I'm curious about why Grid still has it. I mean, it's clearly related to Rebecca's sin, but after everything that's happened, her response to Grid, even in neutrality, seems...mellow.
When Judar and Dominion removed their blessings, Rebecca left it, but that could have been seen as a slight thanks for saving the Vatican.
But after slaying angels, damaging the Vatican, slaying the newly-elected Archangel Pope, becoming a God, accepting a fallen angel and a malignant saint as Messengers...it's STILL there. I'm very curious on why that is.
Particularly when she was overly friendly before, but only had a 'mixed expression' when he rose to godhood. (Plus, those depictions of her in Beriache's paintings, which Katz still needs to find, now that I think about it).
Im only on chapter 4 and I feel what could only be described as this haunting and beautiful atmosphere. It looms over me just as Rebecca's shadow will loom over the protagonist (I watched the Hitchcock film so I know what happens). The first chapter does a great job of engendering this haunting atmosphere and overall just screams GOTHIC. The following chapters do not lose this ambience.
I just finished the fourth chapter and would like to share with you a passage that I found interesting:
"'Max - from Rebecca. 17 May',....And then as it bubbled through the nib, it came a little thick, so that the name Rebecca stood out black and strong, the tall and sloping R dwarfing the other letters."
It is interesting that the protagonist would think this considering the events that will follow. Because just as the letter R dwarfs the other letters, Rebecca will dwarf the protagonist. And how Rebecca will stand 'black and strong' in spite of her not being around will contrast the main character's meekness. I picked up that the protagonist is unnamed (I dont remember if the film did the same but I think it did). What is even more interesting is the title of the book: Rebecca. So readers will come out of this novel knowing Rebecca's name while not being privy to the protagonist's despite her being, well the protagonist.
What do you guys think of the novel?
Also if you want to read the book with me, just shoot me a dm and we can like discuss the book together as we read it. (I can make a group if more ppl would like to be part of the read-along).
I've just finished this book. It tells a story of the gay community in Chicago during 1980s AIDS epidemic. It shook me to my core. I cried a lot. It's so overwhelmingly sad. I can't imagine what those poor boys went through, what it must have done to all those that survived. That silent and almost invisible apocalypse happening right before the eyes of the world. All those friends that held vigils in the hospitals so people wouldn't die alone. Just to die later on. It's so absolutely devastating to know that so many life's were lost.
I'm so grateful for this book, that the author managed to describe all those events with so much compassion, yet not hide all the horrible details. I highly recommend it.
I know that in the Regency era, "make love" meant something like flatter/admire/court, hence why Mr. Bennet says of Wickham that "He simpers, and smirks, and makes love to us all."
At some point, the meaning switched to mean "get busy," but I'm having a hard time nailing down when, exactly. I'm particularly interested because I want to know if Maxim's words would have been shocking to the audience of the time, or if he would have seemed quite charming.
I hope this is the right sub to post this question!
Edit: It's also worth noting that the line is included verbatim in the 1940 Hitchcock adaptation, at a time when the film industry was heavily censored of content that might be unseemly (in fact, certain other details—major spoiler for those interested: >!Maxim's believed-to-be-pregnant wife went from being murdered to just accidentally falling!<—were changed in "Rebecca" because they were deemed too salacious).
The fact that that would be taken out while the line "girl I wish I was banging you on a beach" is left in is just....baffling, but the context seems to point in that direction?
Edit2: Thank you to everyone who weighed in! This has been a fascinating discussion. The conclusion I've personally come to is that, given the themes of the novel and the fact that it seems the shift in meaning had started by the time of publication but wasn't yet cemented in place, du Maurier probably chose the phrase precisely for its double entendre.
Trigger warnings: They list specific triggers in this 5 page long PDF. They're all common in misophonic population, but just heads up if you worry about learning new triggers.
ABSTRACT
Misophonia is an important, yet understudied, psychological condition characterized by feelings of extremeanger and disgust in response to specific human-generated sounds. Several promising case studies usingcognitive behavioral therapy to treat misophonia have been published, but given the limited work to date,exploring additional treatment options and expanding the potential options available to clients and cliniciansremains important. In order to target the high levels of anger and disgust, we treated a case of misophonia in a17-year-old male using 10 (50-min) individual sessions based on mindfulness- and acceptance-based componentsdrawn from dialectical behavior therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. In particular, we focused onacceptance, mindfulness, opposite action, and nonjudgmentalness strategies. At 6-month follow-up, the clientreported no significant difficulties and a continued decline in symptoms. Theoretical rationale and treatmentimplications are discussed.
Keywords:
Misophonia
Case study
Dialectical behavior therapy
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Treatment
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