Rebecca Hardcover – July 30, 2002

Having read this book many times, I'm hoping a new generation of readers will discover an intriguing mystery without a single vampire, serial killer or one set in some apocalyptic future. Rebecca is dark and strange and almost impossible to put down, especially with the central character dead and the storyteller being a shadow.The book begins with a dream about a house named Manderley perched on a knoll above the sea. The dream is told by the book's narrator and we learn that she once lived at Manderley but can never return.The story really begins in a hotel in Monte Carlo in the 1930's where a young girl is the paid companion to a crass, social climbing older woman, Mrs. Van Topper. The older woman will sink to almost any depth to appear well connected and prominent and plants herself in the hotel lobby daily in an attempt to ingratiate herself with someone she deems important. She spots a man she recognizes as a wealthy,prominent Englishman, Maxim de Winter and forces him to have tea with her.The young girl, whose diary is open to the reader, is horrified by Mrs. Van Topper's obvious attempts to extract personal information from de Winter by giving him the impression that they have friends in common. Although de Winter is not fooled by Mrs. Van Topper, sensing the young girl's anguish, he is kind to her.The flu confines Mrs. Van Topper to her room, allowing the girl more time and she and de Winter begin to spend most afternoons together, something she records faithfully but does not share with Mrs. Van Topper. The diary records the girl's fascination with the handsome, older man who is often brooding and distant. She falls in love with the enigmatic and dashing de Winter, but realizes how unrealistic she is. The narrator knows that de Winter recently "lost his wife," Rebecca, but knows nothing beyond what Mrs. Van Topper has told her: that de Winter's wife drowned near Manderley and he never speaks of it.Quite suddenly, Mrs. Van Topper decides to leave Monte Carlo and the girl is ordered to pack and prepare to leave. In a panic, she feels she must seek out Mr. de Winter to say goodbye and when she does, he proposes to her in an awkward way and she accepts. Mrs. Van Topper is angry and points out how unsuited the young girl is to become "mistress of Manderley."When the girl arrives at Manderley after a rapturous honeymoon, she is awestruck and intimidated by the size of the house and has no idea how to assume her role as Mrs. de Winter. Maxim is off and about the estate seeing to affairs he has neglected and, since the girl is afraid to make errors in social judgment, she leaves all decisions to others, most especially to the head housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who reinforces the girl's insecurities by continually pointing out the former Mrs. de Winter's beauty, social skills and legions of admirers and friends. The reminders of Rebecca are everywhere; her personalized notecards still in her desk, closets filled with beautiful clothes, fur coats, monogrammed towels and robes with giant R's in script, and the girl becomes convinced that de Winter married her on a whim and remains hopelessly in love with the perfect Rebecca. Rather than learning her role as lady of the house, the girl is terrified that her husband will come to his senses and realize what a mistake he has made and she will lose him. Consequently, she is slow to pay attention to nuances in behavior and speech that would provide clues to what is happening around her.Manderley is famous for its annual costume ball, a tradition de Winter loathes but agrees to suffer through as it is regarded as the height of the social season. The girl worries about how she will possibly live up to Rebecca's skills as a hostess and has no idea what costume to wear. Mrs. Danvers cleverly suggests a costume to replicate one of the many family portraits of long deceased family members lining the walls of Manderley, failing to disclose that her suggestion is for the girl to wear the exact costume worn by Rebecca at the previous ball.On the night of the ball, as a drum signals, she descends the grand staircase to be met with silence, expressions of disbelief and gasps of horror. Maxim yells at her and orders her to go and change. She is humiliated and defeated and refuses to go back downstairs. Then she hears voices outside discussing her. "Guess they had a row and she is refusing to come out." "No one has seen her. Rebecca would have been here there and everywhere." Shaken, she suddenly realizes that as Mrs. de Winter, she has certain obligations and one is to overcome her fear and face the music. She makes it through the ball in misery.The diary is the only information provided, so one never learns the girl's name, nor what she looks like, except for several remarks de Winter makes to her, saying that with a big ribbon in her hair, she would look like Alice in Wonderland Wretched though she is, the girl's despairing self-absorption is shelved by a dramatic event. A ship wrecks close to the shore and divers searching the wreck discover Rebecca's lost sailboat, an event which eventually turns the timid girl into a formidable force.To reveal more might detract from the reader's experience. Written in another time, the lengths to which certain families went to preserve reputations and hide any unpleasantness may seem absurd. The anxiety felt by the girl, afraid to fail but having no idea how to go about gaining skills she is certain she lacks may seem naive to modern women but, in the end, Rebecca is a book about how imagination clouds the ability to see, or even seek, the truth and how living a lie erodes the soul. It is a story about how fear of the truth stops us from finding joy rather than misery and how what we imagine can be far different from reality. The narrative reveals how behind facades there can be nothing more than a cardboard theater set which has been continually propped up by the flimsiest of supports and if one support post fails, the entire structure collapses.This psychological melodrama overlays a deeper message.

I can see where this book was very popular. There were a lot of surprises in the text. The movie seem to have more creepiness than the book though. I was very surprised about the ending because it seemed to sort of just hang there. Also, weird that you never know the narrator’s name.

