Longneck Book Club-February 2015 - Rebecca - Chapters 1-7

Joey P · #1 30th January 2015, 05:37 PM

So, here we go, our first Giraffe Board book club (so far as I know). This month we're reading Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. We'll work out the details as we go for how the threads are going to work, but, for now, this thread will be for chapters 1-7 and my plan is to start the next thread on February 8th.
If it matters to anyone, I have the hardcover book that looks like this.

Start it when you're ready but no official discussion of the book until the 1st in case anyone has any questions relating to...well anything that doesn't have to do with the actual text. We can all read this thread until Monday with no worry of being spoiled about anything.
Once we get started I'm thinking that it should be open spoilers for anything in these chapters. That's the reason I'm breaking it down like this. This way you can read along if you want or you can wait until you clear Chapter 7 before entering the thread. No boxed spoilers, just an open discussion but nothing past chapter 7.
I'm a slow reader but I'm going to try to keep up as much as I can. I know most of you guys are faster readers than I and I don't want to fall behind in my own thread.

JackieLikesVariety · #2 30th January 2015, 07:11 PM

I ordered it from the library and it should be in middle of next week. wait for me!

AuntiePam · #3 30th January 2015, 07:24 PM

I'm at 50% in the book I'm reading now, so I'll be late to the party.

My copy did come in today's mail though.

Joey P · #4 30th January 2015, 07:50 PM

I read the first chapter, just to keep up...took me about 3 minutes. I'm not planning to get too far into it, I just want a little head start because...slow reader. I'm a book a month person so reading along with other people will take a bit of extra effort on my part.

Radical Edward · #5 30th January 2015, 07:59 PM

Going to check the library tomorrow, otherwise I'll get it for my Kindle next week.

JackieLikesVariety · #6 31st January 2015, 05:26 AM

Joey, I think slow is good in this case.

savor!

Pere · #7 3rd February 2015, 09:18 AM

I'll read it with y'all.

Joey P · #8 3rd February 2015, 11:04 AM

I finished Chapter 3 last night. Shall I get this started?

What's the deal with all the gnarly woods around Manderlay, must mean something?

Who's Mrs Van Hopper? The narrator seems to be hanging around with her, not totally willingly at the beginning of the book. Also the narrator seems really young, is she a kid?
Trying to find information about Mrs Van Hopper, without spoiling myself is proving hard, I'm getting the feeling she's such a minor character the she's almost irrelevant. Just a plot device to kick off the book.

Also, I should probably not worry about spoiling myself, I've seen the movie and as I read little bits and pieces on the internet trying to get a feel for the characters, the movie is coming back to me pretty fast.

AuntiePam · #9 3rd February 2015, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey P

What's the deal with all the gnarly woods around Manderlay, must mean something?

I wouldn't have picked up on this except for seeing the movie, but I think the gnarly woods symbolize Rebecca, or the dark hold of Rebecca's memory.

Quote:

Who's Mrs Van Hopper? The narrator seems to be hanging around with her, not totally willingly at the beginning of the book.

She's an obnoxious snob -- think Hyacinth Bucket crossed with a badger -- who hired our heroine as her companion. We'd probably call the job "personal assistant" nowadays.

Quote:

Also the narrator seems really young, is she a kid?

She's 21.

Quote:

Trying to find information about Mrs Van Hopper, without spoiling myself is proving hard, I'm getting the feeling she's such a minor character the she's almost irrelevant. Just a plot device to kick off the book.

You're exactly right. Ms. duMaurier was very smart in creating this character. Mrs. VH isn't just someone we love to hate, a villain, she's what drew Max to our heroine in the first place -- the contrast between VH's phoniness and snobbery and X's innocence and naturalness is what caught his attention. That's MHO anyway.

Do we ever learn our heroine's name? I just finished chapter six and we don't know it yet, just that it's unusual.

ETA: Googled. She was never given a name. What shall we call her? She needs a name. Since it's supposed to be unusual, my vote is for Pat. (Just kidding. It needs to be something romantic.)

AuntiePam · #10 3rd February 2015, 01:48 PM

Another thought: I was surprised that X cut that page out of the poetry book Max gave her, the page with Rebecca's name. It seemed a bit presumptuous, challenging -- "I'm Mrs. deWinter now!" -- but also hopeful, a confident first step.

I remember from the movie that X wasn't well received at Manderley, and I'm wondering if duMaurier will mention this later, how those first few moments of confidence and hope symbolized by removing that page were so quickly squashed.

