Review by theportalmaster - Rebecca

theportalmaster 's review for:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

5.0

reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

8 years. 8 years of this book collecting dust on my shelves. Not really. I clean those regularly. But yes, 8 years of me being terrified to start this book. I was afraid it was going to have that tiring classics language, a complicated setting, and just drain me while reading. What a delight to find out I was extremely wrong. And honestly, I wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t for a “spin-the-wheel” pick, so thanks to that!

Rebecca was a captivating novel that, once it picked up, you could just fly through. Although it was far from the romance I was sold on somehow, it told a realistic slightly horror story of how easily some younger women can fall prey to older men’s charm. The narrator, a naive young girl, remained nameless the whole book. It spoke a lot about her stand and importance in the whole thing. I had hopes for her to actually become a self, to open her eyes, get some self esteem, but she remained kind of a companion lady, just like when the book started. Only by the end, instead of the older rich woman, it was Maxim she had to look after. The way she tried to show some confidence in herself is by bossing the staff around, and be bossed around and manipulated by her husband still.

And now that we’re here. I do not like Maxim. Not one bit. I don’t trust him at all. He belittled and manipulated the narrator from start to finish, in subtle and not subtle ways. In front of friends and staff. In private too. There was no love or true compassion towards her. That’s why I cannot trust him regarding Rebecca either, and I can’t take his side on the whole thing or be happy that he remained married to the second wife. The whole relationship started and ended with an incredible power imbalance. He got exactly what he wanted: a timid, naive wife to replace the independent, powerful one he had before whom he couldn’t control.

And let me be clear, I don’t believe Rebecca was an angel, at all. But she also wasn’t exactly the evil monster Maxim wanted to sell to us. He needed her to be evil to make his actions seem justifiable. Everyone’s telling us how incredible Rebecca was, except him. He told a whole different story, and showed us a scheming, manipulative villain. Are we supposed to take his word for it so easily? He’s the murder after all.

Taking his confession into account Rebecca’s sin was sexuality, and Maxim tolerated it for so long because the farce was better than a divorce scandal and when it got too much for him, he wanted out. In my opinion her cousin was sort of right in the fact that Maxim was a little jealous of it all, the lack of control, her freedom. Maybe. Divorce was unacceptable to him, but murder was somehow okay? This is what I can’t swallow. From all the things we were told about Rebecca, the animal abuse, the threatening of the mentally ill, the pushing of Frank’s boundaries, the worst thing she did was talk about an imaginary illegitimate child? That was cause for murder? A murder he feels no regret for and claims would do it again.

And the narrator… omg, the narrator! She’s so invested in “winning” against Rebecca that the only thing she focuses on is whether Maxim loved Rebecca or not. Woman. This man admitted to murdering his wife, and doesn’t care, and that’s all you think about? You are relieved because you think he didn’t love her? Give me a fucking break. How embarrassing. How naive and simple-minded. It made me sad. She had so much potential, but she let me down miserably. I mean, fine. Stay by Maxim’s side if that’s your choice, but at least acknowledge that what he did was horrible. You are his second wife. You should be at least a little wary, especially considering his stance on the whole thing.

The ending is sad. In my opinion, everyone won except the narrator. She could have done so much better. Her end was the most tragic. Even in death and “salvation”, Maxim still thinks of Rebecca’s supposed win, dominance. In my opinion, the thread of his hate and love is thin. The strong feelings he had for her, he’ll never have for the narrator. I don’t think she has real feelings for him either though. There’s no friendship, no romance, no chemistry there. Nothing. But somehow they remain together. Alright. I guess. Good book.

Content Warnings