Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I was rereading REBECCA for a podcast episode and oh my GOD. I had read it for the first time around 10 years ago but I couldn't actually remember anything about the book, which made the reread experience very interesting as I kept getting these fleeting little glimpses of what I thought I remembered, like a ghostly overlay on top of my fresh experience.

Here's the thing. This book is, on many levels, dated. A lot of what happens in this book couldn't be possible with modern technology. It is also, on several occasions, racist. They have a costume party where someone literally shows up in brown-face, and another guy is dressed as a Chinese guy with those long fingernails. Oop.

The mystery itself? Top-tier. A Gillian Flynn-esque twist to rival all twists. I gasped, I held my breath, I wheezed all the way to the finish line. The nameless heroine is compelling in her anxiety; in some ways, it's a lot like THE YELLOW WALLPAPER in how it uses a home as a setting for a woman's slow spiral into what feels like madness. Domesticity isn't always benign. Sometimes, it's a trap snapping shut.

I really don't have much else to say except that this was so much fun. It is VERY slow paced by contemporary standards and part of the build is watching this heroine's expectations of her life as a member of the nouveau riche slowly crumbling as she realizes that she's just a pale shadow of the former bride, the woman whose name overshadows hers so thoroughly that she is erased in the narrative. It's just such a fascinatingly daring book that holds up so well and I had such a great time reading it.

4 out of 5 stars