Joey P · #11 3rd February 2015, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

I remember from the movie that X wasn't well received at Manderley, and I'm wondering if duMaurier will mention this later, how those first few moments of confidence and hope symbolized by removing that page were so quickly squashed.

I believe X not being received well at Manderly is what the entire book is about. Or rather, how she could never...ever...possibly live up to Rebecca. At least that's what I recall from the movie.
As for her name, one cite said it's not given, though it 'may' be Caroline, but they (that cite) said it's probably not it since Max spelled it correctly and therefore it would likely be a strange name.
I didn't like the reasoning, but I don't know where from the book it was pulled from.

Joey P · #12 3rd February 2015, 03:54 PM

Ah, here it is, on wiki:

Quote:

The narrator/the second Mrs. de Winter: Neither the narrator's first nor maiden name is revealed. She is referred to as "my wife", Mrs. de Winter, "my dear", etc. The one time she is introduced with a name is during a fancy dress ball, in which she dresses as a de Winter ancestor and is introduced as "Caroline de Winter," however this is evidently not her own name; when she signs her name, she signs "Mrs. M de Winter" but the M is Maxim's initial, not hers. Early in the novel she receives a letter and remarks that her name was correctly spelled, which is "an unusual thing," suggesting her name is uncommon, foreign or complex. Whilst courting her, Maxim compliments her on her "lovely and unusual name."

It bugged me that the write (of this article) mentioned that Mrs M de Winter part since it has nothing to do with her name...and why can't it be Caroline. I guess we'll find out.
"The Narrator" will get annoying in a hurry (especially if we end up doing Fight Club next).

AuntiePam · #13 3rd February 2015, 04:16 PM

The implication is that the ancestor's name was Caroline, which explains the introduction at the party.

Caroline's not an unusual name, and in those days (before trendy spelling) it wouldn't have been difficult to spell. Plus, it's a common enough name in royal families, so pretty much anyone who could read would know how to spell it.

The narrator is not going away. The book is told in first person. We're getting X's story of what happened -- she's telling it.

You don't like first person narratives?

Me, I don't like third person omniscient, or whatever that style is called where the writer is talking directly to the reader, as a reader. Michael Faber started The Crimson Petal and the White that way. "Come, let's walk cross the street. See that woman over there?" yadda yadda Thankfully he dropped it early.

Joey P · #14 3rd February 2015, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

The narrator is not going away. The book is told in first person. We're getting X's story of what happened -- she's telling it.

You don't like first person narratives?

No no no, I meant calling her 'the narrator' for the next month is going to get old. And in the other thread I kicked around the idea of reading Fight Club next. If the book is similar to the movie (and I think it is), the main character also has no name and narrates.

We could call her SW (second wife). I believe she was referred to as The Second Mrs de Winter at some point.

AuntiePam · #15 3rd February 2015, 06:40 PM

Ah, I get'cha.

I'd like to give her a real name, nothing fancy, but unusual.

How about Maeve? It's simple and honest, which is how I've been picturing our heroine. All I know about her appearance so far is that her hair is lanky.

Peeking Duck · #16 3rd February 2015, 07:14 PM

I've just finished Chapter 7.

I'm rather surprised by how little I remember of this book. There are a few small tidbits that have stayed with me, although I did not know in some cases, until now, where the memories had come from. For instance, I have "always" (I thought) had the idea that bluebells look better still planted in the earth than they do in a vase... and now I know where that idea came from. And whenever I've read about a precarious sort of drive in the mountains, I've pictured the winding road leading to a cliff that Maxim de Winter drove upon with our heroine... er, with Maeve, shall we say.

I have rather enjoyed the bits about the trees and bushes. Quite often the narrator, Maeve, has written almost erotically about trees being intertwined, but in her next breath she usually describes how there is also other, nasty vegetation intermingled with them. And as Maeve is approaching Manderley for the first time, just before she sees the house come into view, she and Maxim pass between countless huge rhododendron bushes that are full of big scarlet blooms. Maeve feels uncomfortable in their midst, and she thinks that they are far too red, and I thought that that made for some interesting, and sort of bloody foreshadowing, especially since very soon afterward she meets Mrs. Danvers, who is dressed all in black, and who has a face like a skeleton's.

