Rebecca

Rating:
Summary: Trish
Review: I always read the reviews at Amazon before I spend money and shipping to buy a book. When reading the reviews for this book I was pissed. I was reading through the reviews and thought, "WOW I've got to read this!" Then I got to Barbara's review and she ruined it for me. Why on earth would you spoil the book for potential readers by giving away the ending?? Barbara defends her actions......Bull! There is no defense! I just hate it when someone tells the ending of a book or movie. Suffice it to say...I'm not going to buy the book now!

Rating:
Summary: I, too am Shocked Reviewer Revealed Killer...
Review: Please, Barbara, edit your review!!! One must invest a great deal of time and emotion to this book, and the very idea that you so casually told who was the killer was appalling. It's a great book, well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Hey Barbara Timmer, What's the matter with you?
Review: This is a classic masterpiece, a book to savor and appreciate, but NOT when a reviewer reveals the killer! Good grief, what's the matter with that woman? This was extremely valuable to the plot, so readers please, heed S. Kinnard's advice and DO NOT read that person's review. I agree, Amazon should remove that review, isn't that part of the rules not to reveal too much of the story?

Rating:
Summary: Response to another reader's review
Review: I read the review from Barbara L Timmer, and was Highly dismayed to find that she had given away a large portion of the book. I considered buying the book, but why bother now that I know who killed who. Thanks alot Barbara, for ruining this book which I was so excited to read! I hope Amazon takes my advice and removes your review. If you have not read Rebecca, skip over her review.

Rating:
Summary: OK, so Maxim murdered his wife, nobody's perfect!
Review: A little note to all those people who criticized me for revealing that Maxim killed Rebecca. Read the review by the Library Journal. I assume that Amazon is responsible for including that review. If everyone will notice, that reviewer also reveals the killer! So go ahead and complain to Amazon! So the next time any of you decide to attempt to censor someone else's free speech, you should check out your facts first!

Now this shows what can happen to anything in the hands of a truly great writer. Daphne du Maurier is a true mistress of her craft! She can even make a wife-murderer appeal to a die-hard femminist like me! LOL!

This book is what can only be described as Great Gothic. I rarely met a book I didn't like, and this one is no exception! Haunting and enigmatic as is the elusive Rebecca herself. I always wished somebody would write a prequel to this book that would be about the living Rebecca.

And I love books where the house is a character. Manderly is as much a presence as Maxim, Mrs. Danvers, or the main character, the young bride.

Rating:
Summary: Lyrical Masterpiece
Review: Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier was one of the best books I ever read. The authors's language beatifully protrays the life of a young woman who marries a widower trying to start over. Unfortunately, the young lady must fight the memory of Rebecca, her husband's late wife, to win him back. But there are many secrets at the Manderley estate, and some, which do not want to be discovered.

Rating:
Summary: What a mysterious tale...
Review: Daphne du Maurier's love story is a story about love, yes, but it is also a testament to her love for Cornwall. The moors , beaches and woods in this beautiful part of the world are described and portrayed as only by one who has lived and loved in this part of the world can. The story is about a house as well as people. The mysterious house of Manderley with all its secrets is the setting of this novel. Ms. du Maurier actually based her Manderley on an actual house found in Cornwall called Menabilly. The story is about a well-bred, but penniless young woman who makes a brilliant marriage to Max de Winter. All seems to be wonderful for her, but then it becomes sad and quite menacing to Rebecca because her Max seems to be ruled by another woman, and that woman is not alive, so it's very difficult for her to compete. The novel is a haunting and lovely story about the sadness that this young woman encounters during her married life and what she did about it. A true Gothic treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest Mysteries
Review: On the shores of Monte Carlo, Du Maurier's nameless heroine falls in love with and marries the fabulously wealthy Maxim de Winter within the space of a few days. Maxim, a widower, takes his new bride back to his home, Manderly.
Once at Manderly, the new Mrs. De Winter falls into a sinister web of mystery that begins and ends with Maxim's dead wife, the lovely Rebecca. Though dead for over a year, Rebecca still mantains a strong prescence over the entire household and over Maxim himself. The heroine finds herself doubting if her husband even loves her but only married her for companionship for none can replace his beloved, Rebecca.
Rebecca's rooms are as they were the last night of her life. Her servant, Mrs. Danvers, is still loyal and runs the house exactly as Rebecca wished.

Rating:
Summary: The Meek Will Inherit the Earth
Review: Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca is narrated by a timid young lady, barely an adult, who is left alone in the world after the death of her parents. Through fortuitous circumstances she meets Maxim de Winter, a wealthy widower and master of Manderley, a grand country house on England's coast. When this young lady - we never learn her name - enters de Winter's world, she is inevitably compared to Rebecca, de Winter's former wife. These comparisons, and the social demands placed on her in de Winter's world, accentuate her natural anxiety to the point that she begins to consider suicide. At the same time, a maritime accident reveals much about de Winter, Rebecca, and Manderley itself.

This novel explores some popular themes, like the troubles of fabulously wealthy people. But popularity does not in this case imply mediocrity. Du Maurier has created some wonderful characters, including the nameless protagonist, who is surely the heroine of shy people everywhere. She also offers some pretty good plot surprises. Finally, and very importantly for me, she offers some nice scenes of English domesticity (shaking off the water after a walk in the rain, reading the papers in front of the fire, having tea in the library, and so on). Rebecca might be summer reading, but it is good summer reading.