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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
After an Agatha Christie reading challenge last year, I still had some steam left after my final spurt, so I just had to read some more. I'm going to take a little break now from everything Agatha Christie, but The Mirror was a great story to end my trip. After two chapters, I realized I had seen the adaptation in the Miss Marple TV show and this time also remembered the murderer, but that didn't stop me from enjoying how the events and the final reveal unfolded (or how the tragedy in Gene Tierney's life fitted the picture).
The location is once more St. Mary Mead, but this time something's different:
"One had to face the fact: St Mary Mead was not the place it had been. In a sense, of course, nothing was what it had been. You could blame the war (both the wars) or the younger generation, or women going out to work, or the atom bomb, or just the Government - but what one really meant was the simple fact that one was growing old. Miss Marple, who was a very sensible lady, knew that quite well. It was just that, in a queer way, she felt it more in St Mary Mead, because it had been her home for so long."
The new supermarket represents the changing times. Miss Hartnell is bewildered by all the packaged goods and laments the trouble one has to go through when wandering around the aisles and trying to find proper unprocessed food in convenient sizes. And the long queues! One of the new villagers in turn wonders why anyone would want to grow their own vegetables when it's so easy to buy them from a supermarket.
A change in the class structure has occurred as well: the domestic helpers are now educated girls and the new housing estate called the Development has brought a new set of villagers that differs from the originals. Marple feels very nostalgic about the world changing, and it's easy to imagine she echoes some of Christie's own sentiments. However, she never comes across as bitter, more like resigned and in peace. When you get older, you're bound to see the world becoming a different place.
On the other hand, inspector Craddock reveals the downside of the quaint village life that undoubtedly hides old-fashioned views on life under its calm exterior: "'There are things that are preferable to academic distinctions[.] - - - One of them is knowing when a man wants whisky and soda and giving it to him" (referring to the domestic role of women).
A part of the spirit of remembrance and nostalgia are the references to Christie's older Miss Marple novels. The hated Colonel Protheroe, who was murdered at the beginning of The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), is still remembered by Miss Marple (I'm beginning to think she never forgets anything). Griselda Clement, the vicar's wife who appeared in that same story with her husband, sends Christmas cards every year. Gossington Hall from The Body in the Library (1942) is once more the location of a murder mystery, although a lot has changed.
Marina Gregg with her glamorous movie star looks settles down in Gossington Hall with her husband, the director Jason Rudd. It's the murder of the babbling Heather Badcock (a surname almost as tragic as her murder) that creates a splinter in the lives of the modern movie people. It's something much worse than the "[n]aked men and women drinking and smoking what they call in the papers them reefers" the 96-year-old Mr. Sampson is so afraid of. I'd be more scared of the spiked daquiris Heather had to endure. Regular ones I approve.
Once more, the solution of the mystery is dependent on taking note of what people say and if they truly mean it. It's easy to make a hasty conclusion about something, but the truth is that we all often say things that could mean so much more to someone else or are mistakenly construed as offensive. Christie knows readers have their expectations, so she never lets them believe there might be something more to certain things, until everything starts to unravel. Despite knowing the murderer, it's interesting to witness the structure Christie uses to reveal the culprit, and how she hides the clues in plain sight. You never even think about suspecting that the particular moments hide something else, because they seem so mundane and obvious.
In the end, the mystery is simple, but the novel is not. It makes very clear that kindness is not enough when you have no consideration for how others might be affected by your actions, and that the real threat doesn't come from the outside, but from the souls of humans. After all, "the human beings were the same as they always had been".
Miss Marple is also refreshingly present here, and she has even more of that familiar glint in her eye than usual. It's especially satisfactory to see how she enjoys duping her annoyingly fussy caretaker, Miss Knight, by sending her on errands to the farthest shops possible.
"A little strong drink is always advisable on the premises in case there is a shock or an accident. Invaluable at such times. Or, of course, if a gentleman should arrive suddenly".
Miss Marple throwing some truth out there.
The location is once more St. Mary Mead, but this time something's different:
"One had to face the fact: St Mary Mead was not the place it had been. In a sense, of course, nothing was what it had been. You could blame the war (both the wars) or the younger generation, or women going out to work, or the atom bomb, or just the Government - but what one really meant was the simple fact that one was growing old. Miss Marple, who was a very sensible lady, knew that quite well. It was just that, in a queer way, she felt it more in St Mary Mead, because it had been her home for so long."
The new supermarket represents the changing times. Miss Hartnell is bewildered by all the packaged goods and laments the trouble one has to go through when wandering around the aisles and trying to find proper unprocessed food in convenient sizes. And the long queues! One of the new villagers in turn wonders why anyone would want to grow their own vegetables when it's so easy to buy them from a supermarket.