When I read Rebecca as a young adult, I suspect that I mostly liked "Maeve". Now, however, I find myself being irritated by her quite a bit... which means that I'm less sorry that she has found herself in a situation that is less than ideal. I quite like her older self, though, which means that I'm not completely alienated by her younger behaviour.

Speaking of young and old, I keep noticing the bouncing around of time, and how even when our heroine is "in the moment" she is often projecting and thinking of how she wishes she were old, or how she felt when she was young. I like that. I like the way I find myself rather fluidly moving great and small distances back and forth like the tide.

AuntiPam, what you said about Mrs. Van Hopper, that "she's an obnoxious snob -- think Hyacinth Bucket crossed with a badger" -- made me laugh out loud. How apt a description!

On to Chapter 8!

Joey P · #17 4th February 2015, 08:45 PM

I just finished Chapter 5, so I'm a bit behind everyone else. I mentioned the gnarly woods at the beginning. In one of the next few chapters (3?4?) There was 2 or 3 pages that discussed nothing but the flowers that grew at Manderlay. I can't imagine that's for nothing, but symbolism like that is well out of my grasp.

When I read (about a year or two ago) Mockingbird, I looked some stuff up about it afterwards and found out that flowers had a meaning. There were several types of flowers, each with their own meaning. I mean, Lee wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to have Jem kill a bunch of flowers and then replant them just for the story.

Now, I'm not saying each type of flower listed has a specific meaning, but the first two pages of the book are about the decrepit woods surrounding what's left of Manderly and two pages a few chapters in are all about what made up that wooded area. It's so long and wordy...and so far it's the only thing that was described like that, that I have to assume it's more than just filler.

Few other notes
I learned what cocksure meant. I don't think it would carry the same meaning nowadays.

These two are both playing hard to get

The time jumps are taking some getting used to. Not past to future, just that in one sentence she'll be taking to Mrs VH and in the next sentence she's back in the car with him.

Also, all this young girl in a car with an older guy keeps reminding me of Lolita.

AuntiePam · #18 5th February 2015, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey P

These two are both playing hard to get.

That's an interesting viewpoint. Please explain.

Joey P · #19 5th February 2015, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joey P

These two are both playing hard to get.

That's an interesting viewpoint. Please explain.

I'd have to go back and look skim through it, but at near the end of the chapter I just read he pulled her over to her and kissed her, so I assume it's moot now and probably more of a courting thing. But, it seemed like there was a lot of 'I want to go home, you don't really want me here'/'okay, off we go, are you sure you don't just want to stand here on the edge of a cliff with me' and 'have dinner with me while I just sit here and not talk to you' (<-that was their first meeting alone).
But, as I said, re-thinking it, I think it was just some back and forth courting of and older gentleman and and younger girl who had no idea what to do with herself and probably didn't even know if she liked him.
At that point, she probably would have done just about anything to not sit in the room with Mrs VH and listen to her whine all day. She even tried not to let him see her in the restaurant that morning. But he insisted she sit with him.

AuntiePam · #20 5th February 2015, 08:16 AM

I don't know if we ever learn his age. Maybe later we'll learn how long he was married to Rebecca and that'll be a clue.

I'm not picturing him as that much older -- late 30's, maybe 40. He's so self-assured -- that might make him seem older than he is. If Maeve is 21, it's not quite May-December. Maybe May-October.

Movies and books from that time period make me crazy. Seems like people are either falling in love at first sight, or taking forever to get together. If an alien watched movies to learn about how humans choose a mate, they'd be quite confused.

I think Rebecca strikes a good balance. Maxim moved relatively fast, but they did spend a lot of time together in Monte Carlo so he, at least, knew what he was getting into. Maeve was a bit star struck, but that's okay, since Maxim wasn't giving off any scary vibes -- except for that one moment on the cliff -- and his behavior there wasn't dangerous toward Maeve.

AuntiePam · #21 6th February 2015, 11:20 AM

Okay, we do learn his age.

I'm almost finished. Couldn't help myself. Once I got past everything I remembered from the movie -- they met, married, went to Manderley -- the tension ramped up and I had to know what happened.

Peeking Duck · #22 6th February 2015, 03:54 PM

I couldn't help myself, either, AuntiePam; I finished the book last night. I honestly couldn't remember any of the plot from having first read it decades ago (I remembered just odd, isolated details), and yeah, eventually the tension ramped up and it became a real page-turner.

