The Birds and Other Stories (1952)

If only everyone had half Daphne du Maurier's flair with narrators, I wouldn't be wary of first person narratives at all. I love the way she writes: it feels dated, of course, but that just seems part of the flavour of her stories for me. And her skill with twists -- I don't know why her short stories aren't used more in creative writing classes, because they really demonstrate the power of the sting in the tail of a story.

Anyway, I'm not sure which was my favourite story from this book. All of them had a hold on me while I was reading: The Birds creeped me out, and made me wonder -- what if something as bizarre and out of the blue happened? What would we do. Monte Verità filled me with a sort of longing, really, to climb that mountain and at least see those women from afar, and I really liked the way it was put together, so that it only all made sense at the end. The Apple Tree was well done, with one of those so-revealing narrators that du Maurier was so good at, but it's definitely not my favourite -- and The Little Photographer just made me uncomfortable and angry; I saw the danger coming early, in that story, possibly through the help of having read reviews and from knowing what the sting in the tail would be like. Kiss Me Again, Stranger is a story I'd love to have written, with that slightly creepy nameless female and oh, that ending line. The Old Man is a really short one, but no less effective for that, and I'd best not spoil a word of it for future readers. ( )

My favourite story from this collection is "The Apple Tree". The stories are, each in its own way, deliciously creepy.But deliciously creepy, with a slightly bitter note. Yes, there are enjoyable elements to every one. (The Old Man was my next favourite, but then I get nervous about choosing favourites after that because there are only six stories in total and I don't like to think that one of them would end up at the bottom of my list. I don't like choosing favourites.) But the female characters in this collection's stories are described in such negative terms and presented in such limited and predictable roles that much of the fun was siphoned away.The wife in "The Birds" was particularly annoying. And, well, maybe that's the point. Perhaps we readers are meant to all-the-more strongly sympathize with the poor man with the incredibly useless wife. The poor man who must protect not only his two children, but his...oh, might as well make that three children...for his wife contributes nothing positive to the terrifying situation this family finds itself in and, in fact, she hinders the man's efforts to shore up their defenses and her weakness forces him to make poor decisions which compromise their safety fundamentally. But she's not annoying in an interesting way. No, she's annoying in a predictably two-dimensional Little Woman manner. In an over-the-top-eyes-rolling way. If I can manage to squeeze my frustration over characterization aside, "The Birds" is even more disturbing than the Hitchcock film based on it. There is a darkness and despair to the story in its original form that I did not intuit from the film. Were it not for the caricature of the wife's sketch, I would have lost sleep over this one. If you want to read my slightly longer review, you can find it here. ( )

I'm a big fan of Hitchcock's film 'The Birds', which I've seen more times than I can remember, and I'm also a fan of Daphne du Maurier's novels, but this is the first time I'd read the story on which Hitchcock's film is based. Apparently du Maurier disliked the film, particularly the change of locale from Cornwall to America. The short story is much more low-key than the film, very much starker, the bleak landscape providing the perfect backdrop to the horror of birds suddenly becoming hostile and attacking people.

The other stories in the book have the same theme of the ordinary and everyday suddenly seeming disturbing and even dangerous. 'Monte Verita' is the story of two friends and the beautiful but strange woman one of them marries. 'The Apple Tree' is a well-done tale of a man whose nagging, miserable wife dies leaving the man free. Except his freedom is short-lived. He becomes morbidly obsessed by one of the apple trees in his garden - it's as if his wife's sour presence haunts the apple tree, which bears freakishly profuse blossoms and apples that come off the tree rotten.

'The Little Photographer' features a rich, bored woman who idly begins an affair - not out of lust, but rather because she thinks it's the thing to do, and will make her life more interesting. Because she is the man's social superior, she thinks he will meekly accept her wish to end the affair - when he shows his stubborn, possessive side, she has no idea what to do.

In 'Kiss Me Again, Stranger', a young man is drawn to an usherette in his local cinema. He dreams of making her his girl, but when he tries to find her again he discovers that she's disappeared under disturbing circumstances.

The final story, 'The Old Man', is a subtle story about a man with a son who - unlike his daughters - just won't leave him alone.

Du Maurier's plain writing style is the perfect complement to these stories in which everyday things and people take a sudden sinister turn. [September 2006] ( )

A very different story to that I remember watching in balck and white on TV. Much more though provoking I thought especially the ending. The other short stories were gripping - excellent. ( )

I know I read the title story, and very possibly some of the others, but can't say if I read them all.