The Birds

I recall when my mother told me the story that during her first babysitting job a couple of weeks in, she watched the movie adaptation of this novel - it was very late at night and she had never encountered anything like it. She was terrified to the point of calling the parents and asked for them to come home early so she could leave. My mother was never scared of anything so I remember being baffled, and laughing. It just seem absurd from the perspective of her being that scared.

Not long ago as I was lazying about in my apartment I saw a huge flock of crows on top of a car parking garage located near my high rise. There was easily a few hundred of them. I hated it, it was awful seeing them all together like that. I've seen them like a power line but perspective shifts of looking down on a car garage full of birds instead of looking up at birds on a power line gave me chills. I did not understand why there was just hundreds of them in a group, not even spread out there. The top of the garage was so filled by them you couldn't even park a car there. Which reminded me of my mother and her story and I told myself I'd pick up this book when I could.

I listened to this via audio book read by Peter Capaldi, complete with eerie music intermissions. I have a habit of playing an audio book while getting ready for a nap, or for bed to help me relax and fall asleep. But as soon as I started this one I was the complete opposite of relaxed. All I knew was killer birds, on the surface sounds silly - as I became immersed I realized just how truly terrifying it would be. This is my first Daphne novel, and I can't wait to make my way across her others. Capaldi captures the fathers frustration and anxiety perfectly, a father who just wants to protect his wife and his two children. It all goes to absolute shit and I loved every moment of it. It is a proper scary story.