The Birds and other stories – daphne du maurier

What’s it about?
Compendium of short stories starting with the Birds, the story which inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s chilling film of the same name. where after a harsh Winter birds start attacking humans. Other short stories are: Monte Verita, The Apple Tree, The Little Photographer, Kiss Me Again Stranger, and The Old Man.

Book vs film
A great idea and I can see why it appealed to Hitchcock. Being a short story there’s only so much that can go in, and in this case I’ve got to go for the film which is a lot meatier and scarier (although the characters aren’t the same). A classic Hitchcock horror, great in its day, but not of the ilk of other similar offerings like Psycho or Cujo for suspense.

As it’s only a few pages long I’d read the story out of interest. It has Du Maurier’s absorbingly evocative description and great character development. Combined with the slow but steady pace, the successful build up of tension climaxes in what for me was an unsatisfying ambiguous ending.

The rest of the stories are in a similar vein, a Twilight Zoneian mix of dark, supernatural tales. She is for good reason a classic writer and I wasn’t disappointed by the quality of the writing - highly atmospheric, and absorbing with well-rounded protagonists whose heads you literally climb into. However, as a group I ended up feeling the tales were a little too formulaic and I admit got a bit bored with the unfailingly steady pace of each story. I guess I’ve been spoilt with more modern writing which also relies on other techniques, like changes in pace and view point to keep a story moving.

For all that a quality read if you like something a little sinister.

Is it any good?
3 out of 5 for the book overall.