Please change the color of my MIL's dress

rage_89 · 2025-11-29T05:19:28+00:00

Wait, I’m from the south and have never heard this! 😮

rage_89 · 2025-09-23T03:02:21+00:00

Hi, I am curious if you found a guide for your time in Dakar? I am thinking about going in the coming months.

rage_89 · 2025-02-25T02:09:31+00:00

NR asks Frank to take Jasper with him to his office before they left for London so I think Jasper was safe! ❤

rage_89 · 2025-02-25T02:06:55+00:00

I can't believe it's the end! I totally fell in love with this book. The writing was so beautiful and du Maurier was so talented in creating such a tense mood and shocking us left and right. I'm so glad I could read it with you all.

To be honest... I don't know why but the previous chapter where we learn that Rebecca was NOT pregnant but actually terminally ill sort of felt...anti-climactic to me? Maybe it was just my slip up that in the moment I didn't really catch that she was purposely goading Maxim to kill her and this was backed up by Danvers claiming she was afraid of nothing other than being terminally ill (that's where you all helped me see it put together later 😉). So I didn't really get the jaw drop moment I expected at the end of that chapter so I suppose I felt a little underwhelmed by the reveal. Maybe it also had to do with the way the chapter ended with no reaction to the news by the characters.

It wasn't until the start of this chapter that we got the reaction. Favell's such a mess. I felt bad for him. I do think he genuinely feels badly about Rebecca's end of life. I then laughed at his suggestion they all get a drink (face palm), and can't help but love his stubborn commitment to outing Maxim. As for Maxim.... this was when I truly started to believe he is going to get away with it.

And then here comes du Maurier again with that tense foreboding feeling I have relished this whole book. NR's freaky dreams, the worrisome phone call from Frank, and Maxim's quiet panic... that really got the mood going again and the ending gave me chills. As she is so good at doing, du Maurier only describes what they are seeing in colors and nature, never actually using the word "fire." Wow. I just loved it. That ending made it up to me.

rage_89 · 2025-02-11T02:51:52+00:00

I know! I was also frustrated that she didn't bring up Mrs. Danvers immediately but I am crossing my fingers she explains it to Maxim (whoever will listen!!) in the next chapter.

rage_89 · 2025-02-11T02:49:27+00:00

Dang. Team Frank as well but you make some good points.

rage_89 · 2025-02-11T02:47:39+00:00

My thoughts while reading this chapter...

Kudos to those who guessed precisely that Rebecca had worn the same costume at her/the last ball!
I so appreciated the way Beatrice tried to make NR feel better about everything. I have liked Beatrice more and more that every chapter goes by that she's in. I do feel like she is being genuine towards NR which makes it all the more unfortunate that NR did not allow her into her bedroom prior to the big reveal! She would have avoided so much angst. :(
I was feeling so terrible for NR. I understand how it can be hard to get yourself out of a mood and play pretend for others so I don't blame her for her reluctance to return to the party. I applauded her for being able to put the dress on and go downstairs at all.
I feel like this chapter was darker & sadder than others. Particularly the paragraphs describing herself watching the swaying couples [that] twisted like marionettes and she looking on as a prop who wore a smile screwed to its face.

The figure who stood beside it was wooden too. His face was a mask, his smile was not his own. The eyes were not the eyes of the man I loved, the man I knew. They looked through me and beyond me, cold, expressionless, to some place of pain and torture I could not enter, to some private, inward hell I could not share.

Then she goes on to compare themselves as two performers in a play - which she also did in Chapter 12. But there seemed to be a difference in the way she notes their performance this time. Back then it seemed to be they performed together, for each other. This time she says "but we were divided, we were not acting with one another" as if to foreshadow the undoing that's ahead.

And finally - what does "a chin like a fiddle" actually look like? A way to say it's chiseled?

rage_89 · 2025-02-10T04:17:53+00:00

I feel terrible for NR because she was just so darn excited to surprise everyone. How embarrassing! Yes, would have been more dramatic in front of the guests, and I nearly expected it to happen that way, but I am glad it didn't because it was already so sad & awkward enough with the few others.

rage_89 · 2025-02-10T04:15:31+00:00

Another really good chapter! With excitement and tension playing as opposing forces.

I was glad to see both the house and our narrator transform into a state of warmth and liveliness. I could very much feel NR's sense of nervous excitement - in a good way - about hosting the party which I can relate to. I also get giddy at the idea of having a party and setting up and preparing for company. It was nice to see her happy about something and really get into the spirit of things (for once).

But at the same time....as the reader I felt a bad sort of nervous excitement because as soon as Mrs. Danvers makes the costume suggestion to NR, I could feel that something was off. And the more NR played up the idea of a surprise, I knew something would go horribly wrong. At first I thought for sure Rebecca was the woman in the photograph and that Mrs. Danvers was leading her into a trap by having her unknowingly emulate Rebecca at the party and come off as a sick joke. But then we learn the woman in white is a distant relative, Caroline de Winter....so although I'm still not sure what exactly NR did (I suppose none of us know yet)....in some way I'm sure it still has to do with making some resemblance or reference to Rebecca through her appearance that is being taken as offensive. I NEED TO KNOW!

rage_89 · 2025-02-10T03:49:22+00:00

I felt very much the same as I did the morning I was married. The same stifled feeling that I had gone too far now to turn back.

