Rebecca by Daphne du MaurierMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The atmosphere in this book is so thick. The descriptions are evocative, with nature mirroring all the tensions, and with a broody mansion, musty and closed up with secrets.
At first, I was impatient with the heroine's spinelessness. Rebecca, her dead predecessor, sounded much more interesting to me. But as time went on and it - slowly - built in intensity, that mattered much less. Then I was afraid of the creepy Mrs. Danvers and what havoc she could wreak on an impressionable mind, and the benign facades all started falling apart deliciously. What a great story of misdirection and twisted minds, of leaping to conclusions and faulty assumptions. When I turned the last page and realized that was the end, I really expected more. There should be more! Yet it was completely fitting. I can see why this is a classic.
I'm toying around with a 5 star rating after seeing the whole picture, but for now it's 4.5 rounded down instead of up. Just because it took so long to get going, and the heroine did annoy me for quite a while.