A change in the class structure has occurred as well: the domestic helpers are now educated girls and the new housing estate called the Development has brought a new set of villagers that differs from the originals. Marple feels very nostalgic about the world changing, and it's easy to imagine she echoes some of Christie's own sentiments. However, she never comes across as bitter, more like resigned and in peace. When you get older, you're bound to see the world becoming a different place.
On the other hand, inspector Craddock reveals the downside of the quaint village life that undoubtedly hides old-fashioned views on life under its calm exterior: "'There are things that are preferable to academic distinctions[.] - - - One of them is knowing when a man wants whisky and soda and giving it to him" (referring to the domestic role of women).
A part of the spirit of remembrance and nostalgia are the references to Christie's older Miss Marple novels. The hated Colonel Protheroe, who was murdered at the beginning of The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), is still remembered by Miss Marple (I'm beginning to think she never forgets anything). Griselda Clement, the vicar's wife who appeared in that same story with her husband, sends Christmas cards every year. Gossington Hall from The Body in the Library (1942) is once more the location of a murder mystery, although a lot has changed.
Marina Gregg with her glamorous movie star looks settles down in Gossington Hall with her husband, the director Jason Rudd. It's the murder of the babbling Heather Badcock (a surname almost as tragic as her murder) that creates a splinter in the lives of the modern movie people. It's something much worse than the "[n]aked men and women drinking and smoking what they call in the papers them reefers" the 96-year-old Mr. Sampson is so afraid of. I'd be more scared of the spiked daquiris Heather had to endure. Regular ones I approve.
Once more, the solution of the mystery is dependent on taking note of what people say and if they truly mean it. It's easy to make a hasty conclusion about something, but the truth is that we all often say things that could mean so much more to someone else or are mistakenly construed as offensive. Christie knows readers have their expectations, so she never lets them believe there might be something more to certain things, until everything starts to unravel. Despite knowing the murderer, it's interesting to witness the structure Christie uses to reveal the culprit, and how she hides the clues in plain sight. You never even think about suspecting that the particular moments hide something else, because they seem so mundane and obvious.
In the end, the mystery is simple, but the novel is not. It makes very clear that kindness is not enough when you have no consideration for how others might be affected by your actions, and that the real threat doesn't come from the outside, but from the souls of humans. After all, "the human beings were the same as they always had been".
Miss Marple is also refreshingly present here, and she has even more of that familiar glint in her eye than usual. It's especially satisfactory to see how she enjoys duping her annoyingly fussy caretaker, Miss Knight, by sending her on errands to the farthest shops possible.
"A little strong drink is always advisable on the premises in case there is a shock or an accident. Invaluable at such times. Or, of course, if a gentleman should arrive suddenly".
Miss Marple throwing some truth out there.
I loved the setting in this one - the looming "development" with its new strange residents that threatens the traditional, orderly village life. The feeling of dread of new things coming and happening and things changing is universal and Christie captured it well.
The mystery itself was great too, I had no idea who was the murderer, and the final solution turned out to be much more tragic than I anticipated.
The mystery itself was great too, I had no idea who was the murderer, and the final solution turned out to be much more tragic than I anticipated.
This was my first Miss Marple!! I had watched the Joan Hickson version of this so the intrigue was missing, but I enjoyed it still.
Había leído ya antes este libro y además había visto la peli. Una pena, porque es de lo más entretenido pero me acordaba perfectamente del quién, cómo y por qué.
Movie star Marina Gregg has just bought Gossington Hall, the big manor at the edge of St. Mary Mead. The whole village is agog with the news, and turns out en masse for the big fundraiser on the grounds. The event is a huge success ... until a local woman winds up dead, after drinking a poisoned cocktail. Before long, the authorities have concluded that the lovely Marina was the intended victim--a conclusion that is bolstered by the threatening letters she receives and the arsenic-laced coffee she narrowly avoids drinking. Chief-Inspector Craddock is stumped--and not above consulting his favorite adopted aunt, Jane Marple. Miss Marple is more housebound than she use to be, but still sharp as a tack and perfectly willing to lend her not inconsiderable talents to the solving of this mystery. But who could have done it? One of Marina Gregg's many ex-husbands? Someone on her staff? One of the children she impulsively adopted and just as abruptly rejected, all grown up and bearing a grudge? A crazed fan? Her current husband seems to adore her, but perhaps appearances aren't what they seem ...
The title to this work comes from Tennyson's beloved poem The Lady of Shalott (familiar to many modern readers largely because of its appearance in the television adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables):
The conclusion of the mystery is clever enough, as these things go. The big reveal is certainly worth it. But it's not the main focus of the book. For the first thirty or so pages, the reader is treated to a touching picture of the challenges and indignities of old age. Miss Marple has never been young, but our favorite lady detective has reached the point where she has trouble with her knitting and must have someone to live with her and keep an eye on her--the rather obnoxious--if good-natured--Miss Knight. Now, Miss Marple has to stoop to subterfuge just to get a few minutes alone or take a walk by herself--an aspect of aging that had never occurred to me, and a trying circumstance to be sure for one whose method of detection relies heavily on village gossip, observation, and knowledge of human nature.
