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!

I'm rereading 'Rebecca' thanks to this thread. What a brilliant book.

I didn't see any reference to Mrs Danvers having any children of her own in the book.

In the old days housekeepers and cooks were called ‘Mrs’ whatever their marital status so Mrs Danvers wasn’t necessarily married.

If you haven’t already read them, Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek are both excellent

I enjoyed Frenchman's Creek last year. I read The House on the Strand years ago and will go back to it. I don't know Jamaica Inn at all! Thanks @SirChenjins

The House on the Strand is one of my all-time favourites.

Yes, and doesn’t some other character remark idly at some point on whether ‘there had ever been a Mr Danvers’ and said there’d been no sign of one — possibly Maxim, who, in his feudal way, never spares the servants a thought, and doesn’t grasp why the second Mrs de W doesn’t just order her around and tell her to get the ornament she broke mended, rather than hiding the pieces like a new housemaid afraid of getting into trouble.

I think the way in which the scene where Mrs Danvers discovers the narrator snooping in Rebecca’s bedroom is written is definitely sexually coded — Mrs Danvers manner is ‘intimate’, she talks about ‘doing everything for her’, what she looked like lying in bed, both she and the narrator touch and smell Rebecca’s nightdress, which hasn’t been washed since she last wore it, and Mrs D forces the narrator’s hand inside her slippers, how R’s body was naked when found etc etc. I think the narrator compares it to a time when, as a child, a friend wanted her to come and look at a ‘forbidden book’.

Sorry you didn't enjoy Rebecca OP, but I've really enjoyed this thread about it. It prompted me listen to the audio book read by Anna Massey, which is great! I paid particular attention to the descriptions of the woods & rhododendrons & it did go on a bit, so I get what you mean. Still love the story though.

Also, on BBC4 tomorrow (27th March) night at 10 o'clock there's a drama about DdM's life & the following programme at 11.30 is an interview with DdM at her Cornish home. How timely!

Such a good listen isn't it @UtilityPlayer ? The Anna Massey narration. I find myself listening to it as a Christmas treat while I'm making Christmas dinner most years! Then I'm volunteering to do the clearing up as well so I can get back to it!

Yes, @tobee, she's absolutely superb. I often listen to audiobooks last thing at night, which is a mistake with this one, as I can't stop listening to it (just ten minutes more...) 😬