There are eight stories, and six of those I liked very much. I must admit I did not care for the The Archduchess, since I have no patience for a pretend-country, and The chamois also did not really appeal to me. (I think I did not really get that one)
But the other stories were all wonderful. Or that is perhaps not the right word, since they are quite disturbing. Daphne du Maurier was not at a good point in her life when she wrote this stories. Her husband was quite ill and she was close to breaking down herself. Writing these stories must have been a great outlet for her.
What I like about Daphne du Maurier is that she can write such completely different books and stories. Not one of them is the same in atmosphere and not one time you think: oh, I have read this before.
The only similarity in these stories is that each person is at a, well you can guess it, breaking point. Each story also has great characters, amazing scenery and a twist in the plot. You never really know where the story will take you.
Most disturbing story was The blue lenses. A woman has an eye surgery done and the new lenses have a horrible side-effect, she now sees the people around her much more clear. She is helpless as nobody will believe her and the surgery is soon fixed, but that is perhaps too late to help her. You know things are wrong, and she knows things are wrong, but there is nothing that can be done to help her.
The best scenery was for me in Ganymede. A tourist in Venice falls in love with a young boy and has to cope with his family who demand things from him. After a tragedy, his life is not the same, but he is still up to his old tricks. I loved in this book the scenery of Venice and it really brought me back there. I also loved how Daphne du Maurier makes you see how the main character is a horrible man who prentends to be somebody he is not. He says he is a classical scholar and is boasting about that, but he is not a real intellectual or lover of art and culture.
The story that broke my heart was The lordy ones, The boy Ben who cannot talk and is treated horribly by his parents tries to find solace when he sees The lordy ones at the moors, only to be abandoned again. This was hard to read, since you really hate his parents who abuse him and you want Ben to find happiness.
The other stories were also very good, but these three stood out for me.
Pages: 289
I really like du Maurier's short stories, and I'm not a huge fan of short stories. But I do like the way she writes them. :)
ReplyDeleteNot every writer is good at short stories, but I think Daphne du Maurier is excellent at them, these were really good!
DeleteKind regards,