Our Shared Shelf discussion

I've been enjoying my re-read of Rebecca over the past few weeks! I've been thinking about how the experience has been very different this time around, and wondering if others doing a re-read felt the same. Knowing how the story ends, my perception of the entire book feels different, and my understanding of the narrator feels different, especially (she is even more of an unreliable narrator than I realized when I read the first time).

I'm curious about your experiences, observations, or whatever else you've noticed on re-reading Rebecca!

I first read Rebecca about 5 years ago. It was the first novel in English that I had ever read and I remember being really awed and fascinated by it. I mostly remember being amazed at the way du Maurier built the suspense and the setting she created. I did not remember the character of Mrs. Danvers though and, reading the book this time around, she was the thing that stood out to me the most. I think I didn't realize before how almost demonic her character is. The way du Maurier described her is so unsettling! Her eyes, the way she's always looming in the hallways and in the windows, her sardonic smiles...she's so disturbing.

This time I could also appreciate du Maurier's writing more. The dress scene!! I didn't remember that and the way she wrote it made me feel actually tense and anxious.

I really loved re-reading it. It was even better than the first time.

I had to read Rebecca in high school, I think going into my freshman year, it's been a while clearly since I can't even remember that. Although I did remember liking it. This time rereading it, I really just found myself reflecting on how much flew over my head, and it's such a strange book to have high schoolers read anyway. I feel less sympathy for the narrator now as I did as a 14-year-old.