Don't Look Now And Other Stories (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Crossposted/tweaked from my blog.Originally published as Not After Midnight, this collections brings together five atmospheric short stories by Daphne du Maurier. They’re a bit of an odd bunch – a mix of the supernatural and the mundane. Some of them embrace the ‘unknown’ with psychics, pagan worship, and life after death, while others seem to be building you up towards that only to tear it away by having the explanation something completely grounded in reality. Whether you find this second-guessing rewarding or frustrating, though, is probably personal preference. One theme that runs through all the stories, however, is the idea of taking the protagonist away from their home and putting them into an unfamiliar environment, where the setting itself serves to increase the sense of suspense and the character’s own alienation. It’s a collection of stories about how people react and adjust when taken out of their comfort zone and thrown into creepy situations they have very little control over. And it has to be said, most characters don’t do so well…The first story in the collection, Don’t Look Now tells the story of a married couple holidaying in Venice as they attempt to get over the death of their young daughter and repair their own relationship. It is by the most famous story in this collection, having been made into a classic horror film in 1973 with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. Now I haven’t yet seen the film but my big sister has, and I still remember how freaked out by it she was when she came back from her friend’s sleepover and told me about it. With that in mind and my dad’s explanation of the storyline and constant ‘this reminds me of Don’t Look Now‘ and ‘watch out for little girls in raincoats!’ whenever we ended up wandering round Venetian backstreets and canals at night on family holidays (which happens surprisingly often actually), I had been building this expectation for years that the book must be something truly atmospheric and full of suspense. It wasn’t. I did my best to make it so – I read it while I was in Venice, in the evening, on a poorly lit bench in a small square off a load of little backalleys that I had to wander back through to get to my hostel – and it still didn’t evoke the slightest sense of unease. Maybe I did it wrong, maybe if I had read it at home with only my imagination and memories of Venice I’d have found it creepier. And there’s also the fact I had the plot spoilt for me by hearing about the film – which actually changes a few key details in ways that actually improve it. In the book the explantion for John’s obsession with the little girl in the raincoat is never really that satisfactory and the psychic old women just seem random, disconnected and kind of silly – the film’s decision to make the raincoat girl resemble the dead daughter would have done a lot to improve the sense of suspense and unease both about the supernatural elements and the character’s mental health and just well...make the whole story a bit less random. The ending though, the ending I actually liked in all it’s silly, unintentional hilarity. I’ve seen other reviews claim that du Maurier does a great job of building up suspense only to fail with sudden endings – it’s a criticism I actually agree with in many cases, but in this story I think there was the opposite problem. The ending, though silly, would have worked really well if the build up of suspense had been better done in the main body. As it was, the story just seemed to have too much of John and Laura going out for diner and days out and having rather dull marital disagreements and not enough taking advantage of the creepy setting to explore the grief of losing a child.The second story, however, does suffer from the sudden ending negating the atmospheric tension of everything that came before, and in a pretty bad way. Not After Midnight tells the story of a ‘lonely teacher’ who goes on holiday to Crete to get some painting done and ends up involved with the mysterious American couple over in one of the other holiday homes. I’d actually take issue with the back cover (and Wikipedia’s) description of the main character as ‘lonely’ – he doesn’t seem lonely to me, he seems like someone who likes being alone to get on with his own thing and doesn’t actually want to be bothered – especially by constantly drunk, boorish Americans. Surely nobody who’s ever experienced being next to one of them on holiday can blame him for that? The loneliness is there, certainly, but it’s something that he develops afterwards and as a result of his holiday and that’s actually pretty important – he wasn’t particularly damaged before the events of the story. To miss that is almost to miss the point. But onto the story… I liked the build up of atmosphere and suspense here a whole lot better than I did in Don’t Look Now. Where it fell down though was the ending, which was frankly pretty rubbish. It felt way too sudden, rushed and dropped in there without any explanation purely for ‘shock factor’. I had to go back and spend a few minutes trying to piece how it all fitted together with the rest of the story – and not in the fun ‘oooooh, I get that now!’ way but the ‘that really should have been a little clearer, and I still don’t get why she said that if what was going on was actually this...’ way. Just a little longer drawing out the ending and making sure the pieces all fitted together a bit more neatly would really have improved this one, because the actual story, though hardly ‘serious literature’ wasn’t that bad.A Border-Line Case was much more solidly written and probably, if I was being completely objective, the best of the bunch. I can’t rate it too highly though because it uses several tropes that I’m frankly a bit bored with. And, though I was surprised with the twist in the middle, I saw the end ‘twist’ coming a mile off. The heroine of this story is aspiring actress, Shelagh, travels to Ireland to visit Nick, an estranged old friend of her father's, because of an off-hand remark her dad made shortly before his death about wanting to make up. Of course Ireland and England don’t have the best of relations in the 1970s so Shelagh, a little out of her depth, uses her actress skills to disguise her identity. And…well…she must be a damned good actress because the lies she makes up are totally transparent bullshit to anyone simply reading them on the page. People buy (or pretend to buy) them though and she eventually gets ushered in to meet Nick on his mysterious island of mysteriousness where he is surrounded by young men and likes digging up iron age burial sites and not reporting them to trained archaeologists to make proper surveys of (yes, that is something that bugs me in real life, proper archeological surveys are important damnit!). We get some wonderfully 1970s PC ‘oh my god, he might be a homo‘ thoughts from Shelagh as she tries to puzzle out the reason for Nick’s reclusiveness which made me laugh a little. Which was good, as her other thoughts made me want to bash her head in for being a fucking idiot with no ‘creep creep, stay away from this person’ sense of self preservation. She’s only 19, I know, but really; everything about the situation says ‘run for the fucking hills’. A solidly written story, though. Definitely the most consistently well written of the first three stories, but I found neither main character relatable, likable, or particularly believable, enough for me to enjoy it very much. The ‘twist’, though possibly relatively shocking in the 70s, was pretty predictable and, by now, majorly overdone. I’ll give it the fact it has a good title than can be interpreted in a number of ways though – that was pretty clever.And now my favourite, The Way of the Cross, and I’ll admit this is probably because I have a bit of a fascination with Jerusalem. This story has a far larger cast of characters - a whole tour group of pilgrims - all given about equal attention. The story kicks off with poor Rev. Edward Babcock, a relatively young, urban cleric away on his own holiday, having to step in, last-minute, to be a tour guide for a group of snobby village parishioners he doesn’t know. It takes a while to get into it and I have to admit to being frustrated by du Maurier’s use of the whole ‘young attractive women cannot resist dreadful, boorish, middle-aged men’ theme. It just drives me batty, these men (and I include Mr. De Winter from Rebecca here as well) are so absolutely dire. I don’t know why anyone, regardless of age, would ever fancy them ever. There were enough characters, however, that if one storyline bothered me it was quickly moved away from to feature somebody elses. The basic plot is quite a simple one – all the characters get separated from each other, overhear unpleasant truths and gossip about themselves, and have an absolutely horrible time – mostly in karmic and amusing ways. There’s a sense at the end though that maybe, just maybe, they learn something from their experience and emerge better people for having visited the Holy City. Given the limited page and large number of characters it’s all a bit superficial, but it’s not bad. I actually liked the ‘annoying’ know-it-all kid, who has a great time approaching Jerusalem’s depiction in the bible and the reality of the present city as an archeological problem, rather than desperately seeking spiritual guidance or forgiveness. Questioning whether an important historic site really is where, or as old as, the tourist board claims it is, is something me and my dad often do on holiday and I appreciated the fact that somebody was culturally aware and respectful of the other religions that also live and worship in Jerusalem . A fairly simple, quite formulaic little story, with rather two-dimensional characters. But the prose did by far the best job in this book of evoking a strong sense of location.The last story, The Breakthrough, is probably an acquired taste. It’s pretty much an unpfront science-fiction/supernatural crossover. Our ‘hero’, Steven the computer guy, is moved to some arse-end-of-nowhere government research facility run by a nutter who the whole scientific community mocks and peopled by about two equally secretive underlings. The machines are all called Charon 1, 2 or 3 so if you know your Greek mythology it’s no surprise what the ‘secret’ aim of the research is. It’s…I dunno. It’s not bad but it isn’t an especially original idea and the execution feels incredibly dated… There’s state of the art giant talking computers, hypnotism, ‘idiots’ (not my wording!) possessing untapped potential abilities to move things around with their emotions, a dog obedience-trained to the point of brainwashing, twins that have a special bond that continues even after one dies… it’s as if du Maurier’s throwing in absolutely everything she can think of - and it’s only a forty page story! It’s just too much, too crowded, everything's competing for attention and it only really serves to undermine the actual themes and questions the plot is trying to raise. Maybe if I was more of sci-fi fan than a gothic/supernatural/suspense person, I would find this more to my taste but it just felt…inelegant I suppose. Unpolished. Not really thought through.Overall an interesting collection. Although I didn’t rate all the stories too highly, I found something to enjoy about all of them and I don’t regret spending time reading this. Yeah, it’s not the best and not quite my thing but it was interesting at least. My main problem wasn’t that the stories weren’t good, but that I got very frustrated that a lot of it could just be so much better if only it had been more vigorously edited and reworked. Both Don’t Look Now and Not After Midnight had the potential to be a hell of a lot better than they actually were.
