Rating: 
Summary: Stunning and wonderful book!
Review: For all those who were haunted by Rebecca DeWinter after they read DuMaurier's novel, here is a wonderful book that will answer all your unanswered questions. From the first paragraph I was hooked, wanting to read more about Rebecca's hidden secrrets. I have most of DuMaurier's Rebecca memorized, so I instantly caught on to this story. (I reccomend rereading DuMaurier's Rebecca) The main plot is basically the hunt for information on Rebecca DeWinter. Thomas Grey, a journalist, desperatly wants to know more about her past for an unknown reason, Inspector Juliyan, now an ancient and decrepit old man wants to clear up the rumors that have been spreading about Manderley for the past 20 years. This book drags the reader on this search for the truth about the mysterious Rebecca. After being almost on the verge of obsession with DuMaurier's classic book, I was finally able to feel at peace. Even though this is NOT by the original author, Sally Beauman captured the spirit of the way Rebecca was written. I was captivated by her book from the beginning to end.
Rating: 
Summary: Fans of du Maurier's Rebecca...BEWARE!
Review: Having read and re-read Daphne du Maurier's _Rebecca_ more times than I can count, I was excited to find a book that might continue the story. What a disappointment! The purpose of the story is not to tell Rebecca's tale after all, but to enlighten us with the author's political point-of-view. SETTING. Although the book is set in 1951, at least three of the characters are openly gay and it's hinted that a two others may be/have been bisexual. While our society is (finally) now becoming more enlightened about same sex couples, that was not the case in the early 1950's, particularly not in the rural society set depicted. Feminism of the type that says a woman cannot find love *and* herself, which I'd thought we'd finally put to rest, is championed, although it's, again, not terribly realistic for the setting. PLOT. Let's see, we have multiple and layered affairs, loveless marriages, syphillis resulting in children with severe birth defects, psychological disorders, child rape, incest, suicide and murder. Oh, and ghosts. Meaningful dialogue was thrown out in favour of a never-ending stream of "shocking revelations" and allusions to develop the action. CHARACTERIZATION. The book is broken into four sections so we can read the story from four different points of view. The dialogue is so strained that the author continually resorts to the interior monologue and flashback. Rebecca's journal is a mess. The "voice" changes more times than I could count, which makes it difficult to read. In the end, none of the characters are really very likable or sympathetic. Honestly, I found the book truly awful, especially when held up in comparison to the rich language of du Maurier's _Rebecca_. The reader is left with the impression that Ms. Beauman wanted to denigrate and obliterate du Maurier's novel, but it just made me want to run to the original to cleanse the bitter flavour of _Rebecca's Tale_ from my palate.
Rating: 
Summary: I LOVED it, but...
Review: I am a huge REBECCA fan, and yes, I have read the other two books in the series. This book was a real page turner, though it didn't start out that way: As much as I liked Colonel Julyan, I thought he rambled a bit too much during his section of the book. In fact, the story was rather ho-hum until the wonderfully inquisitive Terrance Gray took up the narrative. I couldn't put the book down as I voraciously read his account of chasing down and dogging many of the exisiting links to Rebecca. Frith and Favell's accounts were particularly eye opening! Well worth a read. My only criticism was that Gray didn't make more of an effort to connect with Mrs. Danvers, but I was relieved when Ellie did so later in the book. Okay, so what didn't I like? That we are told all of Rebecca's life except for the interim that was sandwiched between her father's death and her marriage to Maxim: What exactly happened during those unaccounted-for years? And I was surprised that neither Terrence nor Ellie made more of an effort to find out, considering what bloodhounds they were. Ellie managed to pinpoint this time in Rebecca's life to a beatnik commune in which she purportedly lived during those years, but that wasn't enough, especially when the inhabitants of the commune all had vague recollections of Rebecca. To my frustration, neither Terrence nor Ellie managed to translate the braille of Rebecca's marriage, to paraphrase the book, which was a reference to this iterim. I know that the journal pages describing these lost years had been destroyed, but nevertheless, I felt that Terrence and Ellie could have turned over a few more stones. I don't know how this piece of the puzzle could have been so blithely left missing, and I'm a little bothered. But this book was great fun; I recommend it to all REBECCA fans.
Rating:
Summary: Review -Rebecca's Tale
Review: I could not get past the second chapter. I found this book boring and over-written.
Rating:
Summary: intriguing
Review: I don't remember reading the previous book so this review stands on this book alone without any comparisons. I found it fascinating and full of family intrigue. The year is 1951, twenty years after the death of Rebecca DeWinter and the question still remains-was it a suicide or murder and who was she really? She was a woman whose description is as varied as the observers. She was a beautiful woman who was so memorable, that twenty years after her death she is still a person of interest to many inquiring minds. Several people have tried to find out the truth about her death for various reasons and the book tells the story from four different views; including the story of Rebecca, written by Rebecca, herself, (the books have mysteriously been sent to Colonel Julyan), by Colonel Julyan, who secretly had been enamored by Rebecca years ago, by his daughter Ellie, and by Terence Gray, a young unknown scholar with his own personal reasons in finding information about Rebecca. It keeps you guessing and interested to the very end of the book. Now I will have to go get the other books as this book was so interesting to me.
