“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
Rebecca is a novel that I'd always been interested in reading because I'd heard so many people recommend it. This is one of those stories that people tend to fall in love with and praise endlessly. After seeing Karen at Books and Chocolate say she enjoyed this one more than Jane Eyre, I knew I wanted to include it in my Back to the Classics Challenge. Conveniently, there was a "romance classic" category this year, so Rebecca fit in perfectly.
The plot concerns a timid young woman who finds herself in the middle of a mysterious and difficult situation after marrying the enigmatic widower Maxim de Winter. Soon after her marriage, she takes on the responsibilities of being the new mistress of Manderly, a beautiful and expensive estate that has been in the de Winter family for many years. Once she arrives there, she immediately feels overwhelmed and out of place. Not only is Manderly a massive step up in social class for her, it is full of the memory of Rebecca, the first Mrs. de Winter. She feels awkward and incapable of running things as well as Rebecca did, and constantly runs afoul of Mrs. Danvers, the oddly sinister housekeeper. She is plagued by these anxieties and insecurities as she tries to settle in to her new life.
To make matters even more tense, the second Mrs. de Winter soon begins to question her marriage to Maxim. He is prone to dark moods and treats her more like a pet than a wife at times, leading her to believe that there is a whole other side to her husband that she failed to notice before marrying him. What's more, details about Rebecca, who died in a mysterious boating accident about a year prior, begin to surface and cause unrest in the household. When an accident on the estate brings a shocking truth to light, Mrs. de Winter is forced to grow up and decide which path she wants her life to take.
This was a fantastic read, full of mystery and suspense. It was very much in the style of a Gothic romance, like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, but written in 1938, making it a bit more modern than what I'm used to seeing in this genre. It was creepy fun to try and put together the pieces of what was going on at Manderly; the mystery and suspense elements were well-crafted and kept me engaged throughout my reading.The twist towards the end was very surprising and disturbing. I admit that I did not see it coming and I enjoyed watching the characters work through it.
A few things about the story bugged me. The protagonist, Mrs. de Winter, was a bit too shy and spineless for my taste. I'm as awkward and timid as they come, but I think that even I would have held up better at Manderly than she did. I grew frustrated with her inability to stand up for herself and confront people that needed to be called out for their behavior. Her fear of being honest with Maxim about certain things slowed down the novel. I understand that this was a purposeful technique on du Maurier's part to add suspense, but reading long sections of neurotic internal monologue about whether Maxim truly loved the protagonist or not did get old.
The ending of the novel was somewhat dissatisfying as well. Without spoiling anything it's difficult to discuss, but I can say that one character does something that I feel like Mrs. de Winter should have been way more frightened of than she was. I wish she would have been a little bit more level-headed and brave about her situation.
In spite of those little qualms, I still thought this was an excellent read, and I'm very glad that it ended up on my reading list for this year. The setting and story are full of a delicious old-fashioned creepiness that you don't come across too often these days. Rebecca was a very entertaining throwback to an older genre and told an intriguing story that I know will be sticking in my head for quite a while.
Challenge Tally
Classics Club: 10/100 (on track to end 12/31/21)
Back to the Classics: 9/12
TBR Challenge: (previously owned) 26/60
Total Books Read in 2017: 32
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