Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
My Contemporary Fiction professor at Georgia State University was Maya Angelou’s intern. I liked her a lot because, in my opinion, she had impeccable taste and not because she was Angelou’s intern…we read 9 novels in her class and I loved all but one. She chose each one based on a different narrative technique.
After I graduated I was running through 1001 Books to Read Before You Die and realized I should email her and ask for recommendations. I did, and she told me she was reading Rebecca for the 6th time. 6 times?!? I read it that week, sent her an email, and told her I understood her reading it 6 times.
How can I describe this book….think Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre (two of my favs) but maybe better. Grey, cold, stone, icy, just like Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, but different. I can’t write many details without giving too much away but DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE. When I realized that Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie I thought “How do you capture that book?” You can’t. I watched it. Then Netflix made a movie or a series with Lilly James. It’s just not possible to capture it.
This book is all about the main character’s inner dialogue and you can feel her insecurities. It makes you realize how your own perceptions and self-consciousness have the potential to become your own personal reality, not grounded in any truth—and that can be dangerous. It is definitely in my Top 10, so I highly recommend it. (Side note…my dad took my recommendation and he read it while I studied for the Bar exam. I think he read it in a day, he loved it so much.)