 "A Worthy Take on a Gothic Classic" | 2009-04-19 |
| - Reviewed By Books Fuel My Life from London, UK |
Perhaps I was in a better position than some to read "Rebecca's Tale," in that it has been almost twenty years since I read Daphne du Maurier's classic novel from which it takes its inspiration. I am not in a position to point out discrepancies as it relates to "Rebecca," but am free to concentrate on the story presented by Sally Beauman.
Rebecca's Tale is told from four points of view, each distinct and each rich with its own secrets. Though there was a bit of a confusing start to the story (thus four stars instead of five), Beauman's writing style soon took over and the story flowed interestingly. It begins with a purported quest to find out what really happened that night in 1931 when Rebecca's boat was scuttled just off shore, but it quickly becomes more than a simple murder mystery. The characters here have to deal with their own private motivations, and Rebecca's Tale becomes a fascinating story of chasing down phantoms in both past and present.
Most of the major players are present at some point in Rebecca's Tale including, most enigmatically, Rebecca herself. By the end of the novel, I was no closer to any answers, but I was much closer to the characters involved. In this Sally Beauman did something laudable; she created well-written, interesting people about whom I'd love to learn more. This is admirable indeed. |
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| "A story to be nibbled on, not gulped down!" | 2008-12-14 |
| - Reviewed By W. Powell |
I honestly found it hard to put this book down. Not only does this book enlighten us to some of the mysteries in Daphne De Maurier's "Rebecca," but it guides us down haunting corridors of its own making. After reading "Rebecca's Tale" I have a fonder appreciation for the original story. For those who found this book a letdown to the first Rebecca, maybe you should seek out Ms. Danvers and relish in the memory of Rebecca and only Rebecca.
To a titled review that read "I wasted my entire Saturday evening for this," I responded with the following:
Yes, you wasted an entire Saturday evening trying to gobble down a delicate dish that should've been nibbled on. I have a hard time believing that anyone who enjoyed Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca" would find this book anything but hauntingly superb. I won't criticize you're style of reading (gulping down paragraphs to reach a wishful climatic ending), but I do warn all readers of this novel against trying too hard to link it with the novel "Rebecca." When simply read as a stand-alone mystery, "Rebecca's Tale" evolves into a wonderful world of discovery. That discovery includes the enlightenment of the character of "Rebecca" if we allow ourselves the time and patience to be led to her. If however you've come to this book looking only for answers to preconceived notions based on the first novel, then you'll be wasting your Saturdays and much more. But I must admit, those first lines (Last Night I Dreamt I Went To Manderley Again) do lure a reader into dreaming of Manderley as it was in Rebecca's time. Reviewer, you are forgiven. |
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 "Sad sequel" | 2006-12-16 |
| - Reviewed By C. A. Matha from Erie, PA United States |
| I mean sad as in pathetic attempt to follow up on the original not as emotionally sad. I was really glad to see I am not the only one who had a difficult time enjoying this book. First just getting through the unneeded dialogue in the beginning was frustrating. I could not tell if I was even "into it". There were characters introduced that were left shallow or absolutely no place for...Lucy...what really was the point there? Might have been good there. Beauman twisted the second Mrs De Winter into somebody I never imagined who was in some ways weak I guess but I feel just plain deranged is closer to the truth. Ms Beauman seems obsessed with bring sexuality preferences into it as well...having one woman confessing to be bisexual...questions arising on Rebecca's preferences...and then another character announcing bringing his boyfriend into the picture! What is up with all of that and was this really needed for heaven's sake. The main character then strikes out on her own to be basically a feminist which due to Rebecca's influence? This book is out of whack and a waste of time. I'd been better off reading Newberry Award books with my daughter. |
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 "Miriam Margolyes is Superb!" | 2006-05-02 |
| - Reviewed By tookish from Paris, Texas United States |
| All of the reviews listed refer to the printed book. This is an abridged sound recording of Rebecca's Tale, and the quality of the reader sets it above the norm. Miriam Margolyes is so very subtle with her reading. She developes distinct male and female voices from the very young to the very old. I haven't read the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this delightful performance. It is definitely worth the time to listen!! |
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 "Straight out of the 1970s feminist fairy tale book" | 2006-04-03 |
| - Reviewed By Luiza from Wherever |
Beauman does well in giving Rebecca's side of the story and in making her plausible and even likeable without making her ordinary. The family history and the secrets surrounding Terence Grey intrigued me although you could say that they don't add anything to the original. But I liked that thread of the story. The treatment of "the second Mrs. de Winter" is shameful although I feel at the very end, when she finally gets to say something (about Rebecca never growing up), it's an interesting thought well worth considering. So maybe the way Beauman treats her is not quite so unjust.
What really annoyed me increasingly, mostly in the last part, is the cheap 1970s-style feminism and general air of political correctness of our own age retrojected onto the 1950s. Alright, so "the second Mrs. de Winter" had no other objective in life than to make her husband happy - so what? The original novel is from the 1930s and reflects the zeitgeist of its era. Beauman's sequel reflects the zeitgeist of HER era but the novel she wrote is set fifty years earlier - and that recipe simply doesn't work out. The worst figure, to my mind, is that cardboard figure of the lesbian academic aunt; straight out of the feminist fairy tale book. She is the least believable and the most predictable character in the book and increasingly, Ellie undergoes the same transformation. Beauman doesn't even shy away from invoking Virginia Woolf with the quote "a room of my own" on the last page. I mean - how cheap and epigonal can you get?!
In short: a novel with 1970s sensibilities that already feel dated and boring today, retrojected onto an era where they hardly belong, by a writer to tries to be "ahead of her time in retrospect", as I would put it. But Beauman is not ahead of her own time; she lags behind.
Just for the record, I am an unmarried and childless academic myself but I wouldn't dream of glorifying these choices, or of ascribing them an ideological quality of being somehow "better" than other ways of living your life as a woman and human being. |
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| "Takes Away the Intrigue of the Original Book" | 2005-10-06 |
| - Reviewed By shanynic |
This story basically kills what made the original novel so great.
Col. Julyan, an extremely minor character in the original book, secretly madly in love with Rebecca 20 years later?
His daughter (who would have been 10 when she died), thinking about nothing except Rebecca?
Mrs. Danvers, still obsessed with Rebecca?
All these people obsessed about a dead woman???
Without the original book, the story would never have stood on its own. It took me a while to even get into it, and the only reason I read it was because the original was so good.
If you truly loved the original book, don't read this book because it will totally destroy that. |
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