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Romans de la nuit / Novels of the Night
Bird in a Cage
30-year-old Albert returns to Paris after six years away, during which time his mother has passed away, to find himself entangled in a complicated case centred around a woman he met at a restaurant whose husband's body appears in her lounge, but then disappears almost inexplicably.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1961
26 people are currently reading
1131 people want to read
About the author
Frédéric Dard
459 books74 followersFrédéric Dard (né Frédéric Charles Antoine Dard le 29 juin 1921 à Jallieu (Isère), France - 6 juin 2000 à Bonnefontaine, Fribourg, Suisse) était un écrivain principalement connu – dans une production extrêmement abondante – pour les aventures du commissaire San-Antonio, souvent aidé de son adjoint Bérurier, dont il a écrit cent soixante-quinze aventures depuis 1949. Parallèlement aux "San-Antonio" (l'un des plus gros succès de l'édition française d'après-guerre), Frédéric Dard a produit sous son nom ou sous de nombreux pseudonymes des romans noirs, des ouvrages de suspense psychologique, des « grands romans » des nouvelles, ainsi qu'une multitude d'articles. Débordant d'activité, il fut également auteur dramatique, scénariste et dialoguiste de films. Selon ses dernières volontés, Frédéric Dard a été enterré dans le cimetière de Saint-Chef, en Isère, village où il avait passé une partie de son enfance et où il aimait se ressourcer. Un musée y est en partie consacré à son œuvre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
October 10, 2016
Bird in a Cage: In a Bleak Midwinter
Ah, what could be a more enchanted evening than Christmas Eve in Paris? Albert Herbin has returned to the city after an absence of six years. To the home in which he grew up. But it is lonesome there for his mother has died. Were she still alive they would have spent Christmas Eve in their normal fashion. At home. A celebration over a dinner of roast chicken and a bottle of champagne.
Albert leaves the silence of his old home in search of life and happy memories of his childhood. Entering a small shop he buys a Christmas ornament, a little sequined bird in a golden cage. He decides to have dinner in Chiclet's, a fine restaurant which he had never entered before, though he had often dreamed of it.
Yes, and in that crowded room he sees a young mother dining with her small daughter. He is drawn to her. So like another young woman he had once loved, but lost. On such a night is it not possible for a man to experience love at first sight? And is it not possible this young woman is as lonely as Albert and he should be invited back to her home on such a lonely enchanted evening? After all, she has been estranged from her husband for years. Her husband Jerome pays no visits to his wife or his daughter.
But what Albert finds at this young woman's home is the body of her husband. Dead from a gunshot to the head. A pistol lies on the chest of the corpse. The police must be called. Inquiries must be made.
If you are looking for a story with a happy ending, this is not it. For Frédéric Dard has written this dark little tale. Dard, one of France's most prolific writers of thrillers and classic noir literature.
In just one hundred twenty three pages, Dard has written a dark novel of clever twists and turns that will keep the reader enthralled from first page to last. Both Albert and the young mother have secrets that each will learn about the other on this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As Albert learns they are birds of the same feather. The question is whether one or both of them will end up a bird in a cage by the turn of the final page. Was her husband's death a suicide or the perfect murder.
No. There is no happy ending here. This is noir fiction, a novel of the night. As Otto Penzler, editor of The Mysterious Press has said,
Open this little gem. Don't be surprised if you read it in one sitting. I did. It is just that good.
Some enchanted evening
You may see a stranger,
you may see a stranger
Across a crowded room
And somehow you know,
You know even then
That somewhere you'll see her
Again and again.
-Oscar Hammerstein II, 1949
Ah, what could be a more enchanted evening than Christmas Eve in Paris? Albert Herbin has returned to the city after an absence of six years. To the home in which he grew up. But it is lonesome there for his mother has died. Were she still alive they would have spent Christmas Eve in their normal fashion. At home. A celebration over a dinner of roast chicken and a bottle of champagne.
Albert leaves the silence of his old home in search of life and happy memories of his childhood. Entering a small shop he buys a Christmas ornament, a little sequined bird in a golden cage. He decides to have dinner in Chiclet's, a fine restaurant which he had never entered before, though he had often dreamed of it.
Yes, and in that crowded room he sees a young mother dining with her small daughter. He is drawn to her. So like another young woman he had once loved, but lost. On such a night is it not possible for a man to experience love at first sight? And is it not possible this young woman is as lonely as Albert and he should be invited back to her home on such a lonely enchanted evening? After all, she has been estranged from her husband for years. Her husband Jerome pays no visits to his wife or his daughter.
But what Albert finds at this young woman's home is the body of her husband. Dead from a gunshot to the head. A pistol lies on the chest of the corpse. The police must be called. Inquiries must be made.
If you are looking for a story with a happy ending, this is not it. For Frédéric Dard has written this dark little tale. Dard, one of France's most prolific writers of thrillers and classic noir literature.
In just one hundred twenty three pages, Dard has written a dark novel of clever twists and turns that will keep the reader enthralled from first page to last. Both Albert and the young mother have secrets that each will learn about the other on this Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As Albert learns they are birds of the same feather. The question is whether one or both of them will end up a bird in a cage by the turn of the final page. Was her husband's death a suicide or the perfect murder.
No. There is no happy ending here. This is noir fiction, a novel of the night. As Otto Penzler, editor of The Mysterious Press has said,
Look, noir is about losers. The characters in these existential, nihilistic tales are doomed. They may not die, but they probably should, as the life that awaits them is certain to be so ugly, so lost and lonely, that they’d be better off just curling up and getting it over with. And, let’s face it, they deserve it...Noir Fiction Is About Losers, Not Private Eyes
The noir story with a happy ending has never been written, nor can it be. The lost and corrupt souls who populate these tales were doomed before we met them because of their hollow hearts and depraved sensibilities.
