Possibly one of the best opening lines in a novel. Rebecca was one of those books that pretty much everyone at work recommended to me. It was pretty tough going at the beginning, I actually had to restart the book four times before I got hooked, but once you make it to page 18 ( Mass Market edition), you can’t put it down. Yeah I know, 4 times to go 18 pages, it was ROUGH I tell ya… There was a lot of back story and the introduction of Mrs. Van Hopper and her relationships to the people at Monte Carlo (where the story opens) and Mrs. Van Hoppers air of importance. Honestly once you get through that part and Maxim is introduced, the story sucks you in and drags you along for the ride.
The second Mrs. de Winter (we never actually learn her name) a paid companion of Mrs. Van hopper, one who dines and chats with and runs errands for practically falls headfirst into marriage with Maxim de Winter, a recent widower. His wife Rebecca died barely a year ago and he comes to Monte Carlo to escape. He marries the second Mrs. de Winter and takes her back to his home, Manderley. It is a gigantic estate with tons of land overlooking the sea, with spectacular gardens and private little coves. There are permanant tennants and vacation homes, thats how much land there is. Mrs. de Winter also gets the entire staff of the house to oversee as the new mistress of the house. Many seem nice, however Mrs. Danvers is oddly standoffish at first. Coming from a very modest background she isn’t sure what to make of everything. But when Mrs. de Wintr begins to unfold the mystery surrounding Rebecca’s disappearance and death, her happy whirlwind romance might not be all she thought it was…
The only complaint I had was that this book kept be up way way waaaaaayyyy too late while I was reading it. Also no one could talk to me in the breakroom, I’d jsut get mad and shush them so I Could concentrate. By the middle of the book, it was all “a good part” and I didn’t want to put it down. There were sevearl “I told you so” and “I knew it” moments where I kinda knew something was going to happen a certain way and I really wanted to shake the second Mrs. de Winter until she realized what was happening.
Very good book, extremely well written, though still not 100% up on the love category. There was some sweetness to it with Maximand his love for the second Mrs. de Winter but even then it was only ho hum. I would still totally recommend that everyone reads this book, even though it’s a love story there is plenty of mystery to keep everyone enthralled.
So then. 3up 3down. 4 categories to go…. better get to reading….
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