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A review by jessielzimmer
Murder in the Telephone Exchange by June Wright
adventurous
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? No
1.0
Since When Did "Feisty" Become Synonymous with Disrespectful and Rude?
I don't understand how this book has such glowing reviews - mostly on Goodreads. While it starts out fun and interesting (though in need of a strong editor), by the middle it became a slog, and once I finally hit the end it was both too much and not enough.
While she was somewhat insufferable to start, by the end of the novel I loathed Maggie. Both as a character and a protagonist. The last four chapters or so were a borderline hate read. I kept trudging along because I wanted to find out what happened to the final victim, one of the few characters I liked.
I really enjoyed the era and location, and would love to read more set in either the 40s/50s or Australia. Though I'm not sure being set in Australia added much to the story beyond weather and scenery filler, in the end. Though ... there is at least one clue that's dependent on weather. It also does make me want to research things like boarding house living, and early telephone technology.
My biggest two issues are: 1) this book is too long. Easily fifty pages too long. The author (and, by extension) Maggie spend a large portion of the novel repeating herself. Sometimes two or three times, in order to catch characters up with the plot. Which is annoying as a reader, because I already know what's happened. Summarize, for God's sake. I can't decide of Wright forgot, didn't trust her readers to follow, or just needed a bigger word count. But sweet mother of God!
2) Maggie herself becomes incredibly hard to give a sh*t about by the third act. I wanted to keep curse words out of this review, but that's the frankest way I can say it. I didn't give a d*mn about her in the end. She's so certain that she's so clever, more-so than the police, her best-friend, than everyone. She treats people whom she should respect - bare minimum - like dirt. Calls her own mother by her first name through the entire book. Calls her father "old man". Talks shit about her boss, looks down on fellow coworkers, and is even wildly jealous of her best-friend at times. There were so many rude, unnecessary uses of "Shut up!" in the first few chapters, I almost quit reading. She's not a nice person, yet she thinks she's better than everyone around her, and they should be so impressed by her wit and charm. She's a bratty little b*tch who thinks she's a grown woman.
And of course, when it all shakes out and the culprit is revealed, Maggie suddenly just knew and of course she no longer likes the person, even though she's been fawning over them for most of the f*cking book. While there are quite a few interesting twists and characters I like (Mac, Patterson, Dan, Matherson, Charlotte) the reveal of the murderer was no surprise. Said character was constantly thrust into scenes they shouldn't have been in, if Wright was attempting to be subtle about it. And there were at least two events I can think of where they were obviously guilty.
I will say there were two surprises, I anticipated one character being pregnant, and they were not. I did not noodle out the killer's exact motivations until the end. I assumed it was - at least impart - due to an affair, but it was not.
Sorry this review is so messy, I'm just rather annoyed that I wasted ten hours on this. Also, unless you want to be severely let down, don't read the beginning history until you've finished. While the history behind the publication is interesting, I think it vastly oversells the finished product. They even try to put it in the same class as Agatha Christie, which it is not.
Lastly, I know a previous reviewer said there was a "low-key" lesbian in this book, which I just did not see. I do wonder if this is a case of changing times and seeing what one wants to see, because if I was looking for LGBT books and got a low-key lesbian non-plot, I'd be p*ssed that someone wasted my time.
Update, 5/9/2021: Having just read Murder on the Orient Express for the first time, in about four hours, I can assure you this is nothing like Agatha Christie. Nothing. Christie knows how to get to a damn point. The writing is crisp, effective, and entertaining. With very little fiddle-faddle to get in the way. I'd call it lean, in the sense that everything matters without being overwrought. This is not Agatha Christie at all.
I don't understand how this book has such glowing reviews - mostly on Goodreads. While it starts out fun and interesting (though in need of a strong editor), by the middle it became a slog, and once I finally hit the end it was both too much and not enough.
While she was somewhat insufferable to start, by the end of the novel I loathed Maggie. Both as a character and a protagonist. The last four chapters or so were a borderline hate read. I kept trudging along because I wanted to find out what happened to the final victim, one of the few characters I liked.
I really enjoyed the era and location, and would love to read more set in either the 40s/50s or Australia. Though I'm not sure being set in Australia added much to the story beyond weather and scenery filler, in the end. Though ... there is at least one clue that's dependent on weather. It also does make me want to research things like boarding house living, and early telephone technology.
My biggest two issues are: 1) this book is too long. Easily fifty pages too long. The author (and, by extension) Maggie spend a large portion of the novel repeating herself. Sometimes two or three times, in order to catch characters up with the plot. Which is annoying as a reader, because I already know what's happened. Summarize, for God's sake. I can't decide of Wright forgot, didn't trust her readers to follow, or just needed a bigger word count. But sweet mother of God!
2) Maggie herself becomes incredibly hard to give a sh*t about by the third act. I wanted to keep curse words out of this review, but that's the frankest way I can say it. I didn't give a d*mn about her in the end. She's so certain that she's so clever, more-so than the police, her best-friend, than everyone. She treats people whom she should respect - bare minimum - like dirt. Calls her own mother by her first name through the entire book. Calls her father "old man". Talks shit about her boss, looks down on fellow coworkers, and is even wildly jealous of her best-friend at times. There were so many rude, unnecessary uses of "Shut up!" in the first few chapters, I almost quit reading. She's not a nice person, yet she thinks she's better than everyone around her, and they should be so impressed by her wit and charm. She's a bratty little b*tch who thinks she's a grown woman.
And of course, when it all shakes out and the culprit is revealed, Maggie suddenly just knew and of course she no longer likes the person, even though she's been fawning over them for most of the f*cking book. While there are quite a few interesting twists and characters I like (Mac, Patterson, Dan, Matherson, Charlotte) the reveal of the murderer was no surprise. Said character was constantly thrust into scenes they shouldn't have been in, if Wright was attempting to be subtle about it. And there were at least two events I can think of where they were obviously guilty.
I will say there were two surprises, I anticipated one character being pregnant, and they were not. I did not noodle out the killer's exact motivations until the end. I assumed it was - at least impart - due to an affair, but it was not.
Sorry this review is so messy, I'm just rather annoyed that I wasted ten hours on this. Also, unless you want to be severely let down, don't read the beginning history until you've finished. While the history behind the publication is interesting, I think it vastly oversells the finished product. They even try to put it in the same class as Agatha Christie, which it is not.
Lastly, I know a previous reviewer said there was a "low-key" lesbian in this book, which I just did not see. I do wonder if this is a case of changing times and seeing what one wants to see, because if I was looking for LGBT books and got a low-key lesbian non-plot, I'd be p*ssed that someone wasted my time.
Update, 5/9/2021: Having just read Murder on the Orient Express for the first time, in about four hours, I can assure you this is nothing like Agatha Christie. Nothing. Christie knows how to get to a damn point. The writing is crisp, effective, and entertaining. With very little fiddle-faddle to get in the way. I'd call it lean, in the sense that everything matters without being overwrought. This is not Agatha Christie at all.