#ClassicsCommunity 2021 Reading Challenge discussion

Shannon wrote: "For January our little group picked Rebecca

This is a favorite gothic mystery of mine that I first read in high school. I can't wait to visit Manderley again.

There are 2 movies..."
I am really looking forward to reading and watching Rebecca. I have never read the book or seen the movies. I would really like to watch the black and white movie after reading the book as black and white movies are my favorite type of movie.

And I have never read any of Truman Capote's books either and look forward to reading this book. My daughter (also my youngest) and in high school have watched this movie many, many, many times; it's our favourite Audrey Hepburn movie. I wonder if the movie closely follows the book? Definitely will be watching this movie when I am finished reading the book.

So excited!! I wanted to read this in October, but I had too many other haunting books to read and another group was residing it in November, so I waited for them. But after Halloween I wasn’t in the mood for gothic novels, so I didn’t read it. So January is going to be perfect! This book has been on my short list for years, but never gets to the top, so it’ll be the perfect way to start the year!

So excited! Always see this book and always wondered what it was about, can’t wait to check it out!! :)

I have been meaning to read this forever, and even put it on my 2021 TBR. Here’s the push I need! Hello all!

Oooh, I have been wanting to read this!

I do want to reread this and I am hoping to get a nicer copy for Christmas this year, so I might participate.

This will be my first time reading Rebecca. I'm very intrigued, and can't wait to start it!

This is the top book on my Classics TBR 2021, so excited to be reading together with everyone else! :)

I watched the movie so it won't be surprising for me but I still really want to read it. Can't wait.

I loved Rebecca!!! I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks of it. I may have to re-read along.

Am so excited to see this - have just bought the stunning Virago designer edition so am thrilled at the chance to break it in!

Shannon wrote: "Jackie wrote: "I do want to reread this and I am hoping to get a nicer copy for Christmas this year, so I might participate."

so happy to have you join if you decide to. I asked for a new copy for..."
My original was a mass market and I've come to not love mass markets as much.
Has anyone started reading yet? I have read up to chapter 4, but a lot is going on right now, so I don't know if I'll read more until tomorrow.

I did watch the Netflix one and I enjoyed it. It was aesthetically so beautiful.

I watched Alfred Hitchcock's movie several years ago. I usually love Hitchcock's movies, but unfortunately not this one. Too slow. I hope the book will be better.

I just finished reading this book today and LOVED it!!! It definitely will be on my list of rereads. I hope to watch the Hitchcock movie of this later this week and then maybe the Netflix version. :)

@Janice I finished a few days ago as well, I couldn't put it down! Such a good book.

Erika wrote: "@Janice I finished a few days ago as well, I couldn't put it down! Such a good book."

I agree. It definitely was that type of book for me!!!

Shannon wrote: "Janice wrote: "I just finished reading this book today and LOVED it!!! It definitely will be on my list of rereads. I hope to watch the Hitchcock movie of this later this week and then maybe the Ne..."

Will do if I ever watch it and remember to let you know what I think. :) I wonder if the actors in both movies match what I have imagined they look like in my head. :)

I'm currently reading it and I'm halfway through it. I love it, it's very pleasant to read. I watched the Netflix movie prior to reading it so that possibly helped me connect with the characters as soon as I started reading it.

@Anna I have had that same experience a couple of times in the past (watching the movie/mini series first, and because the characters were brought to life on screen it was a bit easier to quickly connect with them while reading. One book/mini series pair that comes to mind is Band of Brothers). How did you like the Netflix adaptation?

Erika wrote: "@Anna I have had that same experience a couple of times in the past (watching the movie/mini series first, and because the characters were brought to life on screen it was a bit easier to quickly c..."

I really enjoyed it, in fact when I finished watching it I was desperate to buy the book.

I started reading "Rebecca" only two days ago and I simply love it!
When I watched Hitchcock's movie I found it very slow compared to his usual standards and I thought that the book should be a boredom, but I was wrong.
I hope to finish it in time for joining the discussion, though I doubt it...
Well well, I don't mind: thank of you I discovered a gem of a book and that's what matters.

I've always wanted to read "Breakfast at Tiffany's"! Do you mind if I join this Buddy Reading?

Thank you so much, Shannon. I'm so happy I have joined you!

I'd like to read "The birds" too: it sounds interesting.

@Shannon I'd be up for another Daphne Du Maurier book!

Have you ever read "The Jamaica Inn" by Daphne du Maurier? They told me is quite good.

I have read Rebecca thrice and also watched both the movies. This might be surprising but haven’t liked both the movies, I just felt they couldn’t portray that horror element or the eerie vibe that we get while reading in the movies. This is my absolute favourite classic, I won’t be reading it again as I read it recently but I am looking forward to the discussion! 😍

"My cousin Rachel" is not as beautiful as "Rebecca", but has the same gothic atmospheare. Istead, I didn't like by Du Maurier "Frenchman's Creek" and "The scapegoat".

