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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Out-of-focus Rebecca---Villain or Victim?, December 11, 2001
Ever since I read Du Maurier's "Rebecca" as a young girl, I fantasized about the vivid character of Rebecca, who never makes a physical appearance throughout the whole story, yet manages to drive the action of all the players. Having glimpsed her essence, I wondered about her motivation--her real motivation--not the prejudiced opinions gleaned from the other characters. What had brought this glamorous female graced with "brains, beauty and breeding" to her less than glorious end at the murdering hand of her own supposedly smitten husband? How had her childhood injected her with the concentrated need to be mistress of Manderley? If you are expecting all the answers from Sally Beauman's novel, "Rebecca's Tale", look elsewhere. Rather than a straight-forward account of Rebecca's story in Rebecca's voice, we get instead---in an attempt by the author to utilize Du Maurier's masterful yet underhanded heresay approach to uncovering Manderley's secrets, another go at more opinions--and these from two characters who were not even in Du Maurier's classic and do little to elicit sympathy or interest from the reader. Divided into four sections (each narrated by a different voice), the plot centers around the appearance of Terence Grey to the Manderley district. For very personal reasons, Grey is stirring up the old scandal/drama of the first book in order to seek some thread of the elusive Rebecca. Chief on his list of interviewees is Colonel Julyan, now a man in his 70s and his daughter, Ellie. Paramount to Grey's scheme to weed out the truth is the delivery of an old notebook seemingly written in Rebecca's own hand. So, Rebecca does indeed get to speak, but through a diary written towards the end of her life to her unborn child. Even the information found here is questionable as Rebecca is touted as liar and performer who will say what she will to get what she wants. The "why" is still seeped in mystery and Rebecca sadly remains a shadowy image like film that has not quite been developed. Ultimately, this lack of substance disappoints even though for the most part the story itself could be compelling if it left out the annoying angst of Ellie's feminism, Julyan's guilt and Grey's inability to be true to himself. Such "modern" "politically correct" dilemmas, have no place in a period piece set in the early 50s. Yes, all the "live" players' issues are resolved, but these events, while tying up the plot's loose ends again do not quite work within the context of discovering the real Rebecca. On the positive side, Beauman does a wonderful job of weaving her rather labyrinthine tale with the use of the four distinct voices. Her tone works well in conveying the misty Cornwall coast as it carries with it that unsure quality that Du Maurier adopted initially while allowing the young and inexperienced second Mrs. De Winter to meander through her daydreams while dealing with the testy events of her story. Also interesting is the premise of Rebecca's childhood as related through the journal, even though again this is not developed to its full potential, but rather takes the easy way out by remaining slightly elusive. The appearance at the end of the second Mrs. DeWinter seemed too convenient; her characterization was silly--after living through the events of all three Manderley related tales (yes, the plot and outcome of Susan Hill's "Mrs. De Winter" is also incorporated into this story)there is no way this woman could remain so gauche. As the Du Maurier estate has sanctioned this book as a sequel, I recommend reading it to all of you who hold "Rebecca" dear as one of the great Gothic masterpieces of the 20th century. Who knows, maybe the next one will have all the definitive answer!
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
You can't go home again, December 20, 2001
Like everyone else who's ever read it, I've been haunted by Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca'. I read the early reviews of 'Rebecca's Tale' and knew I was taking a chance, but I figured what the heck. Early into 'Rebecca's Tale', I was captivated and couldn't put it down. It seemed a marvelous twist on the original. Then--what can I say?--new age sensiblities started raising their ugly heads and the whole thing desolved into a feminist rant. Sally Beauman's portrayal of Rebecca is particularly strange. This woman/child in no way matches the original Rebecca, who--even though dead before the story takes place--is still a powerful character. Beauman's rendition of the second Mrs. De Winter is even worse. She turns her into cardboard. It seems to me that the further Beauman got into her book, the less it had to do with the original, and the more it became a polemic on coming out of the closet. The main message was 'don't let a man tie you down!' That said, I still gave it two stars because Beauman's prose is quite evocative of Du Maurier's and the first section by 'Colonel Julyan' is superb.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I wasted an entire Saturday for this??!, September 21, 2002
This review is from: Rebecca's Tale (Mass Market Paperback)
What a disappointing read! Since I first read Rebecca, I've been fascinated by Manderley and the de Winters. I was even somewhat satisfied when I read Mrs. de Winter by Susan Hill. When I discovered this book, I was thrilled to read about what happened next. From the beginning, though, I had trouble getting into Rebecca's Tale. One of the biggest problems for me throughout the book was trudging through the pages and pages of family history. I found myself skimming through long, drawn-out histories that failed to add anything to the story of Rebecca. Finding out about her lineage did not help me to see her as a real person. Besides that, there were too many dead-ends in this story; we are led to believe one thing, but then it all changes. While I enjoy reading novels that keep me guessing, this one just seemed to change course for the sake of changing course. In addition, the unbelievable depiction of Mrs. Danvers (that reminded me of the witches in Macbeth), the superficial tossing aside of the second Mrs. de Winter as a frumpy, delusional ..., and the sympathetic portrayal of Rebecca all added to my distaste. The only likeable characters in the book were Ellie and Tom, but even that changed as I came to the end of the novel. The biggest disappointment of all came at the end; in fact, I was so disgusted that I threw the book across the room. Sally Beauman did nothing to maintain the romantic element in the ending of her novel that I loved in du Maurier's book. Had the ending of the book been more satisfying, I would have been able to overlook the other problems with it. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book to fans of Rebecca. I think the story of Manderely and Rebecca that I have conjured up in my mind is far superior to the story that Sally Beauman developed.
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