Julie's Journal : My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

As a teenager, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was one of my first introductions to the gothic novel.  The spectre of the first Mrs. de Winter, the remote Manderley, the overbearing housekeeper, and the shy, uncertain new bride made for a deliciously dark, romantic, mystery.  Rebecca and, having read it at about the same time, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre whetted my appetite for dark and mysterious suitors with secrets in their pasts.  

   

It seems strange to me that I had never read anything else by du Maurier.  My Cousin Rachel caught my attention this year because it was made into a movie and I saw the trailer.  It looked like an interesting gothic story.  I finally got around to reading the book this past week, and it did not disappoint.  It is, though, a very different story from Rebecca.  

24 year old Phillip Ashley has been raised by his bachelor cousin, Ambrose, in a household comprised only of men.  When Ambrose travels to Florence and meets Rachel, falls in love, and marries her, Phillip cannot be more surprised.  Very quickly Ambrose falls ill, and within a short period of time, he dies.  Meanwhile, Phillip has received some somewhat cryptic messages from Ambrose and believes that Rachel may have played a part in his death.  When the new widow decides to visit Phillip and the family home, Phillip resolves to have his revenge on her.  His plans are thwarted however, when he discovers that Rachel is not the evil crone he has pictured, but rather a small, pretty, charming woman only a few years older than himself.  In spite of himself, Phillip is drawn to her and quickly turns from being set on revenging himself on her, to falling in love with her. 

Rachel's thoughts, feelings, and motives are a little harder to figure out.  Is she the grieving widow of Ambrose, come to his home to return his personal effects to Phillip?  Or is she conniving, and, having been left out of Ambrose's will, coming to charm Phillip into giving her an allowance, or better yet, his entire estate?  Did Ambrose die of a brain tumor, and the insanity that seems to run in the family?  Or did Rachel help him along by using her knowledge of herbs to poison his tea?  

For much of the story, I was convinced that Rachel was simply manipulating the gullible and naive Phillip.  I wanted him to wake up and see past her charms, to the calculating, murderous woman within.  However, du Maurier is a skilled storyteller, and just when Phillip realizes that Rachel is not the woman he thinks she is and sets out on an irrevocable course of action, du Maurier casts doubt on Rachel's guilt.  The book ends cryptically with both Phillip and the reader left confused about who Rachel really is.  For myself, I think that she was manipulating Phillip for both his money and property, but I am not sure she is a murderess.  I am sure that the uncertainty is what Daphne du Maurier intended.  Now, I have to watch the movie to see how it compares to the book.

My Cousin Rachel is available as an e-book on our Overdrive app.  FCL also has the movie available for check out.  

Chance's Corner: Bigger Than Life Review

Caution! This nuclear family is in the middle of meltdown!

Ed Avery (James Mason), the core of the Avery nuclear family, suffers a complete collapse due to hardening veins, but his family doctor may have a solution to ease his pain and prolong his life - the "miracle" drug called cortisone. It's still in the experimental phases, though, so the side effects are relatively unknown - other than a few bouts of depression. Under close supervision, Ed is administered varying dosages of cortisone at the hospital to see how strong of a dosage he needs to relieve his pain, which takes place during one of the greatest and most informative graph montages ever conceived. Once the right dosage is found, Ed is released to return back to his loving wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and his son, Richie (Christopher Olsen).

Just one more pill...

Ed has never felt better in his entire life. He's spry as a schoolboy and he picks up the habit of tossing around the ole pigskin with his son - a pigskin that once sat deflated on the fireplace mantle. Ed becomes a little too gung-ho, though, and starts spending money he just doesn't have, much to his wife's dismay. After an argument that ends with a mirror being shattered (not by Ed!), Ed has an emotional breakdown and decides that he only needs to up his cortisone dosage to solve his emotional problems. Oh brother...

Even Ed's shadow looms over his wife and son.

Once Ed becomes addicted to the cortisone tablets, his life spirals completely out of control. He calls his students morons in front of their parents during an open house meeting, he harasses the milkman for "intentionally" making the glass bottles "jingle jangle", he turns football into torture for his son, and he thinks he is intellectually superior - hence the title Bigger Than Life. Ed remarks that he feels ten feet tall after getting out of the hospital. The camera seems to agree, as a low angle makes him appear taller than the school he teaches at. His best friend, Wally (Walter Matthau), punctuates the point by saying that Ed has become a big shot - "he even looks bigger!"

