Rebecca was the literary sensation of 1938. Critics lauded its genius, comparing it to Jane Eyre, and its sales soared, rivaling those of Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell's highly popular novel from two years prior. Some reviewers dismissed Rebecca as a passing fad, spurred on by the news of the film rights selling before publication. However, the majority agreed that it would endure as a remarkable tale of spine-chilling mystery, Gothic aesthetics, and unforgettable characters.

Now, eighty-four years later, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca has shown no sign of a decline in readership. Arguably, it has become even more iconic and classic than ever before. Like the shadow of Rebecca herself, the book has haunted much of my life. This was my first time truly reading it, but in high school, I played the role of Frith in a stage adaptation. I memorized my lines, but I must have been too preoccupied with backstage antics to pay attention when it wasn't my cue. The details of the plot were almost entirely forgotten, yet certain fragments of dialogue would trigger memories from over a decade ago.

With "memory" being a recurring theme in the novel, specifically the desire to preserve or repress it, there was a mysterious extra layer to my reading experience. Certainly, there are memories from back then that I would love to save, and others that I would prefer to erase. Now, at least, I can appreciate du Maurier's words. There is no doubt that Rebecca is a masterpiece of creative writing, regardless of one's feelings about the plot. Both Mrs. de Winters are extraordinary characters, despite one not having a name and the other not having a physical presence.

Mrs. Danvers is a legendary villain. I don't remember which of my friends played her in our school play, but I'm sure she didn't do her justice. I doubt anyone could. Mrs. Danvers is an entire feeling. She creates an oppressive atmosphere when she enters a room. Her touch conveys a message. Her subtext is cryptic and open to interpretation. All of this is just as important as the actual words she says, and you can only get those feelings from the book.

Mrs. Danvers is so menacing that Stephen King, the great master of horror, chose instead to simply evoke her name in Bag of Bones. The effect is truly chilling. The descriptions in the novel are superb. Pay close attention to the details of flowers, trees, and other natural elements. When anxiety is high, du Maurier might describe the flowers as "blood-red" and aggressive, as if they are in cahoots with the characters. At times of peace, she might allow their fragrant scent to diffuse the tensions. But usually, there is something sinister lurking beneath the pleasant exterior. Just like Manderley and its many secrets.

Impressively, the novel continues to captivate even after the "twist." Once a mystery is solved, there is often little left to do but grudgingly plod on to the inevitable conclusion. In this case, however, the conclusion is anything but inevitable. Those familiar with the long history of Gothic novels might have their suspicions about where things will end up, but there is no way to be certain until the very last sentence.

Beyond Daphne du Maurier's written work, it cannot be overlooked how impressive the novel is as a source of inspiration. The shadow of Rebecca can be seen in hundreds of Gothic romances written in the 1960s and '70s, and probably in most works in the genre even today. Of course, not all of the credit goes to Rebecca, as it utilizes many of the elements long established by the Bronte sisters, Ann Radcliffe, and other earlier Gothic masters. Still, for a genre that is so derivative and repetitive, Rebecca stands out as a landmark of originality.

So the new film adaptation of Rebecca is... not good. Let's talk about the book instead!

I always feel a certain amount of trepidation when picking up a classic novel that I know I should have read before, probably during my teenage years. Just like "Frankenstein", "Jane Eyre" and "Little Women", I have come to "Rebecca" relatively late in my life. I was already familiar with the story as I had seen the equally classic 1940 film of Du Maurier's novel directed by Alfred Hitchcock. However, of course, the great thing about a classic novel is that no matter how much you think you already know it because it is such an integral part of our popular culture, the actual experience of reading it for the first time is often surprising and delightful. To finally read that famous opening line "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" was to discover this story anew. I was instantly captivated by the naïve young woman who finds that becoming a man's second wife means that she has entered into a threesome with a ghost. Du Maurier creates such an all-consuming and uneasy atmosphere as she describes the unnamed narrator's introduction to becoming the new mistress of the grand estate of Manderley. From the memories of everyone who knew her, the household routines, the room decorations and the monogrammed stationary, the presence of the late Mrs de Winter is felt everywhere. It is such a gripping and enlightening experience to read this novel for its mysteries and suspense, but also because its meaning can be interpreted in different ways.