Since I picked up my first Daphne du Maurier novel, Rebecca, I have appreciated her writing style. Maurier has a way of making the everyday seem supernatural and pointing out the spooky unexpectedness of life. This book of short stories was no exception. The eclectic subject matter ranged from a science experiment with human consciousness to a weekend retreat in Italy which goes terribly wrong. Without including ghosts, witches, or gory murders, Maurier is able to scare her readers with the unusual, yet very real and possible. However, my favorite story in this collection was actually the last story entitled “The Way of the Cross.” In this story, an odd jumble of church members with varying problems and degrees of faith experiences a set-back on their tour of the Holy Land during the Passover week when their pastor and tour guide falls ill. After another less educated pastor is elected to temporarily act as tour guide for the flock, things unravel. The most interesting aspects of this short story were the clear motivations and distinct personalities and backgrounds of each character which played into both their degree of spirituality and their enjoyment of the trip, and also, the discreet incorporations of the life of Jesus through the actions of the characters. For example, Miss Dean spills out perfume in her eagerness to fill the bottle with a gift for the pastor that she loves, mirroring the lady who loved Christ, gave Him the gift of perfume, and spilled it on his feet. Another example is their strained dinner followed by a walk on the Mount of Olives during which everyone scatters and various betrayals take place, playing on Christ's Passover dinner followed by Judas' betrayal and the scattering of the disciples in the garden. My favorite part of the story is actually the ending because Maurier suggests that Jesus has brought everyone back together with a love-of-neighbor motivation. As the characters resolve their issues and come back together, the only child in the group comments that he wishes they could have stayed two more days because then they might have seen the Resurrection. This comment is symbolic not only because a resurrection of relationships has occurred by the end of the story and two more days would have only increased the sense of community, but also because Resurrection Sunday is only two days away according to the Passover week. This hope-filled and beautiful novella was a fantastic way to end the book and demonstrated a Judeo Christian perspective.
What do You think about Don't Look Now And Other Stories (2013)?
Five short stories by the author. I didn't know anything about them except the one-sentence blurbs, so it was quite entertaining to wait and see what I'd discover in each one. -Don't Look Now: I really enjoyed this one; so we had a good start, this little book and I. There's a movie version that I'd like to watch. -Not After Midnight: Hmmm, I was very intrigued as I read the first paragraph. The setting was wonderful and I was really curious about what this "bug" would turn out to be. Yet I felt a bit disappointed in the end because certain things had been left somewhat vague and clearly I had expected more. -A Border-Line Case: Makes you wonder where all this would lead to, which is two twists-one not so unpredictable.-The Way of the Cross: More character based than the others, amusing in its own way.-The Breakthrough: Mixed feelings about this one...All in all; eerie, interesting, very atmospheric.
—Çimen
A spontaneous purchase. Will this be as good as the film...? Now finished...Don't Look Now A short story, set in Venice, about a recently bereaved couple in a city terrorised by a murderer. Du Maurier portrays the wife (and bereaved mother) as one desperately vulnerable; the father trying to move on, motivated by the terrifying fear that if he doesn't his wife will disintegrate into utter hopelessness and despair. This is a very short story, and the film offers further exploration of the characters and builds on the role of the elderly twin sisters. If you have seen the cinematic version of this story, you will find du Maurier's work a fascinating display of how less can be more. At first, I found the length of the story a little disappointing, having previously seen the film, but on second reading, I found this work poignant, and the final episode in the book is a true chiller. Not After MidnightThis story was a little shallow in comparison to Don't Look Now; it explores the greed inside even the most risk-averse of people as a young, mild-mannered and private teacher on holiday investigates the unusual behaviour of a couple of fellow hotel guests.A Border-line CaseThe journey of a young woman looking for the long-lost friend and colleague of her recently deceased father. To be honest, you don't need all the pencils sharpened in your pencil case to forsee the plot twists to this story. Initially, I didn't understand the inclusion of the Irish terrorism, but this was written in 1971, when the British media portrayed the IRA as evil, so the impact of this would have been much more profound on the reader at the time of publication. Du Maurier tries to develop twists in the narrative, but I found these too transparent. The Way of the CrossA disturbing exploration on the theme of humiliation, with a precocious nine year-old boy exposing the inadequacies and faults of his accompanying adults as a group of tourists explore the holy city. In addition to Don't Look Now, I could see this story being easily translated to the big screen. Du Maurier illustrates how humiliation can develop from a variety of scenarios and how the characters deal with the impact.The BreakthroughThe last and, in my view, the poorest of the five short stories. In 1971 this story of technology, medicine and religion may have startled some, but for me, in 2008, I was bored and needed more substance to the science. Four stars, but only because of the powerful Don't Look Now, and the disturbing The Way of the Cross.
—Steve
Overall beautiful collection of short stories by Du Maurier. All of them touch on the odd and unexpected but in their own flavour. Common theme of taking people out of their home elements and somewhat twisting their world."Don't Look Now" - 5/5 - Creepy as tale of a couple on holiday, a psychic twins and messages from beyond. "Not After Midnight" - 3/5 - Not the same level of creepy as "Don't Look Now", but still an interesting tale of schoolmaster trying to get a holiday. Hard to pick where the mystical begins and the imagination ends."A Borderline Case" - 2/5 - I'll have to say this is not my favourite of this collection. It may be an issue of just not enjoying teenage female protagonists and the flightiness that generally comes with them. Hard to say."The Way of the Cross" - 5/5 - Beautiful character interactions, internal monologues, highly relatable conflicts, and the oblivious kid in the middle. Loved it."The Breakthrough" - 5/5 - This one started fairly dry but as the sci-fi elements unfolded, really sucked me in.
—Karen
