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Summary: Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman
Review: "Rebecca" is my all time favourite book and film so it was with mixed emotions that I picked up the sequel but I was not to be disappointed in fact I found it so interesting that I did not want to put it down. Sally Beauman wrote as near to Dahne Du Maurier as is possible and I found myself turning over the pages in breathless anticipation. The end was different than I expected but as Daphne Du Maurier had left us in suspense as to what happened to Maxim and Mrs De Winter then Sally Beauman also left the door open to write another book. A thorougly enjoyable read and one I will treasure along with my other Du Maurier books.
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Summary: A sheer disappointment!
Review: As a huge fan of Du Maurier I anxiously picked up this novel proposing to pick up where Rebecca left off. The author failed miserably at this attempt. Whereas Du Maurier is able to delve into the psyche of her characters, Beauman has replaced the intriquing original characters with cardboard cut outs. The script was laborious and tedious. It lacked depth. Fans of Rebecca will not necessarily enjoy this book. I am tempted to suggest that fans of Rebecca not waste their time reading Rebecca's Tale. Sadly, it very often disappoints.
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Summary: A great premise, but ultimately disappointing
Review: As an avid fan of the original book, I was intrigued by the idea of a novel that explores the unknown side of Rebecca. Finally, an end to the mystery! Unfortunately, after hundreds of pages, the author breaks her tacit promise to provide an answer, and ends it meaninglessly with the journalistic equivalent of "and then they all got hit by a bus." The sections purportedly written by Colonel Julyan, Ellie, and Rebecca herself are at least interesting to read, but any reader who possesses the sheer teeth-gritting determination to plough through the second section (written in lugubrious fashion indeed, and by a character who was not in the original novel) deserves a better fate than the cop-out ending provided. I admit, I was a bit tired out by the time I got to the end, but I didn't expect the same from the author!
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Summary: A Sad Shadow of Rebecca
Review: As an independent story, the book might have been more enjoyable, but as a "postscript" I found it sadly lacking. Miss Beauman was not able to convey the feeling of different writing styles in order to separate the different sections of her book - Ellie's perspective, Grey's etc. She also was far too conveluted in her plots - Grey likes Ellie, no he doesn't - Rebecca was this type of person, no this type. Instead of having a purpose for resurrecting
du Maurier's characters, Beauman seemed to be just using these names to meander through a story that changed as it occured to her.
Sometimes great classics are to be left alone. "Rebecca" stands well on its own. Miss Beauman had questions raised that were answered in the original such as "Did Maxim kill Rebecca?" The amazing ability of du Maurier as an author is partly her ability to get her reader to have great sympathy for a murderer! Secondary authors seldom are able to capture the majesty of a first work, and Miss Beauman is no exception. I have never read any of her other books and this one does not motivate me to do so. Rebecca is such a haunting character because of the mystique
created by du Maurier, so she is best left now in the Manderley Chapel crypt.
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Summary: A pleasure from cover to cover, absorbing
Review: At first I hated this book. I had just finished "Rebecca". I hated Rebecca and wholly identified with the second Mrs. DeWinter. I already had all the answers, my mind was made up. I didn't want to have my brain pried open. Well, this is simply not the right approach to reading a new book. You might expect me to say that after reading this book, I identified more with Rebecca, and she was just a poor lost soul, etc. etc. The irony is that this book will probably not change your mind. If you can think of this book as simply another novel, you will enjoy it far more. The writing style is noticibly different than the first book, but if you just give it a chance, the style is lyrical and hilarious at times. I love getting into the different character's minds.
While Rebecca's death is at the heart of the book, there are other concerns on the forefront, and we find ourselves caught up in the character's lives- Col. Julyan, T. Gray, Ellie, etc. I just love the thrill of a good mystery. What a well-written, sumptuous book this is if one just gives it a chance. I think you will become absorbed as I was.
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Summary: Pale Rebecca
Review: Beauman's sequel is a fine addition to the de Winter story. She captures Rebecca with all the grace, beauty, evil, and deceit that DuMaurier wrote about years ago. It was neat to see the story from other people's point of view, especially Terrence Gray, Rebecca's half-brother. Anyone who is a fan of DuMaurier's novel and Hill's sequel will enjoy this continuation of the story. It brings closure to some things and opens doors to others. It leaves the story open for another sequel, should so be desired, yet is a conclusion if no one does. As a 'Rebecca' fan, I am glad to have this as part of my collection. A must for book lovers!
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Summary: 'Rebecca, always Rebecca'
Review: Beauman's sequel is a fine addition to the de Winter story. She captures Rebecca with all the grace, beauty, evil, and deceit that DuMaurier wrote about years ago. It was neat to see the story from other people's point of view, especially Terrence Gray, Rebecca's half-brother. Anyone who is a fan of DuMaurier's novel and Hill's sequel will enjoy this continuation of the story. It brings closure to some things and opens doors to others. It leaves the story open for another sequel, should so be desired, yet is a conclusion if no one does. As a 'Rebecca' fan, I am glad to have this as part of my collection. A must for book lovers!
