@@mynameisrama I agree. I also think the presence of 'Miss Lemon' in the TV series helps add humor and a 'sounding board' for our frustration with Poirot as she often expresses the same frustration (with a bit of 'mockery' thrown in) between she and Hastings.
I adore everything written by the genius, the queen of mystery Agatha Christie... I am always bewildered the soonest my eyes lay down on sentences of her books and I am instantly filled with joy... The way she wrote down the plot of the different events in her books, the way your heart batters when you reach the climax of the events, and the way she unravelled the secrets behind the mysteries, make me wander about her greatness as a an author... My favourite mystery novels author of all times
As a non-brit in the UK, it is a country that has long been and continues to be a place that LOVES its cozy mystery stories! Which I adore! I will say, there are some wording and descriptions of people that I felt are very 'dated' or 'of their time', is the polite way of saying it. But while I am trying to work my way through more books, she is undoubtedly fun and even the mystery that is her own life makes it more exciting to read her books! Definitely, the pinnacle of it's a rainy day, drinking a warm cup of tea, curled under a blanket, and time to enjoy a murder mystery story type of read! (Which, to be fair, rainy days with a cuppa happen quite frequently here in the UK, XD lol)
I actually do think the Murder of Roger Ackroyd could be solvable. I didn’t solve it when reading it, but looking back there were so many clues I overlooked. It’s like Christie was bypassing Poirot and dropping hints directly to the (observant) reader. Love your videos!
It is definitely solvable. I solved it when I first read it, and I seriously think it was because I was 12 years old and didn't know the "rules" yet, so I ignored them.
That’s true of most of her mysteries. I remember seeing a review of A Murder is Announced that criticised all the typos they saw in the book, and completely didn’t get that those ‘typos’ were Christie spelling out the solution.
Love a cozy mystery :) For those of you who have dried up the well of Christie adaptations and other cozy mystery shows/movies to watch on a Sunday evening, may I suggest the show Poker Face? Rian Johnson is a huge Christie fan (those who have watched Knives Out & Glass Onion will know this), and Poker Face is his attempt at doing Columbo. Very cozy.
Never read an Agatha Christie book yet, but my country has been translating a lot of her novels that weren't translated before in a new collection that seems very affordable, so I know I will eventually pick them up
I like cozy mysteries, I like dark thrillers, I like detective stories. But I would love to find more "puzzle" books/mysteries that focus on crimes other than murders. I want missing people, financial crimes... I don't know. I've read 3 Christie's and I think that's gonna be it for a while.
I forgot to include this in my other comment: Yes! Please make more "The genious of..." videos. I loved this. It helps me decide whether to read any book by an author more than a review of a specific book. But that doesn't mean that I don't like book-specific reviews XD
You are speaking my language...I love Agatha Christie. I was spoiled on the solution before I read Roger Ackroyd, so I can't speak to that one, but I've actually found a lot of the Poirots I've read so far to be solvable, albeit it is difficult. Of course, I'm kind of/sort of reading her books in publication order, so I'm really only dealing with the earlier Poirot novels. I have yet to read the ABC Murders, but I'm really looking forward to that one.
Would love to see more of this series! And Then There Were None was also my first Agatha Christie book, I was so scared by it i had to finish it in one sitting. Now I've re-read/listened to it so many times it's become cosy to me 😂
After I read one of Christie's books, I always have to immediately re-read it, to appreciate all the clues I didn't get the first time around. I think she plays fair with Poirot. It's been awhile since I read Roger Ackroyd, but I do remember at the end he reveals he sent a telegram and got an answer. But that was just to confirm something he had already deduced from the information that we as well as he were given. He not only has to figure out who did it - he has to come up with proof for the authorities, which the reader doesn't have to do.
Wonderful assessment and praise of Agatha Christie. I agree! Thank you! 💝 If I may offer an additional thought about her 'hate' for Poirot ... In addition to creating a sometimes/mostly 'unlikable' character in Poirot, the main reason that she grew to 'hate' him was because her publishers forced her to keep writing 'best-selling' novels that had him in the stories because HE is what the public wanted. Although Christie DID create other detective characters and other forms of novels, Poirot was her 'bread and butter' and the engine that really paid the bills! She felt like a 'slave' to him, and that is the reason that turned her feelings towards him to 'hate'. Arthur Conan Doyle grew to feel the same way toward 'Sherlock Holmes'. Thank you.