Open this little gem. Don't be surprised if you read it in one sitting. I did. It is just that good.
December 20, 2016
"I sincerely believe you have pulled off the perfect crime."
I'm in love with this novel. I was a bit worried at first that I was reading something along the lines of Cornell Woolrich's Phantom Lady, because in many ways Bird in a Cage begins with just that sort of feel, but as things turned out though, I was entirely wrong.
This book is one of Dard's "romans nuits" -- novels of the night -- which the back section of the novel states are "run of stand-alone, dark psychological thrillers written by Dard in his prime, and considered by many to be his best work." Well, after finishing two books by Dard last night (the other Crush), I may be tempted to believe it -- it's definitely the best of the pair.
It's Christmas Eve, and Albert has come back home to Paris and to his mother's apartment after being away for six years. Mom has died, and he has returned to an empty, but still unchanged place. After laying back in his old bed for a while, thinking he'd give anything to see his mom "just for a second, standing behind the door," and to hear her asking him if he was awake, his sorrow takes over and he needs to get out. Off into the night, into his old quartier he wanders, after having stopped in a shop to buy a Christmas decoration, a "silver cardboard birdcage sprinkled with glitter dust" with a blue and yellow velvet bird inside on a perch. Then it's on to a restaurant where he runs into a woman who reminds him of a woman from his past named Anna, but this woman has a small child with her, and Albert suddenly feels the tragedy of the "shared loneliness" of the two. After a short stint at a movie theater, Albert walks the woman (still nameless at this point) home; she invites him up for a drink and some impulse drives him to hang the birdcage on the woman's Christmas tree. The little girl is put to bed, after which the woman reveals that she would really like to go out for a while, and they talk about her marriage which is extremely unhappy. Returning her to her home, Albert realizes that they're not alone -- there's now a coat hanging on a hook that belongs to the woman's husband. It's at this juncture where the story really takes off, as Albert is forced to make a confession to this woman who promptly throws him out. But he just can't leave, so he waits, hiding outside and watching as things get weirder and weirder before he steps in once more and gets the surprise of his life.
When I finished this novel, to say I was blown away is to very much understate how I felt about it. Frankly, I thought it was just genius. I think my insomnia may have been caused by a) first the tension that kept ratcheting up throughout the story and b) just laying there thinking about the book and about just how cleverly Dard put things together here. It's like I was expecting one thing and then out of nowhere, it became an entirely different ball game altogether, where everything changed completely.
Passing on this book because it was written in 1961 would be a shame -- it's absolutely perfect for vintage crime readers, for readers who enjoy French crime, and for readers who are looking for something different in their crime fiction. My advice is to run, do not walk, and pick up a copy ASAP. This one I just loved. Absolutely.
August 12, 2025
Bird in a Cage [1961/2016] – ★★★★
This short existential noir thriller tells of Albert, a thirty-year-old man, who arrives to his Paris apartment where he grew up. His mother died some years before, and, feeling nostalgic, Albert wonders through his Parisian quartier, trying to recall happy memories from his childhood. His day-dreaming is cut abruptly short when he meets a beautiful and enigmatic young woman with her daughter at the restaurant he never dared to go into before. Like some nightmare that he is unable to shake off, Albert soon finds himself trapped in a mystery so confusing and layered it is beyond his wildest imaginings – a dead body and a seemingly impossible crime emerge, and accounts of what happened are all as numerous as they are all improbable. Recalling the work of Georges Simenon, Bird in a Cage is a disturbingly delightful read, which is also suspenseful. Perhaps Dard is not as clever as he thinks he is with his big reveal, and much is left both unaccounted for and unbelievable in the story, but his concise and stylish approach to telling the story, that includes both existential and erotic themes, is rather fitting and appealing.
In the style of a Belgian crime writer Georges Simenon (The Blue Room [1960]), Bird in a Cage relies on “clever” turns of events, dialogues and subtle plot points to tell its story, rather than on lengthy character insights or descriptions. Our narrator, Albert, is quite introspective and we do not know much about him at the start. In the style of Camus’ The Outsider [1942], the author builds our sympathy for Albert from the start when we find out that his mother died sometime previously and only now Albert has the opportunity to revisit the apartment of his childhood and come to terms with her death. In this sense, the novel has some existential themes, but it is also filled with erotic longings – “the only real pleasure in the world is to satisfy a need” [Dard, 1961/2016:14], says the narrator.
When Albert meets one mysterious woman with her young daughter in one restaurant, he thinks he can finally put all his troubles behind him, only to realise later that his troubles have only just began. The book is highly suspenseful and intriguing from that point onwards, and we become witnesses to numerous comings and goings to and from Parisian apartments, which will be explained later. We also soon realise that the discovery of one body in an apartment and the repeated story cycles bear the truth and logic all of their own. As we read, we are invited to consider whether we do not perhaps deal with an unreliable narrator, or could this person really be an innocent one, caught in a deadly game that is beyond his abilities to master? Filled with adulteries, objects’ fixations and apparently senseless actions, Bird in a Cage is a mystery within a mystery, and is certainty making us turn the pages.
The main issue with this novella is that the author does not really tie all the loose ends in the end, providing some unbelievable explanations for unbelievable events unfolding, and even Dard’s big reveal at the end is not a twist per se, but simply a surprise, a surprise that is baffling because it is certainly not very realistic, even by the parameters of very fantastical detective fiction and, most certainly, not in the context of the police investigation that is ongoing in the book. In this sense, Bird in a Cage is simply an enjoyable read that has a surprise reveal, rather than some mind-blowing and intelligent twist. Moreover, that surprise reveal seems to bathe in its own underwhelming construction, almost drowning in both its medical expertise and common sense deficiencies.
