January 2021 book of the month club

pearl99

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I also really liked the book. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads, but was more like 4.75.

I also like you rubysmama rubysmama did not know anything about it, only the title. I also did not know Daphne DuMaurier also wrote "The Birds" as a short story, and I watched the Hitchcock version of "The Birds" a few times when it was on TV when I was growing up.
I thought it went slowly at first with sooooo much of the 2nd Mrs DeWinter who was unnamed's thoughts but then I felt that that was the main part of the book, not a story where the plot takes over. I soon came to like that.
Her personality was almost painful to feel.
I thought it was effective that the main character was never named- and in the Author's Notes in the edition I read she said "simple: I could not think of one."

I never saw coming that Rebecca was not the body that had washed up. Or that Maxim may have killed her.
I did figure out that Favell and Rebecca were having an affair and that that's what Rebecca was up to in her cottage, with a lot of men.

I think they did love each other, 2nd Mrs. and Maxim in their own ways as the people they were and for the times. Not something I would want. I was glad at the end 2nd Mrs. got some guts, but was not to be at Manderley. But I was a little surprised she stayed with him after learning he shot her, but then where would she go? And she seemed to accept Maxim quickly after learning the truth.

I felt for Ben, and how he would have been treated in those times. And being referred to as "idiot" by the author and people throughout the book.

I was confused with the Epilogue that Maxim was being called Henry, and found in the Author's Note she thought Henry sounded dull, and DuMaurier changed it to "Maxim." But it's not changed in the Epilogue.

I'm glad the Epilogue was there to know where and how they wound up. Must have money from selling Manderley since it's to become a country club. And 2nd Mrs. saying they are content and that she has lost a lot of timidness, shyness with people.

In some ways I was thinking of Jane Eyre, one of my favorite books, but it's quite different in ways.

I enjoyed it and really glad I read it. I'm going to watch the Hitchcock version now.
 
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rubysmama

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I also did not know Daphne DuMaurier also wrote "The Birds" as a short story, and I watched the Hitchcock version of "The Birds" a few times when it was on TV when I was growing up.
She wrote "The Birds"? I didn't know that, but as I mentioned, I knew nothing about the author.

I never saw coming that Rebecca was not the body that had washed up.
Maybe because I was looking for clues, but the fact that the face of the body that washed ashore was unrecognizable, added to my suspicion that Rebecca was still alive.

I was confused with the Epilogue that Maxim was being called Henry, and found in the Author's Note she thought Henry sounded dull, and DuMaurier changed it to "Maxim." But it's not changed in the Epilogue.
There's an Epilogue? My version doesn't have one.
 

pearl99

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She wrote "The Birds"? I didn't know that, but as I mentioned, I knew nothing about the author.



Maybe because I was looking for clues, but the fact that the face of the body that washed ashore was unrecognizable, added to my suspicion that Rebecca was still alive.



There's an Epilogue? My version doesn't have one.
There is an Epilogue. My book from the library was published by Harper/Collins, 2006.
 

pearl99

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Maybe because I was looking for clues, but the fact that the face of the body that washed ashore was unrecognizable, added to my suspicion that Rebecca was still alive.
I remember for about a second I thought "how could he identify her with the damage to the body" but then let it go, but now I see why he identified it as her, because he killed her and this would make people believe the drowning story!
 

Mia6

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I loved the room, I guess it was called a sitting room or den where Maxim and no-name would
sit at night and read. The old dog sniffing for "someone who was not there" and dear Jasper.

Then compare it to their hotel where they now lived Having tea, bread and butter while waiting
for the news. Such a change from Manderlay. but better. Poor Maxim, unable to walk and no-name
now deformed.

I loved Bea, a kind woman and sil to no-name. Frank, too, was a star.

The DVD will be here soon.
 
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rubysmama

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Poor Maxim, unable to walk and no-name
now deformed.
Maxim can't walk! No-name is deformed! How do I not know this? Or was it explained in the epilogue my book doesn't have? :confused2:

The DVD will be here soon.
I started watching the BBC tv version from Hoopla last night.
 

pearl99

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I’ve put the DVD by Alfred Hitchcock on hold at my library. With Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.
 

pearl99

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Maxim can't walk! No-name is deformed! How do I not know this? Or was it explained in the epilogue my book doesn't have? :confused2:



I started watching the BBC tv version from Hoopla last night.
oh I thought it was Maxim who was deformed and couldn’t walk. And No Name caring for him but able bodied and just older.
 
