Monday, September 7, 2009

Rebecca & Shameless Self Promotion

I've been away for too long, I apologize. I believe I owe at least one more round of stats on the original lists. Coming soon...I hope.

Has anyone else read Rebecca by Daphne DeMaurier? I'm in the middle of it. I don't understand why this is a classic. Can someone please enlighten me? I don't think I even know the protagonist's name...she doesn't even seem to be trying to make her own place in her marriage and it's driving me nuts. So many issues could have been avoided or alleviated if she just spoke up!

Reason for my long absence: Eternal Press published my novella today. Because of the holiday, I thought the launch was tomorrow...so, I'm having a twitter launch party tomorrow to give away some free copies. Do you tweet? You could win. More details on my home blog: http://kellyaharmon.com (Link opens new window...)

3 comments:

ImageNations said...

congrats on your publication. hope all go well.

Rachel said...

Congratulations on the novella! I loved Rebecca. It's been several years since I read it, so I don't remember every detail, but I loved the setting and creepy Mrs. Danvers. In regard to never learning the protagonist's name: I think that device heightens the positioning of that character as secondary to Rebecca's huge and daunting persona that haunted Manderley and everyone living there.

I understand your frustration with the protagonist's lack of assertiveness -- I think my book group came to the common conclusion that perhaps this was an element of the place and time that this book was written, and that women in 1938 may have responded differently than women today might. (All of us were like, OMG, can you just ASK HIM about her already?!)

I also liked the Hitchcock movie very much. And Charles Dance was a wonderful Maxim in the later adaptation shown on PBS, I think he was dreamy...

Tammy said...

Congratulations!

My book club had the same reaction to Rebecca. We enjoyed the book overall but found the narrator beyond frustrating. Seriously, how spineless can a woman be? But the book does a great job of showing how a total lack of self-esteem can cause you grief.