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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm always pleased with myself when I spot the important clue right off the bat. Usual period racism and mental health things but I enjoyed it.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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.