Reviews with content warning for Classism - The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

10 reviews

writteninmagic's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

3.0

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fishreads'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? No

3.25

This was the second Agatha Christie novel that I've read, but it was the first one I've read in English. I've been toying with the idea of reading Agatha Christie's novels since I saw some wonderful looking translated editions at my country's biggest book fair. Since "Read an Agatha Christie book" was a prompt in one of the challenges I'm trying to complete this year (in an effort to diversify my reading tastes), I thought a first Hercule Poirot book was a good place to start. Growing up watching Hercule Poirot movies with David Suchet made the quirky little Belgian detective a fond childhood memory. At the time, I wasn't aware this was also the first Agatha Christie published book, so I'm all the more pleased for starting my Agatha Christie exploration properly.

"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" opens with the character of Lieutenant Hastings retelling the events of how he happened to be invited to Styles Court by his acquaintance John Cavendish, the stepson of Styles Court's current owner, Mrs. Inglethorp. Mrs. Inglethorp, a lady in her seventies, became the family matriarch after the death of her first husband, Mr. Cavendish, who left the majority of his wealth to his wife instead of his two sons. While Mrs. Inglethorp might have been perfectly generous to her two stepsons, her second marriage to Arthur Inglethorp, a man twenty years younger, made the rest of the family quite displeased.

A few days into Lieutenant Hastings's stay at Styles Court, Mrs. Inglethorp dies in her bed, her symptoms seemingly pointing to poisoning. Hastings invites Hercule Poirot, a very famous detective who left quite an impression on him after they met in Belgium, to investigate the case.

It took me a few days to finish this book, as I kept falling asleep after reading only a few pages in the evening. In the beginning, during the setup of the scene and before Poirot's arrival, the writing did drag a bit. Lieutenant Hastings might entertain the idea of being a detective and proclaim his methods further advanced than Poirot's, but his overconfidence couldn't have been more obvious. Maybe it makes me a mean person, but I did enjoy the parts where Poirot would not so subtly insult Hastings's intelligence. At the same time, I have to say Poirot seemed quite fond of Hastings and appreciated his other qualities.

As for the murder mystery, even though my initial assumption of who the culprit/s might have been was correct, all the subsequent events and clues managed to throw me off the track completely, so by the end, I was quite surprised by the reveal.

I'm not sure about other editions of the novel, but the one I got for free contained a few racist slurs and instances of antisemitism.

I decided to rate this book somewhere around 3 stars as I didn't find it the most compelling, can't-put-the-book-down type of mystery. I still found it sufficiently entertaining, even if I had to pause more than a few times to look up translations of Poirot's random French exclamations. It did make me wonder if reading a translation in my native language (hopefully with readily annotated French translations) might make the experience somewhat more enjoyable.

Themes: single POV, murder mystery, detective

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.0

while not being bad by any means, this is one of my least favorite AC books. i struggle to follow along sometimes when the reader is supposed to be "out of the loop" from Poirots thinking.

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saliwali's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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kers_tin's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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jhbandcats's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is Agatha Christie’s debut of M Hercule Poirot, the detective beloved by all her fans. As in all Poirot books, he sees things no one else does and puts together clues that are invisible or mean nothing to others. As with all Christie books, I’m always surprised at the revelation of the murderer(s).

I just finished a good book about poisons (A Taste for Poison) and Christie’s knowledge was mentioned several times. She trained in a dispensary during WWI and knew a great deal about poisons; she was especially gratified when a pharmacy journal cited her knowledge. That book mentioned her excellent description of death by strychnine in this mystery so I thought it’d be a good followup.

Christie introduces so many characters and creates such complex plots that I will always be in awe of her storytelling ability. I enjoyed reading this clever tale - Christie is always a good read.

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leaflibrary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

“You gave too much rein to your imagination. Imagination is a good servant, and a bad master. The simplest explanation is always the most likely.” - Poirot to Hastings, contradicting every mystery plot in which he participates.

I’ve tried starting TMAaS at least once before, maybe even twice, but both times was bored and disinterested. The first person narrator seemed offputting, and the rapid introduction of boring suspects (with the all the Christie staples of sexist and racist descriptions!) was not appealing. I powered through this time, though, because I haven’t really been in the mood to read any fiction lately but had a good experience with Death In the Clouds two weeks ago.

A fourth of the way through: it’s gotten more interesting, partly in plot but mostly in opportunities to recognize familiar patterns. As far as character tropes, we’ve got the square, sensible nurse type, the nervous diligent maid, the brooding brothers, the suspect (but maybe not suspicious) doctor, the hot mysterious wife, the cute young ward, the “wicked” “gypsy” face of some pretty outsider, the unloved elderly victim, the bumbling detective sidekick nonplussed by every conclusion Poirot comes to… That last is the most obnoxious, since he’s also the narrator! The continual internal dialogue of “poor Poirot is getting too old, he pays attention to unimportant stuff, what can he be thinking” feels heavy-handed and grating. I get the set up, to some degree, since this is the first Poirot novel and the first readers might somehow miss the fact that he’s going to solve everything. Wouldn’t a friend of Poirot’s know how he works and give him more credit?? It’s so fake and annoying! It’s also a weird way to introduce the world to Poirot: old and past his prime, before we’ve even witnessed his work! Then again, I guess a lot, if not all, of Christie’s themes are about not writing people off due to age (or gender or relationship or motive or whatever); characters are constantly stunned by the odd outsider Poirot and the sweet elderly Ms Marple, no matter how many times they solve the most complicated crimes. And of course the suspect is always someone no one would expect…

Anyway, the locked room and poison are familiar Christie tropes, as is the unloved elderly victim. This plot in particular reminds me a TON of the Christmas mystery I read a year or two ago. The characters seem almost interchangeable, although the victim is more charitable than the curmudgeonly patriarch in that one.

Once I finished it, it felt more like Death on the Nile but less sexy. Kind of forgettable. I like that it actually WAS the person everyone suspected, plus the one no one suspected! Overall it feels pretty forgettable, though, and like Christie recycled several elements of this story in later ones, usually with better returns. There was the standard racism, unfortunately, the overuse of the word "apache,"

I'm ranking it lower than Death in the Clouds, because, even though it's a tidier story, it felt less unique and annoyed me more. Ha. One of the elements that grated on me most - Hastings' transparently ignorant assumptions - also provided some truly funny moments. The one that stands out most is his pity proposal to Hastings' auburn haired second choice Cynthia, whom, it turns out, doesn't see him romantically at all.

With a sigh, Cynthia flung herself down, and tossed off her hat. The sunlight, piercing through the branches, turned the auburn of her hair to quivering gold.
“Mr. Hastings—you are always so kind, and you know such a lot.”
It struck me at this moment that Cynthia was really a very charming girl! Much more charming than Mary, who never said things of that kind.

I don’t know what possessed me. Her beauty, perhaps, as she sat there, with the sunlight glinting down on her head; perhaps the sense of relief at encountering someone who so obviously could have no connection with the tragedy; perhaps honest pity for her youth and loneliness. Anyway, I leant forward, and taking her little hand, I said awkwardly:
“Marry me, Cynthia.”
Unwittingly, I had hit upon a sovereign remedy for her tears. She sat up at once, drew her hand away, and said, with some asperity:
“Don’t be silly!”
I was a little annoyed.
“I’m not being silly. I am asking you to do me the honour of becoming my wife.”
To my intense surprise, Cynthia burst out laughing, and called me a “funny dear.”
“It’s perfectly sweet of you,” she said, “but you know you don’t want to!”
“Yes, I do. I’ve got——”
“Never mind what you’ve got. You don’t really want to—and I don’t either.”
“Well, of course, that settles it,” I said stiffly. “But I don’t see anything to laugh at. There’s nothing funny about a proposal.”
“No, indeed,” said Cynthia. “Somebody might accept you next time. Good-bye, you’ve cheered me up very much.”
And, with a final uncontrollable burst of merriment, she vanished through the trees.

"Thinking over the interview, it struck me as being profoundly unsatisfactory." Lol.

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