Rebecca

Many times, after marking a book "to read," it sits on my shelf so long that I forget why I tagged it, and so I start reading, cold. This was one of those times, and I was glad of it. Rebecca is a haunting story, all the more effective when the reader doesn't have a clue what is to come.

I love the opening paragraph. Manderley is a beautiful name, and a mysterious one. At this point, I thought the narrator was an old woman, looking back on a life that was once wonderful until something tragic happened...That would be my first surprise.

When the narrator, who is actually young, told her story, I was reminded of Jane Eyre's circumstances: another young woman, without family, who must make her way alone in the world. Jane Eyre was hired as a governess, while our narrator is a paid companion to an American woman. Both are unhappy. Oh, but this isn't 1830—it's more like 1930. Already, I take this as a feminist statement, that a woman's fate hasn't changed in a hundred years.

The narrator—she is never even given a name—finds herself with a choice between continuing on with her companion (who pays her well), or marrying a rich widower (twice her age) who she believes she loves, and chooses the latter. For awhile there, I thought this story was going to be a romance. That is, the story of how a young woman would come into her own, and help a man forget a past tragedy. Again, I was wrong. I did not perceive this story as romantic at all.

When The Narrator arrives at Manderley a married woman, she is called Mrs. de Winter by everyone, and immediately feels overshadowed and haunted by the presence of Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. At this point, the story becomes a fascinating, spooky mystery. Obviously, husband Maxim de Winter has not enlightened the new Mrs. de Winter about anything, and so she is left to her own young, shy, paranoid thoughts. He leaves her alone with the scary housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. She finds more companionship with Jasper the dog than with her husband, to be sure.

As events unfold, and a clearer picture of Rebecca takes shape, she learns that Rebecca was unconventional in ways that her husband reviled and wanted, more than anything, to keep out of public knowledge. To someone in Maxim's class and position, appearances where very important. I felt that the reader was encouraged to view Rebecca with distaste, as not a very nice person. But then, Rebecca is dead, and so never gets to tell us her side of the story...

Despite the fact that certain revelations and confessions in this story were not surprising, I still found this novel to be a page turner; from romance to spooky mystery, to denouement, it's all riveting. And it's clear why it's still a relevant story!


The ending, another echo of Jane Eyre, with Manderley burning, was the biggest surprise to me—I wasn't expecting the novel to end that quickly, and with such a jolting event (a feature of ebooks: you can't tell how close you are to the end, sometimes). And another thing: I was very disturbed that The Narrator is more upset over the idea that Maxim might have loved Rebecca more than the fact that he'd murdered her! Narrator is depicted as a sweet, innocent soul, and yet she is willing to become an accessory to murder for a man who told her nothing, and only proclaimed his love for her after she'd proved her loyalty in the most stressful way. And then, it seems, she'd right back where she started: traveling with an older person, waiting on a husband instead of a companion, this time.

Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier, would make an excellent discussion topic. I'd recommend it to anyone I know.