REVIEW: Rebecca by Daphne DuMourier
Continuing with my reviews of top ten favorites of all time, I re-read Rebecca recently. Written in 1938, it has a writing style that can put me off sometimes - long descriptive paragraphs of the house and grounds - but in this case, it didn't take away from my love of this book. The point of view is of an insecure young woman who marries a widower, Maxim de Winter, and moves to Maxim’s family home, Manderley, where she feels she is out of her depth, and where she suspects she has enemies on all sides. Everything about the house conjures the ghost of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife.
We never do learn the name of the young woman who narrates this novel. After her marriage to Maxim, she becomes known as “the second Mrs de Winter”. She feels she will never live up to the standards of her predecessor. Everyone obviously adored Mrs de Winter (the name they still use when referring to Rebecca) and must certainly be comparing the new wife to the old.
‘She’s so different from Rebecca.’
The novel was written in the 1930s, when the role of women was quite different from today. I found it fascinating to imagine living in a time when protocol and etiquette were so limiting. Because of her insecurities, the narrator does not openly communicate her fears with anyone, which adds to the increasing mystery and uncertainty.
I loved this haunting, gothic classic. The pacing is slow, but
the building suspense kept me turning the pages.
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