Tag: Estate

Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca | Review

Title: Rebecca

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 432

Rating: 4*/5

 

Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca

Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca

 

First off, whatever you do, don’t read the Virago Modern Classics edition. The front cover is a spoiler for the last page and the introductory essay is a spoiler for the other 431 of them. I already knew a little bit about the story line of Rebecca because of its parodies in popular culture, and particularly Mitchell and Webb which ruined the scene with the dress from the portrait, and what I didn’t know was spoiled by Sally Beauman’s introductory essay. And from what I understand, that was only there in the first place to try to get you to buy her “award-winning Rebecca’s Tale, authorised by the du Maurier estate.” Yeah, I won’t be reading that.

Because of all that, this entire read felt more like a re-read, even though it’s the first time I’ve ever picked it up. And that’s a shame, because it took a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me. Sure, it was good to read it to see how du Maurier told the story, but none of it took me by surprise, as I imagine it would have if I’d read it in 1938. I’ve also never read Jane Eyre, which apparently it’s based on, so maybe I would have got more from it if I’d read that.

The unnamed narrator is bland and boring, at least for the majority of the book, but that’s a deliberate ploy on du Maurier’s part. Still, it was kind of irritating to have to read her whittering on about stuff, especially when you already know what’s going to happen and that it’ll make most of what she’s even going on about completely redundant. Maxim de Winter and Mrs Danvers were much more interesting.

 

Daphne du Maurier

Daphne du Maurier

 

I also found it entertaining because I didn’t trust Rebecca and then it turned out that I’d sussed her character out when everyone else in the book was taken in by her. But that wasn’t outright spelled out or spoiled for me and so even though I called it, at least I called it myself. I was also taken by surprise by a twist towards the end when they called upon Rebecca’s former doctor, but I also thought it was a little too convenient.

Overall, based on my reading experience, Rebecca just scrapes a 4/5, and only because I’m generous and based on the strength of du Maurier’s writing. Without being spoiled, it would have been an easy 5* and a contender for my book of the year. Oh well.

 

Daphne du Maurier - The Breakthrough

Daphne du Maurier – The Breakthrough

 

Click here to buy Rebecca.


Stephen King – Finders Keepers | Review

Title: Finders Keepers

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 375

Rating: 3.5*/5

 

Stephen King - Finders Keepers

Stephen King – Finders Keepers

 

This book was just okay, and that’s a shame. It definitely feels like one of King’s duds for me, but it’s the second book in his Bill Hodges trilogy and the first book, Mr. Mercedes, got five stars from me. That said, I was chatting to someone on YouTube the other day about it and they said that the third is good again and that they thought it might have worked better as a duology.

Part of the reason for that is that this one could function as a standalone. Sure, there are a few bits here and there that do reference the first book (and presumably the third), but they could easily have been added to books one and three because there’s not much there. Most of it follows a completely different story which somehow felt familiar to me, as though I’d read it before. I even checked my Goodreads account to make sure that I wasn’t accidentally re-reading something.

Basically, a dude kills a writer and steals a bunch of money and some notebooks with his unpublished work in. Then he buries it and gets jailed for a different crime. Then some kid finds them all and he gets let out of jail. That takes us to about two thirds of the way through the book, a hell of a lot of setup for an unsatisfying ending.

 

Stephen King

Stephen King

 

One strange thing about my experience of this book is that it felt like the name was following me everywhere. I read it while spending some time in Oxford as part of a short break away and there was an estate agents there called “Finders Keepers” with their signs outside the front of all of the different houses that they were representing.

Sometimes I read Stephen King books and struggle to comprehend how it was written. That wasn’t the case with this one because it just felt like a bog standard mass market release. Sure, you could tell it was King from his writing style, but it also felt a bit like someone trying to imitate him. It just didn’t have any of that classic King magic.

 

Stephen King Quote

Stephen King Quote

 

Click here to buy Finders Keepers.