Review: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

5 stars for Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

I long to read this book ever since I happen upon it some years back in the library. I cannot recall the reason for not checking out the book then except to keep it for a future read. Well, the future is now. It has happened.

This book is what I call a true classic work of literature. I know not why it is classified under horror. It is not a horror story - not in the usual sense - but more of a family tragedy, an unfortunate turn of events that has a touch of romance entangled with mystery and suspense.

Set in the mid-twenties, the story is about a young wife and her much older husband, living in a house that has been in his family for generations. It is a big, beautiful English house with family portraits on the walls, with extensive grounds, with woods and near to the sea. A house called Manderley. The young wife finds herself battling the shadow of the husband's first wife, Rebecca, whose legacy lives on in Manderley long after her death.

The author kicks off the story with first person narratives from the present and deftly transports the reader to the past. It is done so subtly and skilfully that I did not notice the shift has happened. Also, this is a story with an epilogue that comes at the beginning - instead of the end - with the couple living abroad after some kind of tragedy. To quote "We have come through our crisis, not unscathed of course. His premonition of disaster was correct from the beginning and like a ranting actress in an indifferent play, I might say that we have paid for freedom." Not only is it a unique way of kicking off the story, the use of foreshadowing builds up the excitement and adds anxiety to what is to come. What of disaster and what of freedom? What has been used as payment for freedom?

It is revealed right from the beginning that there has been a death. The reason for the death is simple and straight forward. The story itself also seems to be pretty predictable. But it is not the plot and development of the story that fascinated me at first. It is the writing. The writing that is interspersed with prose of recollections, dreamy imaginations and sharp contrast that make the reading so very endearing. I do admit the writing style takes some getting used to, but once I get past it (which is really fast), I have such an enjoyable time reading that it is hard to put the book down.

The author's use of words to describe thoughts and feelings and that of people is remarkable. The young wife in the story is humble, shy and diffident. Her nervousness, insecurity and self-consciousness is well expressed and brought to the forefront of the story. Even though she is the new mistress of the house Manderley, she feels small, insignificant and appraised; very much under the sharp unfriendly eyes of the longtime housekeeper, Mrs Danver.

I shall quote the following passages from the book to show what I meant.

"Someone advanced from the sea of faces, someone tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black, whose prominent cheek-bones and great, hollow eyes gave her a skull's face, parchment-white, set on a skeleton's frame."

"She came towards me, and I held out my hand, envying her for ber dignity and her composure, but when she took my hand hers was limp and heavy, deathly cold, and it lay in mine like a lifeless thing."

"This is Mrs Danvers," said Maxim, and she began to speak, still leaving that dead hand in mine, her hollow eyes never leaving my eyes, so that my own wavered and would not meet hers, and as they did so her hand moved in mine, the life returned to it, and I was aware of a sensation of discomfort and of shame."

"A black figure stood waiting for me at the head of the stairs, the hollow eyes watching me intently from the white skull's face."

"I was alone now with Mrs Danvers. I went up the great stairs towards her, and she waited motionless, her hands folded before her, her eyes never leaving my face. I summoned a smile, which was not returned, not did I blame her, for there was no purpose to the smile, it was a silly thing, bright and artificial."

"Once more I glanced up at her, and once more I met her eyes, dark and sombre, in that white face of hers, instilling into me. I knew not why, a strange feeling of disquiet, of foreboding. I tried to smile, and could not. I found myself held by those eyes, that had no light, no flicker of sympathy towards me."

The contrast in personality is excellent. The housekeeper signifies death and comes across as aloof and cold, while the young wife signifies life and is youthful, vibrant and warm. It also suggests the beginning of an unpleasant relationship to come.

The more I read on, the more engaging the story. But as with other stories, there are ups and downs and sometimes it seems that the story is flat going, uneventful, but it is actually the lull before the excitement starts up all over again. I will say the last quarter of the book is best read in a single sitting if time permits. We see the overnight growing up of the young wife, to the best that she can be. To quote "I was the self that I had always been. I was not changed. But something new had come upon me that had not been before."

At the end of the book, I can understand why this story is so popular and well-liked. It was even made into a motion picture, and not just once but twice; two years after its first publication in 1940 and again in 2020. Who knows, perhaps there may be more Rebecca movie remakes in time to come.


Publisher: HarperLuxe; Large type / Large print edition
Publication date: 1 Dec 2020

*** Favourite Quote ***

If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.

~ Rebecca
Daphne Du Maurier

@}--->>--->>-----

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. . ."

With these words, 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 as she began her new life as the young bride of a husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room 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 walked 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.

This special edition of Rebecca includes excerpts from Daphne du Maurier's The Rebecca Notebook and Other Memories, an essay on the real Manderley, du Maurier's original epilogue to the book, and more.

*Blurb from Goodreads*

Add to:


Links to purchase: