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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was dark and creepy, which normally isn’t my vibe (I love murder mysteries, not so much horror). It was also written in the first person POV, and was altogether different than the majority of Agatha Christie’s works. This all made me hesitant at first, but I actually loved it. I did almost put it down about midway through, because I was honestly getting a bit scared, but am so glad I stuck it out to the end, because it explained everything so satisfactorily.
The reveal in the last bit of the book was crazy!! It makes you rethink everything that you read. Suddenly you see everything in a new light and remember little snippets that were brought up throughout the book describing past events that were presented as being tragic happenstances, but were actually terrible, intentional actions.
I think that is an impressive thing to be able to pull off; it had to be very well written to do so. And it makes the book very interesting from a psychological standpoint.
The reveal in the last bit of the book was crazy!! It makes you rethink everything that you read. Suddenly you see everything in a new light and remember little snippets that were brought up throughout the book describing past events that were presented as being tragic happenstances, but were actually terrible, intentional actions.
I think that is an impressive thing to be able to pull off; it had to be very well written to do so. And it makes the book very interesting from a psychological standpoint.
Mike, the narrator, and his new, wealthy bride Ellie move to a village and buy a plot of land called 'Gypsy's Acre', which is supposed to be cursed. There they build a house, and I can't remember much else. That's at least three quarters of the book. Finally, surprise!, there's a murder, and then the murder is solved.
Christie isn't an author I'd usually go to for a character-driven book or a book from a male perspective, and the character development wasn't my favorite part of this book. I don't think any author can write fully convincing characters of the opposite gender, but whatever. Christie's strength is writing sketches of characters with just enough depth to last her novels (or are they novellas?), and then writing clever, tightly-plotted mysteries around those characters. In this book, the mystery doesn't come until the end, which is unfortunate, because when it does happen, she's firing on all cylinders. Was it worth it? I'm not sure.
Christie isn't an author I'd usually go to for a character-driven book or a book from a male perspective, and the character development wasn't my favorite part of this book. I don't think any author can write fully convincing characters of the opposite gender, but whatever. Christie's strength is writing sketches of characters with just enough depth to last her novels (or are they novellas?), and then writing clever, tightly-plotted mysteries around those characters. In this book, the mystery doesn't come until the end, which is unfortunate, because when it does happen, she's firing on all cylinders. Was it worth it? I'm not sure.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
What starts as a “boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, then boy and girl get married and decide to build a lovely house in the country on land said to be cursed” story, instead is actually a chilling story of murder.
There is a lot of setup to this story, where we meet the young happy couple, and the various people surrounding her, all intent on her many millions. The story takes off past the halfway point, after the lovely house is built.
I will say that I figured out what was going on, thanks to me remembering Christie’s use of a particular narrative technique.
There is a lot of setup to this story, where we meet the young happy couple, and the various people surrounding her, all intent on her many millions. The story takes off past the halfway point, after the lovely house is built.
I will say that I figured out what was going on, thanks to me remembering Christie’s use of a particular narrative technique.
Very different from the other Christie's I've read. It is a "who done it" but without a detective. Very psychological - twisted.
It's obvious from the ratings that loads of people really like this one, so clearly my reaction has to be considered subjective. But for me this is one of the poorest of Christie's novels. It's a late one, from 1967, when she was well past her peak, and it shows in several of the late books where her earlier tight plotting, with large casts of characters and lots of red herrings and misdirection, has given way to a kind of rambling repetitiveness.
She's tried for a different style here - a first person narrative, with the murder happening very near the end of the book, and an attempt to use the idea of gypsies and curses to give the thing a kind of creepy vibe. I'd say it doesn't work, were it not for the zillions of reviews from people for whom it quite clearly does work.
But the major problem is that the plot is a mash-up of the plots of two of her most famous books. I'm not going to name them, because they're so well known and have been adapted so often that their titles alone would be spoilers for this one. So maybe it depends on how well you know your Christie. I know her major books very well and recognised the two plots very early on, meaning that I knew exactly what was going to happen and who was going to murder whom. Then I had to wait and wait through a long, long set-up to finally get there.
All I would say is don't choose this one as your first Christie, and if you already have and have been disappointed by it, don't judge her on the basis of this book alone. Read any of the books written before around 1955, which is when her brilliance began to fade. There are still some good ones after that date, but it becomes hit and miss, whereas in her earlier years the books are consistently excellent.
She's tried for a different style here - a first person narrative, with the murder happening very near the end of the book, and an attempt to use the idea of gypsies and curses to give the thing a kind of creepy vibe. I'd say it doesn't work, were it not for the zillions of reviews from people for whom it quite clearly does work.
But the major problem is that the plot is a mash-up of the plots of two of her most famous books. I'm not going to name them, because they're so well known and have been adapted so often that their titles alone would be spoilers for this one. So maybe it depends on how well you know your Christie. I know her major books very well and recognised the two plots very early on, meaning that I knew exactly what was going to happen and who was going to murder whom. Then I had to wait and wait through a long, long set-up to finally get there.
All I would say is don't choose this one as your first Christie, and if you already have and have been disappointed by it, don't judge her on the basis of this book alone. Read any of the books written before around 1955, which is when her brilliance began to fade. There are still some good ones after that date, but it becomes hit and miss, whereas in her earlier years the books are consistently excellent.
Having a hard time getting into this one. Might come back to it later.
