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Horribly let down by Rebecca

209 replies

MsAmerica · 12/03/2024 01:43

I love the Hitchcock movie of Rebecca, my second or third favorite Hitchcock, and I've always heard that the book was good, so when I recently came across a cheap copy, I bought it.

What a disappointment! Hated all the excessive description of greenery. Impatient at the overkill. But, worst, while the character of Max is slightly pleasanter than Olivier in the movie, the unnamed narrator is unbearable - a whiny, insecure bore.

Ugh!

OP posts:
MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 12/03/2024 16:23

MenopauseSucks · 12/03/2024 16:19

The blood red rhododendrons of the driveway really sparked my imagination as in my area, whilst there are lots of wild rhododendrons they are all mauvey-pink in colour.

There's a Rhododendron Wood in Leith Hill, Surrey where you get to see so many types & colours - can almost imagine I'm heading towards Manderley.

The book is wonderful but very disturbing. The 2nd Mrs de Winter seems completely out of her depth. And Mrs Danvers really gave me the creeps.

One day I will plant some red rhodies in my garden...

Great rhodies at Kew, as well. Always reminds me of DDM's description.

MenopauseSucks · 12/03/2024 16:19

The blood red rhododendrons of the driveway really sparked my imagination as in my area, whilst there are lots of wild rhododendrons they are all mauvey-pink in colour.

There's a Rhododendron Wood in Leith Hill, Surrey where you get to see so many types & colours - can almost imagine I'm heading towards Manderley.

The book is wonderful but very disturbing. The 2nd Mrs de Winter seems completely out of her depth. And Mrs Danvers really gave me the creeps.

One day I will plant some red rhodies in my garden...

MenopauseSucks · 12/03/2024 16:09

@LunaNorth

Definitely love Frenchman's Creek!

Jean-Benoit really gets the heart all a-flutter & the character of William is very intriguing.

PersephonePomegranate23 · 12/03/2024 15:29

Instantcustard · 12/03/2024 15:07

I love DDM and Rebecca! I came across the Olivier film on YouTube the other day and it sucked me in again. I think Max is worse in the book - didn't he know she was pregnant in the book? Not sure how you could look past that.

She wasn't but she told him she was to manipulate him into killing her. She knew he couldn't stand the thought of a cuckoo in the nest at Manderley. She wanted to die because she was secretly ill.

Totally fucked up nowadays to think that would be justification!

PersephonePomegranate23 · 12/03/2024 15:27

the Dick in the House on the Strand,

That's a bit harsh, although yes, he is a bit 😂

Totally agree that Du Maurier was a master at the unreliable narrator though.

Instantcustard · 12/03/2024 15:07

I love DDM and Rebecca! I came across the Olivier film on YouTube the other day and it sucked me in again. I think Max is worse in the book - didn't he know she was pregnant in the book? Not sure how you could look past that.

Rainydayinlondon · 12/03/2024 15:03

Barbadossunset · 12/03/2024 09:28

I thought the house was in Cornwall?

Maxim is a man of his time I think, it was written a long time ago.
I agree.

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Menabilly I believe.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 12/03/2024 14:38

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 12/03/2024 09:37

Brixham

It's stunning, it's like she's just stepped out of the house and you are having a nosey. There's clothes in her wardrobe too, she was tall! Never gets over crowded either as access is limited as it's really off the beaten track so they limit visitors. If you go make sure you book well in advance. Honestly, it's incredible 😊

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Oh FFS,I hadn't had my coffee when I posted that and have just mashed up Agatha Christie and DDM 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🤣 Ignore all of the above unless you want to see Agatha Christie's house 🤣

Notonthestairs · 12/03/2024 14:26

It is a great username.

I seem to remember that Hitchcock didn't want Mrs D to be seen walking (or blinking!) so she verged on the spectral.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 12/03/2024 14:14

Notonthestairs · 12/03/2024 13:52

Well, you would say that.
Grin

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😉

I actually got my user name because DGM said I walked as quietly as Mrs Danvers in the film (after I walked into the sitting room, stood behind her chair for a couple of minutes then made some comment about what was on TV and nearly gave her heart failure because she didn't know I was there).

