Rebecca Read Along - Week 1 Discussion

Welcome to Week 1 of the Rebecca Read-along! Our goal was to read through Chapter 16 today, and then participate in a few discussion questions. Here are our friends sharing in the fun:

Michele @ Reader's Respite
Carrie @ Books and Movies
Jackie @ Farm Lane Books
Frances @ Nonsuch Book
Molly @ The Bumbles
Donna @ From Little Acorns
Another Cookie Crumbles
Alice Teh @ Hello My Name is Alice
Heidenkind's Hideaway
Susan @ Bear Swamp Reflections
April @ Good Books & Good Wine

ds @ Third-Storey Window

Kaye @ Pudgy Penguin Perusals
Kathleen @ Boarding in my Forties

Amy @ The House of Seven Tails

Paperback Reader

For those who are not reading along with us, and haven't read the book, here is the jist:

Atmospheric, gothic, eerie. A classic. A snobby social-climber's young assistant meets the dashing widower Maxim de Winter in Monte Carlo, and finds herself married and whisked off to his estate on the Cornish coast. Despite her fanciful expectations, life is not easy for her at Manderley. She finds herself forever in the shadow of her husband's elegant, beautiful, dead wife Rebecca. From Rebecca's loyal and sinister servant Mrs. Danvers, to the senile grandmother that screams Rebecca's name, there seems to exist an evil presence at Manderley. Secrets are slowly revealed, and we wonder...will Manderley ever be the same? Will Rebecca get the best of them, even from the grave?

While I have tried to make my question fairly general, spoilers may follow, so please be warned!

1. "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." This is quite possibly one of the most famous opening lines of a book. How do these words set the tone for the rest of the story?

The beginning of the book is intriguing, with the narrator reflecting, almost wistfully, back over her years at Manderley. Since I've never read the book before, I really had no clue what had taken place. What happened to the great estate? Why are they living in a hotel? What I did know was the mood felt subdued, poignant and regretful. The atmospheric quality of the writing kicked in early, which made the description of Manderley seem almost haunted. I could easily deduce that things had not gone well.



2. Du Maurier obviously chose not to name the second Mrs. de Winter (referred to as DW2 from hereon). How did this affect your perception of her?

I was probably well into Chapters 8 or 9 when I realized I didn't know DW2's name. I had to stop for awhile and wonder why Du Maurier had taken this tactic. It seemed obvious that the author wanted us to feel the same emotion as the narrator, and that was the notion that she was nameless in the overwhelming shadow of Rebecca. The narrator felt she could do nothing right, and did not fit in. She was self-described as having plain hair, plain clothes, she had no skills in social settings, she did not share the love of hunting, riding horses, golfing, and she commanded no respect from her servants. Somewhere along the line, I wondered...is she really all that bad, or does she just have really low self-esteem? Either way, perception is reality, and I began to think of her as a mousy little pushover.


3. Do you think the character of DW2 was believable?

I believe that the character was totally believable of a 21 year old girl. That doesn't mean I liked it! She was very eager to please, eager to get away from her employer, eager to be "in love", and eager to live in the estate that she has always admired from afar as a child. Never mind that Maxim talked down to her, was moody and distant. Someday he would come around and realize how much he loved her! If we have seen it once, we have seen it a thousand times.

I was also quite entertained by DW2's mental flights of fancy. True to form in an emotional immature girl, she would imagine all of the conversations the townspeople and servants were having behind her back, imagine the life that her and Maxim would have someday, imagine the gloating letters she would write to her former employer.

I was literally screaming out loud, however, when she took fashion advice from Mrs. Danvers for the ball. The woman loved Rebecca, obviously hates DW2, looks like a walking corpse...would you trust her? I hate to say it, but little Miss Innocent had that life lesson coming to her!

4. What was your first impression of Maxim de Winter? Did you like him? Did you trust him?

Like I said earlier, Maxim seemed a little bi-polar to me. Moody one minute, the next minute chatty, but never expressing too much thoughtfulness towards his new bride. I just shook my head at the willingness of DW2 to accept the lack of a formal wedding (just because HE had already gone down that road). He often treated her as a child (granted, she was, being half his age). Perhaps this was the appeal. But because we saw Maxim through the narrator's eyes, and he treated her almost dismissively, we never really got a good glimpse of his personality. I wasn't sure I liked him, but I didn't really think he was dangerous or untrustworthy. I just thought he was self-centered with a few screws loose.


How do you weigh in on these questions? Feel free to answer in the comments, or link to your own post. See you next week with Round 2!