Well that was the most abrupt and t the same time anticlimactic ending. But I still enjoyed it. Read it

The book came in good condition

Sydney M. Williams“Rebecca,” Daphne Du MaurierNovember 28, 2020“I can close my eyes now, and look back on it, and see myself as I must havebeen, standing on the threshold of the house, a slim awkward figure in mystockinette dress, clutching in my sticky hands a pair of gauntlet gloves.” The narrator thinks back on her arrival at Manderley Rebecca, 1938 Daphne Du Maurier (1907-1989)Rebecca, among the most famous book titles, opens with one of fiction’s most recognized sentences: “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Two years after publication, Alfred Hitchcock directed the Academy Award film starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier. In 2020, Ben Wheatley directed a new version, with Lily James and Arnie Hammer. While Hitchcock does a better job in portraying the dark mood of the story, neither, in my opinion, captures the novel’s full range.Daphne Du Maurier wrote historical novels. She was a master of creating an atmosphere of dark moods and mysterious characters. Born in London, she spent much of her life in Cornwall. Novels like Jamaica Inn, Frenchman’s Creek, The King’s General and My Cousin Rachel were set in England’s west country. Manderley, Max de Winter’s home, is a large estate on the rocky coast of Cornwall; the time is the 1920s.The story is told through a narrator, whose name we are never told, though Max de Winter tells her, “You have a very lovely and unusual name.” When we meet her, she is a paid companion to a wealthy, overbearing American, Mrs. Van Hopper – “…her short body ill-balanced upon tottering high heels, her fussy, frilly blouse a complement to her large bosom and swinging hips…”. They are staying in Monte Carlo in late winter. While the narrator is never described, we are led to understand she is English, about twenty years old, comely not beautiful, innocent not worldly – the antithesis of Rebecca, which is what attracts Mr. de Winter. He is a widower; his wife Rebecca having died the previous May. He is “tall and slim, with dark hair,” wealthy, aristocratic, in his early forties.The dead Rebecca hovers over the novel, like a dark cloud. She obsesses the narrator who has become the new Mrs. De Winter. Rebecca was tall, clever, fond of sport, “a very lovely creature…full of life.” Mrs. Danvers, formerly her childhood nurse, is now housekeeper at Manderley. We first meet her through the eyes of the narrator: “Someone advanced through the sea of faces, someone tall and gaunt, dressed in deep black, whose prominent cheek-bones and great hollow eyes gave her a skull’s face, parchment-white, set on a skeleton’s frame.” The ghost of Rebecca, a deceitful phantasm, hovers over the large, isolated estate, made real through the devious intrigues of Mrs. Danvers.Neither movie ends as does the book. Movies are a visual, but passive, art form, where the eye works and the mind can nap. Books require concentration and are most effective when the reader employs his or her imagination, guided by the author. Rebecca’s last sentence, as Max and the narrator drive home to Manderley: “And the ashes blew toward us with the salt wind from the sea.” Not the end a movie requires, but perfect for this story; you will be captivated by Ms. Du Maurier’s creative genius. I will say no more.

ジョーンフォンテーン主演の昔の映画を見て原作を読んでいますが、臨場感にあふれ素晴らしい表現にちりばめらられています。少々何回な自然表現もありますが比較的読みやすくはまっています。kindleで読めることに感謝です。

Netflix/アーミーハマー主演でリメイクされると聞いて久しぶりに再読しました。元祖ゴシックサスペンス。やっぱり良いと思いました。他の方が書かれている通り 読みやすい英語です。一番始めのマンダレイに着く所までは植物の名前やなんかが出て来たりで、ん？はっ？と思うかも知れませんが大丈夫です。突き進んでください。ちょうどハロウィンの時期だったのでヒッチコック監督の映画も観ました。今年の秋は「わっしょいレベッカ祭り」になりました。

"Rebecca" is obviously one of the very best novels I have ever read. It is surely the signature novel of Daphne du Maurier, who has also penned other amazing stories as well. But I think Ms. Maurier should have given a name to the young second Mrs. de Winter. She must have intentionally failed to name the heroine of the novel; the reason remains uncertain to me.Did the writer have any models to portray Mrs. Danvers in the novel? She is frightening and seems to enjoy chilling and grilling Maxim's second wife for Rebecca--her employer as well as her best companion. Perhaps Mrs. Danvers is emblematic of Rebecca herself.Time is too powerless to weaken the splendid quality of the novel. I never get tired of re-reading it.

Avon paperback 1997 のリプリントで　Harper 2006　ISBN-10: 0380730405　のレビュー表紙がセピアの写真に水色でRのレタリングがある版です。本文387ページ（1ページ40行）のほか付録として、Author's Note、初稿のエピローグを収録。トレード・ペーパーバック版でたいへん読みやすい。製本も上々。多少高くとも、マスマーケット版よりいいのでは？ねちっこい重厚なゴシック小説かと思っていたのですが、意外に読みやすい作品だった。会話部分も、あまり大仰ではなく、あまりにも口語風でもなく、適度に読みやすい。ヒッチコックの映画があまりにも有名ですが、幸いわたしは未見でした。ストーリーを知っていると、前半の展開がじれったくて辛いかもしれません。ストーリーを知らずに、モンテカルロやコーンウォール地方の風景を楽しむつもりで読んでいくと、前半を楽しめると思います。Mrs. Van Hopper の性格や話しぶりなど見事ですね。作者が描きたかった人物でしょう。（後半のストーリーにはまったく関係ありません。これ、ネタバレじゃないよね。）あと、読みかどうか迷っている方のためにネタバレにならない程度の情報として、１、1938年に発表された小説で当時の南西イングランドの上流階級と中産階級の生活が描かれている。２．イングランドでの物語は初夏から晩夏まで。３．幽霊や魔女などは出てきません。４，一人称の回想形式ですが、叙述トリックのようなややこしい仕掛けはありません。どうでもいいけど、食べきれない量の午後のお茶のお菓子類は、あとで捨てるんでしょうか。この謎（？）は解決されません！Watercress のサンドイッチというやつ食ってみたいね。

やっと原書購入。英語が簡単なので、どんどん読み進めます。映画（ローレンス＝オリビエ主演）も良いけど、やはり小説はあのマンダレーの細部の雰囲気や登場人物のやりとりの細かい描写が楽しめて良いです。