Read my full review of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier on LonesomeReader

3.5
edit: Jednak po dwóch miesiącach zwiększam do 4

I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

Rebecca is an enthralling story. It's about a young woman, whose first name remains unknown. She marries the wealthy Maxim de Winter mainly to break free from her life as a companion to a rich American woman. She relocates with her new husband to his estate, Manderley. There, she delves into the past of her husband's previous wife, Rebecca. Even though Rebecca drowned in the ocean near the house over a year ago, her presence still lingers. Her old room is meticulously cleaned daily and left exactly as it was when she lived there. Her servant, the eerie and completely evil Mrs. Danvers, remains fiercely loyal to Rebecca. The new Mrs. de Winter finds herself constantly being compared to Rebecca by everyone she meets.

Throughout the story, the narrator starts to investigate Rebecca's past with her husband, eager to uncover how she managed to charm everyone who knew her. As the story unfolds, Mrs. de Winter realizes that not everyone at Manderley has been entirely honest with her. Rebecca herself lies at the heart of all these secrets.

I truly adored this book. Its plot bore a resemblance to Jane Eyre. However, unlike Bronte, du Maurier doesn't disclose her biggest plot twist three-quarters of the way through the story. In Rebecca, the surprises keep coming right until the very last page, making it an even more enjoyable read. I also took a liking to the main character. She's clumsy and lacks confidence, but there's an inner strength within her. This fact endeared her to me, despite her very human flaws.

First 5* of 2019.

There are an abundance of reviews regarding this particular work that I find myself at a loss for what to pen. I can simply state that I deeply regret not having delved into it earlier. It had been on my shortlist for approximately three years, and due to various reasons, I continuously postponed commencing this dark and captivating gothic mystery.

Do not make the same mistake as I did! Seize the opportunity and read it now!

This gothic mystery holds a certain allure that is difficult to resist. The atmosphere it creates is both eerie and enchanting, drawing the reader in and keeping them on the edge of their seat.

The characters are well-developed and complex, adding depth and dimension to the story.

Overall, it is a must-read for anyone who enjoys a good mystery with a touch of the supernatural.

A classic that I put off reading for so long and I just loved it!!

I have always known about this particular classic, but for some reason, I continuously postponed picking it up. Maybe it was the fear of not understanding it, or perhaps I thought it would be too dry and boring. However, once I finally decided to give it a chance, I was completely hooked from the very first page.

The story was so engaging and the characters were so well-developed that I felt like I was a part of their world. The author's writing style was beautiful and descriptive, painting a vivid picture in my mind with every word. I found myself staying up late at night, eager to find out what would happen next.

Now that I have finished reading it, I can't believe I waited so long. It has become one of my all-time favorite books and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good story. I will definitely be reading it again in the future.

This is my second encounter with Rebecca, having delved into it long ago during my teenage years. I vividly recall my profound love for the book back then. As a teenager, it's remarkably easy to be captivated by a narrative that brims with mystery, romance, and suspense. With this in mind, I resolved to approach the book with a fresh perspective, determined not to be swayed by the prejudices of my youth.

The story unfolds through a first-person narration, with the narrator being the second wife of Maxim de Winter, whose Christian name remains undisclosed. I truly struggled to warm to this character. She was young, inexperienced, and married to a man twice her age. Hailing from a different social class, she was shy and awkward. All of this was understandable at the outset, until she settled into married life and her role as the mistress of her husband's home. However, this transformation failed to occur, at least not for three-fourths of the book. She incessantly lamented her inferiority without making any concerted effort to extricate herself from this mindset. Enduring this second Mrs. de Winter was a genuine chore, and it severely tested my patience.

Nevertheless, the story itself is a beautiful Gothic mystery, delicately infused with romance. Du Maurier's storytelling prowess is truly astonishing, enabling me to distance myself from the exasperating narrator and fully engage with the narrative.

Regarding the characters, the majority of them were shrouded in darkness, including the eponymous Rebecca. The employment of dark characters and a mysterious plot, I believe, is a testament to her authenticity. I was particularly drawn to the characters of both Maxim de Winter and Mrs. Danvers. It's truly peculiar, and I can't quite fathom the reason behind my affinity for them. I suspect it's because I regarded them as the true antagonists in the story - one striving to bury the past and the other tenaciously clinging to it. These two characters, along with the other supporting cast, made a powerful contribution to the overall narrative.

Having said all this, a question that emerged in my mind almost at the conclusion of the story continues to linger. Why did Du Maurier choose to use such an idiosyncratic character as the second Mrs. de Winter as one of her main characters and narrator? Was it to create a contrast between her and Rebecca? Or was it to demonstrate that she matured in the face of crisis, thereby providing strength and courage to her husband, as she herself claims? Perhaps yet another reading will provide the answer.

