Rebecca is my first book completed for The Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Sarah Reads too Much and was my selection the classic mystery/crime/horror category. I have discovered that my expectations of a classic or almost always wrong. This of course happens with more modern literature as well, but just not to the same extent. Books I expected to love leave me looking for a box of nails to chew as I think that would be more enjoyable then finishing the book ...I am pretty sure this first occurred when I took on Henry James for the first time. Books I expect to find tedious and boring end up shocking those nails right out of me. Such is the case with Rebecca .....
The biggest compliment to this book isn't the mystery of what happened to her, but how the the author portrays Rebecca ....you believe her to be this beautiful, amazing and kind spirit ....but **Spoiler Alert** it turns out it she was a cruel and heartless woman. The transformation of character never seems out of place. The mystery of how Rebecca died isn't as exciting and is rather predictable in this day and age, but I doubt it was as predictable in 1938. I found myself yelling at the book and rolling my eyes at the new Mrs de Winter ..."why are you listening to Mrs. Danvers and making that dress for the costume ball!" The true mystery is about who Rebecca really was and that is crafted perfectly through the eyes of the new Mrs. de Winter.