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I'm so glad that you liked this book Dolors. It's one of my favourites. The only thing that threw me was that the narrator was nameless and also the fact that the book is written in the first person is, well to me anyway, a difficult skill.

I should do a proper review some day Lynne. I loved this novel, completely blew me away. It's one of my all times favorites.
I have always related the way Du Maurier treated the nameless narrator and Rebecca's omnipresence to her own biased personality. It's like deep inside Du Maurier was attracted to Rebecca's style of life while she was caged away in the monotony of real life. And as if leaving the poor mundane narrator nameless she stated where the real appeal was. Debauchery, madness and lust?
Maybe reading too much into it, might be the effects of your sensuous last Ducornet's review! :)

It's an excellent book I must agree and yet really it was all so simply stated Dolors. Perhaps that's the way to do things?

Maybe Lynne, maybe! But simple is not easy. I've always thought that writing simply but with a consistent message is doubly difficult...

This is one of my favorite books, and I see something new in it with each rereading.

I've just been looking at your concise review again Dolors and it does indeed say it all.

But then again, after reading your brilliant reviews since then, are you going to change that statement in this review? That's the challenge!

Don't give up on some of us younger than 50 :-D

Kevin wrote: "Don't give up on some of us younger than 50 :-D"

HA!! I won't Kevin, I was spurred in the heat of the moment when I wrote that unworthy note on Du Maurier's masterpiece! :))

Oh what a read it was. For me it was a second read with much more insight and experience behind it. For some or other reason this book does not want to be forgotten.

Margitte wrote: "Oh what a read it was. For me it was a second read with much more insight and experience behind it. For some or other reason this book does not want to be forgotten."

Just read your review, thanks for making me relive the story. I should probably re-read it myself!

Dolors wrote: "Just read your review, thanks for making me relive the story. I should probably re-read it myself! ..."

I looked at this book on my shelves through the years, never wanted to part with it, always had the intention of going back to it. It was a very good decision, indeed.

Dolors, I was browsing through my books this morning and looked at this one again.

Do write a longer review Dolors! You would shine with a review.

Hi Dolors. I have been reading "The Makioka Sisters" and noticed how many widowers Yukiko rejected, in part, because they had endured the death of a wife. These men are considered damaged goods because they had been previously married yet, through no fault of their own, were now alone. That got me thinking about this famous book about the heavy presence of the dead first wife, and how the heroine herself seems fixated on her. (I had seen the famous Hitchcock film many years ago but I have never read the book. Thus my general awareness of the issues.) I see that you were highly enthused about the book, and you seem to speak for about 50 of our GR friends who have shown near-unanimity in raving about this book, so I decided to order this tonight. (Doubtless, it will sit on my shelf for a while, but I will eventually dream of Manderlay and wonder what effect it might have on me.)

Steve, Your comment came up in my stream just now. You would love Rebecca and would write a super review as should Dolors!

I feel that the book was superior to the film as the acting was rather stiff but then that was the style in those days, with the clipped accents.

Also the film did not follow the exact vein of the book regarding the previous wife Rebecca.

Thanks Lynne for reminding me of my need to watch the movie adaptation...yes I know, shame on me, I still haven't had the chance of seeing it, although I think I would love to re-read the book before I tackle the film.
Steve, as per usual, you bring up common aspects of truly disparate reads and connect them aptly. I'd just add that, contrarily to the dead wives in the MS, Rebecca is a hauting presence for the nameless narrator and a source of disturbing attraction in the story, maybe even a unpremeditated metaphor for Du Maurier's own struggles in her tempestuous love life (my own unscholarly opinion) I am ecstatic to hear you bought this Gothic tale and I hope you don't find it disappointing after having raved about it so openly and shamelessly around the page! Whatever the case, thanks for sharing your perceptive thoughts here, my friend.

