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Don't Look Now and Other Stories
A married couple on holiday in Venice are caught up in a sinister series of events. A lonely schoolmaster is impelled to investigate a mysterious American couple. A young woman loses her cool when she confronts her father's old friend on a lonely island. A party of British pilgrims meet strange phenomena and possible disaster in the Holy Land. A scientist abandons his scruples while trying to tap the energy of the dying mind.
Collecting five stories of mystery and slow, creeping horror, Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now and Other Stories showcases her unique blend of sympathy and spinetingling suspense.
Collecting five stories of mystery and slow, creeping horror, Daphne Du Maurier's Don't Look Now and Other Stories showcases her unique blend of sympathy and spinetingling suspense.
214 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Daphne du Maurier
335 books9,052 followersDaphne du Maurier was born on 13 May 1907 at 24 Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, London, the middle of three daughters of prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel, née Beaumont. In many ways her life resembles a fairy tale. Born into a family with a rich artistic and historical background, her paternal grandfather was author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the 1894 novel Trilby, and her mother was a maternal niece of journalist, author, and lecturer Comyns Beaumont. She and her sisters were indulged as a children and grew up enjoying enormous freedom from financial and parental restraint. Her elder sister, Angela du Maurier, also became a writer, and her younger sister Jeanne was a painter.
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story. The nameless heroine has
She spent her youth sailing boats, travelling on the Continent with friends, and writing stories. Her family connections helped her establish her literary career, and she published some of her early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine. A prestigious publishing house accepted her first novel when she was in her early twenties, and its publication brought her not only fame but the attentions of a handsome soldier, Major (later Lieutenant-General Sir) Frederick Browning, whom she married.
She continued writing under her maiden name, and her subsequent novels became bestsellers, earning her enormous wealth and fame. Many have been successfully adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, and Jamaica Inn, and the short stories The Birds and Don't Look Now/Not After Midnight. While Alfred Hitchcock's films based upon her novels proceeded to make her one of the best-known authors in the world, she enjoyed the life of a fairy princess in a mansion in Cornwall called Menabilly, which served as the model for Manderley in Rebecca.
Daphne du Maurier was obsessed with the past. She intensively researched the lives of Francis and Anthony Bacon, the history of Cornwall, the Regency period, and nineteenth-century France and England. Above all, however, she was obsessed with her own family history, which she chronicled in Gerald: A Portrait, a biography of her father; The du Mauriers, a study of her family which focused on her grandfather, George du Maurier, the novelist and illustrator for Punch; The Glassblowers, a novel based upon the lives of her du Maurier ancestors; and Growing Pains, an autobiography that ignores nearly 50 years of her life in favour of the joyful and more romantic period of her youth. Daphne du Maurier can best be understood in terms of her remarkable and paradoxical family, the ghosts which haunted her life and fiction.
While contemporary writers were dealing critically with such subjects as the war, alienation, religion, poverty, Marxism, psychology and art, and experimenting with new techniques such as the stream of consciousness, du Maurier produced 'old-fashioned' novels with straightforward narratives that appealed to a popular audience's love of fantasy, adventure, sexuality and mystery. At an early age, she recognised that her readership was comprised principally of women, and she cultivated their loyal following through several decades by embodying their desires and dreams in her novels and short stories.
In some of her novels, however, she went beyond the technique of the formulaic romance to achieve a powerful psychological realism reflecting her intense feelings about her father, and to a lesser degree, her mother. This vision, which underlies Julius, Rebecca and The Parasites, is that of an author overwhelmed by the memory of her father's commanding presence. In Julius and The Parasites, for example, she introduces the image of a domineering but deadly father and the daring subject of incest.
In Rebecca, on the other hand, du Maurier fuses psychological realism with a sophisticated version of the Cinderella story. The nameless heroine has
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July 9, 2017
*5/5* αστέρια στην βαθμίδα αξιολόγησης για μια εξωπραγματική πένα.
Χρειάζεται κάτι περισσότερο απο θεϊκό ταλέντο για να μπορέσει ένας συγγραφέας σε ελάχιστες σελίδες να δημιουργήσει την απόλυτη ολοκλήρωση.
Αυτό χαρακτηρίζεται ως μεγαλείο,
πνευματικός πλούτος,άριστη ορθολογική επιδεξιότητα και επιβλητικά άμεση χειραγώγηση των συναισθηματικών εναλλαγών.
Δηλώνω αιώνια παγιδευμένη σ'αυτό το ψυχολογικό σφυροκόπημα της Daphne du Maurier.
Η ιστορία και η πλοκή θα μπορούσαν αβίαστα να εξαπλωθούν σε ένα πολυσέλιδο μεταφυσικό έπος.
Δεν είναι ουσιώδεις οι πολλές λεπτομέρειες για την πλοκή της ιστορίας. Άλλωστε περιγράφονται στο οπισθόφυλλο και αποτελούν πλήρη σύνοψη.
Η παραλυτική έκπληξη του αναγνώστη, καθώς και η σταθερά αυξανόμενη αγωνία,αρχίζουν απο τις πρώτες σελίδες και εξελίσσονται σε ένταση και ρυθμό εναλλασσσόμενων σκηνών με γεωμετρική πρόοδο.
Οι ήρωες χωρίζονται σε δυο κατηγορίες.
Η πρώτη περιλαμβάνει την πίστη στον ορθολογισμό, τις αποδείξεις,τα επιχειρήματα και την άρνηση σε ότι αναφέρεται στο ανεξήγητο και το υπερφυσικό.
Η δεύτερη αναφέρεται στην αλήθεια της χαρισματικής πρόβλεψης. Της μεταθανάτιας ύπαρξης και της τρομακτικής ψυχικής προνοητικότητας.
Το παρελθόν επιβάλλεται στο παρόν και η επανάληψη καθιερώνει τα γεγονότα.
Ένας σκοτεινός τόπος κάπου στη Βενετία.
Παλιές εκκλησίες και στενά σοκάκια με λαβυρινθώδη μορφή.
Η γλυκιά νοσταλγία ενός μικρού παιδιού που είναι νεκρό.
Οι τραγικές φιγούρες των γονιών που αντέχουν το ανυπέρβλητο.
Ένας δολοφόνος που σκορπάει ψυχές στα σκοτεινά νερά
Μεσαιωνικές γέφυρες που ενώνουν εποχές και θρύλους.
Φιγούρες που εξαφανίζονται μετά απο κραυγές και ουρλιαχτά.
Φαντάσματα μικρών παιδιών. Δίδυμες ηλικιωμένες γυναίκες που κωπηλατούν στο μακάβριο. Θλίψη. Απόγνωση. Ανησυχία.
Ένα κόκκινο αδιάβροχο...
Θεωρώ πως πρόκειται για μοναδικό έργο τρόμου,το οποίο γοητεύει και σοκάρει επειδή καθόλη τη διάρκεια της ιστορίας ο αναγνώστης αισθάνεται άμεσα όχι την εύκολη αναπάντεχη τρομοκρατία,αλλά ένα διάχυτο,βαθύ και σκοτεινό φόβο που συσσωρεύεται και βαραίνει σαν αργός πνιγμός.
Σε αυτήν την κατάσταση προσθέτονται οι εξελίξεις και οι εναλλαγές μέχρι την τελευταία εγκληματική διάσταση.
Καλή ανάγνωση!!
Πολλούς ασπασμούς!!
Χρειάζεται κάτι περισσότερο απο θεϊκό ταλέντο για να μπορέσει ένας συγγραφέας σε ελάχιστες σελίδες να δημιουργήσει την απόλυτη ολοκλήρωση.
Αυτό χαρακτηρίζεται ως μεγαλείο,
πνευματικός πλούτος,άριστη ορθολογική επιδεξιότητα και επιβλητικά άμεση χειραγώγηση των συναισθηματικών εναλλαγών.
Δηλώνω αιώνια παγιδευμένη σ'αυτό το ψυχολογικό σφυροκόπημα της Daphne du Maurier.
Η ιστορία και η πλοκή θα μπορούσαν αβίαστα να εξαπλωθούν σε ένα πολυσέλιδο μεταφυσικό έπος.
Δεν είναι ουσιώδεις οι πολλές λεπτομέρειες για την πλοκή της ιστορίας. Άλλωστε περιγράφονται στο οπισθόφυλλο και αποτελούν πλήρη σύνοψη.
Η παραλυτική έκπληξη του αναγνώστη, καθώς και η σταθερά αυξανόμενη αγωνία,αρχίζουν απο τις πρώτες σελίδες και εξελίσσονται σε ένταση και ρυθμό εναλλασσσόμενων σκηνών με γεωμετρική πρόοδο.
Οι ήρωες χωρίζονται σε δυο κατηγορίες.
Η πρώτη περιλαμβάνει την πίστη στον ορθολογισμό, τις αποδείξεις,τα επιχειρήματα και την άρνηση σε ότι αναφέρεται στο ανεξήγητο και το υπερφυσικό.
Η δεύτερη αναφέρεται στην αλήθεια της χαρισματικής πρόβλεψης. Της μεταθανάτιας ύπαρξης και της τρομακτικής ψυχικής προνοητικότητας.
Το παρελθόν επιβάλλεται στο παρόν και η επανάληψη καθιερώνει τα γεγονότα.
Ένας σκοτεινός τόπος κάπου στη Βενετία.
Παλιές εκκλησίες και στενά σοκάκια με λαβυρινθώδη μορφή.
Η γλυκιά νοσταλγία ενός μικρού παιδιού που είναι νεκρό.
Οι τραγικές φιγούρες των γονιών που αντέχουν το ανυπέρβλητο.
Ένας δολοφόνος που σκορπάει ψυχές στα σκοτεινά νερά
Μεσαιωνικές γέφυρες που ενώνουν εποχές και θρύλους.
Φιγούρες που εξαφανίζονται μετά απο κραυγές και ουρλιαχτά.
Φαντάσματα μικρών παιδιών. Δίδυμες ηλικιωμένες γυναίκες που κωπηλατούν στο μακάβριο. Θλίψη. Απόγνωση. Ανησυχία.
Ένα κόκκινο αδιάβροχο...