Notonthestairs · 12/03/2024 13:52

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 12/03/2024 13:47

What I love most though, is Rebecca and how she haunts the pages and the reader as much as the characters. It's amazing that a character who never actually appears can be so powerful

It's such a revenge - on her murderer and her successor. Total economic and social ruin, and all done by a dead woman.

The only plot hole though - that body of the woman who turns up that Max claims to be Rebecca. Bit too handy there's a lookalike literally floating around, unless he's a double murderer.

Well, you would say that.
Grin

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 12/03/2024 13:47

What I love most though, is Rebecca and how she haunts the pages and the reader as much as the characters. It's amazing that a character who never actually appears can be so powerful

It's such a revenge - on her murderer and her successor. Total economic and social ruin, and all done by a dead woman.

The only plot hole though - that body of the woman who turns up that Max claims to be Rebecca. Bit too handy there's a lookalike literally floating around, unless he's a double murderer.

Sususudio · 12/03/2024 13:33

Du Maurier is the queen of unreliable narrators: Phillip in My Cousin Rachel, the Dick in the House on the Strand, the narrator in The Scapegoat ( John?), the men in her short stories like Don't Look Back and The Apple Tree. Feminist, but not obviously so.

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 12/03/2024 13:22

*Surely the second Mrs DW is meant to be an unreliable narrator?

You don't have to like her and you are supposed to try and guess what is real and what is filtered through her narrative*

Indeed, just like Jane Eyre (isn't Rebecca based on that?) everything you read is through the filter of at least one person.

piscofrisco · 12/03/2024 13:14

I LOVE Rebecca! It's one of my favourite books!

Dramalady52 · 12/03/2024 13:13

Love Rebecca too! First read it when i was 14 and over the years have found different aspects of it move into focus. Have to say im a big fan of the Hitchcock movie as well, the air of brooding menace in the book works best shot in black and white. The film was released only 2 years after the book was published so it really brings that time alive as well. Loved the 2 sequels by Sally Beauman and Susan Hill.

daffodilandtulip · 12/03/2024 13:05

I love it. I also enjoyed Rebecca's Tale, a more recent sequel.

abricotine · 12/03/2024 12:57

I’ll agree with you about My Cousin Rachel - and I actually enjoyed the film of that one. Rebecca I never have found a film that could get close!

muddyford · 12/03/2024 12:56

abricotine · 12/03/2024 12:21

On the other hand I didn’t like Frenchman’s creek at all 😂IMO the airport thriller of its time!

I love Frenchman 's Creek! I re-read Rebecca recently and thought the narrator was a bore. My Cousin Rachel is absolutely brilliant and The Scapegoat.

Notonthestairs · 12/03/2024 12:52

"Being read on R4 at the moment, presumably is on BBC Sounds."

Excellent - thank you GetWhatYouWant I'm just in the mood for a sexy hoot/airport thriller 😁

LoreleiG · 12/03/2024 12:34

I also initially read it as Brixton which was momentarily confusing!

LoreleiG · 12/03/2024 12:34

I was wondering how I had misremembered it being Brixham although I want to go to Agatha’s Christie’s house now.

Sususudio · 12/03/2024 12:28

yes, it is Christie's house in Devon. I have been there. I love her too.

Movinghouseatlast · 12/03/2024 12:28

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 12/03/2024 09:37

Brixham

It's stunning, it's like she's just stepped out of the house and you are having a nosey. There's clothes in her wardrobe too, she was tall! Never gets over crowded either as access is limited as it's really off the beaten track so they limit visitors. If you go make sure you book well in advance. Honestly, it's incredible 😊

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That's Agatha Christie's house, not Daphne du Maurier!

Daphne du Maurier lived in and later near Fowey in Cornwall.

Zuve · 12/03/2024 12:25

Oh I love the book. I love how Daphne writes it. She weaves her story in to nature, the trees the sea. In a way, it reflects her own way of seeing herself. Ambiguous, unsure, everything has meaning. The characters are then mirrors reflecting aspects of Daphne herself. It's great