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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Enjoyable first detective mystery written in English.
I was able to figure out the mystery of 'who done it' quite early. The way the mystery is solved is so far fetched, it is worth reading for those portions. The elapse of time since it was written makes several portions of the story line overly predictable, and others much less predictable than when it was originally written.
I love the peak into the past too.
I was able to figure out the mystery of 'who done it' quite early. The way the mystery is solved is so far fetched, it is worth reading for those portions. The elapse of time since it was written makes several portions of the story line overly predictable, and others much less predictable than when it was originally written.
I love the peak into the past too.
slow-paced
An intriguing plot but the story wasn’t told in the most gripping way, for me. I found it overly wordy in descriptive sections and, at times, slow paced.
Probably doesn’t help that I had to read this for a book club so felt rushed. Ended up skim reading the last ~100 as I was desperate to know what happened but not to be bogged down with language.
Probably doesn’t help that I had to read this for a book club so felt rushed. Ended up skim reading the last ~100 as I was desperate to know what happened but not to be bogged down with language.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is considered to be the first detective novel in the English Language. And being a huge fan of detective stories I had long wanted to read it, but had never gotten around doing it. So a couple of months ago I joined The Classics Club Challenge and added this book to my list.
What I absolutely loved about this novel, and perhaps the reason it's considered a classic, is how well Collins developed the plot. The twists, the suspects, the idea of the super detective who comes in to save the day--all of this pretty much from scratch, no template or recipe to follow. The language, naturally, gives it away. This novel was first published in 1868, and the fact that he wrote it as an epistolary novel (written as a series of documents, such as letters or diary entries) made it much easier to read. It changed the pace of the book and kept it interesting.
This novel should be required reading for fans of detective novels. It is almost impossible to think of books by Agatha Christie, P.D. James, or even Arthur Conan Doyle without referring to The Moonstone. Great read!
What I absolutely loved about this novel, and perhaps the reason it's considered a classic, is how well Collins developed the plot. The twists, the suspects, the idea of the super detective who comes in to save the day--all of this pretty much from scratch, no template or recipe to follow. The language, naturally, gives it away. This novel was first published in 1868, and the fact that he wrote it as an epistolary novel (written as a series of documents, such as letters or diary entries) made it much easier to read. It changed the pace of the book and kept it interesting.
This novel should be required reading for fans of detective novels. It is almost impossible to think of books by Agatha Christie, P.D. James, or even Arthur Conan Doyle without referring to The Moonstone. Great read!
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was a lot of fun. It got slow in some sections, but the characters and narrators were so great that I didn't mind. I loved the structure and really did feel like I was reading each person's account.