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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As always Agatha Christie doesn't disappoint. The mystery is compelling, but in that case the solution is easily half guessed near the end. Still, it's a great read for the Agatha Christie aficionados.
A re-read for me. I found Ariadne Oliver to be particularly fun this go-round.
The book is not for everyone to enjoy, as there is plenty of repetition and almost no action, but still there's this charm of the dialogues and mixed memories, charm of the writing that one looks for and finds in Christie's book. And then, by knowing her other works and her autobiography, one cannot help but find small references to her life or character. Pleasant reading but not for the action seekers.
Old case, almost no facts and no one to ask about them, only memories of the elephants, people who do remember something. And among all the hearsay there may or may not lay some truth.
Old case, almost no facts and no one to ask about them, only memories of the elephants, people who do remember something. And among all the hearsay there may or may not lay some truth.
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Rating: 3 kindness-of-my-heart stars
Dear oh dear me.
An *awful* book, meandering and incoherent and apparently devoid of an editor's touch in which people are not properly or positively identified, events run on apparently unrelated timestreams, and holy goddess of memory will SOMEone please decide how old these folks are. Sometimes old, sometimes young, and never in the present or the past is it consistent! Did I mention the rambling? Like talking to a sleepy old person who's had too much wine. I skimmed from 40% on, it was more than I could endure not to.
The Agatha Christie's Poirot version for telly is almost infinitely superior to the novel, and I loves me some Ariadne Oliver as played by Zoë Wanamaker, but it's still a chopped salad instead of filet mignon for dinner.
First and foremost, Celia Ravenscroft is pretty much accosted by her godmother Mrs. Oliver and grilled about her parents' death in public. Instead of throwing her water at the bitch, Celia asks her to investigate the case! That she knows nothing about! Because, apparently, she barely ever met these parents in the twelve years they co-existed on the planet. But she suddenly wants to know what happened? Why?
And the show adds characters like mad to make the stakes worth staying awake for: A daughter who survives what had to be the single most hazardous childhood ever and yet has baskets of letters from her insane mother?! The discovery of the Ravenscoft woman's twinship which is a surprise to her self-described dear friend Mrs. Oliver! REALLY?!? Autre temps, autres moueurs, c'est vrai, mais anyone, at any time in history, calling themselves friends has a pretty clear picture of the immediate family tree of the befriended. Otherwise they're acquaintances. And not terribly close ones.
And the long-suffering Zélie Rouxelle, mooshed together from two indistinguishable governesses in the book...ten (book) or thirteen (film) or so (frankly wasn't sure about the timing of events and stopped caring early on so never worked it out) years she silently keeps a murder under her wig, one she colluded in or at least knew about, and the murdered woman's child, who inexplicably and suddenly wants the truth about the crime, expresses no teensy-tinsiest morsel of the mildest reproof at this astounding perversion of justice?!
None of this tale, book *shudder* or film *wince*, makes the smallest scintilla of sense and can be avoided without loss of pleasure. In fact, unless you just love Ariadne Oliver like I do, I encourage you to skip it.
Dear oh dear me.
An *awful* book, meandering and incoherent and apparently devoid of an editor's touch in which people are not properly or positively identified, events run on apparently unrelated timestreams, and holy goddess of memory will SOMEone please decide how old these folks are. Sometimes old, sometimes young, and never in the present or the past is it consistent! Did I mention the rambling? Like talking to a sleepy old person who's had too much wine. I skimmed from 40% on, it was more than I could endure not to.
The Agatha Christie's Poirot version for telly is almost infinitely superior to the novel, and I loves me some Ariadne Oliver as played by Zoë Wanamaker, but it's still a chopped salad instead of filet mignon for dinner.
First and foremost, Celia Ravenscroft is pretty much accosted by her godmother Mrs. Oliver and grilled about her parents' death in public. Instead of throwing her water at the bitch, Celia asks her to investigate the case! That she knows nothing about! Because, apparently, she barely ever met these parents in the twelve years they co-existed on the planet. But she suddenly wants to know what happened? Why?
And the show adds characters like mad to make the stakes worth staying awake for: A daughter who survives what had to be the single most hazardous childhood ever and yet has baskets of letters from her insane mother?! The discovery of the Ravenscoft woman's twinship which is a surprise to her self-described dear friend Mrs. Oliver! REALLY?!? Autre temps, autres moueurs, c'est vrai, mais anyone, at any time in history, calling themselves friends has a pretty clear picture of the immediate family tree of the befriended. Otherwise they're acquaintances. And not terribly close ones.
And the long-suffering Zélie Rouxelle, mooshed together from two indistinguishable governesses in the book...ten (book) or thirteen (film) or so (frankly wasn't sure about the timing of events and stopped caring early on so never worked it out) years she silently keeps a murder under her wig, one she colluded in or at least knew about, and the murdered woman's child, who inexplicably and suddenly wants the truth about the crime, expresses no teensy-tinsiest morsel of the mildest reproof at this astounding perversion of justice?!
None of this tale, book *shudder* or film *wince*, makes the smallest scintilla of sense and can be avoided without loss of pleasure. In fact, unless you just love Ariadne Oliver like I do, I encourage you to skip it.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Hercule Poirot is determined to solve an old husband and wife double murder that is still an open verdict...
This one was really good. Out of all of the Agatha Christie books I've read (which is quite a few), this is the first one that I even had a single bit of an idea what the answer was. That said, I still wasn't close. I just made the first connection. I feel proud of myself even for figuring out that.