Translated from the French by David Bellos, Bird in a Cage is a dark crime story that is tightly packed with mysteries of all kinds, subtle clues, erotic longings and sexual tensions. Comparing it to Agatha Christie’s best twists (as The Guardian praised it) is certainty going too far, but it is also true that the book is simply burning with its own special intensity and intrigue, and those who do love impossible crimes and their detection may just as well find a lot to love here.
This short existential noir thriller tells of Albert, a thirty-year-old man, who arrives to his Paris apartment where he grew up. His mother died some years before, and, feeling nostalgic, Albert wonders through his Parisian quartier, trying to recall happy memories from his childhood. His day-dreaming is cut abruptly short when he meets a beautiful and enigmatic young woman with her daughter at the restaurant he never dared to go into before. Like some nightmare that he is unable to shake off, Albert soon finds himself trapped in a mystery so confusing and layered it is beyond his wildest imaginings – a dead body and a seemingly impossible crime emerge, and accounts of what happened are all as numerous as they are all improbable. Recalling the work of Georges Simenon, Bird in a Cage is a disturbingly delightful read, which is also suspenseful. Perhaps Dard is not as clever as he thinks he is with his big reveal, and much is left both unaccounted for and unbelievable in the story, but his concise and stylish approach to telling the story, that includes both existential and erotic themes, is rather fitting and appealing.
In the style of a Belgian crime writer Georges Simenon (The Blue Room [1960]), Bird in a Cage relies on “clever” turns of events, dialogues and subtle plot points to tell its story, rather than on lengthy character insights or descriptions. Our narrator, Albert, is quite introspective and we do not know much about him at the start. In the style of Camus’ The Outsider [1942], the author builds our sympathy for Albert from the start when we find out that his mother died sometime previously and only now Albert has the opportunity to revisit the apartment of his childhood and come to terms with her death. In this sense, the novel has some existential themes, but it is also filled with erotic longings – “the only real pleasure in the world is to satisfy a need” [Dard, 1961/2016:14], says the narrator.
When Albert meets one mysterious woman with her young daughter in one restaurant, he thinks he can finally put all his troubles behind him, only to realise later that his troubles have only just began. The book is highly suspenseful and intriguing from that point onwards, and we become witnesses to numerous comings and goings to and from Parisian apartments, which will be explained later. We also soon realise that the discovery of one body in an apartment and the repeated story cycles bear the truth and logic all of their own. As we read, we are invited to consider whether we do not perhaps deal with an unreliable narrator, or could this person really be an innocent one, caught in a deadly game that is beyond his abilities to master? Filled with adulteries, objects’ fixations and apparently senseless actions, Bird in a Cage is a mystery within a mystery, and is certainty making us turn the pages.
The main issue with this novella is that the author does not really tie all the loose ends in the end, providing some unbelievable explanations for unbelievable events unfolding, and even Dard’s big reveal at the end is not a twist per se, but simply a surprise, a surprise that is baffling because it is certainly not very realistic, even by the parameters of very fantastical detective fiction and, most certainly, not in the context of the police investigation that is ongoing in the book. In this sense, Bird in a Cage is simply an enjoyable read that has a surprise reveal, rather than some mind-blowing and intelligent twist. Moreover, that surprise reveal seems to bathe in its own underwhelming construction, almost drowning in both its medical expertise and common sense deficiencies.
Translated from the French by David Bellos, Bird in a Cage is a dark crime story that is tightly packed with mysteries of all kinds, subtle clues, erotic longings and sexual tensions. Comparing it to Agatha Christie’s best twists (as The Guardian praised it) is certainty going too far, but it is also true that the book is simply burning with its own special intensity and intrigue, and those who do love impossible crimes and their detection may just as well find a lot to love here.
December 15, 2016
First published in 1961, this is an atmospheric and dark novel, set over Christmas in Paris. Albert Herbin has returned to Paris after several years away, to visit his old apartment. His mother is now dead and, feeling he really needs to just get out, he heads out into the streets. There, in a restaurant, he comes across a young mother, and her daughter. The woman reminds him of Anna, a woman he once loved, and he begins to follow her. As the evening continues, Albert feels he is falling in love; but all is not what it seems. Suddenly, Albert finds himself involved in a bizarre series of events, which threaten to embroil him in the death of her husband.
If you enjoy dark noir novels, then you will find this a disturbing, slightly sinister read. This is not a typical Christmas mystery. The streets and bars are full of those celebrating, but, beneath the surface, are the lonely and the despairing. Most of this book takes place during the night, as Albert wanders the streets of his childhood and tries to come to terms with his past. This is an unusual read and I am pleased that Pushkin Vertigo are re-publishing so many crime classics from around the world. I am really enjoying discovering authors that I had never had the chance to read before and discovering wonderful crime novels that were, previously, out of print.
If you enjoy dark noir novels, then you will find this a disturbing, slightly sinister read. This is not a typical Christmas mystery. The streets and bars are full of those celebrating, but, beneath the surface, are the lonely and the despairing. Most of this book takes place during the night, as Albert wanders the streets of his childhood and tries to come to terms with his past. This is an unusual read and I am pleased that Pushkin Vertigo are re-publishing so many crime classics from around the world. I am really enjoying discovering authors that I had never had the chance to read before and discovering wonderful crime novels that were, previously, out of print.
November 29, 2016
Bird in a Cage is a clever French noir novella. The setting is Christmastime, 1960s, Paris. I could perfectly picture this in black and white film. A great little read-in-one-sitting jewel.
December 8, 2022
Noir, “Nero”, così detto per definire un genere dove si narra di oscurità.
Il torbido umano nascosto dietro un bel faccino o dietro una posizione rispettabile.