Θεωρώ πως πρόκειται για μοναδικό έργο τρόμου,το οποίο γοητεύει και σοκάρει επειδή καθόλη τη διάρκεια της ιστορίας ο αναγνώστης αισθάνεται άμεσα όχι την εύκολη αναπάντεχη τρομοκρατία,αλλά ένα διάχυτο,βαθύ και σκοτεινό φόβο που συσσωρεύεται και βαραίνει σαν αργός πνιγμός.
Σε αυτήν την κατάσταση προσθέτονται οι εξελίξεις και οι εναλλαγές μέχρι την τελευταία εγκληματική διάσταση.
Καλή ανάγνωση!!
Πολλούς ασπασμούς!!
September 7, 2016
Having seen the 1973 film adaptation of "Don't Look Now" many years ago which completely freaked me out, I thought this would somewhat take the gloss off the reading experience simply because it contained one of the most shocking finales in history, but thankfully I needn't have worried. Although the other four short stories in this collection are every bit as chilling it's "Don't Look Now" that stands out from the rest as a terrifying masterpiece of slow-burning tension, which is spine-chilling as hell but also tender and intimate, a perfect distillation of the confusion and desire that attend grief for a married couple, which, as the story progresses, adventures forward through the winding streets of Venice with the logic of a nightmare. After the death of their daughter Venice to degree becomes a sort of haven for the healing process, well that's until a seriously creepy old psychic clairvoyant predicts some rather disturbing happenings. This is in essence a haunting ghost story which looks at the close affinity of a loving couple and the emotional reactions of losing a child. And it's here I will stop for reasons of not giving too much away!. All the stories are, in their own way, refusals of comfort with the one thing in common being that unpleasant things happen to people, and in one way or another, there is little chance of escapism, Du Maurier certainly knows how to hold ones attention, you may know what's coming but not necessarily in the direction that is anticipated and that's a strong attribute to have.
You could be settled into the most comfy chair on the planet, but once she starts to weave her web of unnerving horror, just don't expect to stay that way.
You could be settled into the most comfy chair on the planet, but once she starts to weave her web of unnerving horror, just don't expect to stay that way.
September 18, 2024
Pretty Good! 🙂
All of the stories are good, but some are even better.
The title story, “Don’t Look Now”, is a story of the supernatural. A father discovers during a trip to Venice that he has precognition. Not that he believes in it. Too bad for him.
In “The Way of the Cross”, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is turned into a pilgrimage of misery for all participants, except a little boy...
With a newlywed wife succumbing to adultery, a member of the peer, unable to turn off her snobbery... and loses her “looks”, her husband, a retired member of the military is incapable of forgetting his military life.
A nouveau rich couple is falling to pieces: The husband is having an affair with the young newlywed and his wife sees every activity as a charitable event. The parson doesn’t wish to be there, and has a humiliating incident with his pants. The old lady falls in a well and passes out.
There is no way that this story could not become my favorite.
Four stars. ✨✨✨✨
All of the stories are good, but some are even better.
The title story, “Don’t Look Now”, is a story of the supernatural. A father discovers during a trip to Venice that he has precognition. Not that he believes in it. Too bad for him.
In “The Way of the Cross”, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem is turned into a pilgrimage of misery for all participants, except a little boy...
With a newlywed wife succumbing to adultery, a member of the peer, unable to turn off her snobbery... and loses her “looks”, her husband, a retired member of the military is incapable of forgetting his military life.
A nouveau rich couple is falling to pieces: The husband is having an affair with the young newlywed and his wife sees every activity as a charitable event. The parson doesn’t wish to be there, and has a humiliating incident with his pants. The old lady falls in a well and passes out.
There is no way that this story could not become my favorite.
Four stars. ✨✨✨✨
August 3, 2018
Daphne du Maurier takes a dip into the deep and murky waters of the human condition. What did she find there? Certainly not treasure. Egos punctured and hopes shattered, mysteries solved but in the worst way, the soul turned into a commodity, the wrecks of dreams and desires... just another day at the beach for the chilly and not particularly empathetic Ms. du Maurier, who is all too familiar with humanity's constant ability to fool itself.
The talent on display reminded me of both Ruth Rendell and Joyce Carol Oates. All three authors share the ability to effortlessly create characters that are recognizable and rooted in our reality, while maintaining a dispassionate detachment from those characters. Cold-blooded writers, writing about mainly unsympathetic people. Perhaps not a fun experience but there was certainly much to admire. Her prose is elegant; her characters are unpleasant but interesting; her themes are darkly fascinating; her disinterest in spelling things out and thus keeping her stories ambiguous is admirable.
The most famous of the collection, its title story "Don't Look Now" - about an ill-fated holiday in Venice - was certainly disturbing and memorable. And bleak. "Not After Midnight" had a strain of weird fantasy that made it all the more haunting. And bleak. "A Border-Line Case" pulls double duty as a mystery and an anti-romance; the story was continually tense. And bleak. "The Breakthrough" could have been a mournful exploration of things spiritual and material, but du Maurier's cold eye made the story feel more like a cautionary tale both desolate and eerie. And bleak.
My favorite was actually the most broadly comic: "The Way of the Cross". This scabrous farce details the trials and tribulations of a small tour group in Jerusalem. A miniature Ship of Fools. Nearly every character gets their very personalized and often quite cruel comeuppance (except for an ingenious child, who miraculously escapes punishment - but give him time). The worst, most excruciating embarrassment was surprisingly reserved for the irritable Reverend Babcock, forced to lead this band of snobs and hypocrites and liars. Poor Reverend! I actually thought du Maurier would leave him unscathed. Possibly because I saw myself in him, haha. But du Maurier makes it clear that a Reverend should not see himself as above his flock, even if he is in charge of a flock of assholes. Anyway, I laughed a lot in this story, I laughed until I choked.
The talent on display reminded me of both Ruth Rendell and Joyce Carol Oates. All three authors share the ability to effortlessly create characters that are recognizable and rooted in our reality, while maintaining a dispassionate detachment from those characters. Cold-blooded writers, writing about mainly unsympathetic people. Perhaps not a fun experience but there was certainly much to admire. Her prose is elegant; her characters are unpleasant but interesting; her themes are darkly fascinating; her disinterest in spelling things out and thus keeping her stories ambiguous is admirable.
The most famous of the collection, its title story "Don't Look Now" - about an ill-fated holiday in Venice - was certainly disturbing and memorable. And bleak. "Not After Midnight" had a strain of weird fantasy that made it all the more haunting. And bleak. "A Border-Line Case" pulls double duty as a mystery and an anti-romance; the story was continually tense. And bleak. "The Breakthrough" could have been a mournful exploration of things spiritual and material, but du Maurier's cold eye made the story feel more like a cautionary tale both desolate and eerie. And bleak.
My favorite was actually the most broadly comic: "The Way of the Cross". This scabrous farce details the trials and tribulations of a small tour group in Jerusalem. A miniature Ship of Fools. Nearly every character gets their very personalized and often quite cruel comeuppance (except for an ingenious child, who miraculously escapes punishment - but give him time). The worst, most excruciating embarrassment was surprisingly reserved for the irritable Reverend Babcock, forced to lead this band of snobs and hypocrites and liars. Poor Reverend! I actually thought du Maurier would leave him unscathed. Possibly because I saw myself in him, haha. But du Maurier makes it clear that a Reverend should not see himself as above his flock, even if he is in charge of a flock of assholes. Anyway, I laughed a lot in this story, I laughed until I choked.
May 14, 2021
The Year of Women--in which I'm devoting 2021 to reading female authors only--continues with Daphne du Maurier. It’s been a few years since I’ve read and loved Rebecca and have had Don’t Look Now and Other Stories on my reading docket for some time. It contains five tales published together in 1971: Don’t Look Now, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross and The Breakthrough. The very first is the very best. The law of diminishing returns applied the more I read, with the collection taking a nose dive at the end of the second story and never recovering.
In Don’t Look Now, a married couple named John and Laura holiday in Venice, recovering from the death of their daughter who suffered a meningitis infection. At a restaurant, they're beguiled by a pair of middle-aged identical twin sisters, one of which appears fixated on John. He determines that twin to be blind. Laura follows the other one into the restroom and returns to confide to her husband that the blind twin had a vision of their daughter standing behind them. She added that John also has second sight but fails to realize it. Finally, the twins issue a warning that the couple will be in danger if they remain in Venice, none of which John takes seriously.
In Not After Midnight, a prep school headmaster named Timothy Grey holidays on the Greek isle of Crete. Rejecting his chalet due to his desire for privacy and for a view of the surf so he can paint, Timothy discovers his new accommodation was recently vacated by a man who drowned while swimming at night. His only real vexation is an obnoxious American guest named Stoll and the man’s silent wife. He gradually begins to spy on the couple. Adding to the intrigue is a card he discovers in the chalet written by the drowning victim, which reads “Not after midnight” and 38, the number of the chalet belonging to the Stolls.
In A Border-Line Case, 19-year-old actor Shelagh Money has returned home to look after her ill father. She's concerned that his condition might not improve quickly enough for her to accept her first major theater role, playing Viola in Twelfth Night. Her father appears on the road to recovery, reminiscing about an old navy pal named Nick Barry who he fell out of touch with. Suddenly confronting Shelagh with a look of horror, he dies. Feeling the need to reconcile her late father’s relationship with the man he was thinking about when he died, she travels to Ireland to seek the reclusive Commander Barry out.
It's always the same when you come face-to-face with death, the nurse told her, you feel you could have done more. It used to worry me a lot when I was training. And of course with a close relative it's worse. You've had a great shock, you must try and pull yourself together for your mother's sake ... My mother's sake? My mother would not mind if I walked out of the house this moment, Shelagh was on the point of saying, because then she would have all the attention, all the sympathy, people would say how wonderfully she was bearing up, whereas with me in the house sympathy will be divided. So death, Shelagh decided, was a moment for compliments, for everyone saying polite things about everybody else which they would not dream of saying at another time. Let me run upstairs for you ... Let me answer the telephone ... Shall I put on the kettle? An excess of courtesy, like mandarins in kimonos bowing, and at the same time an attempt at self-justification for not having been there when the explosion happened.
In The Way of the Cross, British tourists from Little Bletford congregate in Jerusalem, where the vicar who was scheduled to lead their tour of the Holy City falls ill and is replaced by a young minister. In The Breakthrough, an electrical engineer is loaned out by his employer to the salt marshes near Saxmere, where he discovers an eccentric scientist is working on a project to harness the lifeforce at the moment of death.
