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cyanide_latte 's review for:
The Unexpected Guest
by Charles Osborne, Agatha Christie
I'm not sure entirely what I was hoping for while listening to this audiobook, yet somehow I feel disappointed. I will say that while Hugh Fraser's reading of this was very soothing to listen to, it's not enough to save the book itself.
There are a few other reviews on this book stating the sentiment that Charles Osborne's adaptation of the original play into novel form doesn't do it justice and that his interpretation of Christie's characters feels flat and very one-note. I can agree to this to an extent, but my bigger issue with the way the book is written is just how repetitive and dry the actual writing is. I should have kept track of the number of times the phrase "there was a pause/he paused/she paused" popped up, because I feel like I couldn't go two minutes without hearing it. I also feel like it's rather telling that this was adapted from a play, because the descriptions of everything occurring, of the characters, and the repetitive way in which their actions and expressions were described was incredibly lazy and literal. Nothing about the way in which he wrote this adaptation really drew me in or made me care about anyone or anything that was happening. The fact that the information on here [pulled from the Wikipedia pages] states that he was the only writer that the Agatha Christie Estate allowed to publish any works under her name feels like a bit of a joke, because he does not write well.
That being said however, I'm not sure how salvageable this play would have been to begin with. The plot feels very half-baked, like it's trying to be incredibly complex and clever but it ultimately isn't. The plot twist in the last 5 minutes of the book feels shoehorned in, and has a touch of M. Night Shyamalan to it. (Maybe M. Night has read Agatha Christie and gets some of his plot twist ideas from things like this story, who knows.) I think the biggest irritation I have is the way a certain character is handled; use of the word "retarded" is thrown out there to initially describe him, and while that's absolutely a product of the time in which The Unexpected Guest was initially made, the subsequent way the character is handled after that just bothers me. I feel like it's trying to send a certain message but it's so ham-fisted and easy to misinterpret that it just comes across as ableist and harmful.
I'm not sure if I'll ever revisit this in the future. I listened to it in the first place because someone had uploaded the entire audiobook onto YouTube and it was less than 4 hours long, and I've mentioned before wanting to give more Agatha Christie novels a chance. If I do revisit, it'll be to analyze and tear apart the treatment of the neuroatypical character.
There are a few other reviews on this book stating the sentiment that Charles Osborne's adaptation of the original play into novel form doesn't do it justice and that his interpretation of Christie's characters feels flat and very one-note. I can agree to this to an extent, but my bigger issue with the way the book is written is just how repetitive and dry the actual writing is. I should have kept track of the number of times the phrase "there was a pause/he paused/she paused" popped up, because I feel like I couldn't go two minutes without hearing it. I also feel like it's rather telling that this was adapted from a play, because the descriptions of everything occurring, of the characters, and the repetitive way in which their actions and expressions were described was incredibly lazy and literal. Nothing about the way in which he wrote this adaptation really drew me in or made me care about anyone or anything that was happening. The fact that the information on here [pulled from the Wikipedia pages] states that he was the only writer that the Agatha Christie Estate allowed to publish any works under her name feels like a bit of a joke, because he does not write well.
That being said however, I'm not sure how salvageable this play would have been to begin with. The plot feels very half-baked, like it's trying to be incredibly complex and clever but it ultimately isn't. The plot twist in the last 5 minutes of the book feels shoehorned in, and has a touch of M. Night Shyamalan to it. (Maybe M. Night has read Agatha Christie and gets some of his plot twist ideas from things like this story, who knows.) I think the biggest irritation I have is the way a certain character is handled; use of the word "retarded" is thrown out there to initially describe him, and while that's absolutely a product of the time in which The Unexpected Guest was initially made, the subsequent way the character is handled after that just bothers me. I feel like it's trying to send a certain message but it's so ham-fisted and easy to misinterpret that it just comes across as ableist and harmful.
I'm not sure if I'll ever revisit this in the future. I listened to it in the first place because someone had uploaded the entire audiobook onto YouTube and it was less than 4 hours long, and I've mentioned before wanting to give more Agatha Christie novels a chance. If I do revisit, it'll be to analyze and tear apart the treatment of the neuroatypical character.