Rebecca has been lingering in my consciousness for ages. It's almost as if I had read it years ago, with only a hazy memory of its pages remaining. However, I had never actually read it, despite being able to quote its famous first line and having an inexplicable knowledge of its Bronte-esque plot. Oh, how I wish I had read it long ago, perhaps in the seventh or eighth grade when I was 13. I'm certain it's the kind of novel I would have adored back then and that it would have stayed with me throughout the years.

Unlike Jane Eyre, though, I'm not sure it would have stood up to repeated readings.

I thought this would be the perfect novel to bring on our trip to Italy. What could be a better read on lazy days in an old stone farmhouse than this slightly gothic, neurotic tale of obsession and memory? And I was delighted when, in Siena, I saw a woman lying on the campo reading Rebecca. In the end, while I found the book very interesting from a writerly/intellectual perspective (sorry!), I was overall disappointed in it as a piece of literature.

I think what I found most interesting about the novel is how large portions of it are focused not on what is actually happening but on the narrator's imaginings of what might or could happen. Du Maurier constantly undermines the unfolding action to dwell in the realm of anxiety and cerebration, which is ideal for a book centered on a character—Rebecca—who is dead and absent when the novel begins.

Fittingly, it's not just Rebecca who is absent. Our unnamed narrator is also, in a sense, an absent center. She remains unnamed throughout, and by the end of the book, we know far more about Rebecca's history than we do about hers. It's truly fascinating and intriguing how the book echoes, doubles, and enacts the idea of obsession by having a living person be the shadow (and let's remember that ghosts are often called'shades') of a dead person, a present character be absent, and an absent character be present. After all, the book is called "Rebecca," not "Manderley" or "Mrs. De Winter" or something else.

The novel is very opaque; it's willing to let you know only so much, which I actually liked. The novel begins far in the future of the events it narrates, with our narrator looking back, and so there is a strange passivity about the whole thing. Clearly, the main characters escape the clutches of the plot relatively unscathed, so again, the book redirects the reader's attention from more traditional concerns about what happens to the murkier realms of atmosphere and ideation. In fact, the biggest surprise is Manderley's destruction at the end of the novel, which is far more painful than I would have expected and perfect for a novel that in many ways deals with memory and imagination: Mr. and Mrs. De Winter can never go home again.

Anyway, as I said, I found all of this intellectually interesting, but I found the book itself to be rather tedious and awkward. The pacing is cumbersome and nonsensically skewed, the characterizations are flat and slight, and the revelations are fairly obvious from the beginning. Also, the two main characters, our mousy narrator and the bland, Ashley Oakes sweatin' Mr. De Winter, are insufferable. Even after Rebecca's evil nature has been unmasked, you can't help but root for her and her sociopathic machinations.

**Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier**

Rebecca is a captivating thriller novel penned by the renowned English author Dame Daphne du Maurier, published in 1938. The story follows an unnamed narrator, a naïve young woman in her early 20s, who works as a companion to a rich American woman on holiday in Monte Carlo. There, she meets the wealthy Englishman George Fortescue Maximilian "Maxim" de Winter, a 42-year-old widower. After a fortnight of courtship, she agrees to marry him. Post the wedding and honeymoon, she accompanies him to his magnificent mansion in Cornwall, Manderley.

In Iran, the book has been published under various titles such as "ربه‌ کا" and "ربکا". It has been translated by several individuals, including Faridoun Kar, Anayatollah Shokibapour, Hassan Shahbaz, Parviz Shahidi, Majid Mohammadi, and Hanieh Chopani. The story has also inspired a sequel titled "خانم دو وینتر" by Suzanne Hill, which begins with the line "دیشب در عالم رویا دیدم که بار دیگر در ماندلی پا گذاشتم". The narrator, known as Mrs. de Winter, reveals the secrets of her husband's past, including the tragic fate of his beautiful and charming first wife, Rebecca. Maximilian de Winter is later brought to trial after Rebecca's body is discovered a year after her death. The story continues to unfold with many twists and turns, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

(Book 603 from 1001 Books) - Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (1907 - 1989)

Rebecca is widely regarded as a Gothic Romance/Mystery novel. However, I believe it would be unjust to overlook its Horror & Suspense elements.

I first became interested in Rebecca when I noticed its position on the Great American Reads list. Although I don't plan to read every book on that list, I've recently been inspired to cross off a few of the more prominent ones.

Then I discovered that this novel was adapted into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940. This led me to suspect that there might be a darker side to the story than I initially thought, and boy, was I right!

It's crucial not to reveal too much here, but for those who are unfamiliar, the story begins with a nameless young woman who quickly falls in love with a wealthy widower. Upon arriving at his estate, it becomes shockingly clear to our protagonist that the spirit of her new husband's late wife still lingers around every corner.

