The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier

Oh, Daphne. You sure could write. 

Near as I can tell, The Birds and Other Stories is my 9th read by Daphne du Maurier and it's my second deliberately spooky/atmospheric read for fall in 2021. I never did figure out how to sign up for this year's RIP Challenge, but that's OK. I've become so accustomed to reading at least one or two books that are spooky, witchy, atmospheric, or scary to usher in autumn that I do so by force of habit. I'm not in touch with Carl, who started the RIP and helped me form this habit, but I'm grateful that he started it as it helps to make those last hot, sticky days of summer feel like they pass a little more quickly. Our second cool front is finally on its way, this weekend! 

Back to Daphne. I've had The Birds and Other Stories on my TBR for a year or two but it didn't click for me till last week. I loved all but one of the stories. Unfortunately, the least enjoyable of them was the longest. It was more odd and mysterious than creepy or frightening. But, the rest were suspenseful, spooky, atmospheric. Du Maurier had a knack for building tension in the most unexpected ways. Summaries of the stories follow with my thoughts below in italics:

The Birds - The most well-known story, thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, is different from what I know of the movie (I've only seen bits and pieces). A farm hand, injured in the war and only able to perform the easier chores, is shocked when he hears a tapping at his window one night and is attacked by birds, then discovers that his children have left their windows open and are being attacked, as well. The next day, he realizes the birds are hovering offshore, waiting to attack when the tide comes in. So, he rushes his children home and boards up all of the windows. The family hunkers down during the evening attack while the farm hand worries about supplies. How will they survive if this continues? They have barely any food left and there seems to be no end in sight to the attacks. 

I can see why this story is a classic that has given plenty of people a fear of birds. Absolutely kept me on the edge of my seat. 

Monte Verita - When the beautiful wife of the narrator's friend disappears into a strange mountain complex, he's determined to wait for her to emerge. But, she'll only communicate with him in writing and she says she's never coming back to him.

This is the longest story that asks, "Will the man ever figure out how to get his wife to emerge?" and "Do the people inside this complex stay forever young, as the nearby villagers have told him?" A strange story that I didn't particularly enjoy. 

The Apple Tree - When a man's wife dies and he notices that one of his apple trees looks like her, he wants it cut down. But, his gardener is determined to keep the tree alive as it's blossoming for the first time. Each time a piece of the tree enters the house, something goes wrong. Is the tree out to get him? 

One of my favorites. I will never think about apple trees in quite the same way. 

The Little Photographer - A Marquise on holiday with her children and nanny is captivated by the local man who runs a photography business. Bored with her life, she begins meeting him during siesta time on a cliff where he likes to take photos. But, what will happen when her husband decides to come to the seaside a little earlier than expected? 

Trouble, that's what. Good story. The tension is in the fact that they could be caught at any time, but then something shocking happens. 

Kiss Me Again Stranger - When a mechanic goes to see a movie, he falls for the usherette and they take a walk together. A few strange moments intersect with a news article, the next day, and he becomes aware of the danger he was in. 

Another story with a good shock factor. It doesn't feel entirely creepy till the end; you just get the sense that something is off. 

The Old Man - The narrator has been advised to stay away from "the old man" who lives near the lake. Did he kill his children?

The surprise twist ending totally caught me off-guard. Not my favorite. In fact, I'd totally forgotten what this one was about and had to flip through the book. 

Highly recommended - The second book of short stories I've read by du Maurier (Don't Look Now is the other; link leads to a mini review). Of the two, The Birds is better in my humble opinion. Only one story fell totally flat for me and the last story felt like it had a bit of a cheap twist. 4 of the 6 were exceptional. And, as I said in my mini review of Don't Look Now, Daphne du Maurier's books are always worth reading because her writing is stellar.

This is my favorite cover of The Birds. My copy looks like the one at the top of the post. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - Don't Look Now, How to Be an American Housewife and The Education of a British-Protected Child

I've got such a backlog of books to review that I'm going to do a few minis to make it a bit easier to get caught up. All of the following are from my personal library.

Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier is a collection of 5 of du Maurier's creepy short stories, most of which I would guess are closer to novella length. My copy was printed in 1971, when Dame du Maurier was apparently still churning out bestsellers, the copyright date: 1966.