I passed the half of "Rebecca": I really hope to finish it in time for our discussion.
The main carachter is very similar to me: shy, not very self confident, clumsy, very imaginative. I'm good at drawing too, though I prefer writing and other things.

I noticed the fact that the heroine of the story never mention her name, but I thought it was because she feels a nonentity compared to Rebecca.
And so Rebecca is more outstanding.

There's a serial about "Rebecca" made in Italy with a great Italian actress, Mariangela Melato, as "Mrs Denvers" and a handsome Italian actor, Alessio Boni, as Maxim. I haven't yet watched it, but I've been told is quite good.
I don't know if you can find this version online...

@Shannon:
About the incipit, last year I read a novel called "The novel in the viola" by Natasha Solomon and the first chapter recalled a little Rebecca's.
"When I close my eyes I see Tyneford House..." and then starts a description as in "Rebecca".

I've just finished it! It's a masterpiece of suspence!
I'm speechless.

So next friday will be the D-Day (discussion-day)!
I'm so eager to exchange opinions with you all.

"Rebecca" is different.
"The novel in the viola" is the story of a Jewish girl of an upper-class family that leaves Germany during World War II and starts a new life in England as a waitress. Nothing to do with Rebecca. Only the incipit was similar.

Speaking about "Rebecca"...
We all know that the main carachter doesn't have a name. If you had to give her a name, which one would you pick up for her?
I'm asking because in the Italian mini serie of "Rebecca" she's called Jennifer.

I don't know why, but while I was reading I always imagined her as a Rosamunde, or something like that.
Rosamunde against Rebecca. R vs R. Sounds good, doesn't it?

Don't worry, Shannon.
No problem. It was just for kicks.

I think I'll read again "Rebecca" sooner or later.
After this book it had been hard to find something good to read...

Miriam wrote: "I think I'll read again "Rebecca" sooner or later.
After this book it had been hard to find something good to read..."

I'm definitely going to be rereading this book again!!!

Hey, guys: tomorrow is the great day of our discussion about "Rebecca"!
This is the first time that I join such a thing. I'm sure it'll be interesting.

Thank you Shannon!
1) I think she fell in love because Maxim was so different by Mrs Van Hopper and her friends and when they were far away from Manderley and from the "place of guilt" he was talkative and charming and treated her in a different way than Mrs Van Hopper.

She fell in love with the Maxim of Monte Carlo and of their honeymoon, the real Maxim I presume. Then when they were at Manderley she doubted of her love and knowing that he hated Rebecca (and did what he did) was a sort of relief for her: they had still a chance to be happy together.

The plot is structured as a fairy tell:

Poor Cinderella (narrator) who lives with the evil stepmother (Mrs Van Hopper) is "saved" from her destiny by Prince Charming (Maxim). But then appears an evil witch (Mrs Denvers) that put an obstacle to their living "happily ever after": she erases in her mind the idea that Maxime loved Rebecca much more than her.

2) I suspected immediately something connected with Rebecca, a bad trick.
Our heroine didn't.

3) Maxim fell in love with her because she was so different from Rebecca, a "social butterfly", and wanted to marry her as soon as possible, when she was still innocent like this and he didn't care about the ceremony because he already knew that behind the façade there could be falshood, as it had been with Rebecca.
4) I watched Hitchcock's movie and so I knew about Rebecca's death, but I was surprised by the child stuff and Rebecca's secret.
In the movie I don't remember this part.
5) No, I never watched it.

1) Sorry, I wrote "erase" but I meant the opposite!

1) I can't decide if she loves him because she loves the idea of him and Manderly, which she's been obsessed with for a while, and because she's young and naive OR if she loves him because she understands and wants to support him. I am leaning more toward the first, but think there is a bit of the latter in there. Especially because at the end we get an insight into what Rebecca may have been going through, which kind of allows us, the readers, to let him off the hook. She wanted to die, maybe, so it's ok he killed her even if he didn't know that. Also, as Miriam mentioned, she was jealous of Rebecca, but when he tells her of the murder, she knows she has "won". He chose her, not Rebecca. He wasn't longing for Rebecca and didn't miss her. He loved HER. That feels good!

2) I did NOT suspect her in that moment. I did know she didn't like the new wife, but I didn't think she was that "evil" (in the more relaxed sense we use the word today, not as in pure demonic evil). She ended up being a catty woman in the end, who was loyal to her past mistress. Not surprising, but not what I assumed at first.