Daphne du Maurier's descriptions are simply gorgeous. Whether it's a delicious meal served on a veranda in Monte Carlo or a stroll through the blooming gardens of Manderley, I was completely immersed in the details of each scene.

Dialogue is an area where I'm often particularly critical, as I feel it's easy for a character's words to sound artificial and unrealistic. Fortunately, du Maurier's writing skills shine through here as well. Both the main and background characters blend in seamlessly, with a relevance that makes everyone feel equally important to the story's development.

With my attention firmly fixed, it was inevitable for me to become embroiled in all the drama, tension, and terror that this novel has to offer.

The fact that our main character is only ever identified or referred to as "Mrs. de Winter," her married name, is a stroke of genius in a story where identity plays such a significant role. It truly adds to the agonizing sense of dread that builds throughout, while also inspiring numerous "what if this were me?" thoughts.

Again, without revealing too much about myself, I'll just say that I've been in a situation where a previous relationship casts a shadow over a current one. I've felt jealous, angry, petty, and desperate to be the only one who matters, only to realize that this is an unhealthy goal for any relationship.

In short, I've felt myself losing control completely for the sake of someone else. Perhaps for this reason, I find Mrs. de Winter entirely relatable. I feel as if I could step into her shoes effortlessly.

Most of us know how terrible it feels when that insidious seed of doubt takes root in our stomachs, and the struggle of fighting against our better judgment. This story exemplifies those horrifying human experiences, packaging them in a deceptively beautiful, atmospheric novel.

At times, it's almost heart-wrenching to watch this story unfold. But it's also equally exciting and distressing, with its clever twists and turns that keep even the most attentive readers guessing until the end. I'll definitely be exploring more of Daphne du Maurier's work after reading this gem!

When a book that I read has the power to completely captivate me right from the very first page and manages to hold my attention firmly until the very last page, it typically earns a well-deserved 5-star rating from me. And this particular book is no exception. It truly merits such a high accolade.

I find that there is very little that I can add to all of the outstanding reviews that have already been posted on Goodreads. The book has clearly made a profound impact on many readers, and the positive feedback speaks volumes about its quality. However, I feel compelled to emphasize that this book is highly recommended to all. Whether you are an avid reader or someone who is just looking for a great story to get lost in, this book has something to offer. It is a must-read that will leave you thoroughly entertained and perhaps even enlightened. So, don't hesitate to pick up a copy and discover the magic within its pages.

Bump! Bump! Bump!

Yes, I'm hitting my thick head to the wall for waiting for such a long time to read this masterpiece!

Two weeks ago, I was extremely determined to start this book. However, I then decided that I wasn't mentally prepared to read something so intense. So, I read a few romance and fantasy books instead.

But last night, as my husband was watching reruns of sport shows and my besties kept sending me texts suggesting that I watch Massimo's 365 days long adventures on Netflix, I moved to the bedroom. I closed the curtains, opened a bottle of Cabernet, and wanted to take my time and enjoy every second of it. (But eventually, I couldn't take my time.)

The book was so good that I kept reading till 5 a.m., ignoring my husband's snores and listening to the chants of partying neighbors who were having a "say goodbye to social distancing" theme party - idiots!! - And I have to admit that the snoring sounds my husband made fitted so well with the gothic and eerie story rhythm. I fell off the bed several times and screamed! The husband dearest murmured game scores in his sleep. So, as you may imagine, I had a memorable reading experience!

Overall, some books are well-deserved to be known as classics! This book truly deserves to be read several times because of its layered, well-crafted characters, slow high tension build, and the ominous, breathtaking, gothic atmosphere of Manderley.

Most of you may know the story. You might have seen Hitchcock's adaptation, which has some differences with the book, like the age of housekeeper Mrs. Danvers and Max De Vinter's involvement with his first wife's Rebacca's death.

His second wife, Mrs. De Winter (I really wonder her first name), a shy, introvert lady, steps into Manderley, her new home sweet home, and is introduced to their intimidating housekeeper. But lately, she understands that she is just the other woman because Rebecca's soul already conquered the house and her husband is still in love with his ex-wife. Could she be killed and will she share the same destiny?

Yes, it will keep you on your toes and you will flip the pages as you wrap yourself up in your blanket tighter (I did exactly the same) to stop your uncontrollable shivering, but you cannot put it down because the masochistic part of your brain forces you to face your fears and learn what's gonna happen next!

I think this book already captivated a shiny place on my all-time favorite top ten books list (I will change the name into top 100 because I keep adding more books!)

I'm returning to hit my head to the wall! I earned my punishment! I shouldn't wait for reading it so long!

blog
instagram
facebook
twitter