Book Review: "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier

Rebecca is a classic love story with a dark twist, that makes readers question their morals and ethics when it comes to love and murder. Originally published in 1938, it has never gone out of print and has remained one of my favorite novels that I like to revisit from time to time. I recently finished reading Rebecca again and even watched the cursed Netflix adaptation featuring controversial leads Armie Hammer (insert suspicious Twitter DMs) and Lily James (insert Dominic West scandal).

To put that review to bed, it wasn't a good adaptation with James playing Mrs. de Winter in too confident and beautiful of a manner and Hammer too stony, never showing enough emotion to play the conflicted Maxim. In my opinion this movie had too much love and sex between the pair when in the novel they were very strained in the beginning of their marriage while Max grappled with his first wife's death. But the book was such an amazing and engaging story that it made me rethink the ending and evaluate myself.

So to put it bluntly, Maxim was actually the one who killed his first wife, Rebecca--she never drowned in the ocean on her own. That is revealed towards the end of the book before the trial, investigation and arson of Manderley. The second Mrs. de Winter--who I still don't know why her first name was never revealed though I suspect it had to do with showing how much of a shadow the first Mrs. de Winter cast--completely accepts that her husband is a murderer and the crime was all in the name of passion which made it okay. According to Mr. de Winter, Rebecca was an adulterous wench and they never had a real marriage, and it comes out that Rebecca had some form of cancer and was going to die anyway.

It is insinuated that she provoked Maxim to kill her by lying about being pregnant with her cousin/lover's baby because she didn't want the illness to take her life. Wow, okay. Besides the incest and strange automatic forgiveness (once Maxim said he never loved Rebecca the second Mrs. de Winter finds this crime perfectly acceptable and she's just happy to be chosen by him) I must confess that each time I have read this book I have been completely on the side of the second Mrs. de Winter, and rooted for her and her marriage.

Never mind that she and Maxim were probably 20 years a part, she was very insecure and had no family to support or discuss this union with, and again her husband killed his first wife. In other books that involve a mildly toxic main romantic relationship, I also root for that couple. This is how I know that an author is good at their job. When an author can leave the reader conflicted about the ending of a story and the fate of the main characters, they've done well. When an author does such a good job in making the reader feel bad for the main character who has a traumatic or even crime-filled past but is described as hot and has good intentions then you want them to succeed.

I have always rooted for couples that can't be together but make it against all odds. There's just something so triumphant and romantic about that. Maybe I was led to believe this because all of my life the thought of marrying an older, handsome, rich, harsh, British man was marketed to me as appealing (see Mr. Darcy, Mr. Rochester, etc.).

I have been taught that men who are masculine and appear strong equals attractiveness. Mr. de Winter is no exception, and you even feel bad for him because Rebecca basically tricked him into marrying her in order to have the image of a wealthy popular British socialite while still having her romantic flings on the side. While the language that du Maurier uses to describe any sexual instance in the book is vague, I wonder what Rebecca's mind and lifestyle was actually like. She seemed to be a narcissist and fairly confident about her sexuality and talents and was able to keep a man pretending to be with her for I would guess at least 15 years.

Another thing I was curious about, how old was Rebecca? Having children was a huge expectation back then for married couples and Maxim was 42 in the book, so why was this not more explored in the beginning of the novel as to why he and Rebecca had no children? I also wondered if Maxim remained truly alone all of those years with Rebecca or if he had romantic trysts on the side as well. Was Maxim really the main victim who did nothing wrong? Or was his obsession with image and publicity damning to him?

Daphne du Maurier does an excellent job in describing every thought and detail that the new Mrs. de Winter has, and the description of Manderley is breathtaking. Mrs. Danvers, the living villain of the story is familiar to me, as she is the accumulation of every rude and awful woman I have met and had to interact with. She doesn't seem very fictional, which is what makes her excellently written. I think the best thing about this book is that it paints women as multi-dimensional and complex, not purely sweet and innocent or an entirely conniving witch. These women have feelings, good and bad days, and also fall into the trappings of love and wanting to be loved.

Though Rebecca and the second Mrs. de Winter are extreme cases they still have relatable elements to their choices and personalities, even in small ways. Wanting to be wanted, to be seen as strong, to be liked, to be in control of their lives, are all emotions women can recognize. To come back to my original point, I am still glad that Maxim and the second Mrs. de Winter had a happy ending. Why? Because it's what they wanted and what made them happiest. Rebecca in a way got the ending she wanted (we can only guess) and I think because these characters are fictional, it doesn't plague me as much as if this happened in real life.

It might say more about me than du Maurier that I was left conflicted about the ending and big reveals. But that's what makes this book a classic. It's another beautifully written book by a woman who understood jealousy, insecurity, and wanting to be the best wife and woman that society demands but can never quite reach.