Don’t Look Now and Other Stories is grand in that each of the tales involves a British tourist or tourists who grant themselves a much-needed change of scenery only to encounter more than they bargained for. It’s sublime packaging on the part of du Maurier, or perhaps very disciplined, considering all of the stories were published the same year. Don’t Look Now is the best, an eerie exploration of the clarity and mystery of a psychic vision, or what happens when you’re provided an answer without understanding the question. It uses foreshadowing to build suspense very well. This served as source material for an offbeat thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie released in 1973.
Du Maurier establishes atmosphere and parses out detail supremely well in all five of the stories, particularly Not After Midnight, which should serve as a warning that while on holiday, never ignore local superstition. She promises more than she’s able to ultimately deliver in this story. A Border-Line Case runs off the tracks at the halfway mark rather than the very end, failing to provide the necessary intrigue for all of the build-up. The Way of the Cross is self-indulgent nonsense that goes absolutely nowhere. The ideas sifted through in The Breakthrough don’t even hold up. But the overall effect, combining psychological realism with a love of the past, is one that definitely makes me want to read more from the author.
Daphne du Maurier was born in 1907 in London, England. Her father was a prominent stage actor and theater manager and her mother—until her retirement in 1910—also an actor. Some of Daphne’s early work was published in the weekly British magazine the Bystander. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. One of its fans, a World War I veteran named Frederick Browning who’d risen to the rank of major, wooed du Maurier and they married a year later. They had three children and Lady Browning continued to publish under her maiden name to great success. Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek, Hungry Hill and My Cousin Rachel, and her short stories The Birds and Don’t Look Now would all be adapted to film. Du Maurier rarely granted interviews for print or television and resided for much of her life privately in Cornwall, where she died in 1989.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
In Don’t Look Now, a married couple named John and Laura holiday in Venice, recovering from the death of their daughter who suffered a meningitis infection. At a restaurant, they're beguiled by a pair of middle-aged identical twin sisters, one of which appears fixated on John. He determines that twin to be blind. Laura follows the other one into the restroom and returns to confide to her husband that the blind twin had a vision of their daughter standing behind them. She added that John also has second sight but fails to realize it. Finally, the twins issue a warning that the couple will be in danger if they remain in Venice, none of which John takes seriously.
In Not After Midnight, a prep school headmaster named Timothy Grey holidays on the Greek isle of Crete. Rejecting his chalet due to his desire for privacy and for a view of the surf so he can paint, Timothy discovers his new accommodation was recently vacated by a man who drowned while swimming at night. His only real vexation is an obnoxious American guest named Stoll and the man’s silent wife. He gradually begins to spy on the couple. Adding to the intrigue is a card he discovers in the chalet written by the drowning victim, which reads “Not after midnight” and 38, the number of the chalet belonging to the Stolls.
In A Border-Line Case, 19-year-old actor Shelagh Money has returned home to look after her ill father. She's concerned that his condition might not improve quickly enough for her to accept her first major theater role, playing Viola in Twelfth Night. Her father appears on the road to recovery, reminiscing about an old navy pal named Nick Barry who he fell out of touch with. Suddenly confronting Shelagh with a look of horror, he dies. Feeling the need to reconcile her late father’s relationship with the man he was thinking about when he died, she travels to Ireland to seek the reclusive Commander Barry out.
It's always the same when you come face-to-face with death, the nurse told her, you feel you could have done more. It used to worry me a lot when I was training. And of course with a close relative it's worse. You've had a great shock, you must try and pull yourself together for your mother's sake ... My mother's sake? My mother would not mind if I walked out of the house this moment, Shelagh was on the point of saying, because then she would have all the attention, all the sympathy, people would say how wonderfully she was bearing up, whereas with me in the house sympathy will be divided. So death, Shelagh decided, was a moment for compliments, for everyone saying polite things about everybody else which they would not dream of saying at another time. Let me run upstairs for you ... Let me answer the telephone ... Shall I put on the kettle? An excess of courtesy, like mandarins in kimonos bowing, and at the same time an attempt at self-justification for not having been there when the explosion happened.
In The Way of the Cross, British tourists from Little Bletford congregate in Jerusalem, where the vicar who was scheduled to lead their tour of the Holy City falls ill and is replaced by a young minister. In The Breakthrough, an electrical engineer is loaned out by his employer to the salt marshes near Saxmere, where he discovers an eccentric scientist is working on a project to harness the lifeforce at the moment of death.
Don’t Look Now and Other Stories is grand in that each of the tales involves a British tourist or tourists who grant themselves a much-needed change of scenery only to encounter more than they bargained for. It’s sublime packaging on the part of du Maurier, or perhaps very disciplined, considering all of the stories were published the same year. Don’t Look Now is the best, an eerie exploration of the clarity and mystery of a psychic vision, or what happens when you’re provided an answer without understanding the question. It uses foreshadowing to build suspense very well. This served as source material for an offbeat thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie released in 1973.
Du Maurier establishes atmosphere and parses out detail supremely well in all five of the stories, particularly Not After Midnight, which should serve as a warning that while on holiday, never ignore local superstition. She promises more than she’s able to ultimately deliver in this story. A Border-Line Case runs off the tracks at the halfway mark rather than the very end, failing to provide the necessary intrigue for all of the build-up. The Way of the Cross is self-indulgent nonsense that goes absolutely nowhere. The ideas sifted through in The Breakthrough don’t even hold up. But the overall effect, combining psychological realism with a love of the past, is one that definitely makes me want to read more from the author.
Daphne du Maurier was born in 1907 in London, England. Her father was a prominent stage actor and theater manager and her mother—until her retirement in 1910—also an actor. Some of Daphne’s early work was published in the weekly British magazine the Bystander. Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. One of its fans, a World War I veteran named Frederick Browning who’d risen to the rank of major, wooed du Maurier and they married a year later. They had three children and Lady Browning continued to publish under her maiden name to great success. Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek, Hungry Hill and My Cousin Rachel, and her short stories The Birds and Don’t Look Now would all be adapted to film. Du Maurier rarely granted interviews for print or television and resided for much of her life privately in Cornwall, where she died in 1989.
Previous reviews in the Year of Women:
-- Come Closer, Sara Gran
-- Veronica, Mary Gaitskill
-- Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys, Viv Albertine
-- Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier
-- My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh
-- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-- The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George
-- Miss Pinkerton, Mary Roberts Rinehart
-- Beast in View, Margaret Millar
-- Lying In Wait, Liz Nugent
-- And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
-- Desperate Characters, Paula Fox
-- You, Caroline Kepnes
-- Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
August 4, 2022
The following review is on 'Don’t Look Now', the first story in the book.
A married couple take a vacation in Venice trying to get over the recent death of their daughter when they notice two old ladies staring across the room at them. And so begins this strange paranormal experience. I didn’t want to get lost in reporting back on a whole book of stories, so just read this one for now . I was impressed with the Nicholas Roeg film of the book in the seventies, but this original story knocked me out. It was just so beautifully crafted from start to finish and carried so much power with it. A fascinating 2 hour read!
A married couple take a vacation in Venice trying to get over the recent death of their daughter when they notice two old ladies staring across the room at them. And so begins this strange paranormal experience. I didn’t want to get lost in reporting back on a whole book of stories, so just read this one for now . I was impressed with the Nicholas Roeg film of the book in the seventies, but this original story knocked me out. It was just so beautifully crafted from start to finish and carried so much power with it. A fascinating 2 hour read!
April 8, 2019
Η Βενετία, με τον λαβύρινθο των καναλιών της και τις πολυάριθμες γέφυρες, υπήρξε το ιδανικό περιβάλλον, εντός του οποίου η Daphne Du Maurier μπόρεσε δεξιοτεχνικά να χτίσει ένα ακόμη ατμοσφαιρικό θρίλερ μυστηρίου, όπου τα όρια μεταξύ πραγματικότητας και παραίσθησης είναι δυσδιάκριτα. Ένα κόκκινο αδιάβροχο, δύο ηλικιωμένες δίδυμες αδελφές, κι οι σκιές που αντικατοπτρίζονται, άλλοτε ονειρικά κι άλλοτε εφιαλτικά, στα νερά της πόλης των Δόγηδων, είναι μερικά από τα στοιχεία που, τόσο στο βιβλίο, όσο και στην ομότιτλη (Don’t look now) ταινία του Νίκολας Ρεγκ, δεν θα ξεχάσεις ποτέ.
February 3, 2023
The title story, "Don't Look Now," was my favorite in this collection of five short stories. A grieving husband and wife are on vacation in Venice when some strange supernatural events occur.
"The Breakthrough" involves an engineer who is sent to a remote facility where secret research is being done. It had a science fiction, mad scientist vibe.
A British schoolmaster travels to Crete to enjoy his hobby of painting by the ocean in "Not After Midnight." A strange couple in a neighboring cottage are involved in a mysterious activity when they go off in their boat every day.
A young woman's father died, and she travels to Ireland to make a connection with his former best friend. He's a recluse on an island with several secrets in "A Border-Line Case."
In "The Way of the Cross," a British group was traveling with their pastor to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. When he falls sick, a less experienced minister is recruited to take his place. This is a story about the pilgrims themselves, their interactions, and their relationships. It was my least favorite of the group.
In each of these stories Daphne du Maurier has the characters journey from their familiar English environment to a place where they feel uncertain and frightened when strange things happen. Sometimes they don't understand the language well, and don't have a friend with whom they can share their fears. The author is very skilled in setting up suspenseful situations.
"The Breakthrough" involves an engineer who is sent to a remote facility where secret research is being done. It had a science fiction, mad scientist vibe.
A British schoolmaster travels to Crete to enjoy his hobby of painting by the ocean in "Not After Midnight." A strange couple in a neighboring cottage are involved in a mysterious activity when they go off in their boat every day.
A young woman's father died, and she travels to Ireland to make a connection with his former best friend. He's a recluse on an island with several secrets in "A Border-Line Case."
In "The Way of the Cross," a British group was traveling with their pastor to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem. When he falls sick, a less experienced minister is recruited to take his place. This is a story about the pilgrims themselves, their interactions, and their relationships. It was my least favorite of the group.
