Monday, September 22, 2008

Rebecca

This book really is a murder and romantic mystery rolled into one novel. I did enjoy the story however I can not say that it is a masterpiece, like I heard this book being described. To me the plot moved slow and the pages were described with vivid descriptions that left confusing sentences. But the author is very effective in creating a plot of a classical murder/romantic tale. The characters to me are very complex which keeps a dark psychological twist causing tension throughout the story.

The plot starts with the young girl who is the narrator of the novel, which her name remains unknown throughout the entirety of the book. She is a companion to a wealthy lady where she meets in the dining room of a hotel, the rich widower Maxim de Winter a man who is twice her age. He is taking some time off after the apparent suicide of his wife. They fall in love and after a whirlwind romance, they get married.

After their honeymoon they return to Maxim's family estate, Manderley. She is all to soon faced with the burden of living there, the mansion that is haunted by the powerful presence of his first wife, Rebecca. This is where she finds it incapable of understanding her husband's past, especially as she gets no direct answers from him. She finds herself living in Rebecca's shadow and haunted by the mystery of the woman's death. She is and always will be the SECOND Mrs. DeWinter, something the sinister housekeeper, Ms. Danvers, will not let her forget. Through a series of disastrous events, the second Mrs. de Winters learns the truth about Rebecca's death.

Great! 4 out of 5

3 comments:

Nick said...

It sounds like a mystery! We need to find some books that we can rate with a big high five! I can tell you right now, I odn't like it when books use too much description!! just tell me the story and stop getting carried away like you're doing some high school paper where the purpose is to try to find different ways to describe a house or the sky or the grass. it's annoying to me!!

Angie said...

I was wondering what this book was about. I'm really glad you did a review. I love mysteries!!

I hate too much description too. That was the only thing that was kind of annoying about The Host. I usually just try to skip ahead . . . shhhhh!

Benson Fam said...

What- just because you have been pregnant and now have newborns nobody is reading??!! I probably read 3 book a day right after I had Ellie. Of course, they were childrens picture books...Okay, so I'm looking for a review on a specific book that I saw on Shellie's blog. Do you know the book I mean? Something about a veil maybe? Have you read it?!