Friday, May 30, 2014

Cephalopod Coffeehouse: Rebecca

I got bogged down with some difficult books this month, which slowed my reading considerably. I reviewed my actual favorite book on my personal blog, so I'm kind of covering the leftovers here. BUT! That's not to say I didn't like any of them. In fact, my second-favorite novel of the month was Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and I liked it quite a lot.

But first, real quick, what slowed me down: I waded through Long Man, a new novel that's receiving rave reviews but which just never quite grabbed me. Possibly I needed the audiobook companion ... more and more, I find it difficult to get into books unless I have a couple solid hours with a good audiobook version. On the flipside, I listened to an audiobook lecture titled Philosophy of Mind that was not exactly boring, but was technical and difficult. I thought I was reasonably good at philosophy, in a layperson way, but no. I found a lot of the content so abstract and almost mathematical as to be nearly impenetrable. And because it was only aural, I kept losing my concentration. Lesson learned: have an audio and visual copy of most anything before jumping in. (Yay for libraries.)

On to Rebecca. Although I got a degree in English literature, I'd never read du Maurier before. Last year Rebecca kept coming up in book review after book review. It seemed every new novel was an homage in some way to this 20th-century classic. So, because a book about a haunting kept haunting me, I figured I ought to give it a whirl.

My first surprise was that it was a 20th-century novel. I was thinking... ghosts and English estates and brooding lords-of-the-manor, gotta be 1820 or so. That would be because the novel draws heavily on the Bronte sisters. However, it's actually fairly modern, more Great Gatsby than Wuthering Heights. Rebecca was published in 1938, the same year this photo was taken:


That is my grandmother. Isn't she lovely? She was 21 at the time, approximately the same age as the nameless narrator who tells the story of Rebecca. The narrator is a stand-in for du Maurier herself, who wrote the novel as an exploration of her own jealousy—her husband had a previous paramour that du Maurier suspected he was still a little in love with. (My grandmother, as far as I know, never had this issue.) Rebecca is not really a ghost story, I discovered—or at least not the story of an actual ghost. There is nothing supernatural here, in spite of the gothic setting and tone. The titular Rebecca does indeed haunt the narrator, but she does it by simply having existed and lived a huge life that the narrator, her opposite, constantly bangs into. Where the narrator is small, self-effacing, plain, uptight, moral, and a bit weedy, Rebecca was tall, extravagant, beautiful, luscious, and wicked.

Of course, the real center of the story is the truly evil Mrs. Danvers. The housekeeper steals every scene she is in. I couldn't help thinking of Frau Blücher from Young Frankenstein whenever she was described ... which made me giggle a little, which in turn took some of the creeping horror away from those scenes. That didn't stop me from gasping at one of the truly over-the-top scenes in the middle of the book, which was as delicious as it was theatrical. (For those who've read it: the bit where the narrator and Danvers are looking out the window over the paving stones.)

Stay close to zee candles. Zee stairway can be ... treacherous
Once I got into this book, I was turning pages pretty feverishly. But it took a while. The narrator is a wimp, and wimpiness doesn't sit too well with modern readers, myself included. I had to keep reminding myself that novels aren't (always) prescriptive, and protagonists are not and shouldn't always be expected to be heroes. Protagonists should be allowed the full range of human experience, and cowardly, sniveling people have stories to tell too. We may not like being inside such a person's head, but if the story is plausible and well-written, with interesting characters, it's worth sitting with a problematic protagonist. It was for me.

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18 comments:

  1. Excellent review, and the photo of your grandmother is, as you say, lovely. When color is added to dresses one normally sees only in black and white, the old fashions come alive and we see ladies looking fabulous in them.

    I must admit, when you mentioned Frau Blücher further on, I thought I heard the neighing of frightened horses outside the castle.

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    1. Exactly! With my kids, it's a conditioned response. If I say "Frau Blücher," they neigh. I tried it just now, and sure enough! Pavlovian, almost.

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  2. I was an English major as well, and also never read Rebecca. You make it sound interesting "feverishly turning pages" but I'm not sure I'll get to it any time soon ;-) TBR pile already teetering...

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    1. I know what you mean. I have to force myself to go back and read classics periodically, which is kind of hard to do with all the new and exciting stuff out there. But I'm finally old enough to *get* most of these books, which just sailed right over me in high school and even college, so I try to discipline myself. Reading Dickens' Bleak House now. Staring at my own teetering TBR pile wistfully ...

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  3. I read this novel when I was a teenager and loved it. I think it was the first book I read in English (I still have it) but it's been so long I can't recall the scene you mention. My favorite Daphne du Maurier novel is The Scapegoat (interestingly I just saw the film of 2012, which I didn't even know existed). However I recommend the novel first because it explains things that the film doesn't (the movie has a more satisfying ending, though). You might like it better because the protagonist is more heroic/brave (but he's also a man in charge of a business and the head of a family so more is expected of him). What's interesting is that du Maurier's novels have had a huge influence on Latin American soaps (both Rebecca and the Scapegoat have telenovela versions). There are some elements in her writing that I love (and have inspired my own work) the gothic setting, a mansion full of secrets and a stranger who has to unravel them.

    Great review. I LOVE that you included your grandma's photo and that she didn't experience anything similar to the protagonist :). Also loved the Young Frankenstein reference and now I can't take the song "He vas my boyfriend" (from the play) off my head :D!!

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    1. I can see why her novels would be telenovela friendly! So dramatic. I also love gothic novels, give me a mansion full of secrets any day. Especially one with Igor ("it's pronounced EYE-gor"), ha.

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    2. "give me a mansion full of secrets any day"

      Then you might like my first novel :D !

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  4. It's funny how the classics really grab you--but you have to get past the slow start and the fact that stories unwinded gradually back then. We're so used to today's books that jump right into the action that it's hard to believe our ancestors had so much more patience than we do.

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    1. Yes. I'm reading Bleak House right now and normally Dickens was a little faster out of the gate, what with the serial format and all (you had to keep your readers coming back) but this one is seriously slow. I read somewhere it takes 300 pages to get going. *groan* At least Rebecca didn't take THAT long.

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  5. To this day, my sibs and I quote Frau Blücher for laughs. There's my super-intellectual comment.

    That is a lovely photo of your grandmother, Steph.

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    1. Gotta love the Frau. And I knew you'd like my gran, too. :)

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  6. Good choice. I read that book quite a while ago... like maybe 1960 or so, so I don't remember too many details from it, only that I really enjoyed it. Might be time to revisit it.

    Neat touch to include the pic of your grandmother.

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    1. Thanks! My mom just posted this photo for Throwback Thursday (that may just be a Facebook thing? Not sure.) and I'd never seen it before. It took my breath away. And then I realized it was taken in 1938, which is when Rebecca was published, and so I just had to post it.

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  7. I've never read the book, though I did watch the movie for the first time recently. I did not appreciate at the time how quickly the film followed: 1940 release.

    The film is definitely best remembered for Mrs. Danvers - way scarier than any ghost!

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  8. I've seen a couple of versions of the film and absolutely love the story. It's got just the right amount of creepiness for me.

    I've read du Mauier's novel (and wrote a review on it) My Cousin Rachel. Du Maurier really knows how to do noir! I loved that book as well, and to this day I wonder if Rachel had anything to do with the narrator's cousin's? uncle's? (can't quite remember which one) death. Du Maurier definitely has a style I enjoy!

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    1. I will have to check out My Cousin Rachel! I do like noir.

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  9. Sounds like a great read. Love the picture of your grandmother. :)

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    1. Thank you! I was so pleased to discover it.

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