At the end of my Kindle version, there was a little essay about the book, and in it I learned that the author, Daphne du Maurier, based Manderley on a real home that she had lived in for some time, named Menabilly. There's a painting of Menabilly at the link below, and a search in Google Images will result in actual photographs of the house.

http://www.amazingwomeninhistory.com...2/DSCN0003.jpg

The essay also mentioned some details about Ms. du Maurier that I had already been aware of, having read Wikipedia's entry about her before I re-read the book. I appreciated knowing a couple of those details in particular, but I won't mention them here in case some of you might find them spoilerish.

I'm looking forward to reading more about what y'all think of Rebecca.

Joey P · #23 6th February 2015, 05:00 PM

Dammit people, I think I'm up to Chapter 6. I couldn't have finished the entire book by now if I tried. I knew I should have gotten more of a head start, but even then I wouldn't have been even close to finishing. I'm still going to keep moving along at about a chapter a day. That's my typical pace for books.

Peeking Duck · #24 6th February 2015, 05:14 PM

No worries, Joey!

AuntiePam · #25 7th February 2015, 09:13 AM

I'll probably bow out until we get to the end. The first few chapters introduced the characters and set the mood. After that, it's all story -- for the most part anyway.

But I'll say now that I don't think Maxim was very well developed as a character.

Went to IMDB for comments on the 1940 movie. Didn't realize the ending was so different from the book. Blame it on the Hays Code, I suppose.

There are three film versions -- anyone seen the other two? One has Charles Dance (Tywin from Game of Thrones and the lead on the UK version of House of Cards) as Maxim. I don't see him as a romantic lead.

Joey P · #26 8th February 2015, 04:18 PM

I swear this book is more about flowers than anything else. I don't think there's a page in it that doesn't mention flowers in some way. I just finished chapter 10* and she mentioned the scent of the flowers on Rebecca's handkerchief.

Speaking of handkerchiefs, I swear Frith has picked her handkerchief up like three times now (so far).

Googling "Rebecca Book Flowers" I found this. The Azaleas and rhododendrons both represent Rebecca (but really, what doesn't in this book).

Another thing I noticed is that Maeve (was that the name) is quite the introvert. I'll be reading some long winding passage about how she's interacting with some other character only to realize it's just going on in her head. It's how she imagines a conversation is going to happen. She does quite a bit of imagining.

*Lastly, as I said, I'm on chapter 10, if everyone else is done, I'll just turn this in to a thread for the entire book. No sense in making 4 threads just so everyone can answer my questions.
Is anyone else not finished?

AuntiePam · #27 12th February 2015, 11:09 AM

Time for the final thread?

I don't want to be pushy -- it's just that I'm already forgetting the story.

Radical Edward · #28 12th February 2015, 12:50 PM

I haven't got very far yet, mostly because I had forgotten how much I hate this book. I like the plot, I just hate the writing with a passion. It's overly.... overly. I have a hard time getting through it. I'll get there, though.

Joey P · #29 12th February 2015, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

Time for the final thread?

I don't want to be pushy -- it's just that I'm already forgetting the story.

I'm about halfway done and I just got a PM from JackieLV to say that he's planning to start it today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radical Edward

I haven't got very far yet, mostly because I had forgotten how much I hate this book. I like the plot, I just hate the writing with a passion. It's overly.... overly. I have a hard time getting through it. I'll get there, though.

She (the narrator) is rather wordy. She tends to get lost in thought quite a bit and go off on a lot of tangents.

As a side note, I just picked up Fight Club and Choke today.

JackieLikesVariety · #30 12th February 2015, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuntiePam

Time for the final thread?

I don't want to be pushy -- it's just that I'm already forgetting the story.

give me til Saturday night!

JackieLikesVariety · #31 14th February 2015, 05:55 AM

OK, I am through chapter...I forget, but she (Rebecca's fill in!) is about to write a letter to Mrs. Bucket-Badger because it's been made plain to her letters must be written!! and even though she doesn't like her, she doesn't have anyone else to write to. how pathetic!

it's really perfect that I don't know what her name is, the whole point is she hasn't formed an individual personality strong enough for people to notice so she might as well just be called "Mrs. de Winter" and OMG when she answers the (house) phone and says "Mrs de Winter is dead" ...well. maybe that bitch Mrs. Danvers is going to kill her. smother her with the giant red flowers.

clearly something is Evil about her.

opposite of Ed, I really love the writing

JackieLikesVariety · #32 14th February 2015, 06:04 AM

oh, and like Auntie Pam I find myself irritated with Her but I think we are supposed to be - no wonder the butler and the footman laugh about her, she's a total doormat!