Rating: 
Summary: No classic Rebecca this
Review: I found this book to be too long, tortuous and frustrating. Too many plot lines winding all over the place and never fully resolved. The threads of homosexuality and feminism seemed contrived and unnecessary. Beauman is no du Maurier. Couldn't wait to finish this twisted tome and put it on my library's used book table. May the original, masterful "Rebecca" rest in peace.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting literary sequel, but . . .
Review: I found this novel extraordinarily engaging, yet ultimately unsatisfying--I think because, beautifully written as it is, it's merely an inversion of the novel on which it's based. Part of the new story is a kind of "flashback," in which some of the original story related in Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA is revealed from Rebecca's point of view--and while questions about her motivation remain, Rebecca is rendered much more sympathetically than the second Mrs. de Winter (narrator of the original novel). Then, too, the new novel is partly a love story involving new characters, but it turns out to be a kind of negative variation of the love story in REBECCA. Sally Beauman has fashioned an interesting literary sequel to Daphne du Maurier's masterpiece, but I suspect I would find Beauman's own original novels more satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: A Mixed Bag
Review: I had looked forward to this book with great anticipation and couldn't wait to start reading. My expectations were met beautifully until the last forty pages. I really disliked the way the author turned Rebecca into the heroine and the second Mrs. deWinter into a sad woman to be pitied when, in the original "Rebecca," it was the other way around. In short, loved the book, hated the ending!
Rating:
Summary: Did I Love it?-- Yes and no.
Review: I had very mixed feelings about starting to read Rebecca's Tale. I loved the original 'Rebecca,' and loved even more the recent BBC television production that was so faithful to it. I wasn't sure I'd want anyone else messing about with my impressions of duMaurier's characters, who are so memorable. Well, I'm glad I gave in. Even though the author takes some liberties that make me extremely uncomfortable, and even though she makes assumptions that go counter to some of mine [for example, I've always felt that Danny burned herself up in the mansion in the final chapter of 'Rebecca'], I found the book well worth reading, and there are some unforgettable passages, particularly in the third section, written by Rebecca herself(!). Anyone who has read a good biography of Daphne duMaurier's life will see what's coming in regard to some of the characters in this book, and I thought it was rather clever of the present author to work that theme in-- it creates a nice little subplot. [One reviewer in these pages has said it amounts to a 'polemic on coming out of the closet.' This is homophobic nonsense.] I agree with several other commentators in these reviews that the second Mrs. DeWinter comes off rather poorly in this book. Yes, she was a mouse, and, yes, sometimes you wanted to take her by the neck and shake her until she woke up and came to her senses, but she was still a valid character in her own right, and represented an integral part of the society of her time. In the sequel, she's plastic and two-dimensional, and utterly unbelievable as the same character that duMaurier so memorably created, with none of the internal conflicts or concerns. But other than that, I feel that this book is very well done. Captain Julyan is the loveable curmudgeon who lets you see 'through' his viewpoint to a more objective reality; Thomas is a mystery in his own right, and the discoveries he makes about his involvement in the original story are very believable and satisfying; Rebecca's 'Diary' is the heart of the book and was probably strong enough to stand entirely by itself, without the other three sections; Ellie's final chapters bring everything to a resonant close, without tying up TOO many loose ends. If you loved 'Rebecca,' as I did, I don't think you can afford NOT to read this sequel.
Rating:
Summary: BURN THIS BOOK! PLEASE!
Review: I have always been a huge fan of Rebecca. I must have read this book many many times, always imagining what happened after Mandery burnt down, and the lives of Maxim and the second Mrs.DeWinter. You can imagine how excited I was when I learned there was a sequal to Rebecca. I bought this book, and read it in 3 days. The bottom line? BURN THIS BOOK. NOT only did it ruin the original story for me, it made me angry to see the second Mrs.DeWinter as a such a weak and naive person. It was ridiculous to read that she was pitied. In Rebecca, I loved the way our unnamed narrator turned out to be such a strong person, who had a loving husband. I had hoped so much that they would have happy lives, and loved each other without any membrance of Rebecca but NOT in this book. It did say that they loved each other, but it gives hints that Max had always loved Rebecca deep in his heart, one example is how he took her enternity ring on her ring finger (the eternity ring was a ring Reecca's father gave her) Max had said he would replace it with his ring and he did so in the end. AND, there is more hints of course. Overall this is such a disspointing book. If you are a fan of the second Mrs.DeWinter and Maxim, don't read this book. I wish now that I never read or wasted my money. NOW I'd have to read the original over again to try to forget otherwise it will give me nightmares!
| 