Bellissima scoperta, questo classico francese che, in un numero esiguo di pagine, assolve il compito di empatizzare con la solitudine del protagonista, incuriosire per l’evolversi della situazione in cui si viene a trovare e sorprendersi per l’inaspettata piega degli eventi...
Di più non si può dire, anzi, non leggete neppure la quarta di copertina ed immergetevi nel lato oscuro parigino di una vigilia di Natale..
” Il grande cancello scuro con la scritta chiara assomigliava alla copertina di un libro del terrore, che raccontava l’agghiacciante storia di una coppia.
Una donna sola con la figlia, la notte di Natale”
Il torbido umano nascosto dietro un bel faccino o dietro una posizione rispettabile.
Bellissima scoperta, questo classico francese che, in un numero esiguo di pagine, assolve il compito di empatizzare con la solitudine del protagonista, incuriosire per l’evolversi della situazione in cui si viene a trovare e sorprendersi per l’inaspettata piega degli eventi...
Di più non si può dire, anzi, non leggete neppure la quarta di copertina ed immergetevi nel lato oscuro parigino di una vigilia di Natale..
” Il grande cancello scuro con la scritta chiara assomigliava alla copertina di un libro del terrore, che raccontava l’agghiacciante storia di una coppia.
Una donna sola con la figlia, la notte di Natale”
March 1, 2020
Iba a darle 3,5 estrellas, pero me ha gustado tanto el final, me ha parecido que tiene tanta mala leche, que le pongo 4.
La historia no es en principio tan rompedora, los personajes al principio parecen un poco esquemáticos y algunas cosas se sienten artificiales (aunque esto tiene una explicación), la solución del misterio la vi hacia la mitad (a mí me pareció claro) y como es corto no da para mucha profundidad psicológica, pero en conjunto no importa. Porque por ejemplo esa concisión, el hecho de que es una novela corta, ayuda para agilizar la lectura y llegar a ese final.
No, en serio, ese final.
La historia no es en principio tan rompedora, los personajes al principio parecen un poco esquemáticos y algunas cosas se sienten artificiales (aunque esto tiene una explicación), la solución del misterio la vi hacia la mitad (a mí me pareció claro) y como es corto no da para mucha profundidad psicológica, pero en conjunto no importa. Porque por ejemplo esa concisión, el hecho de que es una novela corta, ayuda para agilizar la lectura y llegar a ese final.
No, en serio, ese final.
April 10, 2018
French Noir
Back in 1961 when this book was first published, 120-page books were the norm. Nowadays, most authors think everything has to be a magnum opus of 700, 800 pages or more. Now, this would only be at most a novella. It's a short tale that is drenched in melancholy, in sadness, in reminisces. A man returns on Christmas Eve to see his mother's apartment years after she passed away and in his sadness wanders the streets and cafes until he meets a most unlikely companion. While there's not a lot of overt action here, Dard weaves a fascinating little tale, a conundrum really, that is simply mesmerizing as our odd melancholy lead character feels the walls closing in on him bit by bit.
Back in 1961 when this book was first published, 120-page books were the norm. Nowadays, most authors think everything has to be a magnum opus of 700, 800 pages or more. Now, this would only be at most a novella. It's a short tale that is drenched in melancholy, in sadness, in reminisces. A man returns on Christmas Eve to see his mother's apartment years after she passed away and in his sadness wanders the streets and cafes until he meets a most unlikely companion. While there's not a lot of overt action here, Dard weaves a fascinating little tale, a conundrum really, that is simply mesmerizing as our odd melancholy lead character feels the walls closing in on him bit by bit.
June 17, 2016
Stylish, smart, French noir story. Albert Herbin meets a mysterious woman and gets tangled in quite a situation of death and intrigue. A beautiful woman and child, a disappearing corpse. The whole story is very clever. I could see it being made into a movie. This novella is a quick read, is tough to put down, and has a great ending too.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Pushkin Vertigo!
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Pushkin Vertigo!
August 17, 2023
Il modo migliore per ingraziarsi un uomo
Dovrei citarli tutti e magari in ordine cronologico coloro che hanno tessuto le lodi di questo libro. Dard è un Simenon più asciutto, un Carver meno poetico, un Hemingway Lishato con il Gordon. “L’essenziale è invisibile agli occhi” diceva il Piccolo Principe ma non aveva in mente la scrittura quando lo affermava, oppure non aveva letto Dard.
Tutto è stato molto piacevole fino al capitolo al capitolo IV “La seconda visita”.
D’altronde Dollmann ammoniva “Mai tornare nei posti dove fummo felici”. Dollmann non c’entra niente con il libro, l’ho infilato io forzando i bordi della recensione.
Dal quarto capitolo in poi il breve romanzo diventa a tutti gli effetti un noir, c’è un delitto e poi c’è la sua ricostruzione. Mi annoia molto l’enigmistica del delitto, sono convinto invece che se uscisse in forma di settimanale avrebbe un discreto successo. Come in Christie, Fletcher, Poirot, il delitto Dardiano per quanto efferato è pulito; l’interesse è spostato sulla dinamica e sulla presunta intelligenza nell’occultarlo. L’arte della ricerca del delitto perfetto. Nei durs di Simenon l’enigmistica passa in secondo piano; si sopporta meglio un po’ di poesia carveriana della logica criminale; quanto ad Hem, c’è poco da Lisharlo con il Gordon, ha inventato un nuovo modo di scrivere, senza Hem non ci sarebbe stato Carver e di conseguenza neppure Gordon Lish.
M è piaciuta la sciarada finale, nonostante ciò non acquisterò l’enigmistica del delitto quando CAIRO EDITORE la lancerà come inserto ludico del settimanale “GIALLO”
Colonna Sonora:
Appoggiai la fronte al muro e mi premetti i pugni sugli occhi più forte che potevo. In un appartamento vicino, la radio trasmetteva Torna a Surriento. La donna mi mise le mani sulle spalle e si strinse alla mia schiena.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol4Oo...
