Don't Look Now

Daphne du Maurier’s collection of short stories has been named as one of the Penguin Classics of the 1970s. This particular collection features the titular ‘Don’t Look Now’, alongside ‘Not After Midnight’, ‘A Border-Line Case’, ‘The Way of the Cross’ and ‘The Breakthrough’. All the stories feature the ideas of death and the supernatural; events that cannot be rationally explained away.

‘Don’t Look Now’ is probably the best-known story in the collection, apparently due to a 1973 film adaptation starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as Laura and John Baxter. The story deals with a couple who have headed on holiday to Venice in order to try and get over the death of their infant daughter. Whilst there they encounter a pair of elderly sisters, one of whom claims to be pyshic. Du Maurier gives the reader a creater insight into the mind of John, as he worries about his wife's mental state, whilst it is him that seems to have been more affected by his daughter's death than he thinks. Although this may be the story with the most plaudits; I was a little underwhelmed, I thought the supernatural elements went a bit too far for my taste, and the ending came a little out of nowhere.

For me, my favourite stories were 'A Border-Line Case' and 'The Way of the Cross'. The first told the story of Shelagh, as she tries to discover the secrets in her father's past, surronding his best man Nick. The tale blends du Maurier's ability to create remote gothic settings with fine character development; and whilst the ending was suprising it was totally believable. I also loved the references to various Shakespeare plays throughout the story as well. 'The Way of the Cross' deals with a group of people on a church trip to Jerusalem, with a liberal new priest thrown in as the guide at the last minute. This tale was also very character-driven; each person was well-drawn and went through a certain transformation during their time in Jerusalem; either a hint at the religious healing powers of the place or just the powers that human interaction has, as people's guards come down and reveal things about themselves they wouldn't usually say.

I remember very little about 'Not After Midnight' apart from the fact it involved a slightly strange American couple, antiques and an out-of-the-blue murder. 'The Breakthrough', the final story in this collection, almost strayed into science-fiction territory. It's basic idea was clever; the idea that as humans can we really ever know what happens after death. The inventions were clearly laid out, but I felt the protaganist suddenly changed his views very quickly with little explanation; moving from being totally opposed to the situation, to being suddenly very much okay with it.

All in all, I'm very impressed at du Maurier's ability to construct great stories in both novel and short story format; and I'm keen to read more of her short stories in the future.