Purchase Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

NOTE: I edited this review several time; I will re-edit and/or skim the review.

I listened to the unabridged CD and felt fascinated by Anna Massey's vocal narration, although it would have been very slowly read aloud with more emotional tone. However, I thought the story, the development, and the relationships were more important because I always thought about alternative solutions for every character, especially the nameless protagonist narrator who had become the second wife of Mr. Maxim de Winter.

Many adaptations have done attempts to be faithful to the novel, but none lives up to every feeling and logic to every person in the world as the novel, especially the 1940 film by Hitchcock. Speaking of Hitchcock, I thought the film was more plot-oriented and suspenseful without meeting more demands for logics and feeling. Even outlines of the film's ideal are scrambled blandly.

As for the story on the novel, I always thought more about relationships and consequences as much as about fascinating living characters themselves. When I read about the narrator's relationships with everybody, especially the titled character Rebecca, I felt more differently about different characters.

For example, the narrator's narrative shyness and inexperience always gave me an uneasy feeling and sympathy, especially when she and I the reader were around dangerous people, such as Mrs. Danvers and Jack Farvell, and more (silently) annoyed and swayed by Ms. van Hopper's prematured conclusive talks, Ben's slow-mindedness, Frank's unnecessary encouragements and sympathy, Beatrice's pushy conversations and pointless considerations, Jack Farvell's manners and attempted advances, and Mrs. Danver's sly, malicious antics.

If you are either reading the novel or listening the audio book, you will be glad that in the second half she developed herself into confidence, dealt with others more bearably with truer emotions minus her shyness, and made her own decisions, even if they are unbearably wrong. Does this make me like her more?

As for her relationship with Maxim, I always wonder if the narrator and Maxim truly loved each other. Was Maxim selfish enough to marry her? Was the narrator trying to run away from her unbearable employment? If Maxim was selfish, what were his reasons? When you read the first two chapters AFTER finishing the novel, you always wonder whether they truly loved each other and what decisions every character should have done.

Maxim struck me as always cold and distant in the beginning... Complex development helped me understand him... that's because of the narrator. If I ever meet him in person, I would have coldly think of him, especially from the beginning of the novel's narration of the past and the first two chapters.

There are flaws to be considered:

I wonder why the author added the nursed granny, who is to me unnecessary in the novel and probably has some resemblance of Alzheimer's disease, unless it filled up the narrator's boredom and free time away from Manderley.

Too much suspense, mystery, and gothics ruled over logic. I don't know how to examplify this, but as someone said, why could not Maxim file divorce? Does he love Manderlay too much? Unfortunately, I was left with too many speculations. The analysis of divorce cases are never explored, and Maxim could not explain why he could not divorce Rebecca... unless the narrator had crooked memory.

Speaking of the narrator, how does she remember EVERY dialogue of every scene? Does she make them up to remember the scenes she was involved?

The dead Rebecca was yet to be actually explored while she was still alive; the only ways to develop this character are when she is dead and hearing narrations from every character, especially Maxim and Mrs. Danvers. In my humble opinion, I felt insulted to hear myths and truths of Rebecca from everybody's mouth, especially Maxim's (closeted) view of Rebecca.


In the end, is this book a "masterpiece"? Figure out for yourself...

Since Amazon cannot allow me to skip the rating, I will grade this story a 3 or 3.5 out of five. It cannot be more than 3.5 because the living Rebecca was yet to be explored, the third-person narratives from characters are too much, and the spontaneous feeling of a genre is more present than character development. The only most developed character is the narrator herself because she narrated the whole novel herself; other characters have developed, but only in the narrative way they can, such as Maxim.

The narrator Anna Massey gave me an imitating yet splendid talents, so I could give this unabridged product a praise.

I am grading the unabridge CD, not the novel. If I were to read a novel for the first time, then a 3 it is.Get more detail about Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.