I can feel sorry for her and wish somebody at Manderley (like her husband!) could be kind enough - simple courtesy, folks - to show here where the Morning Room is or give a crap if she feels uncomfortable or whatever and yet I also want to smack her.

stop it! you are young and rich, with a nice husband and a wonderful home, stand up and respect yourself! but she doesn't know how, I assume.

Joey P · #33 14th February 2015, 08:15 AM

JLV, I'm not sure what chapter you're at, but I just got to the party. Well, to the part where she makes her entrance.
Up until this point, I felt that a lot of her issues with the staff, or at least Danvers, really were her fault. I mean, I knew the basic premise of the book, but ignoring that, she's spent the entire time at Manderley ignoring everyone. I understand that she's very shy and nervous, but surely they see her running from room to room and hiding around corners...just as she catches glances of them.

Danvers seemed so nice, she did everything she could to welcome her into the house, but all she did was dismiss her. I can see myself in her, I tend to be shy, I tend to be a wallflower at parties and I remember in college my friends would drag me to parties and afterwards get asked 'why does Joey hate us'. Some of my friends would say 'he doesn't hate you, he's just quiet'. It seems that at the point of the party, she's been there for a few months. By now she needs to have warmed up to the staff a little...either that or have Maxim dismiss them and she can be the sole homemaker. I believe he offered to at the beginning.

Anyways, then then she made the entrance... Surely Danvers knew exactly how that would play out. Now it's clear that Danvers really is out to get her. But we/she knows that Danvers would be out to get anyone. OTOH, if she was more assertive/aggressive, maybe more 'normal' and outgoing and friendly, Danvers wouldn't have acted like this.

At least she wasn't dressed as Rebecca, that's what I thought was going to happen.

JackieLikesVariety · #34 15th February 2015, 06:49 AM

I am not up to the party yet so I skimmed the beginning of your post, Joey, and then I went "lalalalalala" so I wouldn't hear any more.

I was going to hurry and catch up but since everyone else is done I think I will continue to savor it slowly while also reading my other books. it's too depressing for an evening read, anyway.

I know y'all talked about the trees and the plants, don't see that anyone mentioned the SEA. first She was all, why are we stuck in this wing where you can't see and hear the ocean but now that She's all hyper- Social Anxious with her new hostess duties she is glad, GLAD that she is living away from it. instead, the "still" air of the Rose Garden.

despite knowing from the first chapter it's not going to happen, I find myself still hoping the de Winters and Manderley (surely the most important character?, even more so than Rebecca?) can live Happily Ever After.

I was struck by something She thought: how anxious Secrets make a person. that is my understanding about alcoholism: it's isn't the drunkenness that is so harmful as the Pretending and Hiding and Cover-up involved.

Joey P · #35 15th February 2015, 07:05 AM

There are a lot of mentions of the sea in this book. She's always very aware of which side of the house she's on. Can she hear the sea? Is the tide in or out? How are the waves? Now she's in her wing and she can't hear it at all...like it's not even there. Today she'll walk to the beach, the sea is angry, the sea is calm, over the wall she goes to find Jasper. I suppose to an author that puts so much into the meaning of flowers, we should be paying attention to the thing that took the title character's life, huh.

Also, in the chapter I read last night, 17, there was another mention of a handkerchief. Maybe they were just more common in the 30's, but I can't imagine Daphne just saying 'One of the men had left his handkerchief on a chair" with no context on either side of it and writing it off as just a passing comment. I mean, that's what it was supposed to be, just a observation of the room, but why? Why waste a line on that?

Also, she, oddly, manged to used the word 'salmon, three times in two pages. She used it to describe the clouds, the sky and a lady. Skimming through a PDF of the book it looks like she uses the word pretty often, maybe she just likes it. It was just odd to see it so many times so quickly. It's not a word you see that often now.

JackieLikesVariety · #36 21st February 2015, 07:28 PM

I just finished it, that was a lot of tension: will the murder be found out? will the pregnancy..cancer? wait, it was cancer? oh! but then what will...

wait, that's IT? did Mrs. Danvers - who was insane, surely - set Manderley on fire?

that's all? we never find out anything else?

on the whole, I enjoyed it. talk about your atmosphere.