Dovrei citarli tutti e magari in ordine cronologico coloro che hanno tessuto le lodi di questo libro. Dard è un Simenon più asciutto, un Carver meno poetico, un Hemingway Lishato con il Gordon. “L’essenziale è invisibile agli occhi” diceva il Piccolo Principe ma non aveva in mente la scrittura quando lo affermava, oppure non aveva letto Dard.
Tutto è stato molto piacevole fino al capitolo al capitolo IV “La seconda visita”.
D’altronde Dollmann ammoniva “Mai tornare nei posti dove fummo felici”. Dollmann non c’entra niente con il libro, l’ho infilato io forzando i bordi della recensione.
Dal quarto capitolo in poi il breve romanzo diventa a tutti gli effetti un noir, c’è un delitto e poi c’è la sua ricostruzione. Mi annoia molto l’enigmistica del delitto, sono convinto invece che se uscisse in forma di settimanale avrebbe un discreto successo. Come in Christie, Fletcher, Poirot, il delitto Dardiano per quanto efferato è pulito; l’interesse è spostato sulla dinamica e sulla presunta intelligenza nell’occultarlo. L’arte della ricerca del delitto perfetto. Nei durs di Simenon l’enigmistica passa in secondo piano; si sopporta meglio un po’ di poesia carveriana della logica criminale; quanto ad Hem, c’è poco da Lisharlo con il Gordon, ha inventato un nuovo modo di scrivere, senza Hem non ci sarebbe stato Carver e di conseguenza neppure Gordon Lish.
M è piaciuta la sciarada finale, nonostante ciò non acquisterò l’enigmistica del delitto quando CAIRO EDITORE la lancerà come inserto ludico del settimanale “GIALLO”
Colonna Sonora:
Appoggiai la fronte al muro e mi premetti i pugni sugli occhi più forte che potevo. In un appartamento vicino, la radio trasmetteva Torna a Surriento. La donna mi mise le mani sulle spalle e si strinse alla mia schiena.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol4Oo...
December 28, 2024
As a wise man once said, "First time was so nice I had to do it twice."
When it comes to 'Bird in a Cage,' I must tweak the meme to something sadder. Something like, 'The first time was so sad, I had to revisit the story and not go mad.' For anyone who's confused on what I'm talking about. This book, Frederic Dard's 1961 French-Noir, was the basis of the 2024 Indian thriller, 'Merry Christmas,' directed by the master, Sriram Raghavan!
Does that ring a bell?
It did for me. The movie haunted me last January for all the right reasons. And I was continuously on the lookout to read the original. Lo and behold, I have read it now, and I have read it right around the Christmas season. It's fitting for what essentially is a holiday drama. A moody, pulpy noir with a beating, melancholic heart. That comes with its fair share of doomed romance and a truckload of palpitations.
Maybe I am a bit biased here.
No. Scratch the maybe. I actually am biased here. I tried my best. I really did. But all I could do was flip through the pages and reanimate the movie in my head. Completely unable to visualise the words on display, beyond the colourful movie stills. Or think of fairer French faces to replace the shadows of one Vijay Sethupathi or a Katrina Kaif, for that matter!
It's quite tough shaking off an influence so strong. But I did find a silver lining amidst it all. The realisation of why the novella, despite its shorter length and a pulpy core, was picked upon by a filmmaker of such high calibre to make a movie out of.
Despite the cinematic simplicity of the storyline (convoluted crime scene notwithstanding). There's a peculiar kind of sadness in the book that appeals to the filmmaking mind. A sadness that's not exactly the tested case of the winter blues. But something that's worse. That hollows a person out from within like that of a termite. Which is then joined by the longing melancholia of festival lights. Followed by a staggering dose of existentialism and a sense of slow-burning doom.
It also helps that it's entirely set during a single night of dread. You can almost feel the cold of a chilly Christmas Eve. The flickering lights of freshly anointed trees. The singing of early mass. And an intense need to put on a jacket. Then, go hop a jazz bar, all by yourself, to fill a void inside your heart. No wonder, the book is one of Dard's many 'Novels of the Night.' Perhaps the most beloved work of his, out of several hundred literary outputs that once flooded the French market!
As such, I'd suggest reading it for yourself.
Go for it. Allow yourself to navigate a tightening slipknot. Sigh into the night air with dramatics. And enjoy the snappy dialogues of a master crime writer who knew when to take the reader on a loopy spin. After all that, let me know a differing perspective. Something that's not imposed upon by a Bollywood movie night or a stupid admiration for a brilliant movie score.
(Please stream my favourite song of the album, 'Raat Akeli Hain,' right now. Thank you!)
(3.5/5 || December, 2024)
When it comes to 'Bird in a Cage,' I must tweak the meme to something sadder. Something like, 'The first time was so sad, I had to revisit the story and not go mad.' For anyone who's confused on what I'm talking about. This book, Frederic Dard's 1961 French-Noir, was the basis of the 2024 Indian thriller, 'Merry Christmas,' directed by the master, Sriram Raghavan!
Does that ring a bell?
It did for me. The movie haunted me last January for all the right reasons. And I was continuously on the lookout to read the original. Lo and behold, I have read it now, and I have read it right around the Christmas season. It's fitting for what essentially is a holiday drama. A moody, pulpy noir with a beating, melancholic heart. That comes with its fair share of doomed romance and a truckload of palpitations.
Maybe I am a bit biased here.
No. Scratch the maybe. I actually am biased here. I tried my best. I really did. But all I could do was flip through the pages and reanimate the movie in my head. Completely unable to visualise the words on display, beyond the colourful movie stills. Or think of fairer French faces to replace the shadows of one Vijay Sethupathi or a Katrina Kaif, for that matter!
