Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Kiss Me Again, Stranger by Daphne du Maurier



Title: Kiss Me Again, Stranger
Author: Daphne du Maurier
ISBN: 0671753282
Publisher: Avon Books/1972
Pages: 318

Kiss Me Again, Stranger is a collection of eight short stories by Daphne du Maurier. Those short stories are suspenseful with that edgy mystery element and haunt the reader long after finishing the stories. Those stories manage that elusive element keeping us on tenterhooks. Very tight, compelling and with realist portrayal, one can even envision it happening.

~ Kiss Me Again, Stranger is about a young man meeting a girl in a movie theatre and befriends her. He falls in love with her and then discovers some unpleasant truth about her.

~ The Birds is about birds trying to destroy humankind. Hitchcock based his movie on this story.

~ The Little Photographer is about a Marquise who despite fame and money finds herself lonely and decides to take a lover at the fag end.

~ Monte Verita can be rightfully termed as a novella and has many twists and tturns as only a love triangle can have. With well developed characters, it takes us into a journey which covers many years.

~ The Apple Tree is about a rich landlord who wishes for the old apple tree on his property to be chopped off, after his wife who has been long neglected, dies. For some reason he senses that it represents his dead wife. The apples taste bitter to him although those taste just fine for others

~ The Old Man is about a family whose old neighbour keeps an eye on them. He knows some secret about his neighbour and they always feel his eyes on them.

~ The Split Second is about a woman and the her daughter. They seem to have a comoplicated relationship. The suspense is mantained and we can see the depth of of du Maurier's writing.

~ No Motive is a murder mystery and despite the shortness, can totally engross the reader..

With her signature style, du Maurier captivates the reader with the irony and very realistic depiction of human quirks. Notwithstanding gender, social strata or moods or intentions. Some might find thse short stories dark and disturbing but that ought not deter them to read her books.

15 comments:

rhapsodyinbooks said...

I had no idea that's where Hitchcock's The Birds came from!

Danielle said...

Oh, I have this same collection, though with different cover art. I'm posting about it tomorrow--as well as other stories by Daphne! :) At the moment I'm reading Monte Verita, which is in another collection I'm reading. What serendipity!

Shore Debris said...

I remember reading this in school - my first year of college in my literaty composition class - oh, the memories!

Zia said...

This sounds like some great short stories.

kayerj said...

I love Daphne Du Maurier, but I've never read this book. I've got to get a copy. If you want to wander down my road I’m home.

Unknown said...

I'd never heard of this book, sounds interesting.
Mine is Up

Anonymous said...

I've never seen this book before but love short stories!!

Thanks for playing!

Beth said...

I haven't read Daphne du Maurier yet, this might be a good book to start with.

Mishel (P.S. I Love Books) said...

I've been interested in Daphne for a while. This collection sounds excellent. I'll definitely be adding it to my TBR list =)

Nise' said...

I've really got to give short stories a try. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

I think I've only read the birds out of this lot.
Here's mine

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of this collections. I read a lot of du Maurier years ago, but missed this one.

Irene said...

I've never even come acorss this grouping, I shall have to check it out.Mine's Here.

Ceri said...

I really want to read something by du Maurier. This collection sounds great. :D

Bryan R. Terry said...

du Maurier is one of the best Love her stuff, especially her short fiction.

My K Book is HERE