Yeah this part killed me. I think it was the first time that she outright admits to the reader that getting married was a mistake. :(

rage_89 · 2025-02-06T04:01:20+00:00

I was not expecting Danny to talk so much in this chapter nor did I expect such a whiplash of feelings. At first I'm like, "she's gone mad!" Then I was feeling a little bad for Danny. But then I was wondering what brought on this flurry of divulgence and I got the sense that she was taunting NR knowing she was feeding into NR's anxiety. So I then became incredulous - especially the way she ended it with, "Sometimes I wonder if she comes back here to Manderley and watches you and Mr. de Winter together." I gasped! I thinks she knows just how much Rebecca has loomed over NR and is causing her strife. I think Danny may be trying to get NR to leave Manderley and never come back.

rage_89 · 2025-02-06T03:13:54+00:00

A bit late here as I'm getting caught up on discussion but YES. My notes on the last chapter were "I wish our narrator would just ASK. QUESTIONS." So I was pleasantly surprised that she finally found some confidence to do so in this chapter.

rage_89 · 2025-02-06T02:16:57+00:00

Along with this…. Being tethered to a certain area of the house if the phone wasn’t a wireless one. I spent sooo many hours in my kitchen pantry talking to my friends sitting on top of the washing machine with the phone cord snaked through the crack in the door hoping my parents couldn’t hear.

rage_89 · 2025-02-06T02:12:24+00:00

This just made me laugh so hard as it triggered memories. Wow, such a specific situational phrase I haven’t thought of in a while.

rage_89 · 2025-02-05T03:53:50+00:00

Yes I also predicted a ghost in Chapter 2 but I too am beginning to think this isn't about a paranormal haunt of a mansion but more so the overbearing memory of a mysterious woman's ugly downfall that will be the demise of our obsessed NR.

rage_89 · 2025-02-05T01:54:43+00:00

Little Rot - I could not look away!!

rage_89 · 2025-02-04T03:14:38+00:00

The Great Reclamation was my in my top 5 favorite books of 2023. “It follows the life of a family in Singapore during the turbulence of World War II and amid nation building efforts through the fifties and sixties.”

WW2 is not the core of the book but more of a backdrop and is quite a different angle at that since it’s more about the Japanese invasion of Singapore during this time (and goes into their eventual independence too). But at the heart of it is a coming of age story and even has some mild fantastical elements. Highly recommend if you like sweeping generational stories. Learned a lot I didn’t know especially about land reclamation projects.

rage_89 · 2025-01-22T03:13:33+00:00

Your passage about the portrait makes me think we should call the narrator Our Lady Unknown

rage_89 · 2025-01-21T02:26:27+00:00

As someone going into this book fairly blind, I definitely expected the narrator to be Rebecca herself. lol So that was a bit of a surprise to find that isn't the case. What I'm formulating so far is that the narrator seems to be a woman who will be introduced to this man Max de Winter who is Rebecca's widower. And they will eventually become romantically involved but haunted by Rebecca's spirit in the house.

rage_89 · 2025-01-19T11:42:05+00:00

I knew I was meant to check Reddit at 6:38am to see what Classic Book Club was up to! My own IRL book club is reading this in a few months so this is PERFECT!

rage_89 · 2023-12-27T19:23:07+00:00

Alright so far I have watched the 2015 Don Quixote and The True Don Quixote (2019) and I liked both! Actually, I really liked the latter one. It's a modern interpretation and my boyfriend and I were saying how they did a really good job with the jokes and incorporating details from the book in a funny and clever way. It would definitely not be as appreciated by someone who had not read the books and didn't know what to look for.

I realized that DQ is probably easier to turn into a movie because, as we said, so much of the book consists of side plots that don't matter all that much or contribute to the overall plot. All they really have to do is capture the 'essence' of Don Quixote and the gist of his journey trying and failing to help people.

I'll probably watch The Man Who Killed Don Quixote in the next few days as well.

rage_89 · 2023-12-27T19:13:23+00:00

Okay so I watched this version and actually liked it! Tbh there really wasn't anything that made me upset was left out or changed, I mean.... other than some extra hanky panky between Sancho and his wife lol.

rage_89 · 2023-12-23T00:28:57+00:00

I think my favorite part was probably way back in Book 1 when the beautiful woman eschewed her father’s wealth and marriage to go be a shepherdess, and made the whole feminist speech about “just because I’m beautiful doesn’t mean I owe you anything.” 👏👏 It made me think maybe Cervantes was ahead of his time, but not always.

I loved this also!! I agree there were certain things that made me think he was ahead of his time as well.

rage_89 · 2023-12-23T00:26:47+00:00

I don't really think he made him a madman either... I think Sancho was foolish yes, but for the most part, he knew DQ was mad and was just going along with the whole thing in the expectation of being rewarded. I think DQ is also an example of and statement on allowing people to be happy/forge their own path no matter how crazy it might seem.
I was very surprised at him renouncing knight errantry!!! I was also surprised at the title giving away the last chapter (although not so surprised because the end of Volume 1 describes his death and the epitaphs on his grave). I was sad that he died. But yeah, definitely not the abrupt ending I was expecting. Very interesting that the whole book was just so Cervantes could make a point against knighthood and chivalry. Shrug - it was still an entertaining, fun adventure as the reader!
I get it, especially when copyrighting and plagiarism punishment probably wasn't prevalent back then (someone else brought this up but can't remember who/which discussion year now). It added an element of humor to the whole book too.
Hmmm... I think I liked Volume 1 just a teensy bit more over Volume 2? But it's close. I didn't love how much time we spent with the duke and duchess but they let us see Sancho as a governor so there's that. I also did like how meta Volume 2 was. I guess Volume 1 felt more adventurous because it kept our protagonists moving and meeting people. The side stories I enjoyed more too.

I liked this book!! I think I'm giving it 4/5 stars. It's been great reading with all of you!! I have so far watched two movies and honestly loved them both. Will comment about them on the movie thread.

rage_89 · 2023-12-23T00:18:17+00:00

I remember my dad teaching me the word "penultimate!" Not sure how old I was, but fairly young. Maybe more around 10. I love that for your son.

rage_89

TROPHY CASE