This review is based on a reread of the classic Gothic romance-suspense novel. While the story was every bit as enjoyable and enthralling the second time around, some aspects of the book bothered me a bit more this time than when I first read Rebecca as a teenager.

The characters with whom we’re supposed to sympathize – the unnamed narrator and Maxim de Winter—were not very sympathetic: the girl too mousy and passive, the man’s motivations murky and suspect. The bad guys – the sinister Mrs. Danvers, the loutish cousin, and even the specter of the dead first wife, Rebecca – were all much stronger, more vivid and, in a way, more likable characters. Also, the end (which I won’t give away here) was very abrupt, and as a result, not very satisfying. I don’t mean to over-criticize: This is still a suspenseful, engaging read, just perhaps not as meaty as I remembered it.