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• I should first say that I'm not a diehard fan of Rebecca (though I do quite like it), so my response to Rebecca's Tale may be different from truly devoted fans of the original novel. The novel is divided into 4 parts, each with a different narrator (I won't name them here in case that counts as a spoiler!). Beauman does a good job of giving each character his / her own distinct voice; some writers attempt to narrate with different characters, but everyone sounds the same-- that's not the case here. Chalk one up for Beauman's style. I think what I liked most about Beauman's novel was the themes she chose to pick up and elaborate on from Rebecca: death sealed in persons (along with sterility), the life in nature, the notion of place (and breaking away from it), and a few others. Explorations of sexuality are also more explicit in this novel; even nature becomes almost overwhelmingly fecund. The novel still hovers at the question of who Rebecca was in life, but it also tries to pick apart who and what she has become in death. I should emphasize that this is NOT a retelling of Rebecca but a "further-telling" of, perhaps, Manderly itself and the lives of all it touches. It's not a remake, and it's overall not an attempt to explain (its weakest moments are, in fact, when it DOES try to explain, and that's why I give it 4 stars, along with the fact that it can be rather obvious in its "mysteries" at some points). Recommended, especially after rereading Rebecca.

  4.50 out of 5

  elvisettey

• I never read Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, but have watched the movie and loved the story. I think this author did a great job. The story read like a classic old novel full of dark secrets and mysteries. A woman, newly married, must learn to how to run her husband's estate, but there are those who may not want her there. Great story!

  4.00 out of 5

  melaniehope

• A complicated read but excellent writing. The story is a little dry in the beginning as the author fills us in on the original story of Rebecca. The story begins to take off and soon the reader is determined to follow all the threads with the characters who are searching for the answer to Rebecca's death in the first novel. Very well written and quite well done!

  4.00 out of 5

  kmmt48

• This is fascinating as a revisionist text because one desperately wants to know what really happened to Rebecca. (There are powerful hints in du Maurier's novel to suggest that Maxim simply found her too passionate, rather than a devil.) The third section of the novel is the most engaging and sad as Rebecca tells her own tale, but the shifts and hints never firmly reveal her fate. The fourth section then veers away from Rebecca to deepen the feminist reading and, ultimately, destroy the romance and mystery: a great shame.

  3.50 out of 5

  brokenangelkisses

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