Author
Daphne du Maurier
Publisher
William Morrow paperbacks
Genre
Classic Thriller
Number of Pages
416
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Summary
Rebecca is the deceased wife of the narrator’s husband. I say narrator because after I was halfway through I realized I didn’t know the name of the woman telling this story. And that’s not because I didn’t pay attention, it's because that is how Daphne de Maurier wrote her.
So this timid little girl who is working as a companion in Monte Carlo meets Maxim de Winter who appears to be a grieving widower. There’s a whirlwind romance, an intimate marriage, a honeymoon in Italy, and then the newly-weds are back at the house of the Winters, Manderley.
The new Mrs. De Winter cannot help but think that Rebecca is everywhere. Her life is consumed by Rebecca and she worries that her husband still loves his first wife and can never forget her because she was a charmer through and through – more beautiful, more daring, more authoritative, simply the best. But the truth is not always what it appears to be.
My Review
We cannot ignore the two sides of a woman we see through this book.
I wouldn’t be wrong if I say there are 4 main characters to the story, the narrator, Maxim, Rebecca, and Manderley, the house. Because it does have a character of its own, and it does live life too and it has the strongest of influences on all the other characters.
Everything about this novel is first class. The gothic atmosphere, the believable characters, the upbeat pace of the story, the ingenious plotline, and the murderous suspense.
Final verdict
Kid, you not, without realizing I was averaging 100 pages daily effortlessly and stopped reading only because my husband got pissed with seeing my head in the book all the time.
I read this book for Booklist Queen's reading challenge – Prompt – a psychological thriller
Why didn’t I read this book earlier?
Who Should Read This
If you love spooky stories, you’ll love this, if you love classic romances, you’ll love this, if you have a penchant for the dark and mysterious, you cannot miss this.
I’m beyond delighted that the start of my reading for October has been anything but fantastic.
Daphne du Maurier
If Daphne du Maurier had written only Rebecca, she would still be one of the great shapers of popular culture and the modern imagination. Few writers have created more magical and mysterious places than Jamaica Inn and Manderley, buildings invested with a rich character that gives them a memorable life of their own.
- Top Quotes From Rebecca -
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
“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.”
“Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind.”
“I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love. For it is a fever, and a burden, too, whatever the poets may say.”
“I wondered how many people there were in the world who suffered, and continued to suffer, because they could not break out from their own web of shyness and reserve, and in their blindness and folly built up a great distorted wall in front of them that hid the truth.”
“Men are simpler than you imagine my sweet child. But what goes on in the twisted, tortuous minds of women would baffle anyone.”
“I suppose sooner or later in the life of everyone comes a moment of trial. We all of us have our particular devil who rides us and torments us, and we must give battle in the end.”
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