In each of these stories Daphne du Maurier has the characters journey from their familiar English environment to a place where they feel uncertain and frightened when strange things happen. Sometimes they don't understand the language well, and don't have a friend with whom they can share their fears. The author is very skilled in setting up suspenseful situations.
January 11, 2021
The film adaptation of ”Don’t Look Now” is regarded by some as one of the best pieces of British cinema. It has long been a favourite of mine and I am delighted to say I enjoyed the short story it is based upon very much, incredibly well-written. It grips you from beginning to end, slowly building that sense of foreboding. It was the opening tale in this collection of four short stories.
It follows a couple - John and his grief-stricken wife Laura, who are holidaying in Venice after the death of their daughter Christine. Whilst sitting in a restaurant, they spot a pair of middle-aged twins. One of them is blind and claims to be a psychic. She informs Laura that she could see the deceased Christine sat with the couple and even describes outfits that Christine wore. They also believe that John has psychic powers - specifically the ability to see the future, and that the spirit of Christine is trying to warn them that they are in grave danger if they stay in Venice.
The couple later receive a telephone call and are informed that their son, Johnnie, has been taken ill back in England and has to have an emergency operation. Laura leaves via plane to return to England, but not long after her departure, John spots his wife with the twins on a vaporetto. He is certain it is his wife, wearing her red coat. The red coat is the iconic imagery that makes you think of Don’t Look Now (you will see why upon its conclusion).
But, when he telephones to see how his son is doing in England, his wife Laura is there on the other end of the line. So who exactly did John see on the river, and what does this all mean?
Following Don’t Look Now there are four other stories: Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way Of The Cross, and The Breakthrough.
DuMaurier’s short stories are best when it follows a main character’s grief. This is very prevalent in A Border-Line Case, where a young girl of nineteen, Shelagh, has recently lost her father. This grief, and honouring her late father’s wishes, are the driving force behind the plot.
All of them reach a satisfying conclusion, and I look forward to reading more of her short stories in the future, mainly ”The Birds”.
I give the collection as a whole 4.5 stars, rounded down to a 4.
It follows a couple - John and his grief-stricken wife Laura, who are holidaying in Venice after the death of their daughter Christine. Whilst sitting in a restaurant, they spot a pair of middle-aged twins. One of them is blind and claims to be a psychic. She informs Laura that she could see the deceased Christine sat with the couple and even describes outfits that Christine wore. They also believe that John has psychic powers - specifically the ability to see the future, and that the spirit of Christine is trying to warn them that they are in grave danger if they stay in Venice.
The couple later receive a telephone call and are informed that their son, Johnnie, has been taken ill back in England and has to have an emergency operation. Laura leaves via plane to return to England, but not long after her departure, John spots his wife with the twins on a vaporetto. He is certain it is his wife, wearing her red coat. The red coat is the iconic imagery that makes you think of Don’t Look Now (you will see why upon its conclusion).
But, when he telephones to see how his son is doing in England, his wife Laura is there on the other end of the line. So who exactly did John see on the river, and what does this all mean?
Following Don’t Look Now there are four other stories: Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way Of The Cross, and The Breakthrough.
DuMaurier’s short stories are best when it follows a main character’s grief. This is very prevalent in A Border-Line Case, where a young girl of nineteen, Shelagh, has recently lost her father. This grief, and honouring her late father’s wishes, are the driving force behind the plot.
All of them reach a satisfying conclusion, and I look forward to reading more of her short stories in the future, mainly ”The Birds”.
I give the collection as a whole 4.5 stars, rounded down to a 4.
July 1, 2015
The first three stories in this collection (Don't Look Now, Not After Midnight, and A Border-Line Case) are absolutely wonderful. They're very atmospheric and, at times, chilling. I'd recommend this whole collection on those stories alone. However, it's the final two works (The Way of the Cross and The Breakthrough) that really let down this collection and thus rob it of a four-star rating. They're two bland stories that don't really offer much and only exist to disappoint.
October 2, 2022
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news and all, but this was blander than bland, and it's absolutely killing me writing this review as it concerns one of my most loved female authors; Daphne Du Maurier.
I adore Du Maurier's writing style, and she has quite literally blew me away with her prose within other works, but unfortunately, that just wasn't enough to carry me through this collection.
The only story really worth my time was the first one 'Don't look now'. It was intriguing, with a gothic atmosphere, and a juicy twist at the end. Everything else was really tedious to read, and I struggled to persevere to the end.
Du Maurier was an amazing writer, and she wrote one of my most loved novels 'Rebecca' but quite honestly, that felt like it was in a completely different league to this.
If you're new to Du Maurier, don't begin with this one, delve into one of her full-length novels first.
I adore Du Maurier's writing style, and she has quite literally blew me away with her prose within other works, but unfortunately, that just wasn't enough to carry me through this collection.
The only story really worth my time was the first one 'Don't look now'. It was intriguing, with a gothic atmosphere, and a juicy twist at the end. Everything else was really tedious to read, and I struggled to persevere to the end.
Du Maurier was an amazing writer, and she wrote one of my most loved novels 'Rebecca' but quite honestly, that felt like it was in a completely different league to this.
If you're new to Du Maurier, don't begin with this one, delve into one of her full-length novels first.
February 17, 2023
3,5*
Que nunca se diga de Daphne du Maurier que não sabe manter o suspense até ao último parágrafo e que esse não representa um final eficaz e satisfatório. Pelo menos foi o que aconteceu nos três primeiros contos desta colectânea dos anos 70, com esta despropositada capa de filme erótico manhoso.
Em “Aquele Inverno em Veneza”, há um elemento de sobrenatural que apesar das minhas reticências, acaba por fazer sentido no fim, quando um casal a tentar recuperar da perda de uma filha conhece um estranho par de irmãs.
Em “Não Depois da Meia-Noite”, também passado no Sul da Europa, a sensação de perigo que persegue um pintor inglês numa estância turística confirma-se numa conclusão macabra e inesperada.
Em “Nas Raias da Loucura”, a autora parece perder o controlo da verosimilhança do enredo, quando uma rapariga que acabou de enterrar o pai vai à Irlanda à procura de um colega do pai, redimindo-se, ainda assim, nas últimas linhas.
Nos dois últimos contos, Du Maurier faz uma incursão na sátira de costumes e na ficção-científica respectivamente, géneros onde ela não parece estar à vontade.
Aquele Inverno em Veneza-4*
Não Depois da Meia-Noite-4*
Nas Raias da Loucura-3,5*
O Caminho do Calvário-2,5*
O Avanço da Ciência-2,5*
Que nunca se diga de Daphne du Maurier que não sabe manter o suspense até ao último parágrafo e que esse não representa um final eficaz e satisfatório. Pelo menos foi o que aconteceu nos três primeiros contos desta colectânea dos anos 70, com esta despropositada capa de filme erótico manhoso.
Em “Aquele Inverno em Veneza”, há um elemento de sobrenatural que apesar das minhas reticências, acaba por fazer sentido no fim, quando um casal a tentar recuperar da perda de uma filha conhece um estranho par de irmãs.
Em “Não Depois da Meia-Noite”, também passado no Sul da Europa, a sensação de perigo que persegue um pintor inglês numa estância turística confirma-se numa conclusão macabra e inesperada.
Em “Nas Raias da Loucura”, a autora parece perder o controlo da verosimilhança do enredo, quando uma rapariga que acabou de enterrar o pai vai à Irlanda à procura de um colega do pai, redimindo-se, ainda assim, nas últimas linhas.
Nos dois últimos contos, Du Maurier faz uma incursão na sátira de costumes e na ficção-científica respectivamente, géneros onde ela não parece estar à vontade.
Aquele Inverno em Veneza-4*
Não Depois da Meia-Noite-4*
Nas Raias da Loucura-3,5*
O Caminho do Calvário-2,5*
O Avanço da Ciência-2,5*
October 17, 2021
Quite the collection of thrillers. Not only did these short stories take me on a metaphysical haunted theme park ride but I took pleasure in travelling alongside true power of imagination and awe.
The ideas behind most of these stories express themselves as very fresh and intelligent, especially the first ‘Don’t look now’ the second ‘Not after Midnight’ & the last ‘The Breakthrough’, being surprisingly complex for short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these with the total confusion and dire end of the first story, the serene setting but interminable tension build leading to eventual horror of the second and the completely insane actions of the last; keeping me hooked throughout.
I rate du Maurier’s novels highly for all the reasons stated above and more, and these stories are equal to those that I’ve read, even, perhaps offering increasingly creepier thrills to the reader.
The ideas behind most of these stories express themselves as very fresh and intelligent, especially the first ‘Don’t look now’ the second ‘Not after Midnight’ & the last ‘The Breakthrough’, being surprisingly complex for short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these with the total confusion and dire end of the first story, the serene setting but interminable tension build leading to eventual horror of the second and the completely insane actions of the last; keeping me hooked throughout.
I rate du Maurier’s novels highly for all the reasons stated above and more, and these stories are equal to those that I’ve read, even, perhaps offering increasingly creepier thrills to the reader.
May 13, 2017
Happy Short Story Month! (May, 2017)
This is a collection of five short stories by Daphne du Maurier (Don't Look Now, The Breakthrough, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross) which exhibit the great versatility and inventiveness of the author. The topics vary from psychic precognition, to scientific experimentation, to possible murder, to incest, and finally to various forms of public humiliation (atonement for sins?) All were interesting but I found some of the endings a bit disappointing. All in all worth reading but I have to say I appreciate du Maurier's full length novels more.
This is a collection of five short stories by Daphne du Maurier (Don't Look Now, The Breakthrough, Not After Midnight, A Border-Line Case, The Way of the Cross) which exhibit the great versatility and inventiveness of the author. The topics vary from psychic precognition, to scientific experimentation, to possible murder, to incest, and finally to various forms of public humiliation (atonement for sins?) All were interesting but I found some of the endings a bit disappointing. All in all worth reading but I have to say I appreciate du Maurier's full length novels more.
September 24, 2018
Εξαιρετική η γραφή της du Maurier. Μια μικρής έκτασης νουβέλα μυστηρίου, η οποία ολοκληρώνεται στον χρόνο που πρέπει, με τον τρόπο που όφειλε.
