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A review by marziesreads
Manderley Forever by Tatiana de Rosnay
3.0
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Daphne du Maurier was the author of Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and, though many don't realize it, the short story The Birds, which was the inspiration for the Hitchcock film of the same name. Du Maurier had a rich artistic heritage. Her grandfather George du Maurier was the author of the famous Punch, and the antisemitic bohemian milieu novel Trilby, in which the iconic character Svengali, a rogue Jewish hypnotist, hypnotizes an innocent, tone-deaf, half-Irish Trilby into a singing diva. (That ends badly, of course.) Her father was the actor Gerald du Maurier, her mother was the actress Muriel Beaumont, niece of author Wm. Comyns Beaumont. To say that this was a storied family and that Daphne led a colorful life would be an understatement. De Rosnay gives us a sense of du Maurier's life, her loves, her literary work, and her children. She captures some of the wit and emotion that fueled du Maurier's work, especially some of her early work with its gothic literary tone. De Rosnay also manages to describe some of the questions about du Maurier's sexuality without making the assumptions that have been controversial in the 1993 Margaret Forster biography of du Maurier, which suggested that she was secretly a lesbian. De Rosnay's includes of some of du Maurier's writing that had been directed toward Ellen Doubleday, who was the object, at a minimum, of infatuation for her. Some of the passages quoted made me wonder if, rather than simply lesbian tendencies, she felt a strong sense of gender complexity. Du Maurier overtly referenced what can be seen through a present-day perspective as a mixed-gender identity which was largely kept secret from others. I appreciate the fact that de Rosnay lets us draw our own conclusions about du Maurier's sense of identity without applying labels that aren't ours to assign.
It is a shame that such a fascinating life and legacy is given a peculiar narrative treatment in biographical form. While I understand that de Rosnay wanted to immerse readers of this biography in du Maurier's life, the manner in which she has done it, writing in the present tense and with the voice of an omniscient narrator living the events with du Maurier, from her birth to her death, is disconcerting (perhaps, as it was meant to be?). It made for a jarring read, especially with the book opening with de Rosnay's journey to the du Maurier family home in Westminster, in 2013. Although source material is reported and the book is extensively footnoted, unfortunately, it reads like a novelization of du Maurier's life rather than a credible biography. In this respect, de Rosnay has done herself a disservice. I am unsure how much may have been lost in translation from the original French but the underlying structure of the biographical narrative leaves a discerning reader with questions about veracity and fictional elaboration.
Daphne du Maurier was the author of Rebecca, Jamaica Inn and, though many don't realize it, the short story The Birds, which was the inspiration for the Hitchcock film of the same name. Du Maurier had a rich artistic heritage. Her grandfather George du Maurier was the author of the famous Punch, and the antisemitic bohemian milieu novel Trilby, in which the iconic character Svengali, a rogue Jewish hypnotist, hypnotizes an innocent, tone-deaf, half-Irish Trilby into a singing diva. (That ends badly, of course.) Her father was the actor Gerald du Maurier, her mother was the actress Muriel Beaumont, niece of author Wm. Comyns Beaumont. To say that this was a storied family and that Daphne led a colorful life would be an understatement. De Rosnay gives us a sense of du Maurier's life, her loves, her literary work, and her children. She captures some of the wit and emotion that fueled du Maurier's work, especially some of her early work with its gothic literary tone. De Rosnay also manages to describe some of the questions about du Maurier's sexuality without making the assumptions that have been controversial in the 1993 Margaret Forster biography of du Maurier, which suggested that she was secretly a lesbian. De Rosnay's includes of some of du Maurier's writing that had been directed toward Ellen Doubleday, who was the object, at a minimum, of infatuation for her. Some of the passages quoted made me wonder if, rather than simply lesbian tendencies, she felt a strong sense of gender complexity. Du Maurier overtly referenced what can be seen through a present-day perspective as a mixed-gender identity which was largely kept secret from others. I appreciate the fact that de Rosnay lets us draw our own conclusions about du Maurier's sense of identity without applying labels that aren't ours to assign.
It is a shame that such a fascinating life and legacy is given a peculiar narrative treatment in biographical form. While I understand that de Rosnay wanted to immerse readers of this biography in du Maurier's life, the manner in which she has done it, writing in the present tense and with the voice of an omniscient narrator living the events with du Maurier, from her birth to her death, is disconcerting (perhaps, as it was meant to be?). It made for a jarring read, especially with the book opening with de Rosnay's journey to the du Maurier family home in Westminster, in 2013. Although source material is reported and the book is extensively footnoted, unfortunately, it reads like a novelization of du Maurier's life rather than a credible biography. In this respect, de Rosnay has done herself a disservice. I am unsure how much may have been lost in translation from the original French but the underlying structure of the biographical narrative leaves a discerning reader with questions about veracity and fictional elaboration.