Reviews

Bird in a Cage by Frédéric Dard, David Bellos

anagha_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

vsbedford's review against another edition

4.0

After a bit of a slow start, and that's really only 10 pages or so, this noir really gets going. There's a definite cinematic feel here, as in the best hard-boiled fiction of the post-WWII era, and all the boxes are ticked; hard luck antihero, femme fatale, clever twists and double blinds. The translation is a bit blank with, for me, a few real hard stops in the narrative flow (a "no-holds barred" reference in particular pulled me right out). Small quibbles for a great afternoon read.

jakewritesbooks's review against another edition

4.0

A clever Hitchcockian thriller by a man deemed as the master of French noir novels. The Christmas Eve background makes for a darkly pregnant atmosphere. Quick and worth your time.

opal360's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the precise, deliberate way in which the story is constructed, and the very specific atmosphere - Christmas time, the Paris suburbs, childhood nostalgia. I didn't think the last chapter matched the quality of the rest of it, though.

elizabethdavies's review against another edition

4.0

Dark, atmospheric and incredibly clever... it is a great novella.

readbyryan's review against another edition

5.0

This is one of the most random selections I’ve ever picked up and I’m so glad that I did. Described as the creator of the “French James Bond” and “The French Master of Noir” I was intrigued about this author I’ve never heard of before, and I thought I was somewhat familiar with French literature. I think of Dard as the equivalent of Agatha Christie in the English-speaking world, there’s probably one on any bookshelf if you look hard enough.

The novella takes place on Christmas Eve after the main character returns to his mother’s place after a long stint away. She has passed and he revisits his childhood home. What happens next is a roller coaster of fiction that compares to the masters of suspense and mystery. Why this isn’t a Hitchockian film yet is beyond me. I was blown away by these 120 pages. To say any more would spoil it all. If you’re looking for something dark to fill a winter night, check this book out. • Trade Paperback • Fiction - Noir, Mystery, Crime • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • Purchased at Books Inc. in Campbell, CA.▪️

Follow me on Instagram @my.books.my.shelf.

nemra's review against another edition

4.0

It's not a happy ending story, It's a different kind of crime fiction, a little gem.

f33lthesun's review

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

raven88's review against another edition

4.0

Bird In A Cage was imbued with a tantalising mix of Patricia Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock, as a man returns to Paris at Christmas to mourn, and settle the affairs, of his late mother. He encounters a beguiling woman with her young child, whilst dining out one night who inflames his curiosity, being both attractive and the added mystery of appearing to have bloodstains on her sleeve. When he is enticed to return to her apartment, he becomes embroiled in a sinister and dangerous conspiracy which seeks to unravel his life completely. The emotional intensity of this plot is in evidence from the outset, with the title referring to an innocuous Christmas gift for the child, and the psychological impasse that Albert finds himself in, Dard has constructed a claustrophobic existentialist drama that toys with the reader’s perception, and provides an additional deconstruction of male and female psychological impulses. This is a slim dark tale that is engaging enough, but did slightly lack the psychological edge, and bleak immorality of The Wicked Go To Hell, but is worth seeking out as an initial entry point into Dard’s not inconsiderable back catalogue.

chalicotherex's review against another edition

4.0

She did not understand.
"Is he really dead?" she asked me.
"Yes."
It was a superfluous question. When a man has a hole in his head as big as that one was, it's pretty obvious he's ceased to exist.

Short and intense.

Finished the ebook early this evening after reading that lithub review this afternoon. "Effectively untranslatable: super-slangy, ultra-staccato and redolent of the work of the now hopelessly politically incorrect Céline" How could I not be interested?

Starts off with a fairly familiar plot: man finds himself at the scene of a crime and realizes the police will blame him despite his innocence, but rather than insisting on the truth, he digs himself in deeper by destroying evidence and covering up the murder. Only this time there's a twist:

seriously don't read this, it's too good: at the crucial moment our protagonist Albert extricates himself from the scene and makes a clean break from it all, only to find himself following the femme fatale into a midnight mass where she ropes in a new sucker to take his place... and he ends up getting involved in the crime all over again. At first the femme fatale only wanted him to provide an alibi for her, but as Albert gets more and more involved in the plot, she realizes he'd make a better suspect.

One of those novels where you can see the motives and mistakes of all the characters as clear as day, but that only makes it more intense. The only kind of dumb thing is the explanation and confession of how the body was moved, and maybe the ending because

the woman says that the poison is untraceable, but if it's not it would've been proof of Albert's innocence because he'd still be on the train to Paris when it was administered. Would an autopsy in 1961 have found the poison? I'm inclined to think so.