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BookwormjillkI don‘t remember the ending being so abrupt. But maybe that‘s because I go back and re-read the beginning every time. Anyway I don‘t know if I‘d be so quick to take my husband‘s word that he murdered his first wife, but only because she was mean. Still a good read though.8mo
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Roary47Thank you for including me. It‘s been fun reading with everyone. 😊8mo
5feet.of.fury@Bookwormjillk right? It seemed like he had it well planned out, except for the sailing. He exploited the power dynamic enough in his relationship with the narrator that I can‘t fully trust his word. Only showing affection towards Jan once he confesses (seems to me to manipulate her loyalty), saying he likes how naive & innocent she is etc…8mo
TheAromaofBooksI'm with@Bookwormjillk - I'd forgotten how suddenly the ending comes. I actually feel like there are a lot of things between this and them living abroad as they are in chapter 1 that I would be interested to hear about haha8mo
peanutnineWhat an ending! 🤯 I kinda do wanna go back and reread the first chapter now with context8mo
Clare-DragonflyWhat a wild ending, yet inevitable. I do hope all the inhabitants got out okay.8mo
Aimeesue@5feet.of.fury I think the "naive and innocent" bit from Maxim is in comparison to Rebecca. What a horror show she was!8mo
dabbeSince the title really does say it all, Rebecca remains the dominant force throughout the whole novel. She is omni-present, and I do think she wanted Max to kill her, hoping to pin the murder on him or at least have Favell and/or Danny exact vengeance ... which is exactly what Danny appears to have done by burning Manderley to the ground. Rebecca wins in the end. Jan ends up exactly where she started, a “paid“ escort to a traveling elder. Wowza.8mo
KAOI really enjoyed reading this (and admit to finishing the book a bit early)! The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock movie (on YouTube) is quite good and follows the book rather closely. Then I found the 2020 remake on Netflix and was really perplexed by so many changes and different takes on characters—awfully disappointing in my opinion. I found the book to be better than either film—as is usually the case! Thanks again for leading the group read!(edited) 8mo
One big change of the 1940 movie, IIRC, is they made Rebecca's death more accidental. Interesting, that. It probably helped with the romanticizing of the novel. (Which I theorize led to Du Maurier writing My Cousin Rachel.)
@dabbe wow, excellent point! I never thought of that. At least she has job security now. 😂
dabbe@willaful You are absolutely correct! I think they did that also because of the film taboos back then; you can't murder your wife and not have justice done to you, but if we make it an accident ...
Job security indeed! 🤩😂🤗8mo
willafulI'm also seeing some parallels with We Have Always Lived in the Castle, which I don't want to elaborate on too much because of spoilers. But some plot and some psychological elements.
willaful@dabbe Yes, come to think of it I think that was actually in the Hayes code. Badness could not go unpunished.8mo
5feet.of.fury@Aimeesue I know I should feel that way, but I‘m so suspicious of him. Were they so toxic because he couldn‘t influence Rebecca? He‘s somewhat of a horror show himself, or was he just addled with being back & was terrible to the narrator? There‘s a lot to ponder there.8mo
5feet.of.furyI support women‘s wrongs. Justice for Rebecca.8mo
Aimeesue@5feet.of.fury It‘s not that he couldn‘t influence her - she reneged on their weird deal that she could do as she pleased in London or elsewhere, but Manderley was sacrosanct. And then kept on and on doing it. Neither of them were psychologically healthy, to put it mildly, but they are of their time in the roles/performance they were putting on. Then she manipulated him into killing her, because cancer + revenge via the guilt it would cause.8mo
5feet.of.fury@Aimeesue Oh yes, I agree with that! I just think that he set out looking for someone he could easily control for his 2nd wife8mo
AimeesueWhich absolutely worked, because, well, the entire book. Du Maurier does a great job of strewing the book with ambiguities - Maxim‘s pacing after R‘s death, bystanders‘ feelings about R, related to Jan, everyone‘s unwillingness to talk about R., with the exception of ol‘ Danny, who uses it to make Jan doubt herself.8mo
Aimeesue@5feet.of.fury Or just someone who was the complete opposite of Rebecca? She must have been exhausting! Games, games, games.8mo
One big change of the 1940 movie, IIRC, is they made Rebecca's death more accidental. Interesting, that. It probably helped with the romanticizing of the novel. (Which I theorize led to Du Maurier writing My Cousin Rachel.)
@dabbe wow, excellent point! I never thought of that. At least she has job security now. 😂
Job security indeed! 🤩😂🤗 8mo