Rebecca

I saw the Alfred Hitchcock movie years and years ago, and remember thinking that I should probably read the book. I didn’t follow through (don’t know why, it really was that long ago!), but when Cami told me she wasn’t talking to me 🙂 until I read Rebecca, I figured it was time to actually get the book read.

And…

I’m not sure. It was a really good melodrama, full of suspense and tension. I liked the descriptions. I thought Mrs. Danvers was sufficiently horrible and horrifying in her attachment to the dead Rebecca, and her attempts to sabatoge Maxim’s current marriage. I thought the ending, while abrupt, was probably the most fitting way (and I know I should have seen it coming, but it still caught me off guard) to end the book. There were parts when I cringed, there were parts that I wondered how it would all work out, there were parts that really creeped me out, and I understood why it was Hitchcock who put this book on film.

But. The fact that the current Mrs. de Winter never had a name really bothered me. Enormously. I’m still trying to put a finger on why; perhaps it was a feminist thing, but I think it was mostly that I like my characters to have names. I can’t imagine what they look like if they don’t have a name. And I have no idea how to summarize a book if I don’t have a name to give to the main character. I understand the literary motivation behind du Maruier’s choice not to name her main character, it just really bothered me. And — I suppose this is connected to the name thing — her relationship with Maxim bothered me, too. This time I’m sure it’s the 21st-century feminist in me, because I didn’t like how totally and utterly submissive Mrs. de Winter was. If she only had a bit more backbone, she wouldn’t have ended up in the situations she ended up in. But, I guess that was the point. She gained backbone through the course of the book, when all the secrets were out; but why did it take the assurance of Maxim’s love to give her one? Couldn’t she have one on her own?

I am glad I read it, though; it was an interesting and intriguing book. And now I need to go watch the movie again. I’m curious as to how it stands up.

11 thoughts on “Rebecca”

  1. HA HA! Ok, I’m talking to you again.First, this was my first real “aha” book that made me start reading when I was a teenager. I think I sat for 6 hours reading!Second, when I read this in college, the feminist questions were our main discussion. Even in the Hitchcock movie–do you remember the way he proposed? Horrible. I think their relationship was supposed to add to the uncomfortableness of it all–and boy was it uncomfortable. Having no first name made it feel even more like she doesn’t exist in his world. My latest time through I remember being all sorts of conflicted, because, after all, he DID kill a woman. Why should he get away with it?Anyway, I’m glad you read it. It seems to be one everyone should read.

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  2. I’ve been meaning to read this book, especially after last week’s Booking Through Thursday first lines meme. Everyone listed Rebecca. Thanks for your honest review; I’ll keep those things in mind when I read it.

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  3. I think I understood why she didn’t have a name. I believe the author used this as a device to make the second Mrs. deWinter seem even more insignificant. The name “Rebecca” is everwhere; the name of her successor is nowhere. In Manderley, Rebecca’s influence is everywhere, and the second Mrs. deWinter is thwarted when she attempts to make any change.It was frustrating that she was so timid, and her timidity was a device as well, for it made it easier for the author to roll the plot out as she did.

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  5. I read Rebecca years and years ago–and I don’t know that it ever occurred to me that the narrator had no first name. Thanks for pointing that out! (The narrator of The Gargoyle, which will be released on August 5, has no name either. I didn’t realize it till the end, but it’s pretty significant in that book, too.)

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  6. Glad you read it! I suspect that it’s supposed to be one of those vaguely disturbing kind of books- part of the charm is that it makes you think about it. I’ve never seen the movie. Can I beg for an invitation when you watch it? I’ll bring the popcorn!

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  7. This is the book I always read right after I read Jane Eyre and am in Jane Eyre withdrawal. I think the way du Maurier is constantly sliding focus away from the heroine to Rebecca is brilliant. It happens right through to the end – Rebecca’s all crazy but she’s vivid, and really I think she wins. (yay)

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  8. Cami – a feminist class on this book would be quite fascinating. And, yeah, I can understand that conflict with Maxim. Why is he the good guy? tia — I understood <>why<>, it just bothered me. Quite a bit. But I never thought that it was supposed to. That’s an interesting insight. Of course, Sarah. I’ll just have to figure out when…And Jenny — glad Rebecca won?! I wasn’t. I wanted the dead to stay buried, her to stop haunting the other, poor girl, and for everything to just be quiet. Impossible, I know. What they should have done was sacked Mrs. Davners. Maybe that would have solved more of the problems.

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