Rebecca

Written by Daphne Du Maurier

Narrated by Emilia Fox

Rebecca is widely regarded as Daphne du Maurier's finest novel. It tells the story of Manderley, an exquisite house with gardens down to the sea; its owner Max de Winter; and his new young wife. And, of course, Rebecca.

(P)1996 Hodder & Stoughton Audiobooks

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Jul 4, 2005
• ISBN: 9781848941922

Daphne Du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier (1907–1989) has been called one of the great shapers of popular culture and the modern imagination. Among her more famous works are The Scapegoat, Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, and the short story "The Birds," all of which were subsequently made into films—the latter three directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Reviews for Rebecca

[chris.wolak · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This one's going to have to percolate a bit before I can figure out what I think of it. Have a feeling my esteem will ripen over time. I was surprised that it wasn't more a page turner for me. Sort of had to prod myself to pick it up each day, but once I did the reading went well.

It definitely made me think of Downton Abbey. There's even a character named Crowley.

[books9n9pickles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Impulsively downloaded this audiobook after seeing the trailer for the forthcoming Netflix adaptation. (My physical copy is at my parent's house.) I'm a little over halfway through so far...and good lord, I can't believe romance is associated with this title in any way. I am, once again, astonished by how terrible and patronizing Maxim is to our narrator. He's just awful...and if I were inclind to "ship" characters, I'd say that the Manderley estate manager, Frank Crawley (sp?) would be a far better match for our narrator.

Speaking of narrators, Anna Massey is superb. I haven't listend to an audiobook since 2011 (on a road trip by myself) aside from a couple Tor.com short stories, and this one is so much better than those two over-the-top dramatic readings were. Massey can differentiate the characters speaking without resorting to ridiculous voices. Her pauses are perfectly placed for tension and her delivery of our shy, hesitant narrator is spot-on.

I can't say this audiobook has converted me to the format. It's one thing to see that you've got about a 14 hour commitment, it's quite another to have to sit through it, especially when I read so much faster. The tasks I try to multitask are either too noisy for me to hear over or require too much thought for me to absorb what's being said. Plus it feels so rude to have earphones in all the time, and it's annoying to have to wake up my phone to pause and play just for quick comments. (These are NOT things that will influence my eventual star rating.)

That said, I am impressed by the metadata markup that seems to be underlying this audiobook. Whenever I hit play after pausing, the audio resumes from the beginning of the sentence I was listening to, rather than in the middle of it. Big step up from the books on tape and CDs I used to listen to in the car! (I am already a technological mastadon at the age of 30, aiyah...)

[ghost_boy-691444 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

...wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...wait for it...and there we go...

This was my reaction while reading Rebecca. Honestly, I think this novel was painfully slow to get into. I wanted to give up and read something else. It was boring mostly until the spoiler happens. Than everything picks up from there and thing start to happen. While this book was well written, it wasn't engaging enough for me till the last 100 pages. I really had to force myself to wait till the end to see why Hitchcock made a movie of this and why so many people love this novel. I was wondering if the book was told by someone else or if it was in third person I would have liked it a little better. I have a feeling I like the movie better when I watch that this week.

[elspethw-137053 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oh I do hope I haven’t offended. I only thought... well, oh shit, oh my god, I, this is a slow burn if I ever met ‘er but it’s worth it.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I took Rebecca to Florida for a five day trip and in that short time I devoured the entire book from start to finish. I can see why it has never gone out of print. Rebecca is a true psychological thriller that doesn't need blood and gore to make it creepy. Even though the ghost of Rebecca never makes an appearance, you can feel her presence in every scene. In a nutshell, a young and inexperienced traveling companion falls in love with a much older widower while vacationing in Monte Carlo. Before meeting him, she heard all the rumors about how his wife tragically drowned in a sailing accident less than a year prior. She has heard all about his palatial estate, Manderley, handed down from generation to generation. Rather than travel on to New York as a companion, Mr. de Winter asks our unnamed heroine for her hand in marriage. And so begins the adventure. No one really likes the new Mrs. de Winter and Rebecca's ghost seems to be everywhere thanks to Mrs. Danvers, the former Mrs. de Winter's personal assistant. Danny just won't let Rebecca die. While Rebecca does not make an appearance anywhere in the novel, her presence is felt everywhere.

