Hello again! This post is going to be slightly different to other things that I have written about before, and I would love to hear your feedback as to whether you enjoy this sort of post! So, this post will take the form of a book review about the classic text Rebecca, written by Daphne du Maurier.
Can we all just take a second to appreciate how beautiful the cover is?
As I study English Literature as a degree I am given a reading list of texts which I need to read over the summer in preparation for returning to uni in September. Whilst browsing the different texts on Amazon I decided I would start by ordering this and begin reading it- this decision was perhaps solely based more on the cover than the blurb but who could blame me?
As I began the novel I was intrigued and definitely wanted to read more. It began with the protagonist hopping from hotel to hotel, dreaming of a time past at Manderley, an English estate. I hoped that it would take place as an epic love story but this was not fulfilled within the novel.
The novel was definitely interesting at the beginning, with aspects of a Gothic nature creeping in with the hints at a ghostly presence of the ex wife Rebecca. However, this ghostly nature again was not fulfilled.
I began to become uninterested in the novel and frustrated at the protagonist midway through. I dislike Jane Eyre and Rebecca definitely has qualities very similar to this.
However, as I began to finish the novel I sympathised more with the protagonist and even Maxim! I won't reveal why, as this would spoil the novel to prospective readers.
Overall, I did enjoy the novel as I felt that there were many different twists and turns that I didn't expect. However, I didn't like how reminiscent of Jane Eyre the novel felt and the characterisation of the protagonist or Maxim at times.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave any comments
xxx