3) I remember my 20s. We were spontaneous and did crazy things. She didn't really have a chance to even think about it. Given the time period, it made a lot more sense to go with him as his wife than it did as a girlfriend or something more casual. So when she was leaving and never going to see him again, she didn't really have time to think. He offered her to come with him and she did. She had to decide right then. It was a pretty easy change to make. She hated her job and thought that was as good as life was going to get. Then she got an amazing offer. Why not take it? She wasn't really leaving anything behind and she had nothing to lose.

4) Haha. First cousins weren't as taboo then, but yes. I cringed! Yuck! I was very surprised by the big reveal! The book kept me interested, though I'm a little annoyed by a few things. I'll bring those up in my next post.

5) I have not seen any movies of this book. I do not like to watch movies before books and I knew I would read this some day. This is my first time through and I just finished a couple minutes ago. I planned to read it in October, but had too many books, so put it aside. I picked it up for this group, but couldn't get into it because I was also forcing myself to get through The Pickwick Papers, which I really wasn't enjoying, so I was grumpy. Anyways, I'm glad I stuck with this book and read it BEFORE Pickwick each day so I wasn't in a bad mood.

Oh man! You asked why HE fell in love so fast, not SHE! I don't know. I don't disagree with anything that has been said so far. I'm not sure I have anything to add. He is hard for me to figure out. He had a lot of secrets!

And speaking of secrets, how did both of them know who Dr Baker was? One of the last chapters, when they saw Rebecca's appointment book, Mr and Mrs De Winter immediately knew who he was and that he would be trouble. But he wasn't. What did they think he was going to say and how did they know him? I feel like I missed a big secret there!

I'm also trying to decide how I feel about the ending. I almost want more thing tied up, but it also ended with everything looking good for them. Some things moved fast, like Mrs Danvers leaving and we never figured out why Max felt like something terrible had happened at home, causing him to drive all night. Just a few things that weren't totally addressed, but still a great read!

I appreciated this book much more the second time around. Even more so after reading Sally Beauman's afterward about how the author's life and inner struggles were reflected in the story. I'm now quite intrigued to read more about Du Maurier!

1) I think it's some sort of masochist mental disorder. She's emotionally trapped and doesn't even realize it. The age and experience gap create a huge power dynamic in Maxim's favor and I think that's exactly what he counted on when courting and later proposing to her. Rebecca was of his own age group, fierce and very cunning, he could never hope to control her as most men wished to control their wives back in those days (I think that trait was even more prominent in him, he loved being the dominating master). The heroine was the exact opposite of her predecessor: younger, naïve and very malleable and so a very easy prey. I also took into account her own lack of self worth and sense of invisibility, the latter of which was sharply highlighted after her marriage. He showed her some attention and made her feel less invisible and it was only natural for her to desperately latch onto that after being neglected following the loss of her family by the likes of Mrs. Van Hopper and the hotel staff...etc. By the time the truth's revealed she's fallen way down the manipulation and toxicity pit she can't find a way out and probably doesn't even know that she needs one. She fears the disruption and chaos that would result if Maxim is held accountable for his actions (which he absolutely should've been, you're definitely not in the minority there Shannon. Rebecca's abhorrent character and her wish to die DO NOT erase the fact that her husband is a cold blooded sociopathic murderer). Also, her mind, in its state of disorder, creates some sort of illusionary shield that hides the real facts and focuses only on the thing she has been fixating on for the past months.

2) Since this was a reread I knew Mrs. Danvers' real motive. I'm almost sure I felt that there was something off about her "friendly" advice during my first read but I don't remember my exact impression.

3) I don't really know. I still can't fully figure him out. I think he found an easy prey and took his shot with her. However, he might've not rushed into it had she been a permanent resident in Monte instead of suddenly having to rush off to New York. He was forced to act quicker than he had planned, if he had planned to act at all. I also still can't understand how he came to marry Rebecca to begin with. Their arrangement took place after they were married and he already felt fishy about her so what brought the whole engagement on in the first place?

4) I WAS! BOTH TIMES! And to be honest I was really impressed by her and how she expertly manipulated him into giving her the swift painless death she desired and making a murderer of him (one final long revenge) all in one go. I still find her repulsive as a person but you gotta give it to her, she knew what she was doing.
I was so grossed out by the cousin thing. I thought the family tie was just a cover up but turns out it wasn't. YIKES

5) Nope. Don't plan to either. I don't know much about Armie Hammer but he gets on my nerves for some reason. I do plan on watching the 1940 movie though, so if anyone's seen that, please tell me what you think of it.

I don't know if I have a morbid imagination, but for me the relationship between Mrs Danvers and Rebecca was not only a kind of mothernal love.
Mrs Danvers worshipped her as a goddess. She was in love with her.

I love it too! Thank you for had making me discover this masterpiece.