I love your take on Dame Agatha and your perspective on Poirot, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of your copy of Grady Hendrix’s How to Sell a Haunted House. It’s my third favorite Hendrix novel, after The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and We Sold Our Souls. I would love to hear you review any/all of them!
Thank you for this beautifully executed analysis! I'd love to see more, and I second the suggestion of Daphne du Maurier. I have read everything Christie wrote except her "romance" novels and a few of her more obscure plays, and Crooked House is also my favorite. I've embarked on a chronological reading of her œuvre and I can't wait to get to that one again!
I'd be really interested to see your thoughts on Christie's Death Comes as the End, which is acknowledged as the first ever historical mystery novel. It's a classic Christie story (with inheritence bitterness, sibling rivalry, a father marrying a young new wife to the fury of his grown children etc) set in a relatively ordinary family in Ancient Egypt. It's also the only book of hers with entirely non-white characters. (Also Miss. Marple is often overlooked and dismissed as cosy but where Poirot is a 'technical' detective, Miss. Marple is a psychological one, and her stories often go to emotionally darker places.)
This was a surprise for me in that we do not have a foreign, say Asian, for example author. I enjoy your linking her to the Gothic and to the thriller genres. Thank you very much.
Poirot is frustrating yes, especially because he often goes off on a sneaky side mission to glean evidence we never see that will add to solving the case. Sherlock Holmes does this too. I don't like that aspect of it, but nonetheless it makes for a great time. You should read some of her biographies. I recently read "A very elusive woman" and although the writing isn't that great, the content was intriguing. Christie died taking so many facts about herself to her grave. She is a mystery herself.
Another thing I love in Christie is her deep curiosity on how it FEELS to be a murderer. Not the looking at a corpse and knowing you killed them, but living day to day with that, and knowing how easy it was. And Then There Were None is a whole study on how murderers can rationalize their crimes. Two quotes come to mind. One is Emily Brent, after confessing to causing the death of a teenage ward, snickering and claiming that that COULDN'T be murder because she, Emily Brent, was a devout religious woman from a "good family" and murder is done by immoral people. The other is Vera Claythorne ultimate confession that murder is NOT shooting someone, poisoning or hanging a person, that murder is the series of little choices that lead to that final act, the slippery slope that starts some times years before the person is dead, and while you are looking at your intended victim and smiling at them, you are already commiting murder: "Murder is so... easy." But then you have to live with knowing just how easy it is. And that messes with her head. I think that was something Chrisie herself might have believed in, since this theme returns in other stories, like Murder is Easy and Courtain. Most of her killers are extremely ordinary people, and I do mean ordinary. There is seldom an insane murderer and almost never any mustache twirling. They might kill to protect a child, to save their reputation or as part of an elaborate vengeance plan, but even when they commit murder simply for money, it is surprising how, for as broad as her characters can be, it always makes sense that an ordinary person could embrace murder to get said money not just because but out of a lingering laziness, pride, sense of inherent superiority, excessive moralization... I think that might be it: that besides the "motive" (money, vengeance, self-preservation...) there is always an understanding that there are more banal motives or, let us say, "submotives". Sorry for the rambling.
I always thought Miss Marple should have got better footage.. Love her stories. They are much more of murder mysteries. I am trilingual as in can read, write & speak English, Hindi and Marathi (my mother tongue). I recently brought a translated AC book Evil under the Sun in Marathi. Cannot wait to read.
And Then There Were None was my first Agatha Christie book, then Crooked House this year. I also plan on reading By the Pricking of My Thumbs and Murder on the Orient Express (idk where my copy of that one is, boo ☹️). And as for a genius video, one for Jane Austen would be pretty cool. Or maybe someday Ottessa Moshfegh. Perhaps one for Mieko Kawakami too. Oh also that mug is super cute! 😻
You SOLVED "The Crooked House"... I am so impressed! I had to read the book again and still couldn't figure out the "obvious" solution. (Have you noticed how a solution is always "obvious" after it has been saved down your throat?)
