My Cousin Rachel in The Roundtable

Jun 22, 2017 El rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-borrow, 20th-centurylit-late

I won't lie. I 100% read this book because I want to see the movie. Of course, I wasn't able to read it in time to be able to see the movie in the theater, but it's something to look forward to when it becomes available on Netflix or HBO.

Rebecca is one of my favorite novels. It's one I read at a time and a place that I can remember very well, so thinking back to reading it reminds me of my brother visiting from Canada, and a trip to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob with my siblings and my partner. ...more

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Dec 11, 2017 Irene rated it really liked it

Du Maurier has a gift for creating psychological suspense in the midst of the ordinary. She also perfected the unreliable narrator long before it was popular among authors. I am rarely tempted to flip to the final page to see how a book ends, but I could hardly fight the desire with this one. I was complaining that the book dragged, so eager was I to find out the conclusion, until I realized that the problem was not a matter of pacing, but how much she made me care about the story. It was not th ...more

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Nov 18, 2016 Elise rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, women, read-in-2016, 1950s, spooky

After having read Jamaica Inn earlier this year, I wanted more du Maurier. This book is different: more accomplished and subtle, and while still set in Cornwall, the drama is moved from out on the moors to almost entirely indoors. The first few chapters are a sickening march of foreshadowing until Rachel finally turns up, resulting in some long stretches of dialog-heavy, pleasant scenes of estate life. That’s a bit of a letdown for those wanting gothic luridness as we realize that Rachel may not ...more

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