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mr. Maxim De Winter, widowed from his bride Rebecca, meets the young, unnamed narrator of this book, who eventually becomes the second Mrs. De Winter. She moves into the infamous mansion called Manderley, but can't escape the persistent, almost ghostly presence of the beloved, beautiful Rebecca.I do not read classic literature very often, but I had an abridged audiobook version of this (4 discs) and was looking for a quick read, so this fit the bill. I really had no background on the plot of this story, so it all unfolded naturally and came as a surprise as I was reading. This would be considered more of a modern classic, published originally in 1938 and I've seen it classified in several genres: romance, suspense, thriller, Gothic, etc. As a classic, I enjoyed this, probably more so than most classics I've read. Reading the abridgment, I obviously got the abbreviated version and I'm sure I missed out on a lot of the finer detail, but as abridgments go, I got the feeling that it was a good one and I got the main points of the story without it feeling too choppy or disjointed. That ending, though! It came out of nowhere and was so abrupt (esp. on audio, I think). I do have an actual paperback book copy on my shelf and I had to go back and re-read the ending to make sure I didn't miss anything. Overall, an enjoyable classic without feeling too outdated.

[mutantpudding · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A little slow going at times but the writing was beautiful and atmospheric. I found a lot of the characters to be unlikable but I still liked reading about them. This book shows its age in the anachronistic way it talks about gender and race.

[jorgeousjotts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was quite a slow burn. I would guess that more than a few people have read the first couple chapters and abandoned it. But it got more intriguing as it went. I didn't actually 'like' the characters as people, and not all that much even happens, lol, but by the end I was definitely invested in finding out where the story would go. The area where it really succeeds, in my opinion, is that it's told in a way that invites the reader to mull it over. I pondered different plot points, and character motivations, and the subtext of scenes, and what characters might have done differently, and what might happen in the end, all throughout the book. For this reason I highly recommend reading it in conjunction with another, so you have someone to talk it over with. Many times my impressions of events differed drastically from my reading parter's, and it was interesting to compare 'evidence' for each case. There's plenty of room for multiple interpretations of pretty much every aspect of the story.

[figgles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Re-read after watching the rather simplified Netflix adaptation... A classic, of repression and twisted love. I couldn't help thinking that this could only be written about English people, who dare not speak of their emotions. Told from the first person, almonst entirely as an interior monologue, by the young, unnamed, heroine who, when we meet her is employed as a companion and who spends her time imagining stories about those around her. Her marriage to widower Maxim de Winter catapaults her into a world of wealth and tradition and she struggles to cope, expecially with the ever present memory of the first Mrs De Winter - Rebecca. The consequeces of repression, love for place over person, and the wrong kind of love play out slowy, with each revelation a shock, even on a re-read. Well deseved classic status.

[akbouterse · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this! I did have a bit of a hard time getting into this one at first because there is so much scene setting but as I went on I realized how important all that scene setting is for building the tension and imagery that is so important to this story.

Du Maurier does so much interesting character work in this and I'm sure I missed some of the nuance and layers present in this story. The latter half where we get more of the mystery and suspense was more interesting to me but it only works because of level of detail we get about Manderley and all the characters in the first part. I think if you like mystery and suspense books and gothic fiction this is a really good book to go back to and see how this really set the stage for a lot of elements of those genres. I really appreciated this book and I'm very glad I read it.

[jonimfisher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reread this classic and loved it even more this time around. Classic. Profound.

[islandmum84 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The book dragged on the first half. It was nearly a dnf but the 2nd half was a real page turner. It lived up to its expectations.

[the_literary_jedi · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Originally I decided to read this based on a YT recommendation for Halloween reads. I barely got through the first 1/3 of the book because I felt it was as slow as molasses to start off. However, based on recent updates and movie releases that have intrigued me further, I will be trying this book again.

[adrianburke_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

In the end, what is all the fuss about? A bit creaky like a dodgy conventional 1930s film.

[lindaloretz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I’m so glad I reread this classic story. It is a stark reminder of certain white males’ power both historically and in the present day. Maxim, aptly named to represent a general truth, has money and privilege. He is believable. The unnamed narrator is fragile, young, naive, and out of place in the world of the rich. Rebecca’s personality and spirit are alive and well in Manderley. It’s a well-known literary book and movie. It is eerie for how timeless it remains. How much of the drama is in the narrator’s mind? How much of the drama is part of the plot? Which characters are sane? I can pose so many questions, but I am not sure I can answer them with any conviction.

Manderley, the house, is the only understandable character. It reflects the cycle of life with all of the glory of the trees, flowers, and animals. All of the others are harboring secrets that encumber their humanity.

