A review by ceallaighsbooks
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

[Review from Aug 2020]:

“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.”

This is one of my new alltime favorite books. I’d been meaning to read this for ages but I’m glad I waited until I was in the exact right mood for a story like this because I think otherwise I might not have appreciated it as much.

I don’t think I ever quite knew what this book was about before reading it, even though I’ve heard it mentioned a lot. You definitely want to go into this book knowing as little as possible about it because it is a huge mystery and discovering what was actually going on in the book is what makes or breaks this book for the reader I think.

Although I also quite liked the literary writing style and how every description added to the unsettling atmosphere of the story. In fact the writing style more than anything else is usually why I love these gothic novels.

And I didn’t mind the sudden, somewhat vague ending. I think I’ve come to prefer those sorts of endings to too-neat endings so that the book is sort of left open to whatever interpretation the reader chooses.

Speaking of interpretations the reader chooses…

Let’s talk about Rebecca herself. 😈 Is she the villain of the story? Or the victim? What did du Maurier intend vis a vis her character? Is the MC an unreliable narrator? Is Maxim the villain for killing Rebecca? I’m leaning to the interpretation that Rebecca is a villain mostly because she abused that horse and harassed Ben—and that did not sit well with me at all. Also she was in love with Favell who was pretty gross. I hated how he was making fun of Robert. 😖 BUT did she really deserve to be *killed* by Maxim?? I mean. That’s pretty shitty. Of course I think I also buy the interpretation that she meant for him to kill her to spare her a painful death from her disease as well as to take her final revenge on not only Maxim but what he represented—a world that privileged only a select few, determined by birth alone, to have all the advantages. WHICH also kind of makes her something of the hero of the story imo… 🤷🏼‍♀️ Idk! I like the complexity of it and the vagueness of the ending. I think that’s a big part of what makes this such an excellent book. 🥰

★ ★ ★ ★ ★