Rebecca/Daphne Du Maurier/380 pgs.

This is our August book club read, and since I had never read this "classic," I was looking forward to it. Maybe I was expecting too much, but it's not one of my favorites. One of my co-workers had to read it in high school, and loved it. I had to read Jane Eyre in high school, and loved it--if I had read Jane Eyre for the first time at this time of my life, I might have been disappointed in it, too. I had a difficult time remembering that Rebecca was written around 1938, and as such, I found the "new" Mrs. de Winter a wimp, and Maxim a boring, chauvinistic pig (not to mention way too old and worldly for her). I realize that their personalities reflect the time period in which the book was written, but it was still hard to swallow. The last 50 pages of the book were the best part--and never knowing Mrs. de Winter's first name was aggravating! (for lp--imho)