So, the library in my home town is small. Back then it looked big. It had Sidney Sheldon, Isaac Asimov, Jane Austhen and Agata Christie... So I read them as a teenager. Maybe just maybe I should re-read some...but I like to take a walk in my memory. Very nice in there when it is about books. Your video this time shows is masterpisce. Like you show how it is done. What reading is when it is not just free time=read book. I can't explain it well. I like it more that talking about one book. There are time I know I wouldn't be reading it so I listen all of it...and other I jump. Right here I love all of analysing you are doing! I cought being "yes thats it!" or true puzzels a cozy, why have I not noticed it! It is like the mystery of why I liked her book so much is now solved. I think I looked for adventure, one that does not scare me. Back than I like Poirot for being so smart. Let me end my rambling with: Make more like this one!
I really enjoy your book reviews. I would really enjoy hearing what have been your...humm..let's say 3 favorite Agatha Christie novels and why. You have uninteresting perspective. Thank you and Happy New Year.
Yeah. The Pale Horse is another one with a dark tone. The first chapter sounds like something straight out of The Omen! And I have to say I LOVE her spy novels. They Came to Bagdad had me at the edge of my seat! Why is it so unknown?
The best thing she does is seemingly leave no clues to who the killer is or how they did it. Then, on a re read, you feel so stupid for not realizing it because it seems so obvious.
When I occasionally rad Agatha Christie , and (almost usually) enjoy it, I get the feeling afterwords, "why did I do this?" I could have read Dickens, or Smollet or Stern or Anne Bronte, or Hardy or anyone that is a genuinely good writer. I suppose I did like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the first time I read it, but the whole thing seems like an obvious gimmick. To a large extent, while I enjoy stories, characters, etc., I am very sensitive and aware of an authors prose style, the way the author constructs sentences, and strings sentences together to create effects (example: The wonderful foggy opening of Bleak House, or the extended banana breakfast opening of Gravity's Rainbow.) . And in this I think Christie fails in comparison to some others, in the mystery genre, for instance Chandler (who has other problems, though, which I won't go into here). Nonetheless, in overall structure Christie is often good, though occasionally gimmicky (for instance the one with the mirrors). BTW, I love the Dame Rutherford films of Miss Marple, though I can see how they are not very true to the original stories.
I enjoyed your commentary. I'm a huge AC fan. I've read her and studied her all my life. You are the second book reviewer on youtube that lauds Five Little Pigs. That is one of my least favorites. The constant re-hashing of the day of the murder wore me down. But I did like Elephants Can Remember which is panned by most critics. And that may be the genius of Agatha Christie.
Oh Thankyou for your Reply. I like Haruki Murakami very much. I've read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. This was the first Murakami Novel I've read. I've also read Norwegian Wood, Hear The Wind Sing and Pinball 1973. This one is my recent Murakami Novel. I've also read two of his Short Stories Collection namely Men Without Women and First Person Singular. First Person Singular is the First Haruki Murakami Book I've read in my life. It took me more than two months to complete The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I've also read Two Books by Paulo Coelho The Alchemist and The Fifth Mountain.
But the reason "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is unsolvable is not because POIROT keeps things from you. Poirot is not the POV character of that novel, you are literally reading the notebook which the killer wrote so as to fool Poirot and law enforcement. That is its central conceit and genius, and why it was so contested at the time. Criticizing it for being unsolvable because you don't know everything the detective knows is missing the point of the novel entirely -- you are not following the detective in the first place! The novel becomes solvable the moment you realize what it is you have actually been reading, because then you realize the text was lying (which is also how Poirot solves it). You also misunderstand what her geinus is (to be fair, you are no different than the majority of people who talk about Christie). Christie's genius is not in puzzles or in being cozy. There are very few Christie novels which fool you by being difficult puzzles (although those are some of her most famous), the genius of Christie is in how she fools the reader through narrative obfuscation and misdirection and how expertly she utilizes character writing in this effort to fool you. Also, murder mysteries when Christie started writing were not cozy, so she is not following some sort of formula because she knew mysteries somehow "needed" to be cozy. They were gothic adventure stories (e.g. The Hound of Baskerville) that happened to have a mystery. The genius of Christie is in how she was one of the very first people to write mysteries