May 3, 2017
Ο Τζον και η Λόρα βρίσκονται σε ένα ταξίδι στην Βενετία, σε μια προσπάθεια να επουλώσουν τα ψυχολογικά τραύματα που τους έχει προκαλέσει ο θάνατος της μικρής τους κόρης. Εκεί, και πιο συγκεκριμένα σε ένα από τα νησιά της λιμνοθάλασσας της Βενετίας, το Τορτσέλλο, θα συναντήσουν 2 περίεργες Αγγλίδες δίδυμες αδελφές (η μια τυφλή και μέντιουμ) οι οποίες θα ισχυριστούν πως μπορούν αν επικοινωνήσουν με την νεκρή τους κόρη.
Η ψυχολογικά εύθραυστη Λόρα θα επηρεαστεί σε μεγάλο βαθμό από τα λεγόμενα του μέντιουμ σε αντίθεση με τον πιο ορθολογιστή Τζον, ο οποίος θα αντιμετωπίσει το όλο ζήτημα με «ελαφρότητα» παρόλο που οι προειδοποιήσεις της τυφλής αδελφής αφορούν τον ίδιο και ένα επικείμενο κακό που έρχεται προς το μέρος του.
Η Ντι Μοριέ γράφει ένα εξαιρετικό διήγημα μυστηρίου με πινελιές μεταφυσικού τρόμου. Η Βενετία αφομοιώνεται περίτεχνα μέσα στο διήγημα αναδεικνύοντας την γοητεία και το μυστήριο της μέσα σε μια γοτθική ατμόσφαιρα. Το μεταφυσικό στοιχείο σταδιακά κυριαρχεί, έτσι ώστε να παρασύρει τον ορθολογιστή Τζον στο εφιαλτικό του φινάλε.
Η ελλειπτική περιγραφή των χαρακτήρων δίνει στο διήγημα μια ιδιαίτερη χροιά κάνοντάς το ακόμα πιο σκοτεινό και μυστήριο…
5/5 απλά…
ΥΓ: Το διήγημα έχει μεταφερθεί και στον κινηματογράφο από τον Νίκολας Ρεγκ με τον τίτλο “Don’t look now” το 1973. Αριστουργηματική μεταφορά, από τον μεγάλο σκηνοθέτη, απόλυτα πιστή στο κλίμα του βιβλίου και με ένα εκπληκτικό ζευγάρι πρωταγωνιστών στους ρόλους του Τζον και της Λόρας, τον Ντόναλντ Σάδερλαντ και την Τζούλι Κρίστι… Η σκηνή σεξ του ζευγαριού παραμένει πρωτοποριακή για την εποχή της και ιδιαίτερα τολμηρή…
Η ψυχολογικά εύθραυστη Λόρα θα επηρεαστεί σε μεγάλο βαθμό από τα λεγόμενα του μέντιουμ σε αντίθεση με τον πιο ορθολογιστή Τζον, ο οποίος θα αντιμετωπίσει το όλο ζήτημα με «ελαφρότητα» παρόλο που οι προειδοποιήσεις της τυφλής αδελφής αφορούν τον ίδιο και ένα επικείμενο κακό που έρχεται προς το μέρος του.
Η Ντι Μοριέ γράφει ένα εξαιρετικό διήγημα μυστηρίου με πινελιές μεταφυσικού τρόμου. Η Βενετία αφομοιώνεται περίτεχνα μέσα στο διήγημα αναδεικνύοντας την γοητεία και το μυστήριο της μέσα σε μια γοτθική ατμόσφαιρα. Το μεταφυσικό στοιχείο σταδιακά κυριαρχεί, έτσι ώστε να παρασύρει τον ορθολογιστή Τζον στο εφιαλτικό του φινάλε.
Η ελλειπτική περιγραφή των χαρακτήρων δίνει στο διήγημα μια ιδιαίτερη χροιά κάνοντάς το ακόμα πιο σκοτεινό και μυστήριο…
5/5 απλά…
ΥΓ: Το διήγημα έχει μεταφερθεί και στον κινηματογράφο από τον Νίκολας Ρεγκ με τον τίτλο “Don’t look now” το 1973. Αριστουργηματική μεταφορά, από τον μεγάλο σκηνοθέτη, απόλυτα πιστή στο κλίμα του βιβλίου και με ένα εκπληκτικό ζευγάρι πρωταγωνιστών στους ρόλους του Τζον και της Λόρας, τον Ντόναλντ Σάδερλαντ και την Τζούλι Κρίστι… Η σκηνή σεξ του ζευγαριού παραμένει πρωτοποριακή για την εποχή της και ιδιαίτερα τολμηρή…
March 13, 2018
Excelente recopilación de relatos de la inglesa Daphne du Maurier, de la mano de La Biblioteca de Carfax, con una portada magistral de Rafael Martín Coronel. Du Maurier siempre será conocida por sus novelas ‘Rebeca’ y ‘La posada de Jamaica’, así como por su relato ‘Los pájaros’, que también tuvieron su correspondiente adaptación cinematográfica, de la mano del maestro Hitchcock.
La autora se desenvuelve muy bien en las distancias cortas. Es capaz de mantener la tensión conduciéndonos a un crescendo inesperado y angustioso. Si bien los giros finales están bien, lo que más he disfrutado ha sido la narración, el viaje hasta los mismos. Y es que estos relatos están muy bien escritos (o traducidos), la autora conoce perfectamente los resortes de tan complicada género.
Estos son los cinco relatos incluidos en ‘No mires ahora y otros relatos’ (2018):
No mires ahora (*****). Un matrimonio, que está de viaje por Venecia, se encuentra en una terraza. La historia comienza cuando el marido intenta hacer jugar a su mujer a un antiguo juego, inventarse historias sobre las personas sentadas en las otras mesas. Pero todo se complicará cuando una anciana le diga su esposa que puede ver a su hija muerta. Fascinante y estupendo relato, lleno de suspense.
El manzano (*****). El protagonista, que acaba de enviudar de su mujer, a la que no amaba, cree verla representada en un viejo manzano. Otro magnífico relato, mi favorito junto al anterior.
No después de medianoche (****). Un profesor viaja a Creta en busca de descanso y para poder pintar. El hecho de que le asignen una cabaña cuyo anterior huésped murió ahogado, tendrá sus consecuencias. Muy buen relato.
El estanque (**). Unos niños, de vacaciones junto a su familia, se divierten jugando en el bosque, cerca de un estanque que obsesiona a Deborah. Narrado a modo de falso cuento infantil, no ha acabado de gustarme.
Las lentes azules (****). Marda West está en el hospital, donde le han operado de la vista. Cuando le quinten los vendajes, y le coloquen las lentes provisionales, se llevará un gran susto. Gran relato, cercano a la ciencia ficción.
La autora se desenvuelve muy bien en las distancias cortas. Es capaz de mantener la tensión conduciéndonos a un crescendo inesperado y angustioso. Si bien los giros finales están bien, lo que más he disfrutado ha sido la narración, el viaje hasta los mismos. Y es que estos relatos están muy bien escritos (o traducidos), la autora conoce perfectamente los resortes de tan complicada género.
Estos son los cinco relatos incluidos en ‘No mires ahora y otros relatos’ (2018):
No mires ahora (*****). Un matrimonio, que está de viaje por Venecia, se encuentra en una terraza. La historia comienza cuando el marido intenta hacer jugar a su mujer a un antiguo juego, inventarse historias sobre las personas sentadas en las otras mesas. Pero todo se complicará cuando una anciana le diga su esposa que puede ver a su hija muerta. Fascinante y estupendo relato, lleno de suspense.
El manzano (*****). El protagonista, que acaba de enviudar de su mujer, a la que no amaba, cree verla representada en un viejo manzano. Otro magnífico relato, mi favorito junto al anterior.
No después de medianoche (****). Un profesor viaja a Creta en busca de descanso y para poder pintar. El hecho de que le asignen una cabaña cuyo anterior huésped murió ahogado, tendrá sus consecuencias. Muy buen relato.
El estanque (**). Unos niños, de vacaciones junto a su familia, se divierten jugando en el bosque, cerca de un estanque que obsesiona a Deborah. Narrado a modo de falso cuento infantil, no ha acabado de gustarme.
Las lentes azules (****). Marda West está en el hospital, donde le han operado de la vista. Cuando le quinten los vendajes, y le coloquen las lentes provisionales, se llevará un gran susto. Gran relato, cercano a la ciencia ficción.
May 17, 2024
Back in 2021, I fell in love with Daphne du Maurier through reading her most beloved novel Rebecca. I was blown away by her writing style, the novel's atmosphere and beauty; and so I vowed to read as much of hers as I could. Du Maurier was a prolific writer, publishing 17 (!) novels and 6 short story collections during her lifetime. I knew I never wanted to read all of them but I wanted to read her big four – the so called Cornish novels – as well as her two short stories – "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now" – which were turned into popular movies. Now in 2024, by reading this book here, I have finally accomplished that goal.
I would consider du Maurier one of my favorite writers but she differs greatly from other "classical" writers I call favorites. Du Maurier is way more messy. She can give you romance and sex as well as mystery and intrigue. She's way more explicit than other writers of her time. And above all, she's fun to read. But I don't like all of her novels equally: Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel were brilliant, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn ... not so much. The two short story collections I've read from her – The Birds and Other Stories and Don't Look Now and Other Stories – were both solid, but not brilliant. So it's a mixed bag, but I still hold her works dearly and would recommend them.
Don't Look Now is a 1971 collection of five short stories, first published under the title Not After Midnight in Great Britain. Of the five stories, "The Way of the Cross" is the absolute standout. The two respective titular stories were great as well. "A Border-Line Case" was by far the weakest of the bunch, and "The Breakthrough" was pretty mediocre.
Don't Look Now (4 stars)
The titular story follows the married couple, John and Laura, on their first holiday after the death of their young daughter Christine. It's a mystery story (and truly a wild ride!) that also grapples with themes of grief and different ways to cope with it.
When the couple learns that their son has taken ill at boarding school, Laura leaves immediately and flies back to England. John vows to follow her with their car the next day. On his ride out of the city, he sees Laura on a vaporetto with the twins, apparently heading back into the city. Instead of leaving the city himself, John searches for his wife for hours on end but is unable to locate her. Later that evening, when he calls the boarding school, he is distressed to find that Laura is, in fact, in England. That same evening, John sees the little girl again who seems to be feeling from a man. Attempting to protect her from a presumed murderer, John follows her. The "child" is revealed to be a middle-aged "woman dwarf". She pulls a knife from her sleeve and pierces John throat. As John slumps to the floor, thinking to himself "Oh God, what a silly way to die.", he has a vision of the vaporetto and realises it is a premonition of the scene in a few days' time when Laura and the sisters will return for his funeral.
