"A dreamer, I walked enchanted, and nothing held me back."

From the very first moment, Rebecca the novel wraps you around its finger just like Rebecca the woman did with both humans and animals. First, a dream sequence in Manderley. Then, in Monte Carlo of the past, the nameless narrator makes the hasty decision to marry Maxim de Winter, the owner of Manderley. In the vast estate, her insecurities and sense of powerlessness are only worsened by the manipulation and coldness of the skeletal cryptk... housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, but also by Maxim who becomes more distant and aloof upon returning to his home.

The power play, misunderstandings, the revelation at the end of chapter 19 (which still gives me the shivers), the subsequent events, and the amazing writing actually made a bigger impression on me upon re-reading. Everything is affected by time and memories in some way: although Rebecca is gone, her spirit is still lingering. She's a ghost without actually being an apparition, and she's the air they breathe.

The strong juxtapositions of innocence/corruption, experience/inexperience etc. don't come through in the new movie version, however. Lily James's narrator just floats around, and Armie Hammer... Ugh. I read a review where someone said he's like a golden retriever. I mean, yeah, absolutely. He's the soft boring vanilla version of Maxim. Nowhere near Laurence Olivier and even further from how he's portrayed in the book.

Finally, let's not forget the musical. Not only does it capture the spirit and the darkness of the story perfectly, but Pia Douwes will always be my Mrs. Danvers.

In essence, Rebecca (to me at least) isn't a straightforward romance novel but more like a dark story about imperfect people in a Gothic setting. Something is always slithering under the surface. In that sense, the ending is very fitting. The future is already known, but leaving the reader into that moment... Wow.