My grandma and I just finished our third book last week. I know I haven't talked about the second one yet. It is coming. I picked Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I've wanted to read this for a very long time. I've had the movie in my Netflix queue for ages. My intent was to read the book first, and boy am I glad I did.
I loved this book, but I am not sure I would have loved it as much if I had just read it. The real joy came from reading aloud. Our unnamed heroine had such a distinctive voice, and one that I really got into. Not only was it the easiest of the books we've read, but definitely the funnest. Daphne's language is delightful, and I had so much fun reading this book aloud.
As for the story, I loved the story too. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Jane Eyre. The creepy undercurrent, the heroine's massive foreboding new home, the lingering presence of past wives, and the struggles of a new love. My grandma was disappointed in the ending, not the ending as a whole, just the last couple paragraphs. I was fine with it. I was quite pleased with the whole reading.
The edition I had, which is the cover art below, had an amusing Author's Note by Ms. du Maurier. In it she tells of how the book came to be written. She was with her husband, who was stationed in Alexandria, and was homesick for England. She decided she would right a sort of love letter (those are my words) to Cornwall. She only started it in Alexandria, and really wrote the book back home. Knowing that gives the epilogue an added layer of longing.
The best part of the Author's Note was what she said about the movie. That there was a plagiarism suit brought against the filmmakers, and she had to testify that she did indeed write the book that the film was based on. The family of another author was apparently unaware of the fact that there was an actual book called Rebecca that the movie was based on, and were trying to say the filmmakers used this other author's story. Can you imagine! Saturday we are going to watch the movie. I am very curious how it is going to be adapted. We will see.
I loved this book, but I am not sure I would have loved it as much if I had just read it. The real joy came from reading aloud. Our unnamed heroine had such a distinctive voice, and one that I really got into. Not only was it the easiest of the books we've read, but definitely the funnest. Daphne's language is delightful, and I had so much fun reading this book aloud.
As for the story, I loved the story too. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Jane Eyre. The creepy undercurrent, the heroine's massive foreboding new home, the lingering presence of past wives, and the struggles of a new love. My grandma was disappointed in the ending, not the ending as a whole, just the last couple paragraphs. I was fine with it. I was quite pleased with the whole reading.
The edition I had, which is the cover art below, had an amusing Author's Note by Ms. du Maurier. In it she tells of how the book came to be written. She was with her husband, who was stationed in Alexandria, and was homesick for England. She decided she would right a sort of love letter (those are my words) to Cornwall. She only started it in Alexandria, and really wrote the book back home. Knowing that gives the epilogue an added layer of longing.
The best part of the Author's Note was what she said about the movie. That there was a plagiarism suit brought against the filmmakers, and she had to testify that she did indeed write the book that the film was based on. The family of another author was apparently unaware of the fact that there was an actual book called Rebecca that the movie was based on, and were trying to say the filmmakers used this other author's story. Can you imagine! Saturday we are going to watch the movie. I am very curious how it is going to be adapted. We will see.
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