The twists and turns in this story are truly wild and there's no way of seeing all of them coming. The ending took me out of the story due to how unrealistic it was, but otherwise Daphne had me at the edge of my seat. I shared John's sense of foreboding and didn't trust the twin sisters either.
Not After Midnight (4 stars)
Timothy Grey, a preparatory school headmaster, takes a holiday to the Greek island of Crete with the intent of finding some solitude in which to paint. On arrival at his hotel, he asks to move his accommodation to a better chalet, near the water's edge, which the hotel management agrees to with some reluctance. The reason becomes clear when he discovers that the chalet's previous occupant had drowned while swimming at night. Also staying at the hotel is Stoll, a drunken and obnoxious American, and his silent and apparently deaf wife. They spend every day out in a small boat, ostensibly fishing.
Grey finds a card in his chalet left by the previous occupant reading, "Not after midnight" and the number 38, which he realises is the number of Stoll's chalet. One morning, Grey follows the couple and discovers that their days are being spent collecting ancient artefacts from a local shipwreck, with Mrs Stoll diving and supplying the finds to her husband on the beach. Grey is spotted, and that evening Stoll offers a gift, presumably to keep him quiet. His wife invites him to visit their chalet, but "not after midnight". Timothy declines the invitation, but Mrs Stoll dives to his chalet in the night and leaves the gift on his front porch. In the morning, Grey resolves to return the unwanted gift, but finds that the Stolls have departed. Determined to find out more about the Stolls' activities, he hires a boat and – when exactly over the local shipwreck – looks into the depths to see Stoll's body, drifting in the current, tied to an anchor.
Similarly to the first story, I thought that "Not After Midnight" started out brilliantly, but then kinda fell apart towards the end. In the beginning, it was easy to sympathise with Timothy and his need for quiet. The fact that everyone acted so weirdly about his choice of abode freaked me out as much as it did him. When we then learn about the previous occupant's death, things started to click into place, and the sense of foreboding grew. When Mrs Stoll snorkelled to Timothy's place, after he didn't follow through on their invitation, to leave the gift, it was truly creepy. The atmosphere was there. The suspense was there. The ending, with Mr Stoll's death, came, yet again, out of the blue, and I struggle to make sense of it. Did Mrs Stoll kill her husband? If so, why?
A Border-Line Case (2 stars)
Shelagh Money, a 19-year-old aspiring actress who goes by the stage name of Jennifer Blair, is looking forward to her first big theatre role, playing Viola/Cesaro in Twelfth Night. She looks after her seriously ill father. One evening, as the two look through an old family album and Shelagh's father reminisces about his former friend and best man, Commander Nick Barry, he, quite unexpectedly, looks at Shelagh with a look of horror and disbelief on his face, collapses and dies.
Horrified by the events, Shelagh travels to Ireland to seek out Commander Barry and learn more about him and his relation to his father. She discovers that Nick lives a reclusive life on a small island. When she attempts to investigate further, she is kidnapped and taken to the island as Nick's "guest". Shelagh is shocked to see that he keeps on his desk a framed copy of her father's wedding photograph, which had been doctored to swap around the heads of the groom and the best man.
When Nick questions her, Shelagh lies and gives her stage name Jennifer Blair. When she asks him about the photograph, he tells her that his wife died shortly after their wedding. Shelagh finds herself strongly attracted to Nick. That night, they have sex in the back of a grocer's van. There, Nick admits that the photograph is a fake: a practical joke that the new bride took rather badly at the time, because Nick "got her drunk" one night and the two of them had sex, cheating on their respective husband and best friend. Although Shelagh is shocked to learn this about her mom, she tells Nick that she loves him and wants to be with him. Nick, however, is set on the two of them parting ways, and so Shelagh has no choice but to return to England.
YIKES. YIKES. YIKES. This story, ya'll. It wasn't for me, honey. I mean, the twist at the end is shocking, scandalous even. And I bet readers back in du Maurier's day were clutching their pearls, but to me, it felt so fucking forced. Why did Shelagh and Nick fall "in love" in the first place? They literally had one conversation. Shelagh was also giving damsel in distress, whilst Nick was the big brooding alpha male, and I just hate that dynamic.
But I really liked the beginning, and thought it was so well done and creepy when Shelagh initially spotted the fake wedding photo at Nick's place. I was really able to put myself in her shoes. Like, for real, imagine being in that situation. My fight or flight would've kicked in immediately, LMAO.
The Way of the Cross (5 stars)
A disparate party from the middle-class village of Little Bletford take a sightseeing cruise to Middle East, led by their local vicar. All are in their own individual ways unsatisfied with their lives and their relationships. When their vicar falls ill, just before a planned 24-hour excursion ashore to Jerusalem, his place is taken by the inexperienced Reverend Babcock, a man more used to mixing with the youth of his own slum parish in Huddersfield. On the first night of the cruise, Robin, a precocious nine-year-old and grandson of one of the couples, suggests a walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the dark, among the bushes and trees, two people overhear things about themselves that force them to re-evaluate their lives. The next day, several of the party experience mishaps and personal humiliations, and by the end of the excursion all apart from Robin have met the fate that they most dread. In dealing with the disasters the whole group learn a great deal about themselves and their loved ones, and they return happier people.
The Breakthrough (3 stars)
Stephen Saunders is sent to an isolated laboratory on the salt marshes of the East Coast to help out with a secret project. He is told that the laboratory is in need of an electrical engineer, but is given no other details. On arrival, Stephen discovers that he is expected to help operate the computer for an experiment to trap a human's vital spark, or psychic energy, at the point of death and prevent it from going to waste. The test subject is Ken, an affable young assistant who is dying of leukaemia.
As Ken lies on the point of death he is put under hypnosis along with Niki, a "backward child" whom the scientists have found to be susceptible. Niki is asked to 'stay with Ken' as his life ebbs away, and initially it seems that the experiment has been a success, with the instruments showing that Ken's energy has been captured. But after the point of death Niki, still under hypnosis, reports that Ken is asking the experimenters to let him go, and they realise that they may have captured more of Ken than his psychic energy. Horrified, they disconnect the apparatus and release the energy.
Definitely the most unlikely story of the bunch, as it's kinda sci-fi-esque. I didn't really care for it, tbh, but I applaud du Maurier for trying out different genres.
I would consider du Maurier one of my favorite writers but she differs greatly from other "classical" writers I call favorites. Du Maurier is way more messy. She can give you romance and sex as well as mystery and intrigue. She's way more explicit than other writers of her time. And above all, she's fun to read. But I don't like all of her novels equally: Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel were brilliant, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn ... not so much. The two short story collections I've read from her – The Birds and Other Stories and Don't Look Now and Other Stories – were both solid, but not brilliant. So it's a mixed bag, but I still hold her works dearly and would recommend them.
Don't Look Now is a 1971 collection of five short stories, first published under the title Not After Midnight in Great Britain. Of the five stories, "The Way of the Cross" is the absolute standout. The two respective titular stories were great as well. "A Border-Line Case" was by far the weakest of the bunch, and "The Breakthrough" was pretty mediocre.
Don't Look Now (4 stars)
The titular story follows the married couple, John and Laura, on their first holiday after the death of their young daughter Christine. It's a mystery story (and truly a wild ride!) that also grapples with themes of grief and different ways to cope with it.
'Don't look now,' John said to his wife, 'but there are a couple of old girls two tables away who are trying to hypnotise me.'In a restaurant, the couple encounters a set of identical twin sisters, which Laura thinks to be "male twins in drag." The blind one claims to have psychic abilities; she tells Laura that Christine is still with them and trying to warn them that they are in danger if they remain in Venice. Whilst Laura believes these claims, John is skeptical (...to say the least, at one point he thinks: "False old bitch, I know they followed us" LMAO). During a night out, John hears a cry and sees what appears to be a small girl running along an alley. He later learns that the city has been plagued by a series of recent murders.
When the couple learns that their son has taken ill at boarding school, Laura leaves immediately and flies back to England. John vows to follow her with their car the next day. On his ride out of the city, he sees Laura on a vaporetto with the twins, apparently heading back into the city. Instead of leaving the city himself, John searches for his wife for hours on end but is unable to locate her. Later that evening, when he calls the boarding school, he is distressed to find that Laura is, in fact, in England. That same evening, John sees the little girl again who seems to be feeling from a man. Attempting to protect her from a presumed murderer, John follows her. The "child" is revealed to be a middle-aged "woman dwarf". She pulls a knife from her sleeve and pierces John throat. As John slumps to the floor, thinking to himself "Oh God, what a silly way to die.", he has a vision of the vaporetto and realises it is a premonition of the scene in a few days' time when Laura and the sisters will return for his funeral.
The twists and turns in this story are truly wild and there's no way of seeing all of them coming. The ending took me out of the story due to how unrealistic it was, but otherwise Daphne had me at the edge of my seat. I shared John's sense of foreboding and didn't trust the twin sisters either.
Not After Midnight (4 stars)
Timothy Grey, a preparatory school headmaster, takes a holiday to the Greek island of Crete with the intent of finding some solitude in which to paint. On arrival at his hotel, he asks to move his accommodation to a better chalet, near the water's edge, which the hotel management agrees to with some reluctance. The reason becomes clear when he discovers that the chalet's previous occupant had drowned while swimming at night. Also staying at the hotel is Stoll, a drunken and obnoxious American, and his silent and apparently deaf wife. They spend every day out in a small boat, ostensibly fishing.
Grey finds a card in his chalet left by the previous occupant reading, "Not after midnight" and the number 38, which he realises is the number of Stoll's chalet. One morning, Grey follows the couple and discovers that their days are being spent collecting ancient artefacts from a local shipwreck, with Mrs Stoll diving and supplying the finds to her husband on the beach. Grey is spotted, and that evening Stoll offers a gift, presumably to keep him quiet. His wife invites him to visit their chalet, but "not after midnight". Timothy declines the invitation, but Mrs Stoll dives to his chalet in the night and leaves the gift on his front porch. In the morning, Grey resolves to return the unwanted gift, but finds that the Stolls have departed. Determined to find out more about the Stolls' activities, he hires a boat and – when exactly over the local shipwreck – looks into the depths to see Stoll's body, drifting in the current, tied to an anchor.