[lethalmauve · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Last night I dreamt I was reading Rebecca again.My back to the wall, my hands tightly holding the book as I read about Rebecca de Winter's ghost — haunting, irreplaceable, omnipresent. This was an unforgettable, page-turning (may I say Freudian) novel of intense psychological prod under the guise of a (twisted) fairy-tale romance. It was in Manderley and its initial promises of happily ever afters; Manderley with its thorny rose garden, salt-smelling, wind-blowing air from the sea, and its many doors and windows to many of its secrets, its mysterious and grim past. It was old shoes to fit in for our nameless narrator, in place of Rebecca's, a role and I daresay identity to assume and resume, with helpless and dangerous comparisons accompanied by irrational hatred and intimidation from the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. du Maurier was a master story-teller with pages and pages of layers upon layers, subtle sexual suggestions and occasional intense visits of paranoia and anxiety, of characteriziation and a narrative that will surely stay with you for a long time. Rebecca was also quite the social commentary on the roles expected of women and the other side of liberation women have deep within and against these societal expectations.This I believe is one of those books with something new to discover every single time you re-open it. It's the beauty of Rebecca and you could, somehow, terrifyingly sympathize with her demise and I'll go as far to say revenge as she and our nameless narrator's identities clash and merge. Love can only go so far.I have seen Hitchcock's gripping adaptation a number of times which is also one of my favorite films of all time. Joan Fontaine's performance was truly remarkable and I can't help but think seeing the film first, with its slightly lesbian undertone, snatched the amount of anticipation I would have gladly had while reading this book.

[andjhostet-527429 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This one was an instant favorite for me. Amazing writing, extremely memorable characters, and an impeccable portrayal of anxiety and its pervasive nature in how it affects everything you do. The prose is very elegant, but very easy to read. The plot was amazing, and it really picked up in the end. I read the last 200 pages in one sitting.

[asheley-627878 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“Do you think she can see us, talking to one another now?” she said slowly. “Do you think the dead come back and watch the living?”My gosh, what a story. Exquisitely suspenseful and compelling. The twists were excellent and made me really excited as a reader. I read Rebecca slowly, over about two weeks, which was a lot of fun. It was so vivid in my head, even though I haven't yet seen any of the movie adaptations. I'll definitely reread it one day and it will most likely speak to me differently than it has just now.The evil Ms. Danvers is a hell of a character. Wow.When I was reading, Rebecca reminded me of other books I've loved: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and even Far From the Madding Crowd just a little bit. Though this is mostly in its gothic tone. Unlike Jane Eyre, who is deliciously fiesty and independent, Rebecca's unnamed narrator is weak, spineless, too afraid to stand up to those who are mistreating her. She won't even delegate in her own estate home, which gives some of the staff the impression that they are her superiors. She needed to be this way, though, so she could achieve such growth over the course of the story. In the end, Mrs. de Winter is quite different. The relationship she has with Maxim de Winter is very interesting to watch as the story goes from its beginning to its end.Audiobook Notes: This audiobook is a masterpiece, with Anna Massey performing the story far more than just offering stellar narration. I highly, highly recommend listening, even to those that have read it before.Title: Rebecca by Daphne du MarierNarrator: Anna MasseyLength: 14 hours, 48 minutes, UnabridgedPublisher: Hachette Audio

[darcia_10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rebecca is a beautifully written book that I have no business critiquing.This story is a powerful statement about the expectations and limitations placed on women during the 1930s. It's also poignant commentary on our quickness to judge and gossip about prominent members of society, which continues on in our obsession with celebrities. Rebecca is a story about love, hope, and desire, as well as a reminder that all of our lives run much deeper than the things we choose to show the world.

[lorifox · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again.” So begins the classic Rebecca, which I first read many years ago, when I loved it. Time changes us, and this time, listening to the audiobook, I’m sad to say, I was much less impressed by the book. The voice actor was great, and the storyline still intriguing, but the dialog included way too many, “Yes,” I said lines, and the almost constant running monologue in the narrator’s head consisting of conjecture based solely upon her naive imagination soon became tedious.

I wanted to love the book the second time around as much as I loved it the first time, but alas, I did not. The timidity of the narrator, Mrs. de Winter, and the aloofness of her husband, Maxim de Winter, also grated in my nerves to the extent that I wondered how I gave the book 5 stars the first time. After this reading, I’m demoting it to 3 stars, still good, but not great.

