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fremzz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death and Suicide
Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, and Drug use
lefthandedmatt's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
On the flip side, her writing also isn't particularly... good. It's plain and often overly simplified. Characters have the barest of personalities. Most dialogue follows a pattern of "x said angrily: 'That makes me angry!' y said suspiciously 'This is very suspicious'."
But it works! The story is completely engrossing and has a fantastic central mystery. It kept me coming back and is clearly the inspiration for an entire subgenre of "murders in an isolated mansion" stories. I'm quite eager to explore more of Christie's tales.
I came pretty close to guessing who the killer was, but it caught me by surprise!
Graphic: Classism, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Child death, Sexism, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Racism
Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Antisemitism, Car accident, and Gun violence
applesauceking's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Suicide, Alcohol, Child death, Gun violence, Medical content, and Infidelity
Minor: Car accident
katenovah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Alcohol, Child death, and Death
Minor: Misogyny
hannah_cook's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
jenwestpfahl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The ending explanation of the final death didn’t make a lot of sense to me but oh well. And the casual anti-semitism toward a named but never seen character surprised me (especially considering the substantial other changes that have been made since the original publishing).
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Antisemitism and Alcohol
erinlouise7's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Death, Alcohol, Blood, Suicide attempt, Child death, Suicide, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Medical content, and Murder
bluedilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Car accident, Child death, Colonisation, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Classism, Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racism, Toxic relationship, and War
bellebooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moving on.
What more is there to say? I think knowing the landscape of England in the time of 1900s pre-WWII helps tremendously, as the novel is more nuanced and intricate that way, making this novel act as a judge and jury of the culture at the time. (I would recommend looking into social classes relations regarding gender, race, wealth, and orientation at the time, most notably post-WWI.) However, that information is not necessary to appreciate quite possibly the greatest mystery novel of all time, at least in the literary canon.
As far as the quality of writing, Christie herself wanted to write a murder that was nearly impossible to solve. (Personally, I deduced the murderer quite easy to solve, but that's beside the point.) Her use of an omniscient narrator works well, as many times, the narrator focuses on one character at a time, expressing their thoughts, feelings, fears, and motives as if a first person narrator. The regression of the characters from a space of superiority, as part of urban society, to one of survival instincts (I hate using the terms "civilized" to "uncivilized") is quite intriguing, as it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of not just all classes of English society but also English (and to a similar degree, American) culture as a whole.
Out of their own mouths, my kids love this book: They admitted that it was slow in the beginning, (and they don't like how it took 3-4 chapters to set everything up), but once things started rolling, they were hooked. They have argued, debated, researched information to try and lock down who the killer is and motives; this is includes literally having a cork-board with pictures and string, mapping out the characters and their arcs.
We have looked at the 1945 and 2015 adaptations of this book. They talked about their favorite/least favorite characters, (Vera was the hands down favorite,) how the adaptations have changed what they've read, why they felt the book was better, etc. (Mind you, I had to do very little prompting. I merely would ask who their favorite/least favorite character was, what they thought of XYZ and why, and to pick a character and look up these two topics surrounding them. They went the distance.)
So yes. This is one of my favorite novels of all time. I may have a lot of opinions of the literary canon, but this novel is by far the first one I would argue to keep in its pedestal.
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child death, Stalking, and Torture
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, War, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness
mme_carton's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Minor: Infidelity, War, and Pregnancy