Reviews with content warning for Child death - Don't Look Now and Other Stories

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier

11 reviews

quynh23's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I only read the short story "Don't Look Now". I know the movie but haven't watched it. I know Daphne du Maurier but haven't read her works. So I was surprised to learn that the movie was adapted from the same name short story of Daphne. Her writing is masterful as they said. Everything is shrouded in mystery. We only see the face value of people and events without understanding their meaning, until it's too late. The story is famous for its plot twist, which I found both abrupt and foreseen.

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lizetteratura's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

1. The breakthrough
2. A borderline case
3. Don't look now
4. Not after midnight
5. The way of the cross

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rainynook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I listened to the audiobook of this collection of stories by Dame Daphne du Maurier. I had long ago seen the film of "Don't Look Now" and I adore the book, "Rebecca" so I was eager to read more work by this writer. This review contains slight spoilers, but I've tried to be careful not to reveal too much.

The book is a series of 5 short stories.

The first story, "Don't Look Now" (4.5 stars) is really good, my favorite of the whole collection. I love Venice and stories about Venice, so this one, with DdM's characteristic slow build of tension, until you are right there with the protagonist, struggling & trapped & more than a little worried, not unlike a spider's prey in a web. When she's good at this trick, she's very, very good. Loved the reader for this one, Michael Sinclair.

"Not After Midnight" was initially compelling, but it got pretty weird, and I didn't buy the ending.

"A Border-Line Case". Normally, I'm delighted with the audiobook work of Katherine Kellgren, but for this (and for the subsequent story, "The Way of the Cross") her voice did not work as it had too much of the comedic edge which she puts to good use in other works. The story had some good elements, and the ending was good, but I saw it coming.

"The Way of the Cross" was not my cup of tea. I couldn't wait for it to end.

The final story in the compilation, "The Breakthrough" was good, but nothing special. However, of the 5 stories, this one, and "Don't Look Now" were the only ones I thought worth listening to, although "Don't Look Now" is far and away the best of the lot.

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lunabri's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

2.0

the first short-story "Don't look now" was very intriguing and atmospheric and kept me glued to the pages until the end.
Unfortunately all the other stories in this collection bored me to death and even annoyed me at times

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leic01's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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chrisljm's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I don’t typically enjoy short stories, so I went into this collection mostly just expecting/wanting some gothic horror elements for the Halloween season.

While I didn’t love the first three stories (“Don’t Look Now”, “Not After Midnight”, and “A Border-Like Case”), they were at the least intriguing. However, I find myself giving this two-stars due to how little I enjoyed the last two stories. I could not care less when reading “The Way of the Cross”, which just felt like nonsense and seemed out of place compared to the first three. “The Breakthrough” was better than “The Way of the Cross” but still lackluster and disappointing.

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xdarkthunderx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I really did not like this collection. My overwhelming feeling is that du Maurier is just not the right author for short stories, and she seems to lack the ability to wrap them up. They seem hastily concluded, especially Don't Look Now, which had so much potential but almost seemed to be stopped short. I want to still read her novel, Rebecca, so hopefully her writing works better in long-form content.

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