[carriewuj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This cover leaves a lot to be desired and if this wasn't a re-read from long ago, I might not have picked it up....However, I remember being captivated by this book in my high school Brit Lit course and was also intrigued by the concept of re-reading something from another time in my life and seeing if it still measured up. The answer is yes! I really think this book was the Gone Girl of its day. It has the tawdry love relationship, the mind games, the appearances that aren't what they seem, the sham of a marriage and plenty of scandal to go around. The narrator, who remains nameless meets and marries Maxim de Winter after a brief courtship. She is half his age and all she knows about him is that his first wife, Rebecca drowned, that he was purported to be broken up about it, and that he is the owner of the estate Manderly, which she acquired a picture postcard of as a girl. Not much to start a marriage on, but there it is. The narrator is insecure already, an orphan and not from the same social class, so she has several strikes against her, which she belabors a bit, along with her extreme shyness, her lanky hair and her fear of the servants. After a lovely honeymoon in Italy, the couple returns to Manderly and the shadow of Rebecca falls over them both -- for very different reasons, though the reader doesn't know it yet. The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers keeps Rebecca alive by turning her rooms into a sort of museum -- super creepy, not to mention her skull-faced appearance and her ability to turn up at the worst times/ places. The narrator is rightly intimidated by and afraid of her. Maxim has limited dealings with her so doesn't see the bizarro behavior or the threats to his new wife. The poor young thing has an overactive imagination and plays out all these scenes in her mind of how Manderly used to be under Rebecca's capable hand and how much Max must've loved her. When Jack Favell, an ill-bred cousin of Rebecca's turns up at Manderly during Max's absence, the whole illusion of Rebecca begins to unravel. A heavy fog and a shipwreck further disturb Rebecca's RIP and the book becomes a cliff-hanger right until the very end. The lovely first line, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again..." is haunting and begins the book in the present with the majority of the action happening in flashback/memory sequence. A little old-fashioned (wordy) and heavy-handed with the skull face of Mrs. Danvers and the blood-red rhododendrons, but the author has chosen a tone and sticks to it throughout and the ominous feeling of calamity does not disappoint.

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I re-read this book every year, and I'm always impressed by how skilfully Daphne Du Maurier crafted her characters. The second Mrs De Winter is one of the few heroines I prefer to identify with rather than aspire to emulate, because she is so human and believable. Rebecca, the eponymous (and deceased) anti-heroine of the story, is merely a construction of the narrator's imagination and Mrs Danver's idolatory. It seems stupid and redundant to say, but Rebecca is not real - like Dona St Columb in 'Frenchman's Creek', she may be what Du Maurier aspired to be, or the type of woman she feared (based on a former girlfriend of her husband), but a book with fearless, practically perfect Rebecca de Winter would not work as well as the timid, anonymous perspective of a young wife.And I notice new details with every reading - the powerful imagery of flowers and nature, with Rebecca's heady rhododendrons and the haunting echo of the sea, and the self-deprecating bias of the narration (is the second Mrs De Winter, with her overactive imagination, telling the truth in every scene?) I love the little character quirks of the narrator, and I really feel her nervousness and embarrassment in the early chapters. Manderley is far more imposing than Mrs Danvers, or the ghost of Rebecca, and any young bride would be scared of her new role as its mistress.Still one of my favourite novels, and one of the few stories able to engross and entertain the second - and tenth, and fiftieth - time around!

[geoffsc-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good read. I wanted to read a Daphne du Maurier book as we are visiting Cornwall next year. The story is told by the central character Mrs de Winter. She voices her thoughts, fears, hopes etc. Rebecca was the previous Mrs de Winter. Her character is slowly revealed and gradually changes throught the book. Very well executed.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read this classic since high school. When I saw this audio book come up for free a month or two ago, I decided to give the story a listen and I'm glad I did.

The story was excellent, which is about all I remembered of it. What really knocked my socks off this time around was the narration by Anna Massey. She was flat out awesome in performing this tale. She was not just reading, she made it come alive.

There isn't much more I can say about this story that hasn't already been said. It was even better than I remembered it!

If you're considering reading this and you enjoy audio books, I highly recommend the audio edition.

[linyarai · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I expected this book to plod along like Jane Eyre, but I was pleasantly surprised. The Narrator was a bit weak and vapid to start with but really grows as the plot gets more interesting, and I was surprised by a few turns. I also really liked the synopsis at the end.

[being_b-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful writing. A classic case of "fridge horror" in that the more I think about the story after I've finished it, the more horrifying it gets.

[rglossne · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The nameless narrator of Rebecca is working in Monte Carlo as a companion to a thoroughly unpleasant rich American woman when she is introduced to the dashing Maxim de Winter. He is rich and handsome, the owner of Manderley, a magnificent estate in England. Brooding and mysterious, he has recently lost his beautiful wife, Rebecca. The narrator and Maxim fall in love, thanks to the timely illness of her employer, and they marry and return to Manderley.
There she must face the ghost of Rebecca, as well as the truth of Rebecca’s life and her death. This novel has never been out of print since it was published in 1938, and it pulls you in from the famous first line until the shocking end.

[novak_13 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rebecca: Each time I read this I like it less. Written in 1937 it belongs to a bygone, very snotty age when one-dresses-for-dinner. Imagine dressing up like a bandaged finger just to eat! These were the “nothings” who got written about in that era. The tale sometimes gets so slow you could chuck it . . . . but then again, it is very well written. Oh! All right, three stars. So, you read the book, did you? So what was the name of the narrator?

[nossanna_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a fascinating book. Parts were boring, other parts I couldn't put it down, loved characters, loathed characters, predictable, shocking.... But, the writing is excellent and du Maurier has never been recognized for the excellent writer she was.

[carolinejyoung · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very atmospheric.