Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie

9 reviews

smoakwithwifi's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Slow, repetitive, and full of pearl-clutching about how "children don't behave responsibly anymore" and "they don't lock up deranged people anymore like they ought to".

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inkysplodge's review against another edition

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

3.0


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rhiannon814r's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This was my first experience reading a Christie novel and I’m so disappointed. I hope others are better. With the author’s renown, I was hoping
the killer wouldn’t be the person who was established to have motive, means, and opportunity in the first few pages,
but unfortunately it was. You could read only the first few and last two chapters of this book and it wouldn’t take away from the plot.

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shilohet9's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5


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renpuspita's review against another edition

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

4.0

 Setelah Murder in Mesopotamia dan The Pale Horse, Hallowe'en Party atau Pesta Halloween jadi buku ketiga dari Dame Agatha Christie yang gue baca di tahun 2023. Buku ini dibaca bareng-bareng teman BBI Joglo yaitu Dion, Hani dan Ratih. Buddy read ini lebih ke spontanitas soalnya waktu itu Hani nanya ada film Poirot versi Kenneth Brannagh yang terbaru yaitu Haunting in Venice. Gue terus nyamber kalau itu diambil dari buku Halloween Party. Lalu Dion pun ngajak baca bareng dimana Ratih pun nimbrung. Ya udahlah kami semua buddy read di Twitter, walau kayaknya baru gue sama Dion yang selesai duluan nih XD.

"Aku pernah melihat pembunuhan!", itulah yang dikatakan Joyce, gadis umur 13 tahun yang dikenal pembual oleh orang - orang di Woodleigh Common. Joyce mungkin hanya membual, tapi sayangnya ada orang yang mengira kalau apa yang dikatakan Joyce itu benar dan Joyce pun harus tewas tenggelam dalam ember berisi apel - apel pada pesta Halloween. Ariadne Oliver yang doyan apel sampai trauma dan langsung menghubungi sobatnya, sang detektif partikelir kenamaan, Hercule Poirot. Tidak butuh waktu lama bagi Poirot untuk menyelidiki kasus pembunuhan ini, dengan dibantu juga oleh kawan lamanya, Inspekstur Spence dan adik Spence, Elspeth McKay dengan pengamatannya yang tajam akan masyarakat Woodleigh Common serta kasus - kasus kematian di beberapa tahun yang lalu. Semakin Poirot berusaha menyelediki kasus - kasus mana yang kemungkinan dilihat oleh Joyce, semakin rumit penyelesaiannya! Poirot pun diburu waktu untuk menyelesaikan kasus dengan dua pertanyaan yang menggantung. Benarkan Joyce melihat pembunuhan atau dia hanya membual saja? Lalu siapa yang membunuh Joyce kalau gadis itu sebenarnya tidak membual?

Gue sendiri hanya bisa menebak siapa pelakunya dengan separuh benar dan sejujurnya gue ga menyangka kalau motif di balik pembunuhannya sebagiannya bisa sampai seruwet itu. Untuk kali ini plot twistnya gue acungin jempol, ga kayak di Murder in Mesopotamia yang menurut gue rada outlandish atau The Pale Horse yang rada klenik. Layaknya novel misteri, banyak red herring yang diumpankan Dame Christie pada pembaca. Red herringnya pun kadang ga kelihatan karena tersembunyi di balik percakapan - percakapan yang menurut gue beberapa sangat bertele - tele dan ga langsung on point. Baca buku ini emang harus sabar, hehehe. Bahkan meskipun gue berusaha fokus dalam memecahkan misteri, ternyata tetep aja ada yang terlewatkan. Di balik kasus pembunuhan Joyce, ada empat kasus pembunuhan yang terjadi bbrp tahun lalu yang harus dipecahkan Poirot. Seperti kasus surat warisan dari seorang janda kaya raya yang codicilnya dipalsukan oleh gadis au pair (atau helper) si janda, kasus ditikamnya seorang pemalsu dokumen yang juga pegawai di sebuah firma, kasus dicekiknya guru di sekolah Joyce dan satu kasus kematian lagi. Walau awalnya emang kelihatan ga berhubungan, ternyata beberapa emang ADA hubungannya dan semuanya pun terungkap di akhir. Untuk endingnya gue cukup puas walau sayangnya penyelesaiannya agak menggantung.