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rubysmama

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How would everyone rate the book?

1611590746650.png
 
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verna davies

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Unfortunately I didn't finish the book. The only copy I could get was very small print and difficult to read for more than an hour at a time. What I did read I enjoyed. As others have said, not a page turner but it was well written with beautiful descriptions and I found it easy to visualize Mandalay in its glory as well as the destruction after the fire.
 
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rubysmama

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I thought it was really good so:
1611612500096.png


Unfortunately I didn't finish the book. The only copy I could get was very small print and difficult to read for more than an hour at a time. What I did read I enjoyed. As others have said, not a page turner but it was well written with beautiful descriptions and I found it easy to visualize Mandalay in its glory as well as the destruction after the fire.
Sorry you couldn't find an easier to read copy, as it got considerably better, and almost a page turner, as you got further into it.
 

Mamanyt1953

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I thoroughly enjoyed my first reading of "Rebecca," although I had watched the movie several times with my mom on late-night TV when I was young. MUST order a copy of that!

Rebecca struck me as almost a classic narcissist, more than bi-polar, actually. If you've ever been really close to one of those, you understand how completely possible it was for her to have decided to commit suicide by having Max shoot her...thereby guaranteeing him the most pain from her death possible. Entirely in character for that particularly nasty personality disorder!

As for little no-name, well, she lived the life she chose with a man she adored. It wouldn't be my own cup of tea, by any means, but who am I to judge her for her choices? And given the time in which they lived, it was a wildly successful marriage.

I do wonder if Max's debilitating injuries and her own disfigurement were the result of attempting to save the dogs from the fire at Manderley? It would seem very possible.
 
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rubysmama

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I watched the BBC / PBS version over the weekend. It was very similar to the book. About the fire, and Maxim's injuries
Maxim ran into the house when he realized Mrs Danvers was still in there, and while carrying her down the stairs tripped and fell.

I watched it from Hoopla, but it looks like maybe it can be watched on the PBS website. It didn't work for me, but that might be because I'm not in the US. Worth checking it out.

Next on my "to watch" list is the Hitchcock version, which is on Youtube

 

Mamanyt1953

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I could have sworn
that the book said that Mrs. Danvers was seen driving away from the property...
 
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rubysmama

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You're right Mamanyt1953 Mamanyt1953
in the book Danvers was seen either running or driving into the woods, and that was the last we heard of her.

In the mini series, they actually showed Danvers setting curtains on fire, then her laying down on Rebecca's bed, to apparently die in the fire. Maxim found her there, and was carrying her down the stairs when he stumbled and fell.
 

gilmargl

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I could have sworn
that the book said that Mrs. Danvers was seen driving away from the property...
Maybe we've been reading different versions of the book, maybe we've been confused by seeing the different films but in my book,
Chapter 2, when No-Name is daydreaming about her dream in which she returned to Manderley. She recalls eating gingerbread, Angel cake and crumpets and admitted she never knew what happened to all the superfluous food, but never dared ask Mrs Danvers about it. She then says, and I quote the book "Mrs Danvers! I wonder what she is doing now. She and Favell. ...............Even my faithful Jasper has gone to the happy hunting grounds and Manderley is no more". So Mrs Danvers appears to be alive. In my book, there is no mention of rescuing dogs from the fire.
We shouldn't forget that No-Name has always spent much of her life day-dreaming. The book is only about her thoughts and interpretations of what she feels. I don't think that she is particularly reliable. Many things happened in Rebecca's lifetime, which she doesn't know about, gossip is rarely fact. Films can of course show whatever they like to make this book come alive. My book ends as they sit in the car, on the top of a hill watching Manderley burn.
 
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rubysmama

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Maybe we've been reading different versions of the book, maybe we've been confused by seeing the different films but in my book,
My book ended the same as yours. All the talk of an epilogue with additional info is just confusing to me, since I haven't seen / read it. :ohwell:
 
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