When was young I once saw the film The birds and thought it was creepy, but then I did not know it was based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier.
Now I want to read more Du Maurier (beside Rebecca) and The birds was the first book I picked up.
And I must
say, I really liked it.
The birds
This was so
much better than the film! Nat, a farm hand who has seen a lot during the war,
sees how the birds are acting strange. He does not trust the situation and tries
to keep his family safe. The only problem is, when the whole country is under
attack of the birds, who will come to help them?
Monte Verità
This was
the story I did not care for very much. It is about two friends who go
rock-climbing when they are young and lose touch over the years. One of them
gets married, but there is something strange about his wife. And when they go
climbing together near Monte Verità, she disappears.
The apple tree
A man was
married to a horrible wife (really, she was a nag and a bore) but somehow the
old appletree in his backyard seems to have taken over the characteristics of
his death wife and refuses to let him go.
The little photographer
A
marchioness is on vacation in the South of France. She is bored with her life
and her marriage and begins an affair with the photographer who lives in the
village. For her it is just some fun for the holidays, for him it is much more.
And although she takes drastic measures, she will never be free from him.
Kiss me again, stranger
A young
man, just dismissed from the army, finds a girl he likes. She works in a cinema
and he asks her out. She willingly goes with him, but she has other motives
than he has, as he soon finds out.
The old man
Where an old man takes drastic actions to ensure a peaceful old day for him and his wife.
As you can
see, there are six stories in this book and four of them are good, one is okay
and one I did not like very much.
Monte Verità was just too weird and to unbelievable for me
and I did not care very much for the subject. It may sound strange that I found
this story unbelievable, but I accept a ghoststory with an appletree.
For me
the difference is in the idea that with the appletree you do not know if it is
real, or all in the mind of the husband. And the birds are weird and acting
strangely, but perhaps it could happen in reality, we do not know. In the
others stories you have normal people doing strange, or bad things, but all
within the limits of possibility. I do not know if I am explaining it well, and I hope it makes some sense! :-)
These
stories are excellent, I like how Daphne
du Maurier can describe atmosphere, in just a few sentences she can give a
scene or a situation. You even like the people who are doing wrong, like in The little photographer.
So, if you
want to read more Daphne du Maurier,
I can really recommend her short stories as well!
I have read a couple of short stories by Daphne DuMaurier, and I found them very interesting, too. Like you, I didn't particularly *like* all of them, but they were all intriguing in their own way. - I know 'The Birds', but none of the others you listed, so I'll have to see if I can find them anywhere.
ReplyDeleteDo! I thought there were some really good ones in this collection. I recently also read Don't look now and this was also very good.
DeleteKind regards,
I like her short story of The Birds; I read some other stories by her in the collection Doll: The Lost Stories of Daphne du Maurier. And I really liked most of them, though there were two that were not that great.
ReplyDeleteI think that is usually the case with short stories, there will always be a few you do not like as much or not at all. But when you like most of them, then it is alright!
DeleteI do not have the last book you mention, but I will put it on my list, thanks!
Kind regards,