Rebecca Readalong Post 2: Chapters 16-27.

Two weeks ago the participants in my Rebecca Readalong posted their thoughts over the first half of this remarkable novel. And after a slow first couple chapters, I was hooked on this gloomy, mysterious, and creepy novel. So hooked, in fact, that I finished the last half of this book in one sitting (and that was on January 2, if that tells you anything).

This book awed me. I shut it and immediately wanted to begin again. Du Maurier succeeds in crafting a tale that haunted me from the moment I began reading. She does it in a way that strings it along ever so carefully. You wander with the narrator in search of answers to questions you didn't even know you had to begin with.

In the first half, we watched as our narrator came to Manderley and suffered through the first few days in terror. She was young, naive and scared that she would never live up to image of Rebecca. In every place she turned, she sensed the ghost of her husband's deceased first wife;

"She was in the house still as Mrs. Danvers said, she was in that room in the west wing, she was in the library, in the morning-room, in the gallery above the hall. Even in the little flower-room, where her macintosh still hung. And in the garden, and in the woods, and down in the stone cottage on the beach. her footsteps sounded in the corridors, her scent lingered on the stairs. The servants obeyed her orders still, the food we ate was the food she liked. Her favorite flowers filled the rooms. Her clothes were in the wardrobes in her room, her brushes were on the table, her shoes beneath the chair, her nightdress on the bed. Rebecca was still mistress of Manderley. Rebecca was still Mrs. de Winter," (233).

We can only watch as disaster seems imminent, that Rebecca will win and our narrator will leave Manderley in shame. And as events unfolded, all I could do was keep reading. Our narrator begins to grow up and mature before our eyes as the depths of the mystery of Rebecca continue to unfold. her change might even be more fascinating than the events that take place, as she finds within her the strength to confront what is being thrown her way.

Don't worry, I won't give away what happens, or the powerful ending that took my breath away.

I give myself credit for figuring out plot twists and turns well in advance, but Du Maurier crafted this so well that I never saw it coming. The final blow hit and I gasped. And that was it.

I am still thinking about this novel, days after I set it aside. I can tell that it is a novel that will continue to haunt me. I will think about it until I read it again. And I know that I will read more by this suspense genius. This was a beautiful introduction into the long fiction of Du Maurier (I have read and taught "The Birds" before). I cannot wait to read more of her work in the future, and I hope you do too!

For those of you who participated in the readalong, leave a link here so I can get your post up for us to come visit and comment! For those of you who have read Rebecca, what did you think of this novel? Did it grab you as much as it did me?

Carey
Lit Addicted Brit
Katy F.
LBC
Sabrina

Rebecca Readalong Post 1: Chapters 1-15.

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," (1).

Welcome to post 1 (of 2) for the readalong of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. I was extremely excited to begin reading this novel, as I have heard so many wonderful things about this haunting tale.

At first, I was not sure what was going on. Du Maurier starts the novel at some point in the future and from our unnamed narrator's point of view. In this first short chapter, she describes the haunting mansion that is Manderley; its drive and landscaping, to the haunting places she remembers. This gives the book an eerie feeling right from the beginning:

"We can never go back again, that much is certain. The past is still too close to us. The things we have tried to forget and put behind us would stir again, and that sense of fear, of furtive unrest, struggling at length to blind unreasoning panic-now mercifully stilled, thank God-might in some manner unforeseen become a living companion, as it had been before," (5).

After this kind of a beginning, I was left with many questions. Du Maurier certainly set the tone for a novel that is ripe with mystery and deception.

It is after this beginning tone that we travel back with the narrator to where the story truly begins in Monte Carlo. Young and orphaned, our narrator is a companion to an old woman, Mrs. Van Hopper, much against her will. Van Hopper is more than a little rude, crass, and obnoxious. Had I been in our young narrator's place, I would have told that old lady to shut it more than once. But it is in her company that our narrator is introduced to Maxim de Winter. He has escaped for some time away down in Monte Carlo, and after Van Hopper comes down ill, our young narrator is left with nothing to do. Dear old Max begins to take her for drives and sightseeing.

All that our narrator knows of De Winter is that he owns Manderley, a large estate in England, and that his wife passed away a year ago. She never brings it up with him in their conversations, but soon falls into a rhythm of seeing him often. I think this passage sums up what eventually happens:

"I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say," (34).

I know that I can remember those feelings, with everything in life is beautiful and wonderful, and nothing can seem to go wrong. It is after she learns that she has fallen in love with Maxim that she is forced to make a decision about her future. Dear old Van Hopper wants to travel back to New York, taking our narrator with her. And as any young girl would do, she runs to Maxim to tell her. He proposes (rather unromantically) and they marry. She is to be the mistress of Manderley.

