Review: Rebecca

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Rebecca Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What more can I add in a review of this book, arguably one of the most famous novels of the previous century, immortalized on celluloid by another legend, Alfred Hitchcock, although the latter features some sharp prudish changes to the original story.

The story is a rich exploration of complexities of identity, the sheer weight of a memory, the haunting reminders and intricacies and complications of human interactions and relationships. The story contains masterful prose and the novel has an omniscient foreboding and haunting atmosphere which served to chill me despite reading a condensed version while in school, which invites readers to reflect on the ways in which the past shapes and influences the present.

As a pre-eminent and seminal work of Gothic fiction, it explores themes of identity, memory, and the haunting power of the past. This is a quintessential Gothic novel and continues to resonate with audiences nearly a century later revealing timeless truths about love, loss, and the eternal search for self.

The story seems quite basic and is a representation of the authors style of writing, about a young lady, the unnamed narrator, a paid companion to a wealthy lady, who meets a wealthy widow and is swept off her feet in a whirlwind of romance followed by a quick marriage and finds herself in his estate Manderley. Here the former mistress of the estate, his late wife, Rebecca's image looms large over everything she perceives.
The housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, is obsessively devoted to Rebecca and constantly reminds the narrator of her predecessor’s beauty and charisma, deepening the narrator’s feelings of inadequacy.

As the story unfolds, the protagonist's struggle with her identity intensifies, leading to a dramatic climax that unveils Rebecca’s true nature and the secrets that haunt Manderley. The novel culminates in a tragic fire, symbolizing the destruction of the past and the ultimate confrontation with identity.

Very atmospheric and borderline terrifying, I've got goosebumps just writing this review and reliving the mental images, this is a terrific story of psychological manipulation.

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