Daphne du Maurier “Rebecca”

Rebecca’s shadow is next to them.
“Rebecca” is the story of two women, one man, and a house “Manderley”. The book “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier is about love, past mysteries and life in high society. The author wants to tell us about some peoples problematic past, and also entertains us because in one way “Rebecca” is also a love story and a detective. A report on this book includes three major aspects: theme, style and value.
One aspect of the book is its theme. The main idea is that everybody wants to be happy in their lifes, no despite their pasts. To reach this aim – peace and life, full with love, they have to be strong, sacrifice something very dear to them and they have to forget their painfull past. For example, Maxim the Winter is a man who has lost his wife, and now has found a new one – much younger than himself. He craves to love his new wife – Ms de Winter-, but the shadow of his first wife Rebecca is next to him, he can’t think about her. And after a long way of different events new Ms and Mr de Winter have abandoned their loved house “Manderley”, but they can’t live in peace (“We can never go back there, that much is certain. The things we have tried to forget and put behind us would stir again, and that sense of fear, of furtive unrest, struggling at length to blind unreasoning panic – now mercifully stilled, thank God – might in some manner unforeseen become a living companion, as it had been before” – p.5). This book shows very well the people’s bad side – they can be full with hate and cruelty (“It’s not the northen lights”, he said. “That’s Manderley”. The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. It was Mrs Danvers, who burned Mandeley!” – p.429). The book gives a lesson that love always wins, no matter when and no matter what your emotional experiences are.
The second aspect of “Rebecca” is its style. The story is told by the first person – the main character, and that is why we don’t even know Ms de Winters name. The style is quite carefree, slighty scented and owerwritten, that of a schoolgirl, trying to speak poetically, like an adult. For the most, the book is made from dialogs, that is why the story is fast-mooving like in a love story or detective. Unfortunately no flashbacks or figurative language is used, because for me it would be easier to concentrate.
The final aspect of “Rebecca” is its value. This book is mainly interesting, because it is a love story with some characteristic marks of detective. I didn’t learn much new from this book, for me it was just an interesting book to read. However, there was one useful idea about life – the cost for the love should never be man’s identity – as it was in Ms de Winters life.
“Rebecca” is a love story, in which the good woman triumphs over the bad one. I liked this book, because it is a good bestseller, whith an unexpected and not a very happy ending. That is why “Rebecca” is a little bit better than a typical easy love story. I recommend this book to girls who like romantics, who like to cry when they read a book and who want to emote with all the characters of the book.
Daphne du Maurier, “Rebecca”, published in London by Virago Press in 2007, original.