Reviews

The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier

owl139's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

marilupignetta's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

bluestarfish's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this collection of stories about observations and chance meetings. Most of them have a sinister edge to them, although Fairy Tale was a rather sweet and unexpected interlude in this. These stories span a long time during and before her novel and writing period so there was that interest too.

macbeckyton's review against another edition

3.0

This was OK. A bit hit and miss although it did have some well crafted stories in there, too: No Motive, Escort and Split Second are very good. Good lessons in timing although I don't know if they've necessarily aged very well - as a collection, they can feel repeatedly too contrived.

laurapk's review against another edition

3.0

The first short story was marvelous

Spoiler

(a married happy wife and expecting mother kills herself out of the blue; a private investigator digs into her past only to realize the woman was adopted at age 15 after she had lost her memory shortly after giving birth to a boy conceived by a rape she cannot remember nor comprehend; in order to separate her from her child, she is lied to that the boy had died and the shock leads to her amnesia; she encounters her adult child by complete accident and a phrase from her servant regarding the man's appearance brings her repressed memories back to life; the PI decides not to inform the husband of her history and leaves the case unsolved, which proves to be a relief for the husband who feared something shameful had happened in his wife's past)

! The other ones were OK, but lingering too much on pompous, shallow individuals became repetitive and a bit annoying. The last story was interesting

Spoiler

a woman suffering likely from OCD who loves her daughter very much is struck by a car and comes back as a ghost 20 years later

but went on too long.

Spoiler

I was also surprised that no one recognized the ghost, not even her daughter, and I was also surprised that the ghost could be drugged by medicine

. Good writing but excepting the first short story this collection lacked the spark that made me fall inlove with Rebecca and Don't Look Now.

georgia_gabrielle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

indy_oc's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

bradgibbon's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0

juliekreddy's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

thebookofdanny's review against another edition

5.0

Daphne Du Maurier be like “imma make you rage, laugh and lament, and make it look effortless”.
In-fact, Du Maurier makes it look so effortless that she manages to inspire wine-soaked rape-apologist Judy Finnigan. Only for said husband sufferer to resort to eight glasses of wine instead of four to drown her sorrows that are born of the realisation that no-one could ever reach the heights of Daphne Du Maurier.