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Lady Selene's Reviews > Rebecca
Rebecca
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by
Lady Selene's review
bookshelves: favourites, reflections, edwardian, fiction, five-stars, twistedsisters, anglophilia, rereads
Jul 03, 2019
bookshelves: favourites, reflections, edwardian, fiction, five-stars, twistedsisters, anglophilia, rereads
Read 2 times. Last read November 3, 2022.
I imagine one of those popular parody reddit posts:
MinimusDisSummer: My (42M) wife (40ish F) has been promiscuously and openly unfaithful since marriage, beats her horse when she gets too competitive, but is great with both dogs who love her most, all my friends and neighbours love her, even Granny, the servants are super loyal, she throws one hell of a party and maintains my historic manor, but she got pregnant (not mine) and started swearing at me one night so I shot her in the heart instead of dealing with the county gossip after a public divorce or raise a bastard to inherit my house. Am I The Asshole?
666notyourEdRoch666: OMG, you're so Not The Asshole! My first wife was equally problematic...
***
What a skilful trickster du Maurier was, so much of this book deals in the Conditional Clause (always with the "would") but the writing is so lush, it pulls the reader from the very first pages with the dangerous, yet alluring rhododendrons alongside a driveway leading to a house in ruins.
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
A powerfully Gothic tale meets a strong Psychological novel- all masterfully handled, there are so many dimensions, looking at it through Jungian eyes, something du Maurier would be familiar with (the story begins with a dream): narcissistic or borderline personality disorder, displacement, Cinderella complex, ego defence mechanisms, Oedipal complex, fixations, dream analysis - throw in a sinister housekeeper and an unreliable narrator - there is so much to balance and the writing is ever so compelling - this is a bold exploration into the human psyche.
This is Narrative Craftsmanship.
***
Review from 2019:
The stench of Jane Eyre is upon it, but I will allow it, Du Maurier did a stellar job in bringing Jane Eyre to her contemporaries.
And I do love Rebecca. I don't give a fig about the unnamed Mrs. de Winters and I can't understand people's consternation over her lack of character. This book is not about her. It's about Her. Rebecca.
MinimusDisSummer: My (42M) wife (40ish F) has been promiscuously and openly unfaithful since marriage, beats her horse when she gets too competitive, but is great with both dogs who love her most, all my friends and neighbours love her, even Granny, the servants are super loyal, she throws one hell of a party and maintains my historic manor, but she got pregnant (not mine) and started swearing at me one night so I shot her in the heart instead of dealing with the county gossip after a public divorce or raise a bastard to inherit my house. Am I The Asshole?
666notyourEdRoch666: OMG, you're so Not The Asshole! My first wife was equally problematic...
***
What a skilful trickster du Maurier was, so much of this book deals in the Conditional Clause (always with the "would") but the writing is so lush, it pulls the reader from the very first pages with the dangerous, yet alluring rhododendrons alongside a driveway leading to a house in ruins.
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
A powerfully Gothic tale meets a strong Psychological novel- all masterfully handled, there are so many dimensions, looking at it through Jungian eyes, something du Maurier would be familiar with (the story begins with a dream): narcissistic or borderline personality disorder, displacement, Cinderella complex, ego defence mechanisms, Oedipal complex, fixations, dream analysis - throw in a sinister housekeeper and an unreliable narrator - there is so much to balance and the writing is ever so compelling - this is a bold exploration into the human psyche.
This is Narrative Craftsmanship.
***
Review from 2019:
The stench of Jane Eyre is upon it, but I will allow it, Du Maurier did a stellar job in bringing Jane Eyre to her contemporaries.
And I do love Rebecca. I don't give a fig about the unnamed Mrs. de Winters and I can't understand people's consternation over her lack of character. This book is not about her. It's about Her. Rebecca.
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Quotes Lady Selene Liked
“I believe there is a theory that men and women emerge finer and stronger after suffering, and that to advance in this or any world we must endure ordeal by fire.”
― Rebecca
― Rebecca
“If you think I'm one of those people who try to be funny at breakfast you're wrong. I'm invariably ill-tempered in the early morning.”
― Rebecca
― Rebecca
Reading Progress
April 24, 2019
– Shelved
April 24, 2019
– Shelved as:
to-read
July 4, 2019
–
Started Reading
July 4, 2019
–
Finished Reading
July 23, 2019
– Shelved as:
favourites
December 19, 2019
– Shelved as:
reflections
March 30, 2020
– Shelved as:
edwardian
March 31, 2020
– Shelved as:
fiction
April 6, 2020
– Shelved as:
five-stars
August 19, 2020
– Shelved as:
twistedsisters
March 6, 2022
– Shelved as:
anglophilia
November 3, 2022
–
Started Reading
November 3, 2022
– Shelved as:
rereads
November 3, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Steve
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Nov 03, 2022 10:57AM
Every now and then we read of some spouse who does in their significant other. Interestingly, they sometimes almost get away with it. There was the American lady in Hong Kong who killed her husband with a tainted milkshake, then rolled him up in a Persian rug to be carted off to storage, if I remember correctly. I think there was a doctor in Manhattan who killed his wife and dumped her body parts from a private plane offshore. We've heard these endings, yes, but what led up to the crimes? What could possibly happen in a marriage that would lead to murder, of all things, when divorce is such a ready alternative. With that question to ponder, I'm off to lubricate my road bike chain now. Someone hit me yesterday with their rearview mirror while I was riding, with a minor forearm bruise to show for it, speaking of criminals. s
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Was it a woman and do you look like her husband who, once again, forgot to take out the trash? 😁
Ah, yes, perhaps a case of mistaken identity! Someone once remarked, by the way, that no husband was ever murdered by his wife while he held a vacuum cleaner handle. s.