Similarly to the first story, I thought that "Not After Midnight" started out brilliantly, but then kinda fell apart towards the end. In the beginning, it was easy to sympathise with Timothy and his need for quiet. The fact that everyone acted so weirdly about his choice of abode freaked me out as much as it did him. When we then learn about the previous occupant's death, things started to click into place, and the sense of foreboding grew. When Mrs Stoll snorkelled to Timothy's place, after he didn't follow through on their invitation, to leave the gift, it was truly creepy. The atmosphere was there. The suspense was there. The ending, with Mr Stoll's death, came, yet again, out of the blue, and I struggle to make sense of it. Did Mrs Stoll kill her husband? If so, why?
A Border-Line Case (2 stars)
Shelagh Money, a 19-year-old aspiring actress who goes by the stage name of Jennifer Blair, is looking forward to her first big theatre role, playing Viola/Cesaro in Twelfth Night. She looks after her seriously ill father. One evening, as the two look through an old family album and Shelagh's father reminisces about his former friend and best man, Commander Nick Barry, he, quite unexpectedly, looks at Shelagh with a look of horror and disbelief on his face, collapses and dies.
Horrified by the events, Shelagh travels to Ireland to seek out Commander Barry and learn more about him and his relation to his father. She discovers that Nick lives a reclusive life on a small island. When she attempts to investigate further, she is kidnapped and taken to the island as Nick's "guest". Shelagh is shocked to see that he keeps on his desk a framed copy of her father's wedding photograph, which had been doctored to swap around the heads of the groom and the best man.
When Nick questions her, Shelagh lies and gives her stage name Jennifer Blair. When she asks him about the photograph, he tells her that his wife died shortly after their wedding. Shelagh finds herself strongly attracted to Nick. That night, they have sex in the back of a grocer's van. There, Nick admits that the photograph is a fake: a practical joke that the new bride took rather badly at the time, because Nick "got her drunk" one night and the two of them had sex, cheating on their respective husband and best friend. Although Shelagh is shocked to learn this about her mom, she tells Nick that she loves him and wants to be with him. Nick, however, is set on the two of them parting ways, and so Shelagh has no choice but to return to England.
'The trouble with you is, Jinnie, you won't grow up. You live in a dream world that doesn't exist. That's why you opted for the stage.' Her father's voice, indulgent but firm. 'One of these days, you'll come to with a shock.'On the opening night of her play, she receives a letter from Nick and a photograph that she initially takes to be of herself in the role of Cesaro, but is in fact of Nick in the same role when he was a boy. Nick explains that she had reminded him of somebody - and has since realised that that person was himself. Shelagh at last understands her presumed father's dying look of horror and disbelief; with his last breath he had realised that Shelagh was not his biological daughter but Nick's.
YIKES. YIKES. YIKES. This story, ya'll. It wasn't for me, honey. I mean, the twist at the end is shocking, scandalous even. And I bet readers back in du Maurier's day were clutching their pearls, but to me, it felt so fucking forced. Why did Shelagh and Nick fall "in love" in the first place? They literally had one conversation. Shelagh was also giving damsel in distress, whilst Nick was the big brooding alpha male, and I just hate that dynamic.
But I really liked the beginning, and thought it was so well done and creepy when Shelagh initially spotted the fake wedding photo at Nick's place. I was really able to put myself in her shoes. Like, for real, imagine being in that situation. My fight or flight would've kicked in immediately, LMAO.
The Way of the Cross (5 stars)
A disparate party from the middle-class village of Little Bletford take a sightseeing cruise to Middle East, led by their local vicar. All are in their own individual ways unsatisfied with their lives and their relationships. When their vicar falls ill, just before a planned 24-hour excursion ashore to Jerusalem, his place is taken by the inexperienced Reverend Babcock, a man more used to mixing with the youth of his own slum parish in Huddersfield. On the first night of the cruise, Robin, a precocious nine-year-old and grandson of one of the couples, suggests a walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the dark, among the bushes and trees, two people overhear things about themselves that force them to re-evaluate their lives. The next day, several of the party experience mishaps and personal humiliations, and by the end of the excursion all apart from Robin have met the fate that they most dread. In dealing with the disasters the whole group learn a great deal about themselves and their loved ones, and they return happier people.
Lady Althea shook her head. Pain she could have borne, but not this loss of pride, this misery of shame, the knowledge that in that one moment of biting the bread she had thrown away all grace, all dignity.THIS STORY WAS SO FUCKING GOOD AND SO WELL CRAFTED. I'm obsessed with it. I love how everyone got what they had coming. And it was so fucking messy. Lady Althea loosing her fucking front teeth. The vicar hiding from Miss Dean whenever he sees her coming up the lane, her being convinced that he's half in love with her. Bob and Jill's young marital problems. Jim flirting with Jill, and later more than that. (Jim Forster, you will catch these hands.) Bob and Kate finding out. Miss Dean almost drowning in the church. Jim getting lost in a huge crowd despite his claustrophobia. Every single character is humiliated, humbled. Except for the innocent child Robin, of course. I LOVED it.
The Breakthrough (3 stars)
Stephen Saunders is sent to an isolated laboratory on the salt marshes of the East Coast to help out with a secret project. He is told that the laboratory is in need of an electrical engineer, but is given no other details. On arrival, Stephen discovers that he is expected to help operate the computer for an experiment to trap a human's vital spark, or psychic energy, at the point of death and prevent it from going to waste. The test subject is Ken, an affable young assistant who is dying of leukaemia.
As Ken lies on the point of death he is put under hypnosis along with Niki, a "backward child" whom the scientists have found to be susceptible. Niki is asked to 'stay with Ken' as his life ebbs away, and initially it seems that the experiment has been a success, with the instruments showing that Ken's energy has been captured. But after the point of death Niki, still under hypnosis, reports that Ken is asking the experimenters to let him go, and they realise that they may have captured more of Ken than his psychic energy. Horrified, they disconnect the apparatus and release the energy.
Definitely the most unlikely story of the bunch, as it's kinda sci-fi-esque. I didn't really care for it, tbh, but I applaud du Maurier for trying out different genres.
June 10, 2018
This is part of my treasured Folio collection and its a cracker.
The book collects Daphne du Maurier's macabre stories together which span her writing career.
The book contains several famous short stories which I am sure have been more succinctly and creatively reviewed than I could have achieved plus I do not give spoilers.
I think the only exception would be the Birds the last story in this collected edition and one which was the basis of Hitchcocks classic.
The reason why I focus on this one is that I can be a little more lenient with my no spoilers since I am sure everything has either heard or seen the film plus I had a rather strange experience this morning which brought the story in to focus.
I long thought that the scene in the film with the crows in the play ground was a little contrived (stay with me you will get there) as it was well know that Hitchcock would not mind bending a few rules if it meant a better cinematic experience. Well I thought that the way the birds sounded and acted was a little false.
that was till this morning - when outside the house where there is a very large tree a large number of crows started to form and yes they sounded exactly like that. I later found out they were hounding a Red Kite which was circling but still it did bring that school house scene to mind.
And so I set about reading the stories (and considering the book was 300 pages plus) I forgot how east it was to get drawn in to her work.
Enough to say that the story from this book is far more powerful and harrowing by the simplicity of which Ms du Maurier describes the events. It is times like these that remind me that re-reading a book sometimes can be even more striking that reading it for the first time.
The book collects Daphne du Maurier's macabre stories together which span her writing career.
The book contains several famous short stories which I am sure have been more succinctly and creatively reviewed than I could have achieved plus I do not give spoilers.
I think the only exception would be the Birds the last story in this collected edition and one which was the basis of Hitchcocks classic.
The reason why I focus on this one is that I can be a little more lenient with my no spoilers since I am sure everything has either heard or seen the film plus I had a rather strange experience this morning which brought the story in to focus.
I long thought that the scene in the film with the crows in the play ground was a little contrived (stay with me you will get there) as it was well know that Hitchcock would not mind bending a few rules if it meant a better cinematic experience. Well I thought that the way the birds sounded and acted was a little false.
that was till this morning - when outside the house where there is a very large tree a large number of crows started to form and yes they sounded exactly like that. I later found out they were hounding a Red Kite which was circling but still it did bring that school house scene to mind.
And so I set about reading the stories (and considering the book was 300 pages plus) I forgot how east it was to get drawn in to her work.
Enough to say that the story from this book is far more powerful and harrowing by the simplicity of which Ms du Maurier describes the events. It is times like these that remind me that re-reading a book sometimes can be even more striking that reading it for the first time.
August 19, 2017
An interesting collection full of stories of subtle (and in some cases, not so subtle) horror and suspense. My favourite was definitely the title story, Don't Look Now, and sadly, some stories didn't really work for me, hence the 3-star rating.
May 20, 2018
Esta es otra estupenda recopilación de relatos de Daphne Du Maurier que también me ha encantado. Es el tercer libro que leo de la escritora este año y es que me tiene absolutamente hipnotizada con sus historias. Pronto continuaré con sus novelas.
July 29, 2021
A collection of 5 short stories by mystery writer Daphne Du Maurier featuring the classi ‘Don’t Look Now’.
“Don’t Look Now,” is one of the authors best known stories and was subsequently made into a film. It is the story of a young British couple holidaying in Venice, trying to recover after recently losing their young daughter following her death. Their break takes an unusual turn when they meet two sisters in a café. One of the sisters is blind and she claims that she can see the deceased child sitting with her parents at a nearby table. Following this meeting the story escalates with lots of events and ultimately a violent ending. The books is worth reading for this story alone although the other four stories make interesting reading if not achieving the same recognition as ‘Don’t Look Now’
Daphne Du Maurier wrote ‘Rebecca’ which is one of my favourite all time books but there is so much more of her work that deserves a read.
“Don’t Look Now,” is one of the authors best known stories and was subsequently made into a film. It is the story of a young British couple holidaying in Venice, trying to recover after recently losing their young daughter following her death. Their break takes an unusual turn when they meet two sisters in a café. One of the sisters is blind and she claims that she can see the deceased child sitting with her parents at a nearby table. Following this meeting the story escalates with lots of events and ultimately a violent ending. The books is worth reading for this story alone although the other four stories make interesting reading if not achieving the same recognition as ‘Don’t Look Now’
Daphne Du Maurier wrote ‘Rebecca’ which is one of my favourite all time books but there is so much more of her work that deserves a read.
