{"id":576,"date":"2018-11-19T20:22:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/readerwitch.com\/?p=576"},"modified":"2018-11-19T20:22:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T19:22:01","slug":"the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/readerwitch.com\/2018\/11\/19\/the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"The Birds by du Maurier, The Birds by Baker, The Birds by Hitchcock. Who plagiarised what?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are implications online that Daphne du Maurier plagiarised Frank Baker\u2019s story The Birds<\/em> to create her story of the same name. In this post I will compare and review the two books and also will talk about Hitchcock’s movie.<\/p>\n

What are the similarities?<\/h3>\n

Both of the books show birds playing a major part in alternating the history of humanity. Frank Baker wrote a story in which birds are attacking people (although his birds have a slightly metaphysical, metaphorical quality). Sixteen years later Daphne du Maurier wrote the story in which birds are attacking people in a very literal way. In Baker\u2019s story the events are taking place shortly after the First World War. In Du Maurier\u2019s story the events happen shortly after the Second World War. In both stories at some point a character says that the birds might be just hungry, and also that the government should do something about them.<\/p>\n

What is the main difference between the books?<\/h3>\n

Everything else is.<\/p>\n

Frank Baker\u2019s story is a novel<\/strong>. Daphne du Maurier\u2019s story is a novelette<\/strong>. The size is not the main difference, but the length of Baker\u2019s story makes the book even less readable than it could have been, had it been shorter. While du Maurier\u2019s novelette grips you from the first page and creates such suspense that you wish you could stop blinking and didn\u2019t waste seconds on turning the pages.<\/p>\n

Review of The Birds<\/em> by Frank Baker<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

Genre: boring horror. \u2b50\ufe0fStars from Goodreads: 3.5.\u00a0\u2b50\ufe0fStars from me: 2.<\/p>\n

General information<\/h4>\n

The story is about people in London who live their lives lost in sins and misery, stuck in the absurdities of dogmas. Everything is wrong with the humanity, and then the birds come.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s good about Baker\u2019s story<\/h4>\n

It has many deep thoughts. He talks about everything from war, to religion, sexuality and love. I was surprised how well his thoughts reflected modern days, and how much I agreed with him.<\/p>\n

Here are some quotes.<\/p>\n