Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier

About a year and a half ago, I took over a job from a young woman who was always portrayed to me as the cream of the crop – everything I did was compared to her and her abilities.  I’ve spent the last 18 months trying to live up to the expectations she set, and then trying to exceed them.  Finally, about a month ago, my Executive Director turned to me and said, “I think you did this better than she ever did.”  My heart almost stopped.  Finally!  So, maybe that’s why I related so much with my latest read, Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier.  So much so, that I think it’s fare to say that I have a new favorite book!  I wasn’t looking to add to my rotation of books to read every year of so, but I think I found one regardless.  Rebecca was a pleasant surprise in terms of writing style and plot.

A word on the plot: this book revolves around the de Winter family, specifically Maxim.  When we meet Maxim, he’s vacationing in Monte Carlo after loosing his wife (Rebecca) in a sailing accident.  While in Monte Carol, he meets a young woman who’s a paid companion to an older woman; they quickly fall in love, marry, and return to Maxim’s family estate of Manderley in England.  Maxim’s new wife, however, finds her fit at Manderley to be an awkward one – continually living up to the memory of Rebecca, all her natural insecurities and inabilities are magnified, and she feels like an unmitigated failure.  However, as she learns more about life at Manderley, it becomes clear that not all is as it seems….

So, that’s a little wishy-washy as far as a plot summary goes.  There are two reasons for that: 1 – I don’t like to ruin plots and the give-away is a great twist, and 2 – I can’t give you the name of the main character of this book (Maxim’s new young wife), because du Maurier never names her; it’s a brilliant piece of writing that she goes over 350 pages without giving her book’s narrator (because this is told in the first person) a name!  There’s a brief reference to it in the early chapters, but the only comment made is that it’s a unique name.  But that’s it.  Hats off to du Maurier for that slight of hand, because it doesn’t impact the flow of the book at all.

The more I think of this book, the more it comes as no surprise that I enjoyed it so much, as it parallels one of my all-time favorite books very closely – Jane Eyre.  Both are about young women who meet, love, and marry older men, then have to come into their own in order to fit in with their worlds.  I made the connection the first time by comparing Maxim and Rochester – on the surface, the comparison doesn’t stand, but the more you read, the more it does.  And, just like Jane Eyre, Rebecca is about a twisted love-triangle.  I found it wholly engaging. 

The love triangle at the heart of this book leads to a collection of wholly engaging characters.  Trying to figure out who is the ‘good guy’ and who is the ‘villain,’ I found myself rooting for some characters and disliking others, but in the end, coming to terms with all of them for who they were and what they did.  I think that’s the sign of a great book – when you have acceptance even for those characters whose actions hurt the ones you’re rooting for, it means you’ve been wholly engaged in the characters the author has created, and you’re enjoying your read thoroughly.  

In terms of writing style, at first I was a little turned off – there are long passages describing settings and plants, but I quickly realized that these passages were so well written that it was no burden to get through them.  In fact, it became a pleasure in and of themselves to have du Maurier describe her Manderley and surrounding areas in a such a compelling fashion.

So, final verdict?  Read this book.  It’s amazing.  I love it.  I read a borrowed copy, but the next time I’m at Chapters, I’ll be buying my own copy.  This one is going into rotation with Jane Eyre and Alice in Wonderland, no doubt.  

Oh, and one last word on why I think I love this book so much and can relate: the girl who I replaced at work?  No word of a lie, her name was Rebecca.