It's quite tough shaking off an influence so strong. But I did find a silver lining amidst it all. The realisation of why the novella, despite its shorter length and a pulpy core, was picked upon by a filmmaker of such high calibre to make a movie out of.
Despite the cinematic simplicity of the storyline (convoluted crime scene notwithstanding). There's a peculiar kind of sadness in the book that appeals to the filmmaking mind. A sadness that's not exactly the tested case of the winter blues. But something that's worse. That hollows a person out from within like that of a termite. Which is then joined by the longing melancholia of festival lights. Followed by a staggering dose of existentialism and a sense of slow-burning doom.
It also helps that it's entirely set during a single night of dread. You can almost feel the cold of a chilly Christmas Eve. The flickering lights of freshly anointed trees. The singing of early mass. And an intense need to put on a jacket. Then, go hop a jazz bar, all by yourself, to fill a void inside your heart. No wonder, the book is one of Dard's many 'Novels of the Night.' Perhaps the most beloved work of his, out of several hundred literary outputs that once flooded the French market!
As such, I'd suggest reading it for yourself.
Go for it. Allow yourself to navigate a tightening slipknot. Sigh into the night air with dramatics. And enjoy the snappy dialogues of a master crime writer who knew when to take the reader on a loopy spin. After all that, let me know a differing perspective. Something that's not imposed upon by a Bollywood movie night or a stupid admiration for a brilliant movie score.
(Please stream my favourite song of the album, 'Raat Akeli Hain,' right now. Thank you!)
(3.5/5 || December, 2024)
January 21, 2025
Albert returns to his childhood home on Christmas Eve, only to find himself caught in a maze of intrigue and deceit. His encounter with the enigmatic woman at the brasserie, who seems to be "alone and defenceless," quickly spirals into a nightmarish descent. Albert notices "two red stains on her sleeve," a detail that hints at the dark secrets she harbors.
In a bid to impress the mysterious woman, Albert awkwardly tries to order an expensive wine, only to realize he has no idea how to pronounce it. The waiter, with a smirk, corrects him, leaving Albert red-faced and the woman bemused. As the story progresses, the tension mounts, culminating in a dramatic revelation that leaves both Albert and the reader questioning the nature of reality itself.
The prolific Dard, often compared to Georges Simenon, brings a unique flair to the genre, blending psychological depth with a keen sense of irony. His portrayal of Albert as a man "trapped in a prison of his own making" sweats and oozes with the existential themes that permeate his work. As many French works do, this book too reflects on the condition of being, a reminder that "we are all, in some way, prisoners of our own choices and the darker corners of our psyche. After being disappointed by others, I will end up believing in myself." Oh, France...
In a bid to impress the mysterious woman, Albert awkwardly tries to order an expensive wine, only to realize he has no idea how to pronounce it. The waiter, with a smirk, corrects him, leaving Albert red-faced and the woman bemused. As the story progresses, the tension mounts, culminating in a dramatic revelation that leaves both Albert and the reader questioning the nature of reality itself.
The prolific Dard, often compared to Georges Simenon, brings a unique flair to the genre, blending psychological depth with a keen sense of irony. His portrayal of Albert as a man "trapped in a prison of his own making" sweats and oozes with the existential themes that permeate his work. As many French works do, this book too reflects on the condition of being, a reminder that "we are all, in some way, prisoners of our own choices and the darker corners of our psyche. After being disappointed by others, I will end up believing in myself." Oh, France...
August 14, 2021
I feel so lucky to have discovered Frédéric Dard. At the back of this edition was a short biography. Dard was friends with Georges Simenon and apparently was as prolific, though he published under numerous pseudonyms. This title equates very much with Simenon's roman durs. (And I will have to peruse that shelf, I just learned of it!)
In this very short novel, a man returns to Paris after an absence of 6 years. He visits his old apartment. His mother has been dead for 4 years. As this is a psychological novel, I admit that the circumstances of these absences didn't seem all that hard to guess and I assumed there was much more to learn. And, boy, was there! What I thought was sinister turned out to be innocent, and what I thought was innocent turned out to be sinister.
This is only my second Dard novel and another 4-stars only because it's hard to find a fifth star in a novel of only 130 pages. I'll try to see how many more such have been translated, though. Just so good!
In this very short novel, a man returns to Paris after an absence of 6 years. He visits his old apartment. His mother has been dead for 4 years. As this is a psychological novel, I admit that the circumstances of these absences didn't seem all that hard to guess and I assumed there was much more to learn. And, boy, was there! What I thought was sinister turned out to be innocent, and what I thought was innocent turned out to be sinister.
This is only my second Dard novel and another 4-stars only because it's hard to find a fifth star in a novel of only 130 pages. I'll try to see how many more such have been translated, though. Just so good!
August 18, 2019
Intriga, suspenso, juego sucio, ambientación y un buen final. Todos los ingredientes para una buena novela.
October 19, 2022
Fuori era Natale.
Da wikipedia: "Il protagonista del romanzo noir non è un investigatore, ma è una vittima, un sospettato o un esecutore. Una delle caratteristiche più importanti del genere è la qualità auto-distruttiva del protagonista. Il protagonista noir, oltre al persecutore deve anche affrontare il sistema legale e politico che non sono meno corrotti del criminale di cui il protagonista è vittima, e/o deve perseguitare altri personaggi in una situazione senza nessuna possibilità di vincere."
Diciamo che Dard, interpreta in maniera letterale il genere dando vita ad un noir francese sopraffino.
E per costruire questo ingranaggio ad orologeria perfetto, dove inevitabilmente tutto precipita nel peggiore dei modi, si serve solamente di quattro ingredienti.
