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Summary: Fantastic!!!
Review: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again..."With that opening sentence, Rebecca offers an addicting and engrossing journey into the mind of our unnamed heroine, slowly tortured by her new marriage to Maxim DeWinter, a man twice her age, and haunted by his dead first wife, Rebecca--whose body was never discovered. She finds herself living in Rebecca's shadow and haunted by the mystery of the woman's death. She is and always will be the SECOND Mrs. DeWinter, something the sinister housekeeper, Ms. Danvers, will not let her forget. Rebecca is a novel of mystery and passion, a deliciously dark psychological tale with a brooding atmosphere and unbearable tension. Daphne DuMaurier has crafted an exceptional masterpiece of romantic suspense, one of the best books of the 20th century and possibly the best book in the romantic suspense genre. Highly Recommended!!!
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Summary: Rebecca for the Adolescent Reader
Review: I first read this book in the eighth grade. I was really intrigued because it had a great story line. Now that I'm in college and am taking an adolescent literature class, I have decided to reread the novel in hopes of greater understanding. It is very fascinating. "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier is a mystery about a young girl who dies and leaves her husband widowed. The husband remarries and Rebecca begins to haunt them. The underlying part of the story begins when Rebecca's late husband, Maxim de Winter, makes his second wife, a lady who's name the book never mentions live in Rebecca's shadow.
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Summary: A courageous heroine takes on a force of nature; timeless
Review: Having discovered the incredible works of Daphne du Maurier long ago, I can only wonder why I had never read her most renowned and classic novel. Probably just as well too, because I'd probably not have appreciated du Maurier's exquisite mastery of suspense-building. Most of her novels are definite page-turners, keeping the reader firmly with grasp; this work not only grasps, it gropes!. Memorable characters, even if not particularly loveable ones. Dame Daphne left us with some great reading and this surely is indeed one of her best and probably one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century.
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Summary: Wonderful book
Review: I read this book sophomore for a book report and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was difficult to get started, but once I was into the story, I couldn't put it down. At the end of every chapter, it left me wanting to read just one more. It was suspensful as well as romantic and exciting. I would recommend this book to anyone and I want to read it again in the near future. While doing a report on the author in English class this year, it has given me a new appreciation behind the story's plot and into the author's mind.
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Summary: captivating mystery
Review: after reading some of the reviews, i was delighted to see a few young people, (12 and 13) enjoy having the experience of reading Rebecca. I also read it when i was pretty young, and i loved it! it was recommended to me and initially i thought the cover and title indicated some kind of romance novel. but i came out deciding it was one of the best books i've ever read.
it does start out very slow, but it gets way more interesting. and it is quite similar to jane eyre -- but i like better the concept of a haunting presence of the dead wife instead of having a crazy one locked up in a room. rebecca is very intriguing. i would recommend it to almost anybody (except people i know who wouldn't be able to appreciate it, it is a long-winded mystery!) definitely read it if you never have, even if you have mixed feelings at the end about whether or not you like it, it will certainly provoke a lot of thought. what else can i say, it's just a classic!
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Summary: A Timeless Classic!
Review: I first read this book in high school, and love it as much -- if not even more -- 25 years later. The sense of place in this novel is very strong, and the narration lends itself to vivid imagery. Add to that a set of multi-dimenstional characters and a suspenseful plot with unexpected twists, you have a timeless classic. In most book stores, this title is typically shelved in the Fiction/Literature sections, not Romance. --Paula Fitzsimmons, pjpublications.com
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Summary: jsdfhlajdfhkjlsd
Review: it was a typical gothic novel, but some of the immagry was good.
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Summary: Not Romance for Saps!
Review: While the red 'satin' cover and the category of 'Romance Thriller' seem to be defining characters for Rebecca, it most certainly is not.
The story starts with our unnamed the-soon-to-be Mrs. De Winter II, and Mr. Maxim de Winter, a widower of eight months following the tragic drowning of his wife Rebecca. The-soon-to-be Mrs. De Winter II is a paid companion to Mrs. Van Hopper, a fat woman more inquisitive and annoying than humanely possible. One day, the-soon-to-be Mrs. De Winter II is free from lunch duty since Mrs. Van Hopper is sick, and meets de Winter at lunch, and accepts his invitation to a ride in his car. So starts their friendship, until the-soon-to-be Mrs. De Winter II realizes that she is in love with him, her, a just out of school young thing, with a forty-two year old widower. So she is as surprised as Mrs. Van Hopper when he proposes to her right before she leaves; stunned, she says yes.
She reaches Manderly, where her fantasyland quickly vanishes. From Mrs. Danvers, the sinister and loyal maid to Rebecca, to Rebecca herself, who seems to haunt the house with her presence, nothing is what it seems. Soon, Mrs. De Winter II finds herself looking for the answers behind the former mistress of the house. This is a brilliantly written book; however, the second half, following the scene in Rebecca's old rooms with Mrs. Danvers, goes by much faster, as the plot speeds towards the climax. This book is genuinely frightening at time; I myself stopped reading in the night because I was getting the chills. For those of you who are not looking for a sappy love story, this book is definitly a must-read.
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Summary: Suspensful Classic Romance
Review: I'm not really a reader of romances but heard this one was a great suspense novel as well, a classic made into a film that starred Laurence Olivier and won the academy award for best picture in 1941. A 40something millionaire widower suddenly marries a young woman with no money, background or breeding and takes her to live at his estate, Manderley. She is haunted by the presence of Rebecca, his first wife, whom she imagines her husband is still in love with. I thought the second half of the book much better than the first, I don't know how I stayed through the first 150 pages, which is the same tiresome whining of the main character over and over. The narrator is so mean spirited, self-centered and just too stupid to be believed, searching & sifting through every conversation, the most minor social encounters, digging and digging and digging to find the insults she believes everyone is directing at her. Perhaps this character is dated and can only be appreciated through 1930's lenses as a sensitive, unworldly, eager to please young woman, but I found it hard to be on her side and couldn't identify with anything she felt. The second part of book seems to deserve the suspense label and really does become a page turner once it leaves the realm of the narrator's inner doubts about her marriage and moves to the mystery of how Rebecca really did die.
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Summary: A must read! Review by an eigth grade student
Review: This is a marvleous story about a young naive girl who is picked up in Monte Carlo, France by a wealthy, powerful aristocrat. As soon as she reaches Manderley, the estate in which her new husband lives, she begins to wonder why the house is so...eerie. She is constantly compared to the prior Mrs. de Winter who was beautiful, charming, and perfect... Little by little the new Mrs. de Winter realizes that there is a deeper story to the death of the late Mrs. de Winter than that which has been rumored.
This is truely a must-read. The captivating story is so mysterious and exciting, you cannot put it down.
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