I'm very pleased to announce that the Kittyradio Book Club has been resurrected and our first book will be the excellent Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. We will be reading from September through to November. Everyone is welcome to read along and discuss the book as we go.



A Brief Introduction:

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again ...Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers ...Not since Jane Eyre has a heroine faced such difficulty with the Other Woman. An international bestseller that has never gone out of print, Rebecca is the haunting story of a young girl consumed by love and the struggle to find her identity'.

Amazon Links:

Rebecca on amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1...teway&v=glance

Rebecca on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...804818?ie=UTF8

If you are outside the US or UK, feel free to add your own country's link to amazon or another book website.

Any questions or queries please post.

Happy reading everyone!

Good stuff! I'm going out to buy the book this afternoon!

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excellent, bit of a family favourite in my house, it's my mum's favourite book. i'll re-read it, also the hitchcock film is very good!

i've wanted to read this since i read about it in "my mother's wedding dress" by justine picardie.

i've picked it up from the library =)

Hey everyone, I was planning to post my thoughts and feelings on the first three chapters of Rebecca next week and hopefully spark up some conversation and debate. The opening chapters are very short so if you haven't started reading yet then there is still plenty of time to get your hands on a copy. To those who have started I hope you are all enjoying the book.
p.s. guti your pm box needs a clear out x

Im amazed!! I thought I would have to order it and shit from the web but I got it from the library!! Happy happy happy...

Ive started to read today, so Ill be readt to discuss the 3 first chapters this week!

Sorry just cleaned it out!
Just started reading rebecca so should be ready to discuss opening chapters and initial thoughts very soon.

Im ready to discuss the 3 first chapters.

Are you?

I'm at work right now and then I'm away till Sunday so I was going to post my thoughts and ideas then. But feel free to start the discussion now, but I don't have my book to hand (I like to have it with me for reference #geek#)!

Chapters 1-3

I love the variety of the opening chapters, all giving a different mood and atmosphere but all seen through the same woman's eyes.

I especially love the characterisation of Mrs Van Hopper, and how the dream of the opening chapter which is filled with nature and the spiritual is so contrasted to her and her obsession with society and social status.

I also like the way in which Du Maurier reveals the story in fragments, just giving tit bits regarding characters and their relationships which I enjoyed piecing together.

Personally I find long descriptive passages quite hard to read because I have a hard time creating a good mental picture without the addition of characters in it with a description of what they are doing. (Hope that makes sense!) Anyway what I mean is that I'm not immediately grabbed by the opening chapter. I'm intrigued to read about Manderley and I love the end sentences 'We would not talk or Manderley, I would not tell my dream. For Manderley was ours no longer. Manderley was no more.' But I am glad the next chapter moves straight into the narrator's life now with 'him'. And when this is described I thought the sense of intimacy was very poignant, created through focusing on the nuances of their relationship such as the mutual reading of the newspapers and the desire to stay in small hotels where they won't be recognised.

What are other's thoughts on:
The narrator?
What has happened to Manderley (if anything?)
What do you think of Max de Winter?
How did you react to the opening chapter?

Let me know what you all think and I hope you are enjoying it, I am

Im not sure what to say about the opening chapters really.. I found them pretty boring to be honest. it was hard to stay interested.
(I have gone back and read the first chapters again where "she" talks about Manderley and I liked it better that time)

I find it exciting that you are as clueless about Max De Winter as "she" is.
In many books you get to see things from more than only one persons view.
"she" (- what is her first name? I cant find that anywhere!!!!) is such a anti heroine (sorrry if I spelled that one wrong- I always forgets which one is which!! ) She is pretty pathetic. I have some questions regarding "her". Daphne was very vague about describing "her". Her age, her name etc..was she an american or english or what?

About your questions;

I wast uber impressed with anything for the first 3 chapters really..

Im am soo curious about Manderley now that Ive read so much of the book I cant hardly put it down!! That is one thing I like, its exciting but not like a crime or a thriller.. I guess its pretty clever to write the way Daphne did in the begining.. at least now, when Ive read more..

Im not sure of Max either, he is one hell of a mystery man. I wasnt sure if I liked him after 3 chapters.. (still not sure to be honest)

I am totally enjoying the book now, its very different. I have a good picture of it all in my head except from the narrator...

I found Max de Winter sympathetic immediately because of how he pegged Mrs. Van Hopper in that first meeting and was kind to the narrator... he didn't have to speak to her at all. That he seems more interested in her than her station would merit makes him seem a finer person, a deeper and better judge of character than other people the narrator has encountered before. Maybe he's just being contrary but he is so gentlemanly I can't believe that's all there is to it; the impression of his character is quite benign, the brooding and moodiness/changeability are there but easily rationalized... you can't tell if it's because the narrator doesn't really know him, or if it's an accurate observation along the lines of, first impressions being truest-- but he is obviously complicated.

