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A review by euryale
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
5.0
I don't remember the last time I devoured a book so feverishly. Any spare moment I had, I picked it up, desperate for another page or chapter. It’s an engrossing read that touches upon a theme running through the rest of my summer reading: the trials of miscommunication.
If the characters in du Maurier’s world set aside convention and shyness and said what they were thinking, this novel wouldn’t exist. I’m so glad it does, but it’s amazing, the corners people back themselves and others into when they aren’t honest with each other. And it all feels a little unfair, when you think about the poor narrator, how young and naïve she is.
I was most impressed by how the gradual weight of Mrs. de Winter #1 gathered on the shoulders and mind of Mrs. de Winter #2. It’s foremost in her thoughts and the ultimate creepy factor is that our narrator is never named; it’s almost a Yellow Wallpaper effect. Be careful, it can happen to you!
I’m told they’re making this into a movie. My casting suggestions? I heard all of Bee’s dialogue in Chummy’s voice (Call the Midwife), and pictured Mrs. Danvers looking something like Lilo Baur as Hortense in the BBC’s adaptation of Bleak House.
Rebecca also proves the importance of keeping a daily planner. Just in case.
If the characters in du Maurier’s world set aside convention and shyness and said what they were thinking, this novel wouldn’t exist. I’m so glad it does, but it’s amazing, the corners people back themselves and others into when they aren’t honest with each other. And it all feels a little unfair, when you think about the poor narrator, how young and naïve she is.
I was most impressed by how the gradual weight of Mrs. de Winter #1 gathered on the shoulders and mind of Mrs. de Winter #2. It’s foremost in her thoughts and the ultimate creepy factor is that our narrator is never named; it’s almost a Yellow Wallpaper effect. Be careful, it can happen to you!
I’m told they’re making this into a movie. My casting suggestions? I heard all of Bee’s dialogue in Chummy’s voice (Call the Midwife), and pictured Mrs. Danvers looking something like Lilo Baur as Hortense in the BBC’s adaptation of Bleak House.
Rebecca also proves the importance of keeping a daily planner. Just in case.