Originally I had intended to spend this week reading a huge stack of comic books and take a break from reading books from this list... but I picked up this book instead and just couldn't put it down. It has been about twenty years since I had seen the movie version, I remember really liking it but couldn't even recall what it was really about.
So what's it about? A young woman gets romanced by a recent widower and after a quick marriage they return to the husband's giant home and she soon finds that the dead first wife still has a huge influence on life at the mansion, plus the head maid is really really mean. It doesn't sound that exciting but I found that I needed to keep reading to find out what would happen next.
The writing style is straightforward (at least compared to Mrs. Dalloway) yet elegant and really allows the reader to get into the thoughts and emotions of the narrator. The characters are each very distinctive and memorable and I found myself really hoping that everything would turn out well for Mr. de Winter and his new wife even after some suspicion is cast on him and that someone would punch Mrs. Danvers in the face or something. The mystery of what kind of a person was Rebecca and how did she really die keep the story rolling. I could see how this would be a bestseller at the time.
Overall I would recommend it. I'm not sure if it would make my own personal top 50, but it would probably make my 100. Now I've got to rewatch the film. A.
-Dan
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