Let's Bust a Recap : Rebecca

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..."

Can you even talk about Rebecca without quoting Daphne du Maurier's iconic opening line? I think not. 

Rebecca, originally published in 1938, started popping up all over my radar when I began looking at book lists on the internet. You know the ones. With titles like "BBC's Top 100 Books You Need to Read Before You Die" or "100 Great Novels by Dead Authors", you have to check them out and see if you're at least well read enough to recognize most of the titles that have won their elusive claim to greatness.

So one day last summer while I was browsing The Book Shelter, this old copy of Rebecca (from the library of the Polk Correctional Institution, by the way) caught my eye and the little librarian inside my brain informed me that the BBC is laughing at me for never having read this novel. Why I suddenly cared what the BBC thinks of my reading choices, I can't say, but Rebecca promptly came home with me (along with at least five other books) and took up residence on my shelf. I didn't think much more about it until that agonizing time of year came along where I try to narrow down the never-ending LIFE LIST OF BOOKS I WANT TO READ BEFORE I DIE to a mere 20 or 30 to focus on in 2019. 

By this point, I had joined Instagram—Heaven help us—and I realized that the BBC wasn't the only one castigating me for ignoring du Maurier all my life. While this fact did move Rebecca up a few slots on THE LIST, she still didn't make the cut for my 2019 Book List. She did, however, find her way into my little mystery jar, and has been the one (and quite possibly only) lucky draw so far this year. So in May, I found myself sneaking into the dark world of Manderley and the de Winters. 

And I couldn't get into it.

Every time I sat down to read, I would struggle to get through a chapter. I'd find myself snoozing or wondering when we would ever get to the point. Admittedly, I started this novel at the worst possible time. I was wanting something fast-paced and summery to bust me out of my reading slump, not a dark, atmospheric, autumnal read best suited to be partaken of under a cozy blanket with a steaming cup of tea at hand. What's wrong with me? I wondered. Will they kick me out of #bookstagram for not loving Rebecca? Can I even tell anyone that I DON'T LIKE IT?!

Don't burn me at the stake yet. This story has a happy ending.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is told by a naïve young woman relating her struggle to live up to the mysterious Rebecca de Winter after becoming the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter. As her older, affluent husband takes her back to his famous estate, she finds herself lost in all the dark secrets swirling around Manderley and fighting her own imagination as she assumes that everyone, including her husband, are comparing her to Rebecca.  

For 250 pages, I was frustrated with our young narrator. Daphne du Maurier said that Rebecca is an exploration of the relationship between a man who is powerful with a woman who is not. And I think she did an excellent job with that. I wanted nothing to do with Maxim de Winter, and I felt many times that I'd like to club young Mrs. de Winter over the head and tell her to grow a spine. 

But then came the turn.

And I couldn't put the book down. Literally. I got to Chapter 19 and did nothing else until I finished it. I ignored dishes and laundry and food. I stayed up past midnight rereading certain parts of the beginning. I immediately added Jamaica Inn to my amazon wishlist (handily linked here in case you should ever get the urge to send me a book or seven). 

I get it.

The hype is real.

You really should read this book before you die.

"We would not talk of Manderley, I would not tell my dream. For Manderley was ours no longer. Manderley was no more."

What other books by Daphne du Maurier should I add to my wishlist?