Thanks Lynne for reminding me of my need to watch the movie adaptation...yes I know, shame on me, I still haven't had the chance of seeing it, although I think I would love to re-read the book before I tackle the film.
Steve, as per usual, you bring up common aspects of truly disparate reads and connect them aptly. I'd just add that, contrarily to the dead wives in the MS, Rebecca is a hauting presence for the nameless narrator and a source of disturbing attraction in the story, maybe even a unpremeditated metaphor for Du Maurier's own struggles in her tempestuous love life (my own unscholarly opinion) I am ecstatic to hear you bought this Gothic tale and I hope you don't find it disappointing after having raved about it so openly and shamelessly around the page! Whatever the case, thanks for sharing your perceptive thoughts here, my friend.

50 year old books rock!

Liza wrote: "50 year old books rock!"

Couldn't agree more! :)

I have started to become most frustrated by modern literature and now going through much older works that suit my taste and are vastly superior in terms of the quality of writing.

I am trying to read more contemporary writers myself, and I have been positively surprised against all odds. Calvino, Banville and Lessing are among new literary discoveries that have steadily become trustworthy authors.

Yes indeed, I love the period at the moment from the late 1800's through to the fifties and sixties, but do feel once you start going back further than the 19th century the writing at times can be difficult to grasp. I think it's a case of the more you read the better.

Dolors, this seems quite a popular novel, thought I’d see what fosters all th fondness. I’m over third th way through and no sign of th promised “Debauchery, madness and lust?�� I keep on because as Ron Reagan* joked there must be a pony in here somewhere!

*The joke concerns twin boys of five or six. Worried that the boys had developed extreme personalities -- one was a total pessimist, the other a total optimist -- their parents took them to a psychiatrist.

First the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. "What's the matter?" the psychiatrist asked, baffled. "Don't you want to play with any of the toys?" "Yes," the little boy bawled, "but if I did I'd only break them."

Next the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his out look, the psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. "What do you think you're doing?" the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as he had been by the pessimist. "With all this manure," the little boy replied, beaming, "there must be a pony in here somewhere!"

"Reagan told the joke so often," Ed Meese said, chuckling, "that it got to be kind of a joke with the rest of us. Whenever something would go wrong, somebody on the staff would be sure to say, 'There must be a pony in here somewhere.'"

.

...mark wrote: "Dolors, this seems quite a popular novel, thought I’d see what fosters all th fondness. I’m over third th way through and no sign of th promised “Debauchery, madness and lust?�� I keep on because as..."

Heh mark, great story you shared here, thanks for elaborating a bit about the origin of the expression, you had me smiling from the first sentence and reminded me of some popular jokes we used to crack among my peers quite a few years ago, when I was barely a teenager.

Even so...I am afraid that if you haven't found the pony 66% into the novel there is not much chance that you'll be riding with Du Maurier's Gothic story. It's a classic thriller, subdued, mysterious and "quiet" in the sense that much of what goes on happens in the mind of the nameless narrator (and of the reader, of course), who remains a shadow of the true protagonist, the ever-present Rebecca. Somehow, it reminded me of Henry Jame's novella The Turn of the Screw, where the setting and the pace of the storytelling are more important than the action that actually takes place.
It might not work for all the readers, I can only say that it caused a deep impression in my younger self when I read it. I wonder what I'd make of it today as I have matured and evolved as a reader. I do think though that I'd still feel its allure, same happened with Jane Eyre when I re-read it recently, I think certain works stand the test of time and these might be a couple of those titles for me.
I'll check to see you finally make of it...

Dolors wrote: "... I can only say that it caused a deep impression in my younger self when I read it��"

That seems th common experience: fondness and deep impression at a young age.

I’m no longer young, but I am here for th �� Debauchery, madness and lust�� you promised Lynne above! 🥳 Thanks for such a thoughtfilled reply Dolors!

I’m on th backstretch of th book now. Mee and my saddle�� m

Dolors I’m at 84%, this is picking up its pace now! …m

...mark wrote: "Dolors I’m at 84%, this is picking up its pace now! …m"

uuuhhh...you might end up racing a bit after all, mark! ;P

Dolors, your review is short but pitch perfect.

Laysee wrote: "Dolors, your review is short but pitch perfect."

Heh, I was left speechless. Poor, nameless Mrs de Winter, she never got a chance to shine with the shadow of Rebecca casting her sdark glow over Manderley and the reader's heart....