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conorak 's review for:
The Hound of Death
by Agatha Christie
I have very little reference when it comes to fiction (although that has been changing in recent months), and even less when it comes to compilations of short stories, so it's hard for me to properly gauge things like this. That being said, I had very low expectations for this; I was pleased that they were dashed not even halfway into the second story. I've always been skeptical when it comes to this kind of writing style (i.e. collections of short stories), but in a roundabout way, I've come to realize that I actually might prefer it. It makes reading a much lighter and noncommittal experience, which encourages me to actually read them to completion, something that I have always struggled with when it comes to fiction. Despite my expectations, the writing was so well-done that I found myself actually engaged with the characters and the stories presented in the very short span of just a few pages of exposition. The level of detail in both character development and atmosphere was so powerfully efficient that I was surprised that it could be done in so short a space.
There were a handful of stories I found to be a little dull, and still more where I felt that a lot of the narrative depended on overused (and naturally historically reactionary) tropes (although the parenthetical could easily be seen in light of literature as period piece), but for the most part, they were compelling and exciting, despite their brevity. The only complaint is that after the first four fifths of the book, the theme became somewhat tedious and by the last story, a lot of the pacing that had carried me through most of the book began to falter. If By the Pricking og My Thumbs is anything like this, I might have to put it on the back-burner so that I can approach it with a little distance from the theme.
Still, hard to complain about a book so well-written that it could be read cover to cover in the span of a single day!
There were a handful of stories I found to be a little dull, and still more where I felt that a lot of the narrative depended on overused (and naturally historically reactionary) tropes (although the parenthetical could easily be seen in light of literature as period piece), but for the most part, they were compelling and exciting, despite their brevity. The only complaint is that after the first four fifths of the book, the theme became somewhat tedious and by the last story, a lot of the pacing that had carried me through most of the book began to falter. If By the Pricking og My Thumbs is anything like this, I might have to put it on the back-burner so that I can approach it with a little distance from the theme.
Still, hard to complain about a book so well-written that it could be read cover to cover in the span of a single day!