The One and Only Rebecca

I'm on a reading rampage right now.

I just finished Rebecca and am nearly half way done with Mermaids!

Rebecca is another classic that has been on my list for a while. Once I found this gorgeous vintage $2 copy (above) I was in love. However, I had it for 3 years before I began reading it... so I'm glad to be checking it off!

The book started out with and eerie scene set in the present, but quickly moved to the past. It told the story of an unnamed girl who met a mysterious man in Monaco and fell in love. She married him and moved back to England with him. From there you learn the tortured past of both Mr. de Winter and his home. 

The story is filled with scenes that almost lead you up to another piece of the mysterious puzzle, but then leave you hanging. This style is kind of unusual for modern day readers, where something shocking happens in nearly every chapter of a book or episode of a TV show. At first I found it a little underwhelming, but realized that once I got to the actual action it ended up being more exciting! 

Beyond that I found quite a lot of it depressing. I found the main character very meek and irritating. She NEVER stuck up for herself! She spent nearly the whole book being more of a narrator than anything else. Constantly obsessing about Mr. de Winter's first wife and how she stacked up, I found her pretty hard to relate to. I feel that Du Maurier created her that way intentionally though, as she is never given her own name. She is only ever referred to as Mrs. de Winter, after she is married. It was extremely strange to read a book from the point of view of a character with no name! This became a very interesting thing to think about while dissecting the novel later.

It is interesting to read an older book, this one being from the 30's, that eludes to activities that could not be written about plainly at the time. Like (I'm assuming,) sex, drugs and excessive drinking. I think that for those reasons it would be very interesting to see a movie interpretation of the novel, to see what they thought was being eluded to. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a recent movie version. Please make one BBC!! :)

Also, is it just me, or is Mrs. Danvers almost the creepiest literary figure ever?!? (picture above) I would not want to be near this woman!

The book more-or-less ended the way I expected it to, but I really enjoyed it.

Have you read Rebecca? 

What did you think of it and the main character? 

Have you seen any good movie or mini series interpretations of it?

There is also a "pre-quel" called Rebecca's Tale, which I own and might read. I think it will be a Wide Sargasso Sea to Jane Eyre sort of relationship. Very interesting, but not at the top of my list.

First Check off my Summer Reading List complete!

All for now,

Alexandra