JackieLikesVariety · #37 21st February 2015, 07:31 PM

Carol Burnett's version "Rebecky"

AuntiePam · #38 21st February 2015, 08:34 PM

That was hysterical. I miss Carol Burnett.

I took a few notes after finishing chapter 7.

Chapter 8

Maeve is awed by Manderley, the order, the food, and feeling lost and still insecure, especially after sitting at R’s orderly desk

9

She meets Beatrice and Giles, wanders into the west wing

Screw this. [Referring to the note taking thing -- the pace picked up at this point so all I did was jot down some of the stuff that bugged me.]

Danvers scolding Maeve about the broken ornament – M should not have taken it, even a shy insecure woman would get defensive at being treated like a child.

Maeve was dim not to pick up on what Ben was trying to tell her.

Favell – should have been Dan Duryea in the movie, not George Sanders. Duryea would sleep with a cousin -- Sanders wouldn't.

Minor plot holes:

Maeve checking the west wing after Favell’s visit to see if he stole anything – she’d never been in that room so she wouldn’t know if anything was missing.

Maxim’s reaction to Favell saying he and Rebecca were lovers – he should have acted surprised. Not being surprised implied he knew, which gave him a motive.

[end notes]

Yeah, I think Danvers set the fire.

Did Maxim go blind at some point? When the book started, Rebecca talks about reading to him a lot.

I liked the twist -- Rebecca having cancer and possibly even encouraging Maxim to shoot her.

I didn't like Maxim getting away with murder, because of his position in the community.

The ending was rather abrupt, for shock value? Is that how the movie ended?

Joey P · #39 21st February 2015, 08:55 PM

Regarding the movie, I really don't recall any of it, but when I read the book, I picture Cary Grant playing Maxim. They way he's always cool under pressure. In my head, it's Katherine Hepburn as Rebecca, but it may be Macintosh coat they keep talking about. I think she could play Bea just as well too. This just screams Rebecca...to me.

FYI, I've got about two chapters left. As I type this they're going to bed on on they're way to meet Dr Baker in the morning.

ETA, yes, I know, she's not actually in it. But all this talk of her, that's who I picture.

JackieLikesVariety · #40 22nd February 2015, 05:38 AM

Quote:

I liked the twist -- Rebecca having cancer and possibly even encouraging Maxim to shoot her.

yes, and it does sound likely: we know she was horrible, if she knew she was going to die soon having her husband murder her and then be hanged for it might just be her idea of a Good Time. why else would she make up the pregnancy?

after I finished it, I went back to the beginning to see if I could figure out What The Hell.

so, after Manderley burned down the Fear is over - fear of the truth coming out, I guess, although for most of the book I guess you assume it's fear of Mad Mrs. Danvers

do we assume they still are rich people but they can't enjoy it because they are so damaged by the whole experience?

I don't know about blind, her reading to him just seemed to be something nice you'd do for your much older spouse. when they first met he treated her like a child and now she is his caretaker, perhaps.

I wanted more of Beatrice and Giles.

JackieLikesVariety · #41 22nd February 2015, 05:51 AM

I suppose the main reason they can't really live Happily Ever After is because he committed murder, after all, so it wouldn't be Right.

but with Mrs. Danvers and R's creepy lover/cousin still out there The Truth will always hang over them.

the ending is abrupt - did Favel have a plan? I mean, more than just calling up Mrs. Danvers and saying, hey, burn it down - he would want to get something out of it - money! is that possibility still hanging over them?

AuntiePam · #42 22nd February 2015, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

the ending is abrupt - did Favel have a plan? I mean, more than just calling up Mrs. Danvers and saying, hey, burn it down - he would want to get something out of it - money! is that possibility still hanging over them?

Maybe they robbed the place before setting it on fire.

Peeking Duck · #43 22nd February 2015, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JackieLikesVariety

... after I finished it, I went back to the beginning to see if I could figure out What The Hell.
... do we assume they still are rich people but they can't enjoy it because they are so damaged by the whole experience?

Jackie, after I finished the book, I also went back to the beginning.

And my take on things, is that they are still well off, and that the only reason they don't stay in the "finer" hotels is because they don't want to run into any people they know.

Despite the vague ending, I picture Maeve and Maxim as now being perpetually safe from further criminal investigation and mayhem. I picture them being marginally bored and melancholy for the rest of their lives.

By the way, YouTube has the original movie in its entirety. And in it, there is no doubt as to what happens to Mrs. Danvers.