The nineteenth book that I have finished reading this year is Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca”.
On a trip with her employer, the young, nameless narrator meets Mr. de Winter, the owner of a large English estate, Manderley, and marries him. As they return to Manderley, she discovers the secrets hidden behind the house, about his late wife, Rebecca.

Coined as a “classic tale of romantic suspense”, “Rebecca” is indeed one of the most page-turning novels that I’ve read in a few years. Du Maurier has an ?especially deft hand with characterisation; I really enjoyed the narrator’s metamorphosis from a shy, clumsy girl, often revealing her gaucherie, to a bold, withstanding woman, ready to look after her husband in the face of whatever calamity that may fall upon them. The exchange of roles between the narrator and her husband also signifies a turning point in the plot and arouses further curiosity in the reader as to how the story will continue to unfold.

Nonetheless, however successful the suspense-building can be, it all amounts to illusion if no proper explanation is given at the end. Despite the ominous pathetic fallacy at the finale, du Maurier does not provide any clear direction that the story may head towards, leaving the reader hanging on a cliff. Although an original epilogue is included, it is obviously out of touch with the latest version of the novel and thus cannot serve as a satisfactory ending. This is possibly the greatest vice of this novel for me.

I would still recommend this book to readers who’d like to learn from du Maurier’s careful character portrayal, as well as her use of stream of consciousness to depict possible scenarios forming shape in the narrator’s head. However, if you are one who cannot stand an ambiguous ending, then you might not enjoy it as much as you could have.