July 3, 2019
I am a huge fan of short story collections. Instead of reading a chapter or two while waiting for the doctor you can knock out a whole story. This collection wasn’t the best of the best, but it did entertain.
“Don’t Look Now” - 4 Stars
A husband and wife on holiday after a family loss find themselves in the middle of much more than they expected.
It makes sense that this story is the one that had a movie made from it. It had great buildup and the ending was one that the reader wouldn’t expect.
A Border Line Case” - 3 Stars
A daughter decides to track down a friend from her father's past and learns that some searches are better left undone.
The ending was obvious from the beginning but it was entertaining. I liked that it wasn’t as description heavy as some of the other stories in this collection and that it read quick.
“The Breakthrough” - 3 Stars
A man sent to assist with a computer learns that science experiences in secluded locations never end well.
The beginning and middle of this one had me hooked but the ending left a lot to be desired. This was the one story I would have liked to see in novel form with more story at the back end.
“The Way of the Cross” - 2 Stars
A group traveling discover many truths about themselves while visiting a holy location.
I liked the idea behind this story but got bored with the telling of it. It was way to descriptive and took up too much of my reading time. The way the characters were written was impressive, but the excessive detail killed it for me.
“Not After Midnight” - 1 Star
A vacationing teacher has a gut feeling about another couple's invitation to spend more time together.
This one was overly dramatic and had this ridiculous buildup to nothing. I went back and read the beginning multiple times to figure out what I had missed and could not figure it out. It was like he did something shameful and everyone knew about it and left his job because of it. I am not sure what that piece had to do with the rest of the story and assume I misunderstood something about it.
“Don’t Look Now” - 4 Stars
A husband and wife on holiday after a family loss find themselves in the middle of much more than they expected.
It makes sense that this story is the one that had a movie made from it. It had great buildup and the ending was one that the reader wouldn’t expect.
A Border Line Case” - 3 Stars
A daughter decides to track down a friend from her father's past and learns that some searches are better left undone.
The ending was obvious from the beginning but it was entertaining. I liked that it wasn’t as description heavy as some of the other stories in this collection and that it read quick.
“The Breakthrough” - 3 Stars
A man sent to assist with a computer learns that science experiences in secluded locations never end well.
The beginning and middle of this one had me hooked but the ending left a lot to be desired. This was the one story I would have liked to see in novel form with more story at the back end.
“The Way of the Cross” - 2 Stars
A group traveling discover many truths about themselves while visiting a holy location.
I liked the idea behind this story but got bored with the telling of it. It was way to descriptive and took up too much of my reading time. The way the characters were written was impressive, but the excessive detail killed it for me.
“Not After Midnight” - 1 Star
A vacationing teacher has a gut feeling about another couple's invitation to spend more time together.
This one was overly dramatic and had this ridiculous buildup to nothing. I went back and read the beginning multiple times to figure out what I had missed and could not figure it out. It was like he did something shameful and everyone knew about it and left his job because of it. I am not sure what that piece had to do with the rest of the story and assume I misunderstood something about it.
January 18, 2020
Expertly wrought tales of intrigue and nastiness.
December 17, 2016
A word of caution: Do not confuse this book,
Don't Look Now and Other Stories with
Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne Du Maurier. They are not the same book. The only things they have in common are the the title story and the author. Both books are fine, mind you, but if you are participating in a group discussion and the stories you are reading aren't the same as what everyone else is reading, you will likely feel left out in the cold.
That said, this is a fine collection of stories by an exceptional author. I really enjoyed her writing style and the the way that she was able to bring various settings around the world to life. That said, I don't think any of the stories really hit it out of the park. Maybe I expect more from the author of Rebecca and Jamaica Inn but I felt like she set up several of the stories for a big finish and then....they just ended. I award this anthology ★★★½ stars out of five although at least half a star is awarded out of respect for Dame Daphne.
My thanks to the folks at the Horror Aficionados group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
Don't Look Now and Other Stories with
Don't Look Now: Selected Stories of Daphne Du Maurier. They are not the same book. The only things they have in common are the the title story and the author. Both books are fine, mind you, but if you are participating in a group discussion and the stories you are reading aren't the same as what everyone else is reading, you will likely feel left out in the cold. That said, this is a fine collection of stories by an exceptional author. I really enjoyed her writing style and the the way that she was able to bring various settings around the world to life. That said, I don't think any of the stories really hit it out of the park. Maybe I expect more from the author of Rebecca and Jamaica Inn but I felt like she set up several of the stories for a big finish and then....they just ended. I award this anthology ★★★½ stars out of five although at least half a star is awarded out of respect for Dame Daphne.
My thanks to the folks at the Horror Aficionados group for giving me the opportunity to read and discuss this and many other fine books.
February 24, 2018
Son 5 relatos que yo definiría de terror psicológico. El manzano ya lo había leído en otra antología y era de mis favoritos de la autora. Pero, en este caso, los otros 4 me han encantado , sobre todo el que da nombre a la antología. Me encanta la autora.
February 25, 2015
--Don't Look Now
--Not After Midnight
--A Border-Line Case
--The Way of the Cross
--The Breakthrough
--Not After Midnight
--A Border-Line Case
--The Way of the Cross
--The Breakthrough
September 24, 2024
I bought this collection a few months back and then never got around to finishing it until now. Apparently insomnia has claimed me again, and I finally finished some books and put some others on the DNF list. Per usual, here are my ratings for each story in the collection. Overall I gave this 4 stars since some of the stories were baffling to me. I don't know what message I was supposed to be getting.
"Don't Look Now" (5 stars)-John and Laura are a married couple trying to rediscover each other after the lost of a child. However, something or someone still seems to be with them. I loved the Gothic elements in this story and the ending.
"Not after Midnight" (5 stars)-This story was a bit long, but I liked how it played out. A school teacher who is away on vacation to Crete starts to realize there is something sinister with a married couple that is located nearby where he is staying. He finds out the person who stayed in his chalet came to a bad end and now he's wondering if the couple could have had something to do with it. There are some horror/supernatural elements afoot here. I still wonder about the married man. But once again, solid ending.
"A Border-Line Case" (4 stars)-What a long story. A young woman and actress who decides to embark to meet a man that her late father used to be friends with. I was confused for a bit of it and wondered where du Maurier was going with things. But once again, that ending saved things.
"The Way of the Cross" (3 stars)-It started off interesting but then just meandered. Reading about a group of travelers to Jerusalem was not that interesting in the end. I kept thinking something bad was going to befall them and it just felt a bit too like a comedy of errors in the end. Also may be I am too bloodthirsty? I was like, eh no one died.
"The Breakthrough" (4 stars)-I honestly thought this one was very good. We get a nice echo of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with a question of can a soul be captured?
"Don't Look Now" (5 stars)-John and Laura are a married couple trying to rediscover each other after the lost of a child. However, something or someone still seems to be with them. I loved the Gothic elements in this story and the ending.
"Not after Midnight" (5 stars)-This story was a bit long, but I liked how it played out. A school teacher who is away on vacation to Crete starts to realize there is something sinister with a married couple that is located nearby where he is staying. He finds out the person who stayed in his chalet came to a bad end and now he's wondering if the couple could have had something to do with it. There are some horror/supernatural elements afoot here. I still wonder about the married man. But once again, solid ending.
"A Border-Line Case" (4 stars)-What a long story. A young woman and actress who decides to embark to meet a man that her late father used to be friends with. I was confused for a bit of it and wondered where du Maurier was going with things. But once again, that ending saved things.
"The Way of the Cross" (3 stars)-It started off interesting but then just meandered. Reading about a group of travelers to Jerusalem was not that interesting in the end. I kept thinking something bad was going to befall them and it just felt a bit too like a comedy of errors in the end. Also may be I am too bloodthirsty? I was like, eh no one died.
"The Breakthrough" (4 stars)-I honestly thought this one was very good. We get a nice echo of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with a question of can a soul be captured?
September 24, 2024
Daphne du Maurier is one of my favorite authors and she has never disappointed me thus far. These five longish short stories, each with a different focus but all surprising and unpredictable or at least to me.
*Don't Look Now (1971)- Is about a couple on vacation in Venice, trying to enjoy life after their daughter's death but circumstances and possible psychic happenings have put a wrench into those plans.
*Not After Midnight (1971) A schoolteacher on vacation to Greece finds not the rest and relaxation he was looking for but life changing circumstances, which were added by his curiosity of unexplained occurences. I had to read the beginning again to understand the ending completely.
*A Border-Line Case (1971) A young actress witnesses her father's death and his unexplained horror in this last moments when he saw her. She tried to make up to her father by helping him with a last request. This is psychologically the most disturbing story in my opinion.
*The Way of the Cross (1971) A pilgrimage to the Holy City changes all the characters but how much is influenced by the surrounding or by the unexpected self introspection.
*The Breakthrough (1966) This science fiction story is interesting since it comes from Daphne but brings questions about how much man should interfere where he does not belong.
All of these stories were engaging
*Don't Look Now (1971)- Is about a couple on vacation in Venice, trying to enjoy life after their daughter's death but circumstances and possible psychic happenings have put a wrench into those plans.
*Not After Midnight (1971) A schoolteacher on vacation to Greece finds not the rest and relaxation he was looking for but life changing circumstances, which were added by his curiosity of unexplained occurences. I had to read the beginning again to understand the ending completely.
*A Border-Line Case (1971) A young actress witnesses her father's death and his unexplained horror in this last moments when he saw her. She tried to make up to her father by helping him with a last request. This is psychologically the most disturbing story in my opinion.
*The Way of the Cross (1971) A pilgrimage to the Holy City changes all the characters but how much is influenced by the surrounding or by the unexpected self introspection.
*The Breakthrough (1966) This science fiction story is interesting since it comes from Daphne but brings questions about how much man should interfere where he does not belong.
All of these stories were engaging
April 29, 2018
Me ha encantado, sería incapaz de decir cómo lo hace, pero en la primera línea de cada relato ya sientes la inquietud y el malestar... Ahora tengo aún más ganas de leerla en novela.
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