The title story, "Don't Look Now" is my favorite. It begins in a Venice cafe, where a grief-stricken couple, John and Laura, have traveled to try to lift Laura's spirits. While playing a silly game, imagining things about people nearby, they meet two older women. One of the women makes a dire prediction and accurately describes their deceased child, whom she claims to have seen happily sitting at the table with her parents. But, she is blind. After the old woman warns them something is going to happen and says John should leave Venice soon, their vacation takes a frightening turn. Is the blind lady truly psychic? What is the meaning of her warning to John?

"Don't Look Now" is one of those stories that is just predictable enough to make you want to say aloud, "No! Don't go down that alley!" But, it's still surprising enough to satisfy. The remaining 4 stories are a little less fulfilling. "The Breakthrough" tells the story of an engineer who gets tangled up in a frightening experiment. "A Border-Line Case" is the story of a woman who tries to fulfill her father's dying wish but ends up in a frightening situation that leads to a revelation she probably was best off not knowing. And, "The Way of the Cross" is about entanglements and intrigue on a group tour to Israel.

"Not After Midnight" was really the only other story that fully captured me -- enough so that after finishing the story I went on a search for someone to chat with about it. I'm not certain I understood the ending (I didn't find anyone to discuss it with, so if you have the book on hand and want to chat with me, I'll happily reread it). "Not After Midnight" is about an art teacher who becomes intrigued by the odd behavior of an American couple while on a painting holiday in Greece and finds himself falling into the same traps as a man whose curiosity led to his death, the year before.

While only 2 of the 5 stories really thrilled me, I still recommend Don't Look Now. Du Maurier's writing is always vivid and atmospheric; the collection is worth checking out, if only for the title story and would have made an excellent read for the RIP Challenge if I'd ever bothered to sign up. In the fall, I always feel compelled to read something spooky, signed up or not.

How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway tells the story of Shoko, an ailing Japanese woman who married an American soldier just after WWII. Her damaged heart may not hold out much longer; and, she longs to return to her home country to reunite with her estranged brother before she dies. After her doctor forbids her to travel, she takes a dramatic turn for the worse. So, she asks her daughter to go to Japan in her place.

Divorced mother Sue agrees to travel in Shoko's stead and takes her daughter along on the journey. In Japan, Sue becomes privy to family secrets and helps to heal the wounds Shoko and her brother have carried with them for decades.

How to Be an American Housewife is told in two parts, the first part from Shoko's point of view and the latter from Sue's. The change of perspective was a little jarring, at first, because I'd grown to love Shoko and the author did an excellent job of giving the two women distinctive voices. Her skill at making the characters distinctive made the transition difficult, in other words. By the mid-point, I also found that I was predisposed to dislike Sue because Shoko doesn't understand her. It doesn't take long to see events described by Shoko from Sue's perspective and to like her, as well.

I loved this story for many reasons. First and foremost, the storyline drew me in and the pages flew. But, apart from that, I loved stepping into Shoko's shoes and seeing what it's like to move to a spouse's home country and leave your own behind. I also liked reading the WWII scenes and some of them were so genuine that I was not surprised to find out they really happened. Highly recommended!

The Education of a British-Protected Child by Chinua Achebe is a book that Amy of Amy Reads talked me into buying when we met up at my local Borders as it was in its dying days. It wasn't a hard sell. I'm always fascinated by Amy's choices but they're far removed from my own, so I was excited to have her point out a book she particularly enjoyed.

The Education of a British-Protected Child is a collection of essays that mainly focus on education, the Nigerian experience (war, politics, imperialism), slavery and other topics important to Achebe, Nigerians and blacks in general. Although it's one of the most post-it filled books I've read, this year, when I first sat down to write about the book I was so overwhelmed by all the passages worth quoting that I think I'm best off just saying that it's worth the time.

Achebe has a unique perspective in being a highly-educated African who has experienced imperialism from the side of the natives, excellent education in an impoverished nation, a wide variety of experiences in other countries (teaching, travel, even more schooling) and war on his own turf. I learned a great deal from this book and felt like my own beliefs were challenged a bit. At times, I disagreed with Achebe, sometimes I was enlightened and in general I was quite simply in awe of him. I may share some quotes in a future post.

My Face-to-Face book group meets to discuss Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, tonight! I can't wait! Happy Wednesday to all!

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.