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5

I reread this in the anticipation for the new film adaptation of Rebecca. I love the Alfred Hitchcock one so I am weary of if the new Netflix adaptation will do the book justice.
This was an amazing reread- I only wish I could experience this reading it for the first time again!

Original review:
This story was so enthralling and unputdownable that it deserves much more than five stars!

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." one of the more famous first lines from literature. This book follows our unnamed heroine as she travels from Monte Carlo to Manderley and immerses herself in the lives of Maxim de Winter and the ghosts from his past.

This was gripping from start to finish. You find yourself so drawn into our unnamed narrator, her emotions, her turbulences, that you feel everything she experiences throughout the book. Reading this book I felt anger, dread in the pit of my stomach, grief that was almost heartbreaking, the butterflies of love and fun enjoyment. The book ensnares you into its web that you too are caught up in the lives of those at Manderley. It is fascinating to go on this journey with the narrator as she develops in to her own character and self identity. I found that she was naive yet strong, self-doubting yet brave. Even in times when she thinks she is at her weakest she is still fierce and raises up to face the challenge, even if it takes some time.

At first our unnamed heroine is the lowly companion of the snobbish Mrs Van Hopper. On a trip to the south of France she meets Max de Winter, a handsome and mysterious widower, whereupon she spends her days with him. It is clear she is enamoured by him, "I remember laughing aloud, and the laughing carried by the wind from me; and, looking at him, I realised he laughed no longer, he was once more silent and detached, the man of yesterday wrapped in his secret self", he is a multifaceted character, a mystery to be solved, she is drawn to him and quickly falls in love.
Our unnamed narrator has a bleak future until a proposal of marriage from Max takes her by surprise.
You don't understand... I'm not the sort of person men marry."

From here she is whisked away to the brooding Manderley, a place so overbearing and different from our narrators upbringing that there is a sharp contrast between the two. Upon their arrival at Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man.

In Manderley, the narrator uncovers and unravels more about the beautiful Rebecca, Max's dead wife. Rebecca's memory is kept alive by Mrs Danvers, the housekeeper, with reminders throughout Manderley of Rebecca's never-ending and never-forgotten presence. Rebecca is described as beautiful, intelligent, outspoken and confident- everything that our narrator is not. Rebecca is almost a magical creature, a goddess, something forbidden that the narrator is unbearably tempted to find out more, obsessive and jealous of this woman. She feeds her paranoia by imagining scenarios of what others must think of her as the new Mrs de Winter; how little and worthless they must say she is in comparison to Rebecca.
"She's so different from Rebecca."

Through the course of the book the narrator confirms to herself that she does not fit in with her new expected lifestyle: she makes friends with the house-maid and often does things alone, something which conflicts with the convention of how the wife of Mr de Winter should behave. This further fuels our narrators feelings of being an outcast, self-doubt and anxiety.
"I had not the pride, I had not the guts. I was badly bred."

The book details clearly Mrs Danvers obsession and affection for Rebecca. When Rebecca died she is devastated and angry at Max's behaviour. She sets out to reinforce Rebecca's memory to the staff, to Max and to the new Mrs de Winter through cold and manipulative ways. Mrs Danvers would be described as the 'villain' of this novel with "her eyes, dark and sombre, in that white face of hers". It is clear from the start that Mrs Danvers does not like the new Mrs De Winter and is cruel, "The expression on her face, loathsome, triumphant.The face of an exulting devil. She stood there,smiling at me."

Through these cruel interactions with Mrs Danvers, the loneliness, the self-doubt and Max's cold-hearted behaviour, our narrator faces something that no one in love wants to face or admit to; "We’re not meant for happiness, you and I."

This book was so brilliantly fleshed out. Daphne Du Maurier does a brilliant job at describing the characters, their emotions, their body movements, their tone of voice, that these characters are so life like and real. I absolutely loved some of the secondary characters in this book: Mr Crawley, the faithful companion to Max de Winter, a true gentleman and friend to our narrator, and the loveable Ben, the simple minded man that stays on the beach- who is much more perceptive than anyone gives him credit for. These characters were so well thought out and planned and were interwoven into the plot magnificently.

In addition, the description of Manderley was so well done, from the Happy Valley of flowers to the cold, steel grey sea, you felt yourself immersed in the settings, so wonderfully described that you could almost touch them.

Overall this book is so much more than a gothic romance. It covers scandal, lies, love, the other woman, jealousy and self-identity. A very highly enjoyable read that I wish I could turn back time so that I could experience the book as a first-time read all over again !