Jane Eyre – DaneCobain.com

Title: Rebecca

Author: Daphne du Maurier

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 432

Rating: 4*/5

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

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

Click here to buy Rebecca.

Jasper Fforde – The Eyre Affair | Review

Title: The Eyre Affair

Author: Jasper Fforde

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 392

Rating: 9/10

Jasper Fforde – The Eyre Affair

I picked up The Eyre Affair after two or three different people all recommended it to me over the space of a couple of days. My friends tend to have pretty good taste in books, and so I figured, what the hell? Why not give it a shot?

I’m glad I did – Fforde excels at world-building, and the world that you find yourself getting drawn so easily into is not unlike ours, but also not quite the same. This is a book by a reader for other readers, and there are all sorts of literary references scattered throughout, from the actual story line, which I’ll cover in a second, to the naming of the characters. Mycroft, in particular, was one of my favourites.

Loosely speaking, this book follows the story of literary detective Thursday Next, who finds herself trying to track down a powerful adversary called Hades, before he does too much damage to the world of literature. Hades has stolen the original manuscript to a classic novel, and he’s able to go into the manuscript and change it, with the potential to cause untold amounts of damage.

Jasper Fforde

Now, I’ve never read Jane Eyre, but that didn’t stop me from getting a lot of enjoyment from the novel, and if anything, it’s made me want to go and grab a copy. Unfortunately for Charlotte Brontë, Fforde has continued the series, and I’m more excited about being able to read more of his works than the actual classics that inspired them.

I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a series like this before – it’s hard to explain exactly what it is about Fforde’s writing that marks him apart from his contemporaries, but I suspect that a lot of it is to do with his skills as a world-builder. He’s effectively created a totally believable parallel universe to our own, and it allows him to have a lot of fun with different subplots, all of which eventually come together at the end.

There’s a quote on the cover of the book from Terry Pratchett, which says, “Ingenious – I’ll watch Jasper Fforde nervously.” That quote pretty much sums up the book, and I personally can’t wait to get started on the rest of the series.