A review by laz_
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

4.0

ok WOWWW this was such a ride. i love mysteries more than anything so obviously i loved this as it’s billed as the first modern english detective novel. it really functioned like a longer and victorian version of an agatha christie with multiple POVs. i was worried from the beginning that there would be more sexism and racism as the first narrator is um. NOT it but it is not prevalent in the rest of the novel and there are sympathetic portrayals that i never thought i’d see in a victorian novel as i’ve read more disgusting things in stuff less than a century old so that was interesting to see. i wasn’t interested in collins’ the woman in white before this, but as i’ve read this and loved his writing and how he weaves a mystery over 500+ pages i’m sold.
i think the downside to the multiple POVs was liking different narrators more than others but i ended up enjoying almost all of them and it actually gave a more nuanced and intriguing account of the story so i actually think more mystery writers should use it!!
brb going to get hooked on my little detective stories again