(Summary taken from the back of the book) "So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past the beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten...her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant--the sinister Mrs. Danvers--still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca...for the secrets of Manderley."
WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK (AND WANT TO)!
I haven't read a classic novel in awhile, and I have missed the beautiful language. I love Du Maurier's style of writing. I enjoy the attention to detail and how it just pulls you in. Her characters come to life and pull you in. However, with all of this, I didn't love the book. OK, well, I really liked it at first. Mr. de Winter intrigued me as much as he intrigued everyone else in the book. I cheered as much as anyone when she got to leave Mrs. Van Hopper. At the same time, I thought he was a complete jerk. He didn't tell her he loved her, he didn't get down on one knee, and he didn't kiss her when he proposed. And, he didn't do anything to prepare her for life at Manderley. He didn't buy her any new clothes, he didn't tell her where the Morning Room was, and he left her alone with Mrs. Danvers all day. And this girl (I don't think it's a good sign when I don't even know the main character's name.) drove me crazy! She wouldn't stand up for herself and change the handwriting on the desk labels, or put the flowers where she wanted them. The worst part though (STOP reading if you don't want to know the ending....) was that she still loved him after she found out that he murdered his first wife. She practically didn't care! Maybe I could see still loving him (????) but once I got over that shock I came to the end. What??? They drive up and find their house is burning to the ground, and that is how it ends??? I immediately reread the first two chapters and didn't find any answers. How long after the fire did they go to this hotel? How long had they been there? Had they traveled around or just found one place? Why didn't they rebuild? Why didn't they want to live in a house instead of a hotel? What happened to the staff, were they okay? Needless to say, I didn't love the ending. I did enjoy the beginning and middle of the book, and I enjoyed the classic style, but I didn't like the storyline at all.
Rating: PG-13 (Some profanity, a murder scene)
Recommendation: High School and up. It's a strange book. Reading about how someone murders his wife is not pleasant.
2 comments:
Monica...SPOILER ALERT!! You need to have that in bold letters across the top of this post.
For the recored. I loved how this book read in that I couldn't put it down, but I was so bothered by the narrator that I could hardly stand it. She was weak and there was no change by the end. She stood up for herself on all the wrong issues. These people had no moral compass whatsoever.
Gwen, I took your advice and put the warning at the top. You are absolutely correct, they had no moral compass and she drove me crazy!
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