This is my first experience with Agatha Christie. I have heard she was the queen of puzzle mysteries. Having made it Good Classic Whodunit - 4 Stars
This is my first experience with Agatha Christie. I have heard she was the queen of puzzle mysteries. Having made it through this novel, I can see the draw and the classic elements of a mystery murder novel.
The novel is relatively simple despite the sheer number of murders that occurred. She writes is an accessible straight forward manner. In many ways, this was a novel that would not likely be published today. The reader could not really decipher the murderer from the story. When the mystery was revealed, there is pages of backstory that the reader was learning for the first time. While this would likely be considered lazy by today’s standards, there is something charming about reading a novel in this style.
The content of the novel is also a product of its time. The author clearly accepted a wide variety of racist and xenophobic views. The amount of this in the novel is not insignificant and would likely be offensive for some modern readers. This certainly casts a pall on classic novel and is an element I was not expecting when I started.
Overall, the story is short and entertaining. While not a literary masterpiece, it is certainly an entertaining look back for those who enjoy a good murder mystery....more
This is my first novel by Hemingway. As I have never been one to seek out the "Classics" this is not strange for mA Simple and Powerful Tale - 4 Stars
This is my first novel by Hemingway. As I have never been one to seek out the "Classics" this is not strange for me. As I was reading, I was taken with the simplicity of the language and the simplicity of the tale. Honestly, I continued to ask myself as read why this novel is considered a classic. While I won't venture to answer that question, I can certainly appreciate its enduring quality.
What struck me most was the stark development of the main character. I appreciate well developed characters. In a 132 page novel, no character is going to be fully fleshed out. The author developed this character with broad strokes and used some fine passes to develop his most significant characteristics. While this was not a "character novel" in the way I generally understand them to be, I was struck by the powerful character development in such a short window. The old man was a tenacious and stubborn man of respect and the did a brilliant job of ensuring we knew what the old man was made of by the time we put the book down.
The novel has the feeling of a parable but not a parable told to us by some wise elder but rather a story that we have viewed first hand and in turn we can relate back to other's as a parable. I have the feeling that there is much to be taken away for the story. I am writing this less than 24 hours after reading it so I may come back to this review with more personal insight.
This is not a story that ends when you turn the last page. It is still front of my mind the next day and feel that I will be thinking on this story for many days to come....more
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