‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier

In November, the readalong book for the lovely bunch at The Write Reads was ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier, a book we arrived at after a voting process.

I’ll admit, I wasn’t wildly excited to read this one as I had had multiple attempts at it before, never getting beyond the Monte Carlo section at the start of the novel. It seemed too slow and I was profoundly irritated by the narrator. Still, I thought I’d give it another go.

I need to say at this juncture that I probably would have fallen at the same hurdle as before if it hadn’t been for the reading group and their hilarious takes on the events of the novel. Thank you all for keeping me going!

It is virtually impossible to write about a book that people know (and love) so deeply! My own feelings about the novel are actually very mixed, so here’s what I thought:

The Good…

Despite this being a hugely popular book and everyone in the world (seemingly) knowing the story, I had somehow managed to avoid all spoilers. What happened, then, came as an absolute surprise to me! In a good way, I think, as I was expecting endless more Monte Carlo dinners and points of etiquette…which I really wasn’t in the market for. A startling amount of dramatic things happen in the novel which I really didn’t anticipate given my extensive knowledge of the early part of the book and the dinner rituals of wealthy travellers.

For me, one of the strengths of the book was Manderley itself. I loved the fact that the house takes on such an imposing presence in the book and the description is atmospheric. There is a real sense of impending doom even in the exposition about how beautiful Manderley is at the start of the novel and I was intrigued.

I also thought that some of the characters were excellent – Mrs Danvers is chillingly awful, Beatrice is lovely but clueless and I liked the calmness of Frank – in an otherwise crazy cast, Frank acted as the totem of sanity by which all others could be measured! I also liked the bits with a dog, to (mis)quote ‘Shakespeare in Love.

My absolute favourite line in the whole book was ‘I had an uneasy feeling we might be asked to spend the approaching Christmas with Beatrice. Perhaps I could have influenza.’ Hurrah! Du Maurier has a sense of humour, I feel seen and all is well. That feeling didn’t last, but it was a high point for me.

The Bad…

My main issue with the novel was the narrator. The emphasis on her being young and naïve was wearying – I understand why the character was established like this in order to contextualise the later character arc, but it was repetitive and I lost all sympathy for her. She was the ultimate wet blanket at the start…and don’t even get me started on her reactions to Maxim’s ‘news’ later on.

I really don’t want to give spoilers so I’ll be vague – I thought there were some really odd moments all centred round the narrator’s immaturity. Yes, we can blame the narrator’s naivety to some extent, but these made her seem like a small child. The whole costume ball thing was weird, the reaction to the smashed ornament bizarre and she also runs away from visitors.

Actually, re-reading that, I kind of get the visitor thing…

Still, I didn’t find her a particularly sympathetic narrator and it was hard to empathise with her and her strange ideas. One of the weirdest was her obsession with Maxim who – I thought – seemed like a distinctly cold fish. I didn’t see the appeal at all. At any point.

And the Ugly…

Some of the novel is clearly ‘of its time’ and I don’t want to get into the politics of applying our modern sensibilities to history. I think we live and learn and it is sometimes useful to see relics of an earlier time, be shocked, and realise how far we’ve come. Still, the descriptions of Ben were uncomfortable.

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So, there we have it. Another classic ticked off the bucket list and an enjoyable experience that probably has more to do with my reading buddies than the book itself. Still, I did quite like it – I’m not sure it would persuade me to read anything else by du Maurier, although I am glad I read this one.

To summarise, a mixed bag of a book for me but Manderley and the twisty plot kept me going, even as I cursed the general feebleness of the narrator.