Un giorno di Natale
Un montacarichi
Un gabbietta con dentro un uccellino
Un libretto di circolazione.
E voilà il noir è servito.
Grazie a @AK-47 (e alla sua ottima recensione su Anobii) per questa lettura (che si inizia e si finisce senza possibilità di indugi)
Da wikipedia: "Il protagonista del romanzo noir non è un investigatore, ma è una vittima, un sospettato o un esecutore. Una delle caratteristiche più importanti del genere è la qualità auto-distruttiva del protagonista. Il protagonista noir, oltre al persecutore deve anche affrontare il sistema legale e politico che non sono meno corrotti del criminale di cui il protagonista è vittima, e/o deve perseguitare altri personaggi in una situazione senza nessuna possibilità di vincere."
Diciamo che Dard, interpreta in maniera letterale il genere dando vita ad un noir francese sopraffino.
E per costruire questo ingranaggio ad orologeria perfetto, dove inevitabilmente tutto precipita nel peggiore dei modi, si serve solamente di quattro ingredienti.
Un giorno di Natale
Un montacarichi
Un gabbietta con dentro un uccellino
Un libretto di circolazione.
E voilà il noir è servito.
Grazie a @AK-47 (e alla sua ottima recensione su Anobii) per questa lettura (che si inizia e si finisce senza possibilità di indugi)
July 27, 2016
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.
August 31, 2021
Clever plotting made this well-written French novella an interesting read.
November 11, 2018
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.
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.
November 19, 2018
3.5 stars (4 stars for the story, 3 for the translation)
This took novella took me a short 90 minutes to read in two sittings. The story was fantastic with twists and turns; I love when I think I know where a story is going and it then goes in the opposite direction. The translation, though, ooph. Pretty bad. Not sure if it is the translator's part or the authors. But lots of !!! when they weren't needed!!!
This took novella took me a short 90 minutes to read in two sittings. The story was fantastic with twists and turns; I love when I think I know where a story is going and it then goes in the opposite direction. The translation, though, ooph. Pretty bad. Not sure if it is the translator's part or the authors. But lots of !!! when they weren't needed!!!
August 28, 2019
Intriga, mucha intriga, y una atmósfera negra perfectamente construida alrededor del París de comienzos de los años 60 del siglo pasado. La historia, brevísima por cierto, narra en primera persona las vivencias de Albert Herbin (casi hasta mediada la novela no nos enteraremos de que acaba de salir de prisión y que fue lo que le llevó allí). La llegada a su casa de un barrio parisino en el que se encuentra todo perfectamente ordenado, tal y como lo dejó su madre antes de morir. La nostalgia y los recuerdos le harán salir y deambular por las calles de su ciudad natal iluminadas para recibir la Navidad... Y así, de manera casual, o no, conocerá a una joven acompañada de su hija. Ambos necesitan compañía y así terminará en el piso de esta mujer al que se accede a través de un montacargas... A partir de ahí, comienza una noche frenética que nos lleva, a través de una espiral de intriga perfectamente construida, a unas dosis de tensión que aumentan de forma irremisible.
Curiosamente mientras leía pensaba que la novela lo tenía todo, absolutamente todo, ritmo, personajes, ambiente..., para ser llevada al cine (como sucedió un año después de su publicación).
Muy recomendable.
Curiosamente mientras leía pensaba que la novela lo tenía todo, absolutamente todo, ritmo, personajes, ambiente..., para ser llevada al cine (como sucedió un año después de su publicación).
Muy recomendable.
July 19, 2019
c'è qualcosa che non mi convince del tutto nel meccanismo a orologeria di questa breve ed efficacissima storia, un dettaglio non secondario che mi pare non si incastri nel resto , ma rimane che questo è il tipo di storia gialla (o più probabilmente nera) che mi piace: andamento rapido, tensione costante, concentrazione maniacale nella realizzazione del piano, e poi l'imprevisto imprevedibile che ribalta tutto. Come in uno dei migliori fra i film del Woody Allen maturo, Match Point, ma là l'esito era opposto a questo.
Molto bello.
Molto bello.
February 24, 2025
4.5✨
Just two cute little murderers spending the night together
Came very close to being as good as the film, Kudos! (Merry Christmas, directed by Sriram Raghavan , it's on Netflix)
This feels like something that would be perfect to read on a chilly Christmas eve, sitting on the bed with the cup of coffee by the side
Just two cute little murderers spending the night together
Came very close to being as good as the film, Kudos! (Merry Christmas, directed by Sriram Raghavan , it's on Netflix)
This feels like something that would be perfect to read on a chilly Christmas eve, sitting on the bed with the cup of coffee by the side
May 22, 2020
Muy buena novela policiaca, corta y sorprendente en muchos aspectos. Bajo una apariencia de relato clásico, acaba sacando recursos que pillan al lector por sorpresa y le dan varios giros a la narración. Muy bien llevada y con un final abierto perfecto.
November 12, 2019
As spare a thriller as you will ever encounter. A man comes home on Christmas Eve and meets a beautiful woman and her daughter. Not a word wasted or missed as this glory of crime noir unfolds.
January 6, 2024
merry christmas (dir. sriram raghavan, to be released jan 12 2024) really is about to be the best film of all time
November 3, 2017
I've loved Simenon since I was 16. So when I read about his contemporary Fred Dard, another prolific practitioner of postwar French noir, the name went straight away into the mental filing cabinet. And then finding this, a few weeks ago, in the used bookshop in Notting Hill... the thrill of discovery!
But Dard is no copycat. He has his own dark angle. Existential noir. I can think of no better description for this book. As if Camus met Chandler. It's the work of the devil himself! The plotting is fiendish, masterful. The prose spare, no more than exactly what is needed. Although very different books, it gave me the same feeling of reading an airless allegory, of being caught in a trap out of time, the feeling that I felt so strongly when I read Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe.