Long before we ever even get a smell of the mystery to come, we are given the opportunity to sit with Miss Marple and ruminate on time and change. She mourns the loss of the past--grocers are being traded in for supermarkets, servants no longer care about proper cleaning, etc. The most glaring representation of time and change is The Development, a housing community outside St. Mary Mead, full of cookie cutter houses on postage stamp lots. Miss Marple is by no means prejudiced against the residents of The Development (and indeed, one of its residents proves to be quite a blessing to her), but she can't help being aware that Times Have Changed. Her wistful contemplation of life and aging is profoundly affecting and quite well-written.
In addition to this meditation on aging, we also get a glimpse into the life of a Hollywood actress--her struggles and hardships, the way she thinks and feels, etc. In Marina Gregg's case, her life has revolved around first her unfulfilled desire to have a child, as she was unable to have children for many years, and then her only natural child was born severely mentally handicapped. She is selfish, temperamental, and fundamentally incapable of seeing the world as it is--everything is either the absolute worst or the absolute best, and there is nothing in between. And yet, for all her idiosyncrasies, there is something lovable about her. Christie lays out the reasons for Marina Gregg's character flaws, and in so doing speculates on what really makes movie stars tick. It is a surprisingly affectionate take on an oft-maligned group of individuals.
Though I admit it's been a while since I've read a lot of Christie--especially her Miss Marple stories--I can't remember any that contained this level of personal and social commentary. Usually her stories are just about the story--there is no real character development. Poirot is Poirot is Poirot, just as Holmes is Holmes is Holmes. Yet in The Mirror Crack'd, we see Miss Marple growing and changing, and responding as the world around her grows and changes. It is a fascinating piece of literature.
Because the (admittedly clever) resolution of the mystery feels rather tacked on, and doesn't have all that much to do with Miss Marple's aging or people's reactions to The Development, many folks don't consider this one of Christie's best works. And the mystery itself doesn't merit such an honor. But The Mirror Crack'd is, to my mind, one of her more literary works, and fully deserving of honor on those merits alone.
The audiobook is ably narrated by Rosemary Leach, who sounds remarkably like Dame Judi Dench. In other words, she does a fantastic job.
The title to this work comes from Tennyson's beloved poem The Lady of Shalott (familiar to many modern readers largely because of its appearance in the television adaptation of L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables):
The mirror crack'd from side to side;One of Miss Marple's good friends uses these lines to describe the frozen look that passes across Marina Gregg's face during the fundraiser. Much of the book is devoted to speculation about that look--what did it mean? What could have caused it? Did it have anything to do with the attempt on the actress's life? I've no wish to spoil the answer to that question, but you may be interested to know that Christie is presumed to have based this story on the real-life tragedy of film star Gene Tierney (don't read about her until after you've read the book--unless you don't mind spoilers, of course).
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.
The conclusion of the mystery is clever enough, as these things go. The big reveal is certainly worth it. But it's not the main focus of the book. For the first thirty or so pages, the reader is treated to a touching picture of the challenges and indignities of old age. Miss Marple has never been young, but our favorite lady detective has reached the point where she has trouble with her knitting and must have someone to live with her and keep an eye on her--the rather obnoxious--if good-natured--Miss Knight. Now, Miss Marple has to stoop to subterfuge just to get a few minutes alone or take a walk by herself--an aspect of aging that had never occurred to me, and a trying circumstance to be sure for one whose method of detection relies heavily on village gossip, observation, and knowledge of human nature.
Long before we ever even get a smell of the mystery to come, we are given the opportunity to sit with Miss Marple and ruminate on time and change. She mourns the loss of the past--grocers are being traded in for supermarkets, servants no longer care about proper cleaning, etc. The most glaring representation of time and change is The Development, a housing community outside St. Mary Mead, full of cookie cutter houses on postage stamp lots. Miss Marple is by no means prejudiced against the residents of The Development (and indeed, one of its residents proves to be quite a blessing to her), but she can't help being aware that Times Have Changed. Her wistful contemplation of life and aging is profoundly affecting and quite well-written.
In addition to this meditation on aging, we also get a glimpse into the life of a Hollywood actress--her struggles and hardships, the way she thinks and feels, etc. In Marina Gregg's case, her life has revolved around first her unfulfilled desire to have a child, as she was unable to have children for many years, and then her only natural child was born severely mentally handicapped. She is selfish, temperamental, and fundamentally incapable of seeing the world as it is--everything is either the absolute worst or the absolute best, and there is nothing in between. And yet, for all her idiosyncrasies, there is something lovable about her. Christie lays out the reasons for Marina Gregg's character flaws, and in so doing speculates on what really makes movie stars tick. It is a surprisingly affectionate take on an oft-maligned group of individuals.
