Rebecca (1938)

Du Maurier has a peculiar style, wordy and repetitive and quiet. It suits the narrator perfectly, and elevated this story from fascinating to brilliant. ( )

Classic novel ... just too much like Dickens for me. Very drawn out. ( )

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Sono rimasta piuttosto sorpresa dalla lettura di Rebecca la prima moglie: nella mia testa era “solo” un romanzo sulla presenza ingombrante di una moglie defunta e sulla governante più inquietante mai partorita dalla mente umana, la celeberrima signora Danvers; invece mi sono ritrovata a leggere una storia molto intrigante e sulla quale mi sono arrovellata un bel po’.

Du Maurier inizia raccontando quello che potrebbe essere l’arrivo del Principe Azzurro/Maxim de Winter che salva la Fanciulla da una Matrigna arcigna/Van Hopper, sposandola e portandola nel suo castello. Tuttavia, fin da subito abbiamo sentore di un disagio strisciante: innanzi tutto questa fanciulla non ha un nome e nemmeno una gran personalità, a quanto pare il suo più grande pregio. Dopo tutto c’è già stata Rebecca accanto a questo Principe Azzurro: una donna indomabile è più che sufficiente nella vita, grazie tante.

Infatti, se la personalità della seconda signora De Winter è docile e assolutamente assuefatta ai suoi sentimenti per il marito, quella di Rebecca è così strabordante da tracimare anche i limiti della morte e da continuare a influenzare le vite di coloro che le erano più vicino. Rebecca sembra non avere misura: eccessiva in tutto, che si trattasse di bellezza, perversione, femminilità o autorità. Troppo eccessiva per una società che faceva della modestia femminile un ideale imprescindibile e che non si faceva troppi scrupoli nel punire e reprimere ogni impudicizia.

Arrivata alla fine del romanzo non ho potuto fare a meno di chiedermi chi fosse davvero Rebecca, della quale non abbiamo mai il punto di vista, ma ci viene solo raccontata, sia da chi la odiava, sia da chi la idolatrava. Non una santa o una puttana, ma più probabilmente una donna che vedeva la subalternità agli uomini alla quale era costretta, la trovava intollerabile e cercava di ribellarsi come poteva, anche con mezzi immorali, e senza fare sconti alle donne che invece si piegavano accondiscendenti a quella dominazione. Non il più positivo dei modelli, ma Rebecca si è conquistata la mia simpatia: cosa ce ne facciamo di donne ideali quando possiamo speculare su quelle controverse? ( )

I can’t believe I’m only just now reading this book for the first time! This book is beautifully written, although it’s a little slow in the beginning. The ending will keep you up at night, and the very last page will leave you breathless. The characters are likeable and the love story is not at all like a fairytale. In fact, until about 65% of the way through the book, you won’t even be sure there IS a love story. One of the most curious things about this book is that the narrator and heroine is never given a Christian name, allowing you to immerse yourself in her character. There’s a reason this book has been deemed a timeless masterpiece, but I really don’t want to say much more and risk spoiling it for anyone.

Take a journey to Manderley and see if it doesn’t haunt you the same way it does the narrator... ( )

This book was utterly haunting, from the very first page, from even the first sentence, I was enthralled and had to keep turning the paged

The plot follows a timid and nameless heroine who by chance meets recent widower Maxim de Winter and consequently, they soon are wed and he takes her back to Manderlay, his estate.
Eventually, she learns of Rebecca, his first wife who tragically drowned, she struggles to differentiate herself from Rebecca and all the while, frets of Maxim not truly being over Rebecca.


I love when classics are written in a way that enthrals you and is easy to understand, I also enjoy an occasional mystery or thriller. Thrillers usually are set right as the person is missing or dead so for this psychological thriller to be set after the death, it was certainly unique. For a classic, the genre of this book is unique for its time.

The writing was really well-done. The atmosphere and tone of this book were so eerie but engaging from the very first page. I loved how chilling and engaging it was and how easy it is to understand. The author really sets the tone of the book right away and her description of Manderlay was very detailed.

The characters were alright and certainly did improve and have depth as the book went on.

The Unnamed Heroine was a character who had the start, I didn't know what to think of her. As time goes on, she becomes a lot better as you see a clear depth of her struggles. I think her eagerness to impress others is something people of all genders and ages can relate to, I certainly have been eager to impress others multiple times in my life. I think the struggle to separate herself from Rebecca was well written.

Rebecca, while not actually present in the book feels so real, every mention breaths more life into this character that haunts every move the living characters make and without her, this story would not exist. There's definitely a lot more about her that I wasn't expecting to hear.

Maxim was alright, but I seem to resonate with the protagonist's struggles more since everything is from her eyes. Maxim fell flat for me for the majority of the book but I definitely thought different once the depths of his character surfaced later on in the story.

I loved the way the characters were written, it was like different webs unravelled as time went on.


Overall, this book was really chilling and very engaging. There are so many different parts of the characters that I was left shocked by the true nature of some of the characters. The writing was readable and flowed. ( )