|
| Rebecca | 
| Author: Daphne, Dame Du Maurier
Creator: Anna Massey
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Category: Book
List Price: $47.95
Buy New: $29.60
You Save: $18.35 (38%)
New (18) from $29.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  487 reviews
Sales Rank: 229649
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 12
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.1 x 5.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1572705027
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.912
EAN: 9781572705029
ASIN: 1572705027
Publication Date: February 9, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
When the dashing Max de Winter finds a new wife while vacationing in Italy, he feels happy for the first time since Rebecca, his first wife, died. However, de Winter's grim housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is obsessively devoted to the first Mrs. de Winter and won't let the newlyweds forget Rebecca. As the tension escalates, Mrs. Danvers grows more desperate and more deadly. Noted actor Anna Massey memorably narrates this tense title.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 482 more reviews...
 Psychologically spooky October 5, 2008
Here we are, romance and psychological terror at its best, all under the guise of a peaceful British manor.
At first appearance it is a classic Cinderella story: a poor girl meets a handsome, rich, and mysterious man during vacation. After their brief courtship, he marries her and takes her away to the idealistic world of Manderly.
But all is not well between the lovebirds. There may be no ghosts, but the house is haunted by the memory of the first wife, Rebecca, and the loyalty of her servants.
The mystery is grisley and intriguing, and the sweet romance keeps this going. Excellent, powerful description and a voice as insecure as they come. A great blend for a mystery that will stay with you after you have closed the book.
Rebecca has earned its place among the classics September 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Featuring the whimsical prose of the introspective young main character, this book sets a mood for heavy poetic descriptions and laments into her thoughts. The reader will travel with the character and learn of the epic story of Rebecca, revealed piece by piece. The subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) pieces are enough to aid the reader in figuring out Rebecca's startling story on his or her own, but some of the twists of the book are beyond the imagination of even the most clever reader.
The strengths of this book are its remarkable organization, its prose which often times caused me to stop to ponder a quote or a particular idea, the brilliantly vivid descriptions, some literary risks that the author took that worked, and most of all, its stabbing ending. While it has often been described as a page turner, I can say that I was able to put it down during the first half relatively easily, but the last fourth of the book I could not put down.
The weaknesses of the story is more a matter of personal preference. I personally don't like traditional British writing for its wordiness/over descriptions. However, the descriptions were bearable as they were poetic and charming. I also had a hard time identifying with the characters and was a bit frustrated with the main character at times, but this all ended up serving a greater purpose in the end.
In all this book went beyond expectations in its story line, and fell short of some (it didn't turn out to be my oh my goodness favorite book ever). No doubt that fans of British writing style should love this story which has definitely earned its place among the classics.
 Here is my heart. . . . September 10, 2008
Daphne du Maurier's REBECCA is my favorite book of all time -- bar none.
The opening line is famous, but I didn't know that the first time I read it (I was about 14).
I just remember the magic that began with the first line:
Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderly again. . . .
The girl is young, clumsy, exquisitely sensitive. An impoverished relative of a wealthy and boorish social climber, Mrs. Van Hopper, she makes her living as the older woman's companion.
Maxim de Winter, handsome, fabulously rich, and the owner of Manderly, one of the finest estates in England, crosses paths with the women in Monte Carlo.
As the girl falls crazy in love with de Winter, revealing herself as the most flaming romantic in all of British literature, she sees him like this:
He belonged to a walled city of the fifteenth century, a city of narrow, cobbled streets, and thin spires, where the inhabitants wore pointed shoes and worsted hose. His face was arresting, sensitive, medieval in some strange inexplicable way, and I was reminded of a portrait seen in a gallery I had forgotten where, of a certain Gentleman Unknown.
And like this:
Could one but rob him of his English tweeds, and put him in black, with lace at this throat and wrists, he would stare down at us in our new world from a long distant past--a past where men walked cloaked at night, and stood in the shadow of old doorways, a past of narrow stairways and dim dungeons, a past of whispers in the dark, of shimmering rapier blades, of silent, exquisite courtesy.
(I thought I was a romantic!)
However, I never saw him the way she did. Even as a teenager, I thought de Winter was a male chauvinist pig if ever there was one, and to this day, I don't understand what women see in him:
"So Mrs. Van Hopper has had enough of Monte Carlo," he said, "and now she wants to go home. So do I. She to New York and I to Manderly. Which would you prefer? You can take your choice."
"Don't make a joke about it, it's unfair," I said, "and I think I had better see about those tickets, and say good-bye now."
"If you think I'm one of the people who try to be funny at breakfast, you're wrong," he said. "I'm invariably ill-tempered in the early morning. I repeat to you, the choice is open to you. Either you go to America with Mrs. Van Hopper or you come home to Manderly with me."
"Do you mean you want a secretary or something?"
"No, I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool."
[Prick!]
Then this:
"So that's settled, isn't it?" he said, going on with his toast and marmalade; "instead of being companion to Mrs. Van Hopper you become mine, and your duties will be almost exactly the same. I also like new library books, and flowers in the drawing-room, and bezique after dinner. And someone to pour out my tea. . .and you must never let me run out of my particular brand of toothpaste."
[Prick!]
(Women certainly don't want male chauvinist swine as employers, but we accept them as husbands and lovers, because mostly that's all there is, so we have to make do.)
The spirit of Rebecca herself -- the first Mrs. de Winter -- pervades the novel like a gathering storm, a painful presence for the young woman Maxim marries after Rebecca's death. Although du Maurier gave the second Mrs. de Winter an inner life of extraordinary richness and depth, the author did not give her a name. When I learned that she didn't have
a name, I gave her mine, and she became me. I think she is simply every romantic woman who ever read this remarkable novel.
Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is also my favorite film. Joan Fontaine brilliant as the second Mrs. de Winter; Laurence Olivier absolute perfection as Max. This film was released in 1940, so don't see it in a theatre filled with college students, because they will snicker in the wrong places and spoil the most poignant scenes for you.
Not for the reader looking for a quick mystery/romantic fix September 3, 2008
There are almost five hundred reviews on this book, so I have almost nothing to add except the following.
This book is a romance/mystery written in a different time. The original publication date is 1937 or so. I have seen a lot of disappointment about the speed of the book, the main character, how the book paints women, etc. To those people, you need to understand that we haven't always been a society of people needing a "quick fix" or who even want to be spoon-fed, and books do not stay around as long as Rebecca because they are shallow. I rather suspect, having read Jamaica Inn, that Du Maurier intended for the heroine to be exactly as "mousy" as she is and that she intended there to be many questions left unanswered. The book is wonderful because even once a reader puts it down, he/she can sit and discuss it with others. Does Maxim really love the narrator or does he just want her to keep quiet? Was Rebecca the witch she was painted as or are we just getting a portrait of her third hand through the narrator (who got a lot of her material from Maxim)? Who really wins in the end? Rebecca? Maxim? And is justice really done?
As you can see, the possibilities for discussion are endless, and that is exactly what makes this book so remarkable.
Is it murder August 22, 2008
This a great story that kept me hook from the beginning. The story of this woman who felt in love with a widow and marry him, take you to his home and an evil housekeeper. It is intense and you won't see the ending not matter how you try. A great mystery, well worth your time.
Anna del C.
Author of "The Elf and the Princess"
and "Trouble in the Elf City"
The Elf and The Princess: The Silent Warrior Trilogy - Book One (The Silent Warrior Trilogy)
|
|
|
Wildlife, nature and the Environment
Sponsored Links
Learn how to get your own Amazon Book shop | |