This is the point where I actually became interested. The beginning of the novel, and the time spent in Monte Carlo, seemed to move at a snail's pace. The mystery and intrigue that Du Maurier so carefully constructs in the first few chapters seems to disappear.

It is only after our narrator and Maxim return to Manderley that the mystery begins to build again, to the point that I had a hard time setting the novel down once I hit 190 pages and the end of chapter 15.

At Manderley, we get to see our young narrator flounder to fulfill a role that was recently filled by a very different woman. She begins to learn about Rebecca, Maxim's first wife, and all that she did for her home and community. Everywhere our narrator turns, there are remembrances of Rebecca. The morning-room, which our narrator now uses, is filled with items Rebecca loved and her writing.

"Unconsciously I shivered, as though someone had opened the door behind me, and let a draught into the room. I was sitting in Rebecca's chair, I was leaning against Rebecca's cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there," (77).

The mystery begins to build as any mention of Rebecca sends Maxim flipping out. The old housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, seems to despise our narrator because she is not Rebecca. Mrs. Danvers seems obsessed with preserving Rebecca's memory, as she maintains Rebecca's old room and clothing. Everything is preserved as if Rebecca had just stepped out for a minute.

To top things all off, there is a mysterious cottage by the sea that an old "idiot" seems to occupy. It had once belonged to Rebecca, and now remains untouched.

This truly is a haunting novel, and I am anxious to see what will happen in the second half. Will our narrator find the information she is so longing for? Will she step out from Rebecca's shadow? What is UP with creepy Mrs. Danvers? And what happens to drive them away from Manderley?

I cannot wait to discover the ending, and I hope you are just as anxious as I am.

If you completed your reading and have a post up, please leave a link in the comments so I can link your post here. Feel free to keep checking back for other participants' links and comment away! I hope to see your second post in two weeks!


Katy F.
Carey
Lit Addicted Brit
Terri-maree
Sabrina

Rebecca Readalong Sign-ups:

I am pleased to announce that in January 2011 I will be hosting a readalong of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. I have heard only wonderful things about this novel, so I am extremely excited to begin reading.

I hope you will consider joining in on the fun and get a wonderful classic read at the beginning of new year (we all need some classic love in our lives).

This will be my first experience with Du Maurier, but I know she is a favorite with some of my favorite book bloggers. And as her most popular novel, I only have high expectations for this wonderful little book.

If you are considering joining in, here is a little synopsis of the novel taken from Goodreads.com:

"Sixty years after REBECCA was first published, Daphne du Maurier's unsurpassed masterpiece continues to enthrall readers with romance and suspense, as the second Mrs. de Winter narrates the haunting events surrounding her marriage to Maxim de Winter and her growing obsession with his first wife, the beautiful, now dead Rebecca."

This sounds like a great read for January and a way to dive into something thrilling and wonderful when all I want to do is huddle under blankets in the cold.

I am reading from a mass market paperback edition (the one with the red satiny background). My edition is 380 pages, which isn't too bad for a readalong! I am planning the page requirements based on my edition. If yours is different, you can adjust as needed.

There will be two times to post on the following days:

• January 14-17, 2011: This post will focus on the first half of the book (roughly 190 pages, or chapters 1-15)
  
• January 28-31 2011: This post will focus on the second half of the book (roughly 190 pages or chapters 16-27)

Since I am hosting 2 other readalongs in January (War and Peace and The Woman in White), I am making your posting dates a little spread out. I will do my very best to have my post up with my thoughts and observations on the first day.

If you decide to participate, here is what you need to do. First, you need to comment here letting me know that you want in. I will put your name below with a link to your blog so we can all come cheer you on. When it comes time to post, all you need to do is comment on my main post with a link to your own thoughts about the novel. I'll add links to the bottom of my page so other participants can visit your blog and comment.

I don't require participants to read everyone's thoughts, but it is more fun to visit and comment as much as possible.

I do ask that if possible you post a link on your blog somewhere promoting the readalong. I always say that the more participants, the better.

And everyone who succeeds in finishing the novel and makes their posts is eligible for a small prize, furnished by me.

So, if you are interested, comment below and let me know! I hope to see you joining! :)

Participants:
Kate
Christina
Laura C.
Carey
Sabrina
Kiwi
Amanda
Terri-maree
Connolly-Ahern
Katy F.
Linda (no blog link)
My Mom (no blog link)