Rebecca

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .

4 stars⭐ "𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍. 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒖𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅."𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛Rebecca follows our heroine, who's swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter for marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬To start with, I struggled to get into the flow of the writing. I was getting lost in the beautiful prose, unable to visualise the moments. And the fact that we were not introduced to the narrator made it even harder for me to connect initially.But soon, things started to get better, and the flow returned. I found myself drawn into the atmospheric and engaging narration, and the mysterious world of Rebecca.The pacing, for me, was slow but captivating. I was deeply intrigued by everything that was unfolding. I didn't like the way the main female character was made to feel—constantly compared to Rebecca, especially by Mrs. Danvers. And more than anything, I hated the way Maxim treated her after their marriage.But, now that I know the ending, all that hatred feels pacified. I have a sense of closure about why things happened the way they did. I understand each character and their actions (umm, maybe there's one *coughs—Maxim* whose actions probably shouldn't be normalised, but they were).Despite all that, what stood out more than the characters was the mood of the story itself. The eerie atmosphere and strange occurrences added a quiet tension that pulled me in. And I really enjoyed watching the plot unfold smoothly before my eyes.Each moment, each suspenseful event, was so brilliantly connected to the next—and all I could do was just grasp the depth of it all... It ran so deep, it truly took me on a ride.Even though the book ended on such an ominous note, I’m left with questions. I don’t know whether to feel satisfied with the ending or to be unsettled by it. Was the main event justified? Did we all just—like that—accept what the male character did? I’m not sure where to settle, but I accept that maybe there’s no clear answer.𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐓𝐋;𝐃𝐑)Overall, it's a gripping gothic suspense novel that took me some time to get into, but once I did, it unfolded into a deeply haunting mystery that kept me hooked. With an ending that made me question certain characters and their choices, it's an intensely atmospheric and unsettling read—one that lingers long after the final page.

What a brilliant classic!