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Summary: Rebecca's tale
Review: Breath-taking all through the story. First time I've been enjoying this kind of work, taking up a story, writing a sequel or as it is the case here, what happened before. Excellent work, mindful and quite serious. Mrs Beauman had the genius of walking into Mrs Du Maurier's steps. She also had the talent to find the exact vocabulary tantamount to what was written in Rebecca's. All through the book, we kept thinking "oh, it rings a bell". We are definitely back to Manderley and its very atmosphere. Unlike the second Mrs de Winter who was made to say "last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley", we can say "once I opened this book, I definitely went back to Manderley and retraced the past through Happy Valley, and all those characters we were so familiar with, and could not leave so early, so soon".
A real masterpiece, A book I'll be fond of reading and re-reading again.
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Summary: spare yourself
Review: Don't sully your memory of Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' with this book. The author attempts to continue the intriguing story of Rebecca from the viewpoint of an aging neighbor and family friend who was also professionally involved in the case surrounding her death. However, the unsophisticated writing and plodding plot should not even be compared with the original.
There is so much unnecessary dialogue and irritating narrative (including excessive and pointless references to the main character's dog, Barker) that the plot stagnates. I started skipping paragraphs to get to the point. It's difficult to care about any of the dull characters who Beauman seemingly forgot to give differing personalities to.
Don't bother with Beauman. Pick up Du Maurier's 'Jamaica Inn' or 'My Cousin Rachel' for far more wonderful and mysterious stories.
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Summary: Out-of-focus Rebecca---Villain or Victim?
Review: Ever since I read Du Maurier's "Rebecca" as a young girl, I fantasized about the vivid character of Rebecca, who never makes a physical appearance throughout the whole story, yet manages to drive the action of all the players. Having glimpsed her essence, I wondered about her motivation--her real motivation--not the prejudiced opinions gleaned from the other characters. What had brought this glamorous female graced with "brains, beauty and breeding" to her less than glorious end at the murdering hand of her own supposedly smitten husband? How had her childhood injected her with the concentrated need to be mistress of Manderley?
If you are expecting all the answers from Sally Beauman's novel, "Rebecca's Tale", look elsewhere. Rather than a straight-forward account of Rebecca's story in Rebecca's voice, we get instead---in an attempt by the author to utilize Du Maurier's masterful yet underhanded heresay approach to uncovering Manderley's secrets, another go at more opinions--and these from two characters who were not even in Du Maurier's classic and do little to elicit sympathy or interest from the reader. Divided into four sections (each narrated by a different voice), the plot centers around the appearance of Terence Grey to the Manderley district. For very personal reasons, Grey is stirring up the old scandal/drama of the first book in order to seek some thread of the elusive Rebecca. Chief on his list of interviewees is Colonel Julyan, now a man in his 70s and his daughter, Ellie. Paramount to Grey's scheme to weed out the truth is the delivery of an old notebook seemingly written in Rebecca's own hand.
So, Rebecca does indeed get to speak, but through a diary written towards the end of her life to her unborn child. Even the information found here is questionable as Rebecca is touted as liar and performer who will say what she will to get what she wants. The "why" is still seeped in mystery and Rebecca sadly remains a shadowy image like film that has not quite been developed.
Ultimately, this lack of substance disappoints even though for the most part the story itself could be compelling if it left out the annoying angst of Ellie's feminism, Julyan's guilt and Grey's inability to be true to himself. Such "modern" "politically correct" dilemmas, have no place in a period piece set in the early 50s. Yes, all the "live" players' issues are resolved, but these events, while tying up the plot's loose ends again do not quite work within the context of discovering the real Rebecca.
On the positive side, Beauman does a wonderful job of weaving her rather labyrinthine tale with the use of the four distinct voices. Her tone works well in conveying the misty Cornwall coast as it carries with it that unsure quality that Du Maurier adopted initially while allowing the young and inexperienced second Mrs. De Winter to meander through her daydreams while dealing with the testy events of her story. Also interesting is the premise of Rebecca's childhood as related through the journal, even though again this is not developed to its full potential, but rather takes the easy way out by remaining slightly elusive. The appearance at the end of the second Mrs. DeWinter seemed too convenient; her characterization was silly--after living through the events of all three Manderley related tales (yes, the plot and outcome of Susan Hill's "Mrs. De Winter" is also incorporated into this story)there is no way this woman could remain so gauche.
As the Du Maurier estate has sanctioned this book as a sequel, I recommend reading it to all of you who hold "Rebecca" dear as one of the great Gothic masterpieces of the 20th century. Who knows, maybe the next one will have all the definitive answer!
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