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xeni 's review for:
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
by Agatha Christie
I listened to the Dramatised Audiobook, which was so well done. I really felt like I was watching a screen play or a vintage film. (The eating noises were a bit much at times, but all the other added sounds were excellently injected).
This is the first Christie mystery ever published (over 100 years ago now), and it definitely shows some growing pains. I'm glad that not all future novels have this sort of view. Most of this story is told from Hasting's perspective and while that does give more of the 'lay person' pov, it also really does not take the modern reader well into account. I almost feel like the folks living at this level of society were kept dumb. Some of the character reactions are so incredibly fake feeling, but only because we have the common sense to suspect everyone these days. None of this 'he's a gentleman! he could never!' sentiment. (Or maybe that still exists in the UK, I wouldn't know).
The mystery itself is... adequate. It's fine for a first novel. It's definitely fun to hang out with Poirot and see this amazing character from his origins. I suppose this could be summed up as a typical English country manor locked room murder mystery (perhaps even the first of its kind). For being so early in this crime subgenre it is pretty well done. But it also feels like it's not solvable by the reader because the clues keep being doled out. Though, more likely, I just don't pay enough attention.
I hope to continue this series. Especially the dramatized audiobooks. They really transport you back in time!
This is the first Christie mystery ever published (over 100 years ago now), and it definitely shows some growing pains. I'm glad that not all future novels have this sort of view. Most of this story is told from Hasting's perspective and while that does give more of the 'lay person' pov, it also really does not take the modern reader well into account. I almost feel like the folks living at this level of society were kept dumb. Some of the character reactions are so incredibly fake feeling, but only because we have the common sense to suspect everyone these days. None of this 'he's a gentleman! he could never!' sentiment. (Or maybe that still exists in the UK, I wouldn't know).
The mystery itself is... adequate. It's fine for a first novel. It's definitely fun to hang out with Poirot and see this amazing character from his origins. I suppose this could be summed up as a typical English country manor locked room murder mystery (perhaps even the first of its kind). For being so early in this crime subgenre it is pretty well done. But it also feels like it's not solvable by the reader because the clues keep being doled out. Though, more likely, I just don't pay enough attention.
I hope to continue this series. Especially the dramatized audiobooks. They really transport you back in time!