(#15 to read the classic works of literature) Rebecca

I just finished listening to the audiobook Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.  I've been wanting to read it for a long time now, after someone suggested it for a Halloween book club (we read Dracula instead).

Let me tell you a bit about it, if you haven't read it.

The book was published in 1938 and Hitchcock made a movie out of it in 1940 with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontain, that I can't seem to find on Netflix or ITunes.

If you are a Jane Eyre fan or a Downton Abbey fan you'll enjoy this book.

So this young woman working as a companion for a wealthy American woman in Monte Carlo, falls in love with a rich English widower and marries him. She becomes mistress of this enormous house called Manderley. (How I loved all the descriptions of the Manderley gardens! I would love a garden, if I had a team of gardeners working on it and my sole job was to arrange flower clippings in vases around my mansion.) 

The problem for the main character (whose name is never revealed) is that she keeps comparing herself to her husband's dead wife, Rebecca, who was much beloved by almost everyone. She feels like she can never measure up to the beautiful, poised, vibrant, clever and charming dead woman whose memory seems to haunt the entire house. She is certain her husband is still in love with her and this causes her anxiety and an inability to do any of the tasks required of her as mistress of this house. Plus, there is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who does everything she can to keep the house the same as when Rebecca was alive.

I have some issues with the book as a whole. The main character is a tad pathetic. I rather liked the ghostly character who I was supposed to deem evil, and in the end I wasn't sure I liked cheering on a character who is trying to get away with murder. 

BUT there are two deliciously creepy scenes that make the whole read worth it. They both involve the housekeeper and main character: one where the housekeeper reveals just how devoted she is to keeping the memory of her dead mistress alive, and one where the housekeeper almost convinces the main character to jump from a window to her death.

I also loved reading about Daphne Du Maurier for a rather odd reason. Most writers of the classics seemed to live the stereotypically tortured artistic existence. Du Maurier seemed to have a pleasant, happy, comfortable life, without too much tragedy, and she still managed to be a famous writer. It's just soothing to me to know that a person doesn't have to be on the verge of mental illness to produce great works.

I'm sorry if this whole thing sounds like a book report. It's how I process literature, I guess. My mom used to make me write summaries of the books I read when I was five on these giant yellow legal pads, and then I'd turn them into my teachers...even though my teachers didn't assign them or probably really even want them.

Has anyone seen the movie version? Is it worth my tracking down? What are you reading lately?