Title: RebeccaAuthor: Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Fiction, Romantic Suspense
Year Published: 1938
Synopsis: With the opening sentence, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired when she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room in the immense, foreboding house were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten – a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house’s current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walks in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife – the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca.
Opening sentence: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
Chosen by: Jaimie
Reason this book was chosen: This book was referred to me by a coworker and it looked intriguing from the description on the back cover. It wasn’t intimidating in either length or content – perfect for the first book our book club will tackle.
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Jaimie's Review:
This book opens at the end of the story with the main character, whose first name is never revealed, living in a hotel room in a foreign land, reminiscing on all the events that have yet to unfold to the reader. You understand immediately that these future selves of Mr. and Mrs. de Winter desperately long to live at Manderley again, but cannot do so for very compelling, yet unknown reasons. The question plaguing me throughout the novel was – how did the Mr. and Mrs. de Winter you meet in the first pages, which are at the end of their story, become so very different from the Mr. and Mrs. de Winter they were at the beginning of their story, and why can they not be at Manderley? In fact, the climax at the end was not the revelation of the truth about Rebecca, but the moment when I finally understood how the first scene of Mr. and Mrs. de Winter reminiscing from a foreign hotel room came to be.
While I was intrigued by the story as I was reading it, I was disappointed in the end to find that the plot is remarkably similar to Jane Eyre. And, since I have already read Jane Eyre, the unoriginality of Rebecca’s plot made the whole book seem a little mundane in retrospect.
However, this is not to say that the book was devoid of anything original. Daphne du Maurier provided excellent descriptive narrative, not only of the surroundings, but also of her main character’s thought processes. I enjoyed reading the well thought out scenes that contemplated absurdities of life that I myself have considered. Check out this example of the main character contemplating what is happening around her in the moment of her worst crisis:
“In a few minutes Frith came in, followed by Robert carrying the table for tea. The solemn ritual went forward as it always did, day after day, the leaves of the table pulled out, the legs adjusted, the laying of the snowy cloth, the putting down of the silver tea-pot and the kettle with the little flame beneath. […] It’s funny, I thought, how the routine of life goes on, whatever happens; we do the same things, go through the little performance of eating, sleeping, washing. No crisis can break through the crust of habit. […] Robert came to clear away the tea. It was like any other day. The routine was unchanged. I wondered if it would have been so had Maxim not come back from Lanyon. I wondered if Robert would have stood there, that wooden expression on his young sheep’s face, brushing the crumbs from the snowy-white cloth, picking up the table, carrying it from the room.”
I also liked that Daphne du Maurier seamlessly transitioned the story from the present, to the past, and even into a farther past. One moment a character is talking about an event in the past, and the next moment the character is living that event, not just talking about it.
All in all, I would recommend this book only to people who haven’t yet read Jane Eyre or similar, and to those who enjoy sections of descriptive narrative intermingling with the action and dialogue.
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Kristin's Review:
Rebecca was difficult for me to get into, but after the first 70 pages or so I couldn't put it down! The author Daphne du Maurier does a great job of utilizing vocabulary that creates a dark, chilly, suspenseful mood. The setting of Manderley always seems to be grey, shadowy, and rainy which creates a dreary, depressing ambience. The main character--the new Mrs. de Winter--comes across as a young, childish, self-conscious creature who makes assumptions of what other people think of her--as someone who could never compare to the former Mrs. de Winter, Rebecca. On top of her own thoughts, the death-like, haunting skeleton of a housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, ever-faithful to Rebecca, never ceases to make the new Mrs. de Winter feel inadequate and unwanted. The fact that the new Mrs. de Winter's first name is never mentioned only adds to her being a "nobody".
This was a great suspense novel as I had no idea how it was going to end...what was going to happen to Maxim de Winter and the evidence brought forth against him, what results the doctor would reveal about Rebecca, how Rebecca's crazed cousin was going to take out his revenge, etc. The twists and turns in the storyline threw me and kept me reading as the chapters started blending together. Overall, Rebecca was very entertaining, but be aware that the book is somewhat dark and demonic.
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Lindsay's Review:
It is easy to see why this book is a classic; the first line is instantly engaging and takes you to a mysterious and darkly foreboding place. The narrator seems wistful for days gone by, but also relieved to never have to go back.
This is an interesting tale of heartache and regret; the basic human condition. There are small glimpses of hope, but the overall feeling is of despair and an impending sense of doom. I found myself resenting Mrs. Danvers, who constantly lurked about the house and brought oppression to the heroine (I don’t know what else to call her). I thought Maxim was selfish and deceitful to his new wife, who in turn allowed herself to be manipulated almost to the point of suicide. I liked the heroine in general, and I understand how circumstances in her life had shaped her into the compliant and submissive character she was, but she seems to lack a moral compass. Rebecca, the first wife and main character, completely dominates the story to the point that I was fed up with her by the end. The writer describes her in such detail that she is much easier to envision than the heroine, whose name is never given.
I had a problem with the climax of the book, when the heroine learns that her husband is a murderer. Maxim killed Rebecca for taunting him with the thought of her illegitimate child inheriting the De Winter estate, and the heroine is neither horrified nor appalled. All she can think about is the fact that Maxim never loved Rebecca, and she is relieved to be free from her power. The heroine then tries to help her husband lie to the authorities in order to keep him from being thrown into prison.
The ending of the book was extremely disappointing; with Manderly burning to the ground and Mrs. Danvers running off into the night. There didn’t seem to be any gratification for the long and dreary middle portion of the story, other than the fact that Rebecca turned out to be an unfaithful, cold, calculating, and deceitful person.
In conclusion, my opinion is that this book is well written and has interesting characters, but there was an undeniable lack of a higher power to save them all from their misery. The oppressive grip of the main character is a bit depressing at times and I felt that overall the story had few rewarding qualities. However, I don’t regret reading it; it made me examine my own life and realize that there is nothing apart from God.
The ending of the book was extremely disappointing; with Manderly burning to the ground and Mrs. Danvers running off into the night. There didn’t seem to be any gratification for the long and dreary middle portion of the story, other than the fact that Rebecca turned out to be an unfaithful, cold, calculating, and deceitful person.
In conclusion, my opinion is that this book is well written and has interesting characters, but there was an undeniable lack of a higher power to save them all from their misery. The oppressive grip of the main character is a bit depressing at times and I felt that overall the story had few rewarding qualities. However, I don’t regret reading it; it made me examine my own life and realize that there is nothing apart from God.
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