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bethsbookshelf's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
What a fun novel. I really liked trying to figure everything out and piece all the evidence together. I think the ending was a bit... extravagant, and I would have liked more plot throughout besides just interviews. Also, there were so many stereotypes that felt super unnecessary, and possibly just Agatha Christie's bias and racism coming through YET AGAIN!! It just makes the reading experience uncomfy. Otherwise, the pacing and backstory were interesting (if not a little triggering!) and all of the characters were quite dynamic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Classism, Confinement, Death, Murder, Racism, Blood, Hate crime, and Grief
purlhaggard's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Lots of casual racism and classism being used as THE solving logic. Very ignorant writing that spoils an otherwise good wind up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism and Child abuse
Moderate: Racism
taelights's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-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
3.0
This is my first Agatha Christie book and will definitely not be my last because it was such a fun quick read that really captured my interest! Was it the best and most surprising thriller/mystery I've ever read? Definitely not. But I did find it fun and engaging.
It is lacking in a lot of areas in my opinion so I wish some areas had been better expanded on to make the novel a bit longer. The conclusion was not the most probable but it was an interesting twist that I did not see coming. I definitely respect this as a classic of the genre and can see why it's well loved and respected. I also think it's interesting to see how far the genre has developed since this was written.
It is lacking in a lot of areas in my opinion so I wish some areas had been better expanded on to make the novel a bit longer. The conclusion was not the most probable but it was an interesting twist that I did not see coming. I definitely respect this as a classic of the genre and can see why it's well loved and respected. I also think it's interesting to see how far the genre has developed since this was written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Death, Child death, Racism, Kidnapping, and Xenophobia
_lilyyy_'s review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
headachesince03's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, Child death, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Racism
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Torture
Minor: War
shieldbearer's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A very well constructed mystery that still packs a punch even when you know the "solution". I thought Christie did an excellent job laying out how Poirot figured out that all of the inhabitants of the train car were connected - groundwork that's laid as early as the first chapter and with quite a payoff.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Miscarriage
Minor: Racism and Islamophobia
greatexpectations77's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A cute read. I love Poirot as a character, and these books always make me smile.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Child abuse
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Racism, and Suicide
logger_j's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
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
3.75
overall I thought this book was ok, I read it in one day which is really strange, granted I wasn't feeling well so I didn't have anything else to do, but considering this book is a classic and I literally flew through it is incredible.
I thought that the writing was actually really good and liked the pacing a lot, considering the book took place over like 3 days top, but it was still faced paced enough for me to not get bored I thought that was really well done. i also just overall enjoyed the plot of the book and though I did find our main detective to be a little arrogant and cocky, I did enjoy the narration and I do think I will pick up another book from the Hercule Poirot series at some point.
I did have a few problems with this book though. The first being that there were just way to many characters for me. I mean there were 12 Killers!! (11 maybe I don't even know really There were so many characters that I could only tell you who a handful of them were, including our main characters Poirot, the doctor and the friend/ train director. But everyone else I could not tell you their names, nationalities, what evidence we got from who, how they were connected to anything in the story, the ending or not. It was really all just a blur. I think this also had to do with the fact that I binge read it, and maybe didn't have time to process it, and also the fact that the names were just challenging names to say/remember, and I found myself just skimming over the actual names.
My last and biggest problem with the book was the ending. basically in the ending The man who is murdered is a horrible guy who kidnapped, and killed this child back in America, and it resulted in the family of said child to all die as well. And because of this every single passenger on the train that is suspects in this case, lies about being involved in that old case, and then in the end they all worked together to plot and kill this guy. But the doctor and the train director decide to say it was someone else who got away because they "did the right thing?" by killing this guy they basically righted his wrong, which is a whole thing itself.
Not only did that ending not sit right with me but the way that we got to the ending was just rushed and sketchy to me. I mean I was ok with all the stuff that we were learning and then all of the sudden I felt like Poirot was just pulling guesses out of the air and they all ended up being right cause he's some sort of genius detective, but in reality its because they needed an ending and didn't know how to get us there without making it way to obvious.
All in all I liked the writing and the plot, but I didn't feel connected with the characters and I HATED the ending. 3.75 stars.
I thought that the writing was actually really good and liked the pacing a lot, considering the book took place over like 3 days top, but it was still faced paced enough for me to not get bored I thought that was really well done. i also just overall enjoyed the plot of the book and though I did find our main detective to be a little arrogant and cocky, I did enjoy the narration and I do think I will pick up another book from the Hercule Poirot series at some point.
I did have a few problems with this book though. The first being that there were just way to many characters for me. I mean there were
My last and biggest problem with the book was the ending. basically in the ending
Not only did that ending not sit right with me but the way that we got to the ending was just rushed and sketchy to me. I mean I was ok with all the stuff that we were learning and then all of the sudden I felt like Poirot was just pulling guesses out of the air and they all ended up being right cause he's some sort of genius detective, but in reality its because they needed an ending and didn't know how to get us there without making it way to obvious.
All in all I liked the writing and the plot, but I didn't feel connected with the characters and I HATED the ending. 3.75 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Sexism and Racism
emilymckay's review
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Kidnapping, Racism, and Child death
jfield351's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This book was really good! I read it within a few hours on the 18th of February, as part of the dymocks challenge of ‘book with a mystery’. Having watched the movie I already knew the ending but the suspense and intrigue was still there nonetheless. Sometimes i did get the characters confused because there were so many. I was also confused because a lot of French was used and i don’t understand French. It was interesting, well-written and so gripping from the get-go, I just wished I hadn’t seen the movie because then maybe i’d have been even more intrigued and rated it higher. Wow! The one twist I did not remember, or perhaps was left out of the movie, was that Poirot decided to pretend like someone else did the crime because he realised that justice had been served . I also don't know how to feel about Poirot's deduction abilities, at times i felt like he was guessing too easily but at other times I marvelled at how smart he was.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Blood, Death, Drug use, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Racism, Sexism, and Xenophobia