I've never read Daphne du Maurier before; I'm impressed by all subtle foreshadowing, which I notice more since I've read ahead a little bit. Like what is the Happy Valley? Who is Favell? And the skill in the construction-- like chapter 2's seamless transition from the narrator's general reminiscences of Manderley to her accompanying Mrs. Van Hopper and the day she met Mr. de Winter, where the story takes off.

What I think happened to Manderley keeps changing.... At first I think it must have been destroyed, for what could make them leave otherwise? Then sometimes I interpret the dream in chapter 1 as a dream of remembering instead of a fantasy... but it's hard for me to imagine anything so scandalous or terrible that it would run them off this beloved property, which just makes me want to keep reading to get a better idea-- and the gratification is so delayed! Definitely tantalizing.

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You deceive yourself. Suffering is amusing and may even do work in a situation where two people are connected with each other. Where there is no mutual connection it is undignified, grotesque and ugly. It is seen to be something totally pointless and unnecessary, like all the rest of the suffering human beings do every day. There is now no relationship between us and I find your contortions merely embarrassing.

We never learn the narrator's name which I think Maurier did intentionally to put her at complete odds with Rebecca (whose name is so well known it's the title of the book). I find her weakness annoying and frustrating at the start of the book but then it's wonderful to read her development as the story continues.

Perfidia, I also think the quick references to characters and places are great, it makes us feel just like the narrator, put into a situation where we aren't sure of anything.

Zindy - I see her as being English and in her early 20's and actually looking a bit like Du Mauier herself in her younger years, a natural beauty but still unsure of herself and her slightly akward, like the school girl she describes herself as in chapter 2.

Seems people are reading on which is great so instead of discussing certain chapters we can all just post when we want to, but maybe write at the top of your post what chapter you are up to so others can choose to read it or not, cause boy are there some twists and turns in this story!

#PLOT DISCUSSION CHAPTER 8#


Has anyone got to Manderlay yet? What do we think of the infamous Mrs Danvers...

Hey guys-just to apologise I wont be able to discuss the book until next week because my internet is down at home.

Hopefully talk about the book soon.
XXX

I read the first couple chapters and found them long and boring, but i wanted to keep at it to answer the questions( such as what is manderly? why did they leave? why are they in hiding?). SO i kept at it. Mrs. Van Hopper was a real something.


PLOT SPOILER FOR AROUND CH. 5:
I can believe what a jerk and unromantic Maxim is. They're getting married--he never brought up the engagement until she was about to leave, he shows no affection and very little happiness. It bothers me how this is all secondary to him. I can imagine how shit she must feel to be 2nd best and looking up to someone else, especially someone who is dead. Mrs. Danvers gets on my nerves.

Im done with the book and I cant wait til the rest of you are!! HURRY UP!!

But I will post some of my thoughts regarding Mrs Danver and the others as how I saw them in the begining of the book anyway.

Mrs. Danver seemed to me to be this typical woman, you know, the type that saw Manderley as her property and disliked this young girl coming in and beeing the new Mrs De Winter. Maybe even jeaolous and secretly inlove with Mr De winter perhaps? I wasnt sure how she felt about Rebecca either..

The new Mrs De Winter really gets on my nerves, my god- she deserves a bitchslap for being such a whimp! Still, its in the late 30s and I guess the behaviour for girls/women are pretty different from today..But as you says No_ones_song, it must be difficult to feel second best and comparing yourself to someone whose dead!

I wasnt sure what to think about Maxim until the very end to be honest.. He, as I said before, was a mystery man to me. He wasnt very nice anyway, he seemed to have a split personality sometimes..


Have anyone come to the "big turn" in the book where the "big secret" is revealed?? I dont have the book here right now so I dont really know which chapter it is.. But I bet you now what I mean when you get there...

#Spolier Warning- Chapter 19#'

Ha ha I know it's great isn't it! Weren't you just like 'Oh my God!!!' And I love how the relationship between Max and her develops when they are backed into a corner. I love how she takes charge of things to a certain extent. It's the moment where she grows up. I actually think the book is incredibly romantic as for me I think it depicts a very 'real' relationship in terms of the emotions the characters experience. Also their relationship is far from perfect, but to me that also adds to the reality of their romance.

Mrs Danvers is awful isn't she! If I was the narrator I would get so cross with her and I get frustrated that the narrator doesn't stand up to her.

agh. i must finish tess of the D' then ill join in next time. will you welcome me?