Lou argues that it's only the pills that's making her husband say and think such ugly things, but I disagree. Before his collapse, Ed remarks that everyone he knows is dull, and the travel posters plastered on every wall in the house reflect his desire for a bigger and better life. The cortisone injections may have driven Ed to become a homicidal maniac, but every "superior" thought, every annoyance, was just festering inside of him from the get-go as that silent voice in his head that he always told to shut up. Lou is quick to forgive, but I wouldn't be, especially after he came after me and my son with a pair of scissors. Director Nicholas Ray tries to paint a picture of hope at the end, but the doctors point out that Ed will have to continue taking cortisone if he wishes to live. Ed, Lou, and Richie may be hugging each other at the end, but I bet Lou's telling a very terrified voice inside her head to shut up.

Poet's Perch : If by Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold On!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Where We Were - September 11, 2001

This morning the news was showing footage from September 11, 2001.  I (Julie) saw again footage of the planes flying into the World Trade Center and the towers collapsing, the explosion at the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania.  They then cut to today's memorial.  Every year, the family members of the victims gather and read aloud the names of everyone lost in the attacks.  Even today, 16 years after the event, the reading of the names is emotional and poignant.

I asked everyone working today to write a brief paragraph about where they were when they heard about the attacks. (Lisa is out of town, so her story is not included.)

Julie:  I was a 21 year old newlywed, living in Commerce.  I had gone to the laundromat to do laundry and as I was getting out of my car, someone else was sitting in their car listening to the radio and I heard bits and pieces of what was happening.  After I started my laundry, I too sat in my car and listened to the reports.  Later, watching the coverage on TV, I felt great grief for the families of the victims and for our country.  It felt like the world was shifting around me.  I knew that the United States would never be the same.

Christian:  When I heard the news, I was on my way home from work, planning to change clothes and go to class.  As I was flipping through radio stations, I heard the news about the 1st plane.  I was floored.  When I got home, I told my parents what happened, and we immediately turned on the television.  At that point the 2nd plane had crashed into the Twin Towers.  I remember feeling shock, confusion, and overwhelming sadness.

Chance:  I was in intermediate school.  I remember that the bell rang for class to start, but the teacher wasn't in the classroom.  All the teachers were in the hallway murmuring about something.  Everyone in the classroom started to murmur too.  After a little bit, our teacher came into the classroom, and we could all sense that something was wrong.  What had we done?  Our teacher then said, "You probably don't know what this means, but the World Trade Center has been attacked."  She was right, I had no idea what that meant.  It didn't take too long after that when everyone's parents started coming to the school to pick us up early.  The news was on when I got home, and I got to see just exactly what was going on.  I was confused, and terrified, and I learned what a terrorist was that day.

Chance's Corner: Mildred Pierce Review

Joan Crawford, considered to be "Box Office Poison" in 1938 by the Independent Film Journal because her high salary didn't reflect in her bankability, looked to restart her career at Warner Brothers, and after submitting herself to a screen test, she landed the lead role in Mildred Pierce. It seemed to a be a low point for Joan, but as we all know now, it would turn out to be one of her highest highs.

Mildred Pierce is essentially a melodrama that was retooled as a film noir, and the two genres blend extremely well. This unique blend allows a strong, female character (that's not a femme fatale) to take the lead in a rather dark, murderous plot, and the plot here may be the most sinister of all. Mildred Pierce is about a single, hard-working mother (Joan Crawford) who tries to make ends meet, while also pampering her two daughters, Veda (Ann Blyth) and Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe). It's not just a matter of spoiling them, though. Mildred wants to provide a life for them that is devoid of the economic hardships that she has faced. Unfortunately, Mildred's hard work is hardly suitable to her oldest daughter, Veda. With every great film noir, there is a great femme fatale, and Mildred has found hers in her own daughter.

Joan Crawford, no matter what you may or may not believe about her, was without a doubt a phenomenal actress dedicated to her craft. Mildred Pierce may have netted Joan her one and only Oscar win for Best Actress, but it solidified her star status for all time. She's not the only great thing about Mildred Pierce, though. There's also Michael Curtiz's sharp direction, the beautifully dark shadows overcast with cigarette smoke, intense mother-daughter slaps, Eve Arden's crackerjack performance (that should have won her the Oscar), and so much more. Mildred Pierce really does spoil its viewer, and unlike Veda, we appreciate it.