Though I admit it's been a while since I've read a lot of Christie--especially her Miss Marple stories--I can't remember any that contained this level of personal and social commentary. Usually her stories are just about the story--there is no real character development. Poirot is Poirot is Poirot, just as Holmes is Holmes is Holmes. Yet in The Mirror Crack'd, we see Miss Marple growing and changing, and responding as the world around her grows and changes. It is a fascinating piece of literature.
Because the (admittedly clever) resolution of the mystery feels rather tacked on, and doesn't have all that much to do with Miss Marple's aging or people's reactions to The Development, many folks don't consider this one of Christie's best works. And the mystery itself doesn't merit such an honor. But The Mirror Crack'd is, to my mind, one of her more literary works, and fully deserving of honor on those merits alone.
The audiobook is ably narrated by Rosemary Leach, who sounds remarkably like Dame Judi Dench. In other words, she does a fantastic job.
medium-paced
Christie does it again. This time I had a sense of the resolution forming at the edge of my mind but couldn't quite put it together. Excellent red herrings and ending was ultimately a surprise. I love a good grammatical twist.
I am so proud of myself: I finally guessed the ending of an Agatha Christie novel! Clearly, reading these books one after another has helped put me in the right mindset, and right from the get-go I said to myself, 'Ah, but X is the murderer!'
I knew the how easily enough, but I was not entirely sure why X was the murderer at first. I knew it had something to do with the [redacted] that Z [redacted] to X. And as it went on, I became more and more sure that X was the murderer, and I thought, 'There's a red herring, there's a red herring, this only makes sense because of this other thing, having to do with X. Only X had opportunity. Only X could have done this, and this, and this. We only have X's word for this.' Then I thought, 'Oh no, poor Y, Y is having to be drawn into this because they [redacted] X so much.' Then, it came to me: it came to me all in a rush, just before it came to Marple, this why, this motive. I knew why X was the murderer.
And then Marple unravels the whole thing, explains it all, and it was all as I had thought. Not a single, little bit different. I got it! I guessed the whole thing! I am inordinately pleased with myself, and also, I could never have done this without having read eight Agatha Christie mysteries already this year (a total of nine in three months!), prior to this one. I've gotten the feel for them now. I'm in the game.
I knew the how easily enough, but I was not entirely sure why X was the murderer at first. I knew it had something to do with the [redacted] that Z [redacted] to X. And as it went on, I became more and more sure that X was the murderer, and I thought, 'There's a red herring, there's a red herring, this only makes sense because of this other thing, having to do with X. Only X had opportunity. Only X could have done this, and this, and this. We only have X's word for this.' Then I thought, 'Oh no, poor Y, Y is having to be drawn into this because they [redacted] X so much.' Then, it came to me: it came to me all in a rush, just before it came to Marple, this why, this motive. I knew why X was the murderer.
Spoiler
I wonder if I would have gotten to the why as quickly as I did if we weren't a year into a pandemic.And then Marple unravels the whole thing, explains it all, and it was all as I had thought. Not a single, little bit different. I got it! I guessed the whole thing! I am inordinately pleased with myself, and also, I could never have done this without having read eight Agatha Christie mysteries already this year (a total of nine in three months!), prior to this one. I've gotten the feel for them now. I'm in the game.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried
The Lady of Shalott
— The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Tennyson
This was a fun read with a wide array of characters set in a manor house, the surrounding village of St. Mary Mead, and the new development of houses that has recently risen from the countryside, which everyone in the books refers to as simply, “the Development”.
A resident of the Development, Heather Babcock, couldn’t have been more excited to meet the glamorous movie star Mariana Gregg. One moment Heather is enthusiastically talking to the movie star, and the next Heather is dead. And it looks like a poisoned cocktail is to blame. But who would want to kill a nice woman like Heather?
Miss Marple takes a less active roll in this one, but, of course, she still manages to unravel the case, as well as her knitting!
I had a great time with this book, despite the fact that the title feels a bit… Well, random. The death in this book has nothing to do with a mirror. The title comes from the above passage in ‘The Lady of Shalott’, a poem by Alfred Tennyson.
Even as an English major who is familiar with this poem I thought it was an odd choice of title. Would most people who read this book when it was first published in 1962 be familiar with the poem? Or would they spot Christie’s latest on the shelves of their local bookstore or newsstand and think, “Death by cracked mirror, eh? What will she think up next. The Queen of Crime be running out of ways to do away with people,” and put it back on the shelf with a harrumph.
I should say, the above quote opens the books and the reference is later explained within the book, so it’s not as though you need to do additional research to understand the title within the context of the book.
I think titles are more effective when they are simpler, but that’s just my personal preference.