A review by jedore
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

5.0

I read this book long ago, I think as a teenager, and it has never fully left my memory. I have vague memories of a very young & inexperienced newly wed haunted by her older husband's sophisticated first wife, who died under mysterious circumstances. I never forgot the haunting estate home - Manderly - that was one of the story's main characters. I remembered a ghost story. After years of telling myself that I must read it again to fully comprehend the impact it had on me, I finally managed to do so. As an adult, I see why the impact was so strong...why my memory had transformed it into an actual physical haunting. The story is so emotionally powerful and the characters and setting are described in such detail that it's like a movie is playing in your head as you read. The theme is timeless..."Things are not always as they seem." Such a powerful message. Du Maurier finds so many creative ways to convey her messages to her readers. One of the brilliantly simple ways she conveys Rebecca's dominance in the lives of all the characters is by never sharing the young wife's name, even though she is the one you are most intimate with as the narrator of the story...Rebecca & Manderly are the names that dominate the story. I love the progression of the nameless narrator from a young, naive & inexperienced paid companion into a strong, wise & supportive wife. So many levels to this meaningful story...