Reviews

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

jmaryw's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring 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? Yes

4.0

kellyrenea's review against another edition

5.0

Wow! One of the first great detective novels! It was interesting to tell the story from many different POV, therefore leaving the reader to wonder how honestly to take each viewpoint. I personally loved Betteridge, not the other ones as much. He made me want to read Robinson Crusoe right now.

shorty_320's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

bexlrose's review against another edition

4.0

Finished reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Really wonderful book, I challenge you to try not to be utterly charmed by Gabriel Betteredge as a character. I'm giving it a 4.5 stars, and the only reason it doesn't get a 5 is because of the length. A book as long as The Moonstone has to be completely astonishing for me to give it 5 stars because of the investment of time. It was well worth my time, so it get a 4.5 stars, but it still did feel quite long. Do read it.

wandererzarina's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

gamergirl77's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

libraryofdreaming's review against another edition

3.0

I think I was ruined by the hype for this book. It was good, but not as absolutely fantastic as I was led to expect. I can appreciate the great leaps in the mystery genre and the tropes Wilkie Collins established here, but after being practically teethed on Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers it just didn't impact me as much. Also, although there were some great twists I kept expecting the worst from everyone...

I honestly expected one of the cast to be an unreliable narrator and am a little sad that the author didn't choose to give the thief a piece of the narrative. I guess that was for other mystery writers to explore as they followed in Wilkie Collins' footsteps!

sirrydactyl's review against another edition

4.0

I thought the book was well written, and I enjoyed the plot, but I feel like Wilkie Collins went for the more obvious choice. I was expecting something a little more creative; something that would catch me off guard, as far as "who dunnit." Let's say for instance that Old Betteredge was behind the stealing of the Moonstone because his good friend Robinson Crusoe told him to, in order to protect the family he served from the curse. THAT would have been something that caught me off guard. Betteredge was the first narrator we hear, so it places in us a kind of trust, but I think having an unreliable narrator would have put this book at five stars for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the book, and I am pleased to have finally finished it; I just found the ending a bit lacking.

burrowsi1's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

lauraborkpower's review against another edition

3.0

I'd give this book an extra half star if I could. It's a long listen, but a classic for a reason. I'm still unsure what made me download this from Audible, but I'm glad I did. It's an epistolary novel (a term I learned after reading this book), which means that it's a series of letters written by the characters. In this novel, the characters writing the narratives are doing so to try to figure out the mysterious disappearance of the Moonstone, a gigantic Indian diamond stolen by a British military captain. The narrators are terrific; each takes on a distinctly different voice, and Collins does a brilliant job of writing each first-person account as not only an entry in the mystery, but also a detailed character exploration. The reader, Peter Jeffrey, is wonderful. He develops distinct, perfectly suited voices for each of the writers. And he does something I really appreciate: he doesn't do a "woman" voice for our only female writer, Clack (Drusilla Clack, a kooky religious spinster), he just gives a pompous and elitist voice, which is her to a "t".

I'd recommend this book, though not for listening on traffic-heavy, rainy afternoons. It's a 19th Century character mystery, so it's not terribly fast-paced. There were times I felt my eyelids drooping a little bit. That's not good when you're driving.