The Birds and Other Stories (Penguin No. 1941)

by Daphne du Maurier

Book Overview

Eight spellbinding tales of suspense, mystery and romance from the renowned author of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel. Focusing upon eerie and inexplicable phenomena, the stories include The Birds which... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000S76J9G
• Release Date: January 1963
• Publisher: Penguin
• Length: 239 Pages
• Weight: 0.36 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Hitchock screwed the ending.

The Hitchocks ending of this tale was so confussing to me until I read The short story by DU Maurier...In her version the birds present an end to "Mans Rule" of the world, her version leaves you with the dread and terror of the demise of Humans rule of Earth...in the movie you are left to decide on your own, what the final out come will be....in some movies this works good, because only your own imagination can be more terifying than the Movie Maker,...but in the Hitchock ending it just didnt feel that way..."They get away and all live happily ever after, La De Da...If you like THE BIRDS movie, please read this short story, you will enjoy Hitchocks masterpiece/classic even more.

Hitchcock screwed up

Du Maurier's classic, The Birds, is a story of an avian apocalypse. The birds have developed a mass consciousness and decide to take utter revenge for thousands of years of persecution. The story is related by a farmer on the English coast. We see his struggle to understand what is happening and, once he understands, we see his struggle to save his family. Birds of all species attack during the night. During the day they sit silently and vindictively on their perches. Nat, the farmer, boards over his windows and doors but during the nights there are the terrifying sounds of birds pecking at the weak spots. Even more frighteningly, he hears the ripping sounds as vicious birds of prey tear into his house. The radio is no help. At first the announcer warns his listeners to beware of attacking birds--then there is total silence. Maybe America will help? But Nat knows that is a hopeless wish. The human race is dying all over the face of the earth. Hitchcock based his screenplay on this story and he would have been wise to have followed it more closely. Maybe/probably he wanted a positive ending and his hero and heroine escaped out of their bird-ridden area to some bird free area not too far away. Not nearly as ominous. Ron Braithwaite author "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"

The Source of Hitchcock's

This is my first taste of Du Maurier but I like it very much :) The language is beautiful but compact, concise. Fast paced. No extra burden for the eyes. THE BIRDS, the inspiration of Hitchcock's movie version. Although it is different between the book and movie, the dread they caused is almost the same with their own focus. In the movie, you'll get the visualization of the dread while through book the description of the attack was violent enough that you couldn't see no end. MONTE VERITA. It's like reading supernatural story about Maya people at first which was followed by friendship between 2 people, their meeting with a very beautiful enigmatic woman until the strange happening in Monte Verita. In the end, it was still the supernatural one but behind it, there was a horror value in it that makes you see what Monte Verita really was. APPLE TREE. This is my fav story of this book. A creepy tale of a wife that haunted her husband after her death. What you thought will not be the same with what you would along the way. A very good material for Outer Limit program. LITTLE PHOTOGRAPHER. Like watching an Agatha Christie's mytery movie but leave the detective part. This is a story of unintentional villain with heart that was numbed because of life. KISS ME AGAN STRANGER. Hohoho, this one has a horror surprise!! I wouldn't give any detail what kind of surprise less it would spoil the fun. OLD MAN. This is my second fav because what I thought when this story began is dashed beautifully at the end ;)

...about crazy birds

I think the book is well written. There are a lot of tension and the tension is kept throughout the whole book. The situation of Nat and his family is shown well because you just see Nat's point of view and so you know how he sees that crazy situation of having millions of birds attack his family. You can feel the danger of the bird attacks and the fear and the helpness of the whole population. I think the story isn't very difficult to understand. It's written in an easy English. Alfred Hitchcock took the idea of the birds' attacks from Du Maurier and made a great film out of it. But the story is very different from the book - only the bird's attack ia still the same.

Chilling

The title story of this collection is the story from which Alfred Hitchcock based his famous movie "The Birds". This movie is NOTHING like the story, and it is this original story that brings the terror home in a far more stark and chilling manner.The story evolves around a farmer and his family in an isolated part of England. The birds gather and attack in more and more numbers as the story progresses, and the tale details the fear the family feels and the lengths they must go to to save their own lives. It is a marvellously crafted story, and one of the greatest realistic horror tale you will ever read. You will never look at birds which flock close to you in the same way again.