Buku ini infonya ditulis pada jelang akhir karir Dame Christie (tahun 1969) dan ada semacam nyeritain kasus - kasus Poirot yang lama (paling mencolok Mrs McGinty, sayang gue belum punya bukunya). Pun beberapa bahasan di buku ini menurut gue sangat so yesterday dan sexist banget. Kayak awalnya Joyce diduga dibunuh karena alasan seksual, bahkan Poirot sampe nanya apa Joyce itu seksi. Astaga, Joyce itu baru 13 tahun huhuhu. Pun ada bagian yang menurut gue euh banget (kayak salah satu tokoh, Michael Garfield memuji Miranda itu cantik, padahal Miranda kan masih bocah umur 12 tahun wkwk) Selain itu banyak prejudice terhadap orang - orang yang diduga membunuh karena adanya mental disorder. Emang agak triggering ya beberapa isinya, namun mungkin juga agak menggambarkan kondisi pada tahun 1969 (era hippies) walau gue kurang tahu buku ini settingnya pada tahun berapa karena gue belum baca semua buku Poirot. 

Salah satu novel Dame Christie yang menurut gue misterinya cukup solid dan bahkan tensinya memuncak pas mendekati akhir cerita. Deduksi Poirot pun sangat menarik untuk dibaca. Sayangnya, gue merasa ini nanti versi filmnya Kenneth Brannagh sepertinya bakal loosely adaption dari buku ini. Selain judulnya beda (jadi Haunting in Venice), lokasinya juga beda (malah di Venesia), ceritanya pun beda (Ada seance. Padahal di buku ini ga ada sama sekali!), bahkan di filmnya pun tokoh Joyce Reynolds malah diperankan...Michele Yeoh??? Ini sih udah pasti ga patuh bukunya sama sekali dan kemungkinan besar kayak The Pale Horse yang versi buku dan filmnya (yang ada Rufus Sewell) akan sangat berbeda. 

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I picked this up at random but honestly didn’t really care for it.  There was detailed settings immersing you into the world but there was no character development, the overall plot fell flat, and it was incredibly misogynistic.  There were also some terms through I that I didn’t like and while it might have been published 2001 it’s still pathetic.  Honestly, I was just waiting for it to end.  I only finished it out of spite.

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lauramcc7's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.5


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itsmeyseniab's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I had a good time with this one! It was my first Agatha Christie so I don't have anything else to compare it to in terms of the rest of her bibliography, but I did feel as though this one was very slow-moving. It got to be repetitive at times, due to most of the novel depicting Hercule Poirot interviewing all of the Halloween party attendees on what they saw, their theories, and their relationships with other partygoers and townspeople. Although it was repetitive, I will say that I did not find this predictable at all - I was questioning whodunnit until the very end. I really enjoyed the way that Christie brought everything together at the end (and showing that even the smallest of details sprinkled throughout the novel played a big role in the murderer's reveal) - it proved how well thought out the story was and that I could never be a detective lol. If you are like me and will pick this up for the Halloween vibes I think you'll be slightly disappointed (the only time Halloween/Autumn-time was at the forefront was when it was mentioned that it was a Halloween party), but I would still pick it up if you're a fan of classic mysteries.

I am definitely looking forward to picking up more of her works in the future!

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jenny_librarian's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Not a Christie I’ll remember. I found it longer and more boring than usual, and the ending was so complicated I had to reread the chapters twice.

That far in the “series”, I think she had trouble finding ideas and mixed up stuff until the reason behind the murders was too fantastical to be entertaining.

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