't actually see coming – though I called the first one, hehe.
Negatives:
• Not that it was a huge negative in my book... but I didn't really care about the story's characters. I found their psychologies certainly plausible, and somewhat interesting, but I wasn't rooting for anyone in particular, and found each protagonist's morals rather questionable (if not reprehensible, depending on the character, ahem).
• I wasn't a fan of the book's ending. Even though it made sense in terms of logical progression, and resolution, and even though it made sense given the book's opening sequence, it felt way too abrupt to me – though I'm not sure that adding something to it would've really helped as such, either.
• I enjoyed the book's kernels of psychological insight, and loved that one paragraph about the (paraphrasing) "dangerous fever of first love", but didn't really get much beyond those disparate nuggets of intellectual stimulation in terms of greater theming – and also, at the end of the day, this just isn't really my favoured kind of story.
Positives:
• Really good, evocative prose; very atmospheric writing in terms of psychological set and environmental setting as well.
• Engaging, introspective writing with interesting, even relatable bits of insight into the subjective experience of time, one's movement through it, and the impact of said movement on perceptions of self, past and present.
• Effective notes of what I'd honestly call (very mild, mind you) psychological horror.
• Effective mystery plot, with a final twist I didn't actually see coming – though I called the first one, hehe.
Negatives:
• Not that it was a huge negative in my book... but I didn't really care about the story's characters. I found their psychologies certainly plausible, and somewhat interesting, but I wasn't rooting for anyone in particular, and found each protagonist's morals rather questionable (if not reprehensible, depending on the character, ahem).
• I wasn't a fan of the book's ending. Even though it made sense in terms of logical progression, and resolution, and even though it made sense given the book's opening sequence, it felt way too abrupt to me – though I'm not sure that adding something to it would've really helped as such, either.
• I enjoyed the book's kernels of psychological insight, and loved that one paragraph about the (paraphrasing) "dangerous fever of first love", but didn't really get much beyond those disparate nuggets of intellectual stimulation in terms of greater theming – and also, at the end of the day, this just isn't really my favoured kind of story.