Horribly let down by Rebecca

[MsAmerica]

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!

Sorry I said it doesn’t have a hero then talked about the hero! But I mean she’s a non-hero who we’re not meant to aspire to be.

I love it - one of the few books that I've read twice.

She's such a meak, unlikeable character isn't she

I love the book, it’s the best first line ever! I haven’t seen the film and am always disappointed with film adaptations so I probably never will.

Up there with the start of Pride and Prejudice as the opening line that nearly everyone can quote (even if they get it wrong).

Sorry, that was for the poster who said about the opening line, not poster I've quoted.

Disagree. think he was the Christian Grey of his time. Deeply damaged and somewhat controlling and abusive but he was rich and handsome and so he swept the naive, inexperienced woman off her feet and she couldn't see past that

As for the book i agree. I do have a vivid imagination and find detailed descriptions too much for my brain - i like basic descriptions that i can extend out myself.

I did read the book a long time ago. i remember enjoying the last third of the book (from the party onwards) but the earlier story just felt too long winded and repetitive. I actually do find the movie quite good at cutting things down a bit.

Read Frenchman’s Creek instead. It’s a proper sexy hoot!

Bit of a romp and not quite as dark as Rebecca or Jamaica Inn. Great film too. Also Joan Fontaine IIRC.

I love the part of the book where they’re under cannon fire and they both fall to the ground and catch each other’s eye and start laughing. The sex must have been great

Better than it was with DH, anyway. Poor Dona. Years of closing her eyes and pretending he's someone else.

Of course YANBU for not liking a popular book, but Hitchcock isn't exactly known for faithfulness to his source material....
I like Rebecca (and MCR) but prefer Du Maurier's swashbuckling historicals.

I’m reading a book of her short stories at the moment called Breaking Point. There are some very clever stories in there. I love her writing.

Absolutely loved the book. So atmospheric.

I'm actually rereading this at the moment! I first read it when I was about the age of the narrator and identified with her very much - I was horribly unconfident and shy and I think du Maurier captures the paralysing element of this very well, the constant rumination over events and what everyone must be thinking of you. Of course, as you get older you realise that no-one really cares about you very much! Now I'm in my 40s I do want to tell her to get a grip, but a lot of that only comes with age and experience.

I very much enjoyed the short scene when the second Mrs de Winter actually stands up to Mrs Danvers. I wish there had been more of that.

Another example of the bullying house keeper is Mrs Hackett, the Duke of Devonshire’s housekeeper at Chatsworth towards the end of the 17th century. She made the artist Verrio’s life so difficult when he was painting ceilings there that he painted her as Atropos, cutting the thread of life. (Though we don’t have Mrs Hackett’s side of the story - maybe Verrio spilt paint over the furniture).

I very much enjoyed it. Lots of messages in it.

I wonder about her at the end of the book - she's married to a man who she knows killed his wife. What goes through her head when she decides to stay with him

I think that’s a really unfair view. In that time a man could whip you off and sign you into a league antic asylum at the click of his fingers if he wanted. If women didn’t have quite powerful men in their family who were equals or above what she had married into, they were in quite a precarious position.

I think this book is wonderful/ there's a magical quality about it. This thread has inspired me to revisit it!

One of my favourite books also. I love DdM. When you consider she wrote The Birds as well..I think she's vastly under-rated.
Whatever you do though...don't go anywhere near the recent version with Lily James and Armie Hammer. It's horrible. They've cast Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs Danvers. I couldn't make it to the end. The BBC version with Charles Dance as Maxim and Diana Rigg as Mrs D isn't bad.

It's my absolute comfort book, I have lost count of how many times I've read it. I find it hard to pinpoint why exactly but it just seems to hit the sweet spot of drama, mystery, evocation of time and place and memorable characterisation. I have such a vivid picture of the world it portrays in my head that I have never wanted to watch a film of it.

You’ve just summarised my A level essay on Hardy down to a single line. So nice to know i’m not the only one who thought so 😄

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.

I think DDM is very good and really enjoyed Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Frenchman's Creek which my mum had a set of and I ploughed through them in my 20s.

It’s one of my favourite books. I’ve read a lot of Daphne Du Maurier & for me her skill is in describing the inner thoughts & feelings of her protagonists in such a vivid way. She’s particularly good at describing feelings of anxiety & how they can manifest physically- headaches etc. I really related to the narrator in Rebecca, I never found her whiny & found the story utterly compelling.