Paris 1961. Christmas Eve. A man returns to his childhood home, after six years in prison. His mother has died in his absence. The flat is empty. He goes out to eat. He meets a single mother, as lonely as him. He follows her to the cinema. They go back to her place. They have drinks, they go out. To his place, then to a cafe, then back to hers.
Only now there's a corpse on the sofa in her living room. The woman's husband. He's blown his brains out. The man needs out of this situation, he's got very bad trouble in his past. So he leaves. But then he sees that, INSTEAD of calling in the police, the woman is leaving the flat with her child! He follows them unseen, to the midnight mass at the neighbourhood church. The woman appears to faint from the heat of the crowd. With the help of a Samaritan with a car, he brings her back to her flat.
There is no corpse this time. The man is flabbergasted. The three of them have drinks, then the woman remembers she has left her purse behind in church. They leave yet again. The man is dropped off. He decides to spy on the woman and her Samaritan. They come back hours later, almost near dawn. And this time yet again, they discover the dead body in her lounge!
No corpse - corpse - no corpse - corpse. What the fuck is going on? By now, the reader is fully in the grip of bamboozled paranoia. The icy Paris night. The pitch-dark lift shaft that leads up to the dead silent flat. Repeated visits to this nightmare place, each time with a different outcome. An inscrutable femme, as fatale as they come. And a hapless protagonist who is so far out of his depth that, even as he believes he has escaped the clutches of fate, the steel trap is certain to spring shut on him.
Brilliant stuff. If this is Dard, give me more. If there is more of this existential noir out there, bring it to me now!
But Dard is no copycat. He has his own dark angle. Existential noir. I can think of no better description for this book. As if Camus met Chandler. It's the work of the devil himself! The plotting is fiendish, masterful. The prose spare, no more than exactly what is needed. Although very different books, it gave me the same feeling of reading an airless allegory, of being caught in a trap out of time, the feeling that I felt so strongly when I read Buzzati's The Tartar Steppe.
Paris 1961. Christmas Eve. A man returns to his childhood home, after six years in prison. His mother has died in his absence. The flat is empty. He goes out to eat. He meets a single mother, as lonely as him. He follows her to the cinema. They go back to her place. They have drinks, they go out. To his place, then to a cafe, then back to hers.
Only now there's a corpse on the sofa in her living room. The woman's husband. He's blown his brains out. The man needs out of this situation, he's got very bad trouble in his past. So he leaves. But then he sees that, INSTEAD of calling in the police, the woman is leaving the flat with her child! He follows them unseen, to the midnight mass at the neighbourhood church. The woman appears to faint from the heat of the crowd. With the help of a Samaritan with a car, he brings her back to her flat.
There is no corpse this time. The man is flabbergasted. The three of them have drinks, then the woman remembers she has left her purse behind in church. They leave yet again. The man is dropped off. He decides to spy on the woman and her Samaritan. They come back hours later, almost near dawn. And this time yet again, they discover the dead body in her lounge!
No corpse - corpse - no corpse - corpse. What the fuck is going on? By now, the reader is fully in the grip of bamboozled paranoia. The icy Paris night. The pitch-dark lift shaft that leads up to the dead silent flat. Repeated visits to this nightmare place, each time with a different outcome. An inscrutable femme, as fatale as they come. And a hapless protagonist who is so far out of his depth that, even as he believes he has escaped the clutches of fate, the steel trap is certain to spring shut on him.
Brilliant stuff. If this is Dard, give me more. If there is more of this existential noir out there, bring it to me now!
March 11, 2018
Classic French noir set in Paris in the 1960s. This is well executed and suspenseful, with enough plot twists and turns worthy of Hitchcock.
Narrated in the first person by one Albert Herbin, who returns home on Christmas Eve, after a absence of six years. A chance encounter over dinner with a mother and her child sparks off a strange series of events, which finds our man plumb centre in the middle of a murder. The crime is staged brilliantly and now Albert, the perfect pawn (or patsy), finds himself living within some sort of paranoid nightmare, where nobody is quite as they seem.
The story is more about plot and action rather than character development - so don't expect to learn too much about the protagonists. Enjoy the tale for what it is - the story of a man trapped within a prison of his own making.
Narrated in the first person by one Albert Herbin, who returns home on Christmas Eve, after a absence of six years. A chance encounter over dinner with a mother and her child sparks off a strange series of events, which finds our man plumb centre in the middle of a murder. The crime is staged brilliantly and now Albert, the perfect pawn (or patsy), finds himself living within some sort of paranoid nightmare, where nobody is quite as they seem.
The story is more about plot and action rather than character development - so don't expect to learn too much about the protagonists. Enjoy the tale for what it is - the story of a man trapped within a prison of his own making.
June 28, 2019
this was only 120 pages long but it still turned out to be a complex and intricate mystery with a frustrating but brilliant ending?? the talent this author possesses!!! I'll be definitely checking out more of his work.
November 17, 2018
Thanks to Ryan for recommending this little psychological piece of reading enjoyment. It’s a quick read, but oh so atmospheric. Set in París. On Christmas. Though all is not cheery nor bright.
Apparently Frédéric Dard wrote 284 thrillers, about 3-5 per year of his career. And this was my first. He also used 17 aliases, but this is is actual name.
Up next maybe Dard’s The Wicked Go to Hell.
Apparently Frédéric Dard wrote 284 thrillers, about 3-5 per year of his career. And this was my first. He also used 17 aliases, but this is is actual name.
Up next maybe Dard’s The Wicked Go to Hell.
January 22, 2024
no joke, eye contacts with strangers are really this fatal
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