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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I never expected such an emotional gut punch. I understand why this is one of Dame Agatha's favorites of her own work.
A good, quick read. I liked it particularly because it was more of a Shirley Jackson novella than a standard Agatha Christie whodunit. A fun, relatively creepy, twisty tale of a haunted / cursed piece of land that some dumb schmuck can't wait to get his hands on.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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:
Yes
Mike is a roamer. After he leaves school he drifts from one job to another for the experience. But he always wants a nice house on beautiful land. Driving around he comes across The Towers aka Gipsy’s Acres. There he meets a girl and a gypsy who warns them against the place. Mike and Ellie fall in love. And bonus — she’s rich, but just not until she is 21. So her companion Greta helps her sneak around to meet Mike.
Mike still wants the property and he knows the perfect architect to design his home, Santatonix. Ellie buys the property for them. They are married as soon as she turns 21. There are warnings along the way from the gypsy, Santatonix (who’s dying), and from Mike’s mom who Mike doesn’t want to meet Ellie. After the house is built, Mike meets Greta who he is jealous of because she has such influence over Ellie. Plus Ellie’s relatives begin coming around and Mike’s unhappy about that. After Ellie sprains her ankle riding, Greta moves in. Mike and Greta have a huge fight. To calm Ellie down, Mike agrees to let Greta stay as long as she wants. But everyone warns Mike against Greta.
Mike and a local go to an auction and are supposed to meet Ellie for lunch. She never shows. Instead she dies while riding. Mike goes to America to take care of Ellie’s business and leaves Greta in charge of the house. Santatonix who is in the hospital tells Mike that he took the wrong path. While he’s away, the gypsy is found dead and Ellie’s riding partner found dead in the same manner as Ellie.
Mike thinks he sees Ellie as he returns home. He and Greta planned all this. He strangles Greta. He is in prison where he never thinks about Greta, only Ellie and what would have happened if he had chosen the other path.
This reminded me of MacBeth with Greta as Lady orchestrating it all. The problem was when riding partner took some of Ellie’s drugged allergy medication to go riding and died the same way.
Not may favorite Christie because of the unreliable narrator.
Mike still wants the property and he knows the perfect architect to design his home, Santatonix. Ellie buys the property for them. They are married as soon as she turns 21. There are warnings along the way from the gypsy, Santatonix (who’s dying), and from Mike’s mom who Mike doesn’t want to meet Ellie. After the house is built, Mike meets Greta who he is jealous of because she has such influence over Ellie. Plus Ellie’s relatives begin coming around and Mike’s unhappy about that. After Ellie sprains her ankle riding, Greta moves in. Mike and Greta have a huge fight. To calm Ellie down, Mike agrees to let Greta stay as long as she wants. But everyone warns Mike against Greta.
Mike and a local go to an auction and are supposed to meet Ellie for lunch. She never shows. Instead she dies while riding. Mike goes to America to take care of Ellie’s business and leaves Greta in charge of the house. Santatonix who is in the hospital tells Mike that he took the wrong path. While he’s away, the gypsy is found dead and Ellie’s riding partner found dead in the same manner as Ellie.
Mike thinks he sees Ellie as he returns home. He and Greta planned all this. He strangles Greta. He is in prison where he never thinks about Greta, only Ellie and what would have happened if he had chosen the other path.
This reminded me of MacBeth with Greta as Lady orchestrating it all. The problem was when riding partner took some of Ellie’s drugged allergy medication to go riding and died the same way.
Not may favorite Christie because of the unreliable narrator.
Our book club read for August, this was a very slow starter. If it weren't our book club pick I probably would have given up on it, but I sat down yesterday and dedicated the afternoon to it, out on my deck (my favorite place to read), and completely got into it. SO much so, that I finished it last night and I did not see the ending coming at all.
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Endless Night is late, Christie. It's a standalone that doesn’t feature Miss Marple or Poirot. I get the impression that those who have read Christie aren’t aware of this one. I’m here to tell you it’s very much worth your time.
Told in first person, Michael Rogers introduces himself as a working-class bloke in his early twenties, easy on the eye with expensive tastes. His dream is to purchase the property, “Gipsy’s Acre”, and have the world-famous architect Rudolf Santonix build the house (who he met when working as a chauffeur). It’s after he attends the auction of “Gipsy’s Acre” (no, he doesn’t buy it, how can he?) that he stumbles across Fenella (Ellie) Guteman—an incredibly wealthy heiress (although Rogers doesn’t know this when they meet). They fall in love. They decide to marry. Rogers realises his dream of building a house on Gipsy Acre (Fenella bought it before she met Michael, a means of escaping her overbearing family). It’s all going so well. But according to the local “gipsy” woman, the property is cursed, and if they don’t leave the property, Michael and Ellie are sure to die. And, after an increasing number of disturbing events—rocks thrown through windows and the like—it looks like the “gipsy” curse is coming true.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. The treatment of Romani and traveller culture is dreadful. I’m not even convinced it’s “of its time”. There’s an argument that given that no one in this novel (bar Ellie) is especially likeable, their stereotypical views of Romani culture are to be expected. I don’t buy that either. The entire culture is used as a plot device, a red herring, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.
But, if you can squint at the racism (clearly I could), you get a funny and keenly observed novel about class. Via Rogers, Christie takes the piss out of the rich—their blinkered, ritualised view of the world and their delight in backstabbing each other. Even Ellie, the only truly “nice” person, has the naivety and innocence of someone who’s never had to work or wonder where their next meal is coming from.
Then there’s the twist. Because the novel is six decades old, and because it’s since been employed again and again and again, I’d be disappointed if you don’t pick it. (I’m not even sure the twist is original to Christie. I’m looking at you, The Good Soldier). But Christie pulls it off so damn well, with such skill, that it has all the makings of a slick magic trick. The ending is also much more savage and darker than I thought it would be.*
Given how little Dame Agatha I’ve read, I see more of her work in my future.**
*No, I’ve not seen the film.
**I know, I know, I should read “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”… even though I know the twist.
Told in first person, Michael Rogers introduces himself as a working-class bloke in his early twenties, easy on the eye with expensive tastes. His dream is to purchase the property, “Gipsy’s Acre”, and have the world-famous architect Rudolf Santonix build the house (who he met when working as a chauffeur). It’s after he attends the auction of “Gipsy’s Acre” (no, he doesn’t buy it, how can he?) that he stumbles across Fenella (Ellie) Guteman—an incredibly wealthy heiress (although Rogers doesn’t know this when they meet). They fall in love. They decide to marry. Rogers realises his dream of building a house on Gipsy Acre (Fenella bought it before she met Michael, a means of escaping her overbearing family). It’s all going so well. But according to the local “gipsy” woman, the property is cursed, and if they don’t leave the property, Michael and Ellie are sure to die. And, after an increasing number of disturbing events—rocks thrown through windows and the like—it looks like the “gipsy” curse is coming true.
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room. The treatment of Romani and traveller culture is dreadful. I’m not even convinced it’s “of its time”. There’s an argument that given that no one in this novel (bar Ellie) is especially likeable, their stereotypical views of Romani culture are to be expected. I don’t buy that either. The entire culture is used as a plot device, a red herring, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth.
But, if you can squint at the racism (clearly I could), you get a funny and keenly observed novel about class. Via Rogers, Christie takes the piss out of the rich—their blinkered, ritualised view of the world and their delight in backstabbing each other. Even Ellie, the only truly “nice” person, has the naivety and innocence of someone who’s never had to work or wonder where their next meal is coming from.
Then there’s the twist. Because the novel is six decades old, and because it’s since been employed again and again and again, I’d be disappointed if you don’t pick it. (I’m not even sure the twist is original to Christie. I’m looking at you, The Good Soldier). But Christie pulls it off so damn well, with such skill, that it has all the makings of a slick magic trick. The ending is also much more savage and darker than I thought it would be.*
Given how little Dame Agatha I’ve read, I see more of her work in my future.**
*No, I’ve not seen the film.
**I know, I know, I should read “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”… even though I know the twist.