Don’t Look Now and Other Stories was published in the 70s and of course is very well known because of the film made from the title story with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of short stories but I think this is purely because I haven’t read that many great ones. I did however thoroughly enjoy this collection and I have been thinking about why this is.
The whole collection are on the longer side for short stories which are all over or around 50 pages. This meant that I was able to really get into the stories and I was fully satisfied with them all.
Quite often with short stories I get the impression that the author had some vague small idea and decided to incorporate that into a short story because they didn’t know what else to do with it. Not so with these stories, stuff actually happens in these! We have murder, bombings, evil experiments and mystery going on, its exciting stuff and I was certainly never bored.
My favourite story in the collection is Don’t Look Now but I enjoyed them all and found them to be compelling and suspenseful.
Would I recommend this? Yes, if like me you haven’t read that many short stories then this would be a great collection to start with and I’ll definitely be reading Du Mauriers other short stories.
Verdict 4/5
Posted by Jess
Yay! I'm so glad this one worked for you. I love her short stories and think that's really where she shines.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am a fan of short stories and I agree, Don't Look Now is an excellent one. Glad to hear you enjoyed them and I hope you'll give more short stories a try.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am a massive fan of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, i haven't read any of her other workds, although short stories by du Maurier sounds like something I would be interested in trying. Thanks for the review
ReplyDeleteOoh, this sounds great! I've never read any du Maurier...this might be a good place to start.
ReplyDeleteI've read two novels by Du Maurier (needless to say, I loved both), but not her short stories. Maybe it's something I should try, considering I'm just getting over my inexplicable dislike for short stories.
ReplyDeleteChrisbookarama - I think she shines here also, it apparent to me that her short stories were written to be short stories and they are highly entertaining.
ReplyDeleteC.B. James - ah yes I should have mentioned that all lovers of short stories would love these also :) I think its because I wasn't expecting to enjoy them as much as I did.
Becky - I would urge you to give them ago (they are only short after all ;)
Zara - or start with Rebecca, go on you know you want to.
anothercookiecrumbles - I have the exact same dislike for short stories as you LOL I am venturing out though and reading more of them, I'm sure its because I've just had bad luck with them in the past.
Thanks for this review Jess...I am not a big short story reader either, but I would like to give these a try, as I loved Rebecca. I did not know that she had written short stories as well, and since you liked them despite not being much of a short story reader, I am anxious to give them a try...
ReplyDeleteI bought Don't Look Now recently from a second-hand book shop because I'm trying to read everything that she wrote. I didn't realise it was a book of short stories but I ended up enjoying them.
ReplyDeleteTheBookGirl - I think its because the stories are quite exciting and they are the right length I think. It'll be interesting to see what you think but I hope you enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteKatrina - I'm glad you enoyed them, I almost didnt read them and was going to concentrate on her novels instead. How many of her books have you read so far?
I've read- I'll Never Be Young Again, Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, My Cousin Rachel, The Flight of the Falcon,Don't Look Now and Rule Britannia. Some of them I read years ago and some recently. I've got Castle D'Or, Julius, Hungry Hill and The King's General on my TBR pile.
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