A review by mitskacir
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

4.0

I had heard this book was quite a bit like Jane Eyre, and that is true - but in such a way that I think the two create a great dialogue, rather than in a way that is copying or repetitive. Rebecca reads like a commentary on the potentially problematic aspects of Jane Eyre, or perhaps an alternate reality. It does this through mirroring - not quite the same circumstances, but similar enough for the reader to draw a distinct connection: for example, the chronology of the narrative is mirrored (Jane Eyre ends in marriage, Rebecca begins with marriage), and Rebecca reflects on the unhappiness and power differential of a young woman marrying an older, previously married man; and the first wife of the male love interest is punished in both books for living outside the conventional gender norms of their day (and Rebecca makes a pointed commentary on this, as apposed to Jane Eyre, where the punishment is accepted as tragic but not wrong). The largest point of difference was in the protagonists themselves: while Jane Eyre has the strength and the space to understand herself separate from her relationship with Mr. Rochester, and we are given an ample page count of her life before even meeting him, the unnamed narrator of Rebecca encounters and marries Mr. de Winter almost immediately and subsequently shapes her whole identity around him. I don't think I would have loved this book without first having read Jane Eyre, because I think the dialogue between the two is really what makes Rebecca excellent (although you certainly can enjoy Rebecca alone).