I was finally able to read this book. It's been on my "books to read" list since the 1990s... You see, I loved the 1940's film directed by Hitchcock, which I had seen in my teens I think, so I didn't know it was an actual book until my twenties. By then, getting the book and reading it was not part of my top priorities. But when online libraries made it possible to read almost any book (as long as it's in English), I got 'Rebecca'. And I'm done today.
The book is a highly detailed journey into the mind of a 21-year-old English girl from the early 20th century. It's all there, the shyness, the clumsiness, the anxiety, the bruised and devalued self-esteem, the 'goodness' that society pommelled into its youth, her incomprehension of the fact that she can ask for more out of life because she's the kind of girl that just simply can't be happy because that is above her station. In short, she's the living mirror of awkward youth. And in a way, of the English society between wars, as Mrs. Du Maurier aptly states later in the book when the new Mrs. de Winter wonders how would life be if everyone could forget their petty selfishness and really see what's happening around. This is a very insightful book, and if I hadn't seen the movie, I would have loved it.
So why the 3 stars? Because it's TOO MUCH. The book is written in first person from the perspective of the new Mrs. de Winter, and there were times where I just wanted her to shut up and stop been so self-centred. She's always expecting the worse to happen, always foreseeing how everything will go wrong, visualizing the entire scene with dialogues and all... At one time, even Mr. de Winter notices and asks her to stop! And this brings me to Mr. de Winter and his grooming of a naive 21 year old girl. I know it wasn't seen as grooming in the 1930's, but Mr. de Winter is a selfish bastard that treats the poor girl like a dog, and she fells for it. Mr. de Winter's psychological portrait is also masterly done, but is too much. By the end of the book I was just skipping entire paragraphs, and it didn't seem to matter. Until the abrupt ending that is. Then I had to retrace my steps, just to be entirely sure that the book really ended like that!

So, Mrs. Du Maurier did a wonderful job with her characters and her portrait of English society, its just that she did too much of a good job.