Skip to main content

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

Eerie Suspense on the English Coast.......
Published in 1938 originally, Rebecca is one of those timeless novels worth re-reading.  Set mainly in England at the Manderlay estate on the coast, the story is presented in the first person by the young and impressionable new Mrs. Maxim De Winter.  Shy and plain, she internalizes every glance and spoken word, believing that she stands in the shadow of Rebecca, Maxim's first wife and the epitome of everything she, herself, is not.  Her journey, eerie and charged with the whisper of hidden, dark secrets, brings her to the revelation that self pre-occupation borne from insecurity leads one to blindness of the truth that is before us always.

Du Maurier's Rebecca is better today than when I read it as an adolescent.  The story winds slowly, twisting and turning through the labyrinth of impressions and lasting effects left behind by the departed from this world.  It contrasts the self doubt and awkwardness of youth and the vain debauchery of the beautifully young; the fear of the unknown to the horror of understanding.  It also exposes the effects of hidden hatred and the equally devastating consequences of hidden love.

At a certain point in the novel, I wanted to shake the backward, mousy Mrs. De Winter.  I wanted her to stake her claim on Maxim's heart and over Manderlay, but I patiently read on.  My reward was worth the wait, for when her strength was necessary, she delivered, drawing not on righteous indignation, but on depth of love, commitment, and the confidence and security that overflows at the certainty of being loved - of knowing where one belongs. 

The love affair between Maxim and his new bride is not the passionate perfection found in many modern novels.  It is the rending of the masks worn in hope of self preservation, the risk of placing one's self in the power of another, the hope of second chances.  There is a strong feeling of melancholy throughout the novel that this Broad admits I wouldn't welcome in all my reading, but it worked beautifully in Rebecca.
~Moira
starstarstar

Comments

  1. Unknown3/12/11, 10:35 PM

    this book has always been one of my favorites. lovely observations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brazen Broads Book Bash3/21/11, 8:07 PM

    Thanks so much Stephanie. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this book until I read it anew.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

We Broads love comments! Thanks for stopping by.....

Popular posts from this blog

Broads On A Budget: Fresh, Healthy, and Within The Budget!

Lately, I've seen a few news segments citing the higher cost in buying fresh produce and healthy foods compared with processed, prepared, packaged, but far from healthy products.  This caught my attention.  Eating for health is... well, sort of my goal.  I want my family (and myself!) to be healthy, but what I want most is to enjoy my food while feeling great about it's health and nutrition benefits. We can watch every cooking show on the cable channels, read each new cooking magazine with eager determination, and lose an hour (or two!) on Pinterest boards, but if we can't afford the grocery bill to create all those wonderful meals - it's all a wash.  So...is it possible to prepare healthy meals with fresh ingredients AND stick to a budget?  Broads everywhere know the answer is YOUUUU BETCHA! One issue I struggled with was meal-plan-cohesiveness.  In other words, creating my weekly meal plan around my fresh ingredients on hand to avoid waste.  (Who else has cring
Post a Comment
Read more

IT will probably kill me...

    First of all, let me state that I love my husband.  Let it also be known that this fact may not save him from becoming a new "compost heap" in my back yard.  Maybe I'll plant a few shrubs on top, that would look nice.  Ooh, a nice gazebo covered in climbing roses and maybe a swing with....what?  Oh.           I have tried to come to terms with something that sends me into a state of near panic at the mere mention of the word.  Retirement.  There... I said it and didn't swoon.  I have heard the stories from married ladies with retired husbands, and with, first my father's and now my husband's lay-offs, I have experienced brief glimpses into this world.  So, I have learned some things .     The main thing, really, is that I would like to opt out but cannot, in good conscience, do that.   He can't work forever.    Right?  My dearest other half is only 40, so this retirement isn't happening anytime soon, but still.   He works as a carpenter, wh
4 comments
Read more

Uhh....Seriously, we're waiting!!

      I know, I know.  You've probably been wondering where we have been.  Well, truth be told, your guess is as good as mine!   Wandering around the corridors of reality and looking--in earnest--for the emergency exit.  Real life has a way of derailing our engines and putting them on a completely different track.               During the spring, my kids happened.  From sports to plays, the driving is endless.  During the summer, my kids--again--happened.  Though, in Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen.  (Sorry about that, I had a moment.)  In the fall....do we see the pattern here?  Good.  So, between the kids' activities and school, hubby's work, my work, still remodeling the house, and my newest occupation as college student, I have very little room on my plate for cookies.  But damn-it, I like cookies.  I would love to roll naked in cookies!  Only metaphorically, I have no wish to explain those crumbs at the next gynie visit.  That, ladie
4 comments
Read more