Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

12 reviews

ijustreallyliketrees's review

mysterious fast-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

2.5

Most of the stories were okay (helped a lot by the fact I was listening to the audiobook while doing household chores and not reading it myself). Can't give it higher than 2 stars because of how much I was cringing at the anti-asian slurs in the first story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Murder

poirot's review

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Death, Murder, Racism, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: War

bergamot_breeze's review against another edition

funny lighthearted mysterious fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

prettiestwhistles's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Gun violence, Sexism, Death, Kidnapping, Violence, Suicide, Racism, Xenophobia, and Death of parent

Minor: Colonisation, War, and Alcohol

elodiethefangirl's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia

meekumoh's review

mysterious fast-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? No

3.0

It's a collection of short stories, and not a complete novel. To me, these are rather like Christie's braindumps cobbled together. Very formulaic. 

Also, seeing a racial slur 5 pages in did knock me over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs and Xenophobia

madamenovelist's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Murder, Xenophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism

It feels there is somehow even more racism/xenophobia in Christie’s short stories than her longer works. Her plotting, pacing, and personal knowledge of chemistry/medicine are fantastic but it’s hard to focus when slurs against Asians show up without preamble.

thequeeraunt's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

2.5

This is a collection of short stories that amount to brief summaries of some of Hercule Poirot's cases. Most of them are recounted as being told by Poirot to Hastings (and by extension the reader). This is a case of narrative being told rather than shown. And, as with my comments regarding The Big Four, I must warn potential readers about some very casual racist slurs and xenophobia in some of the shorts.

One redeeming quality of this collection is that because the individual case stories are short, it's an easy book to pick up and put down without feeling like you have to finish just one more chapter. I found myself able to enjoy a more leisurely pace through Poirot Investigates, and even with that in mind, I finished it in under a day.

I do think that Christie, like many classic authors, is worth a passing study. Just be aware before you begin reading her works that they now exist in a context very different from the one in which they were originally written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Misogyny, Kidnapping, Murder, Violence, and Sexism

fraise's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Racial slurs, Violence, and Sexism

Moderate: Drug use and Xenophobia

Minor: Classism, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness

annelives's review against another edition

mysterious fast-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

2.75

Might be my least favorite Poirot mysteries. Most of the mysteries were uninteresting and there’s scattered pockets of racist language throughout towards Chinese, Japanese, and Egyptian peoples. I know Agatha Christie is the product of her time, but with other books they’ve cleaned up at least racial slurs but in this one not so much. There’s always going to be a bit of an imperialist tone in her works, because she’s English during Imperialism, but it was just more obvious and distracting in this collection of short stories. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, and Racism