Rebecca | Daphne du Maurier REVIEW

Does it count as a classic if it was published somewhere in the late 30s?

It might be published in 1938, but this book is by far the easiest book I've ever read that was from 80 years ago.

'Rebecca' is Daphne du Maurier's most known works and I can understand why its iconic and has made its name in the world of literature. It is by far the most popular book in the gothic romance genre, right next to Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre.

To briefly share with you about this book, it is about our nameless protagonist, who's caught the attention of Maxim de Winter, a recent widower that has gotten over his grieving and pursued said protagonist and married her after only a week after they were first introduced to each other. Mr. de Winter brought her back to his home, the famous Manderley, and is set for her to become the new lady of the house much to the reluctance of one Mrs. Danvers, who is still faithful to the previous Mrs. de Winter, the eponymous, Rebecca.

Things should have been smooth sailing for our protagonist, who is struggling in her new role and seek out to Mrs. Danvers for advice and wonder to herself "What would Rebecca do?". But with Mr. de Winter suddenly becoming distant and all the wrong moves the protagonist keeps making, she wonders if she's cut out to be the next Mrs. de Winter at all. What she doesn't know is how and why Rebecca still lives inside everyone's mind even after her passing and while it is not nice to speak ill of the dead, Maxim de Winter has all the right to do so.

This is a very easy read to me, personally. What makes it easy to read is that its not necessarily long, and also that most of the plot points in the book doesn't dwell into specifics down to a T which can be boring in some context, but Daphne didn't overdo it and it is what I appreciate the most while reading.

The lack of protagonist is also unique-- the only indication to her is that she is a female in her 20s, has a peculiar surname and also a hired companion to a wealthy lady, Mrs. Van Hopper because of the lack of friends she hasn't.

It feels like we are the protagonist herself, experiencing all the things she's going through her ingenue eyes and similarly her naivete choice she makes. What she sees in Maxim de Winter is beyond me, But seeing how after the big reveal from Max, she is more smitten to him and feeds into the belief that she is exactly what Max needs to actually move on from Rebecca. It is apparent how she grows following the course of the book, from a nowhere young lady that matures into a confident lady of the house.

Some peculiar things that caught me while reading the book that has made me thrown into my own research about the time period of the book. The reason why the protagonist and Mr. de Winter sleep in separate bedrooms is because for wealthy households, spouses typically sleep separately because to avoid their respective partner's sleeping habits (thrashing, snoring, teeth grinding.) I thought this was only applicable for royalty, I didn't know even non-royals participate in this practice. Must be nice to have a bedroom of your own to sleep in when your spouse is in the other room, it makes sulking more easier.

A few issues I had when reading the book is when Mr. de Winter's brother-in-law did brownface for the costume party, trying to dress up as an oil plant tycoon which is tastefully poor. The normalization of blackface/brownface/yellowface in literature is a problem of its own, and it saddens me to see it present in this book because while I love everything about it, I wish this part wasn't a part of it.

In other fun and more lighthearted facts, Taylor Swift wrote a song based on the book titled 'Tolerate It' from her Evermore album from the perspective of the protagonist that tells her side of the story when de Winter remains distant from her and that he only tolerates her presence because she thinks he is still in love with his late wife, far from that actually.

One of my favourite books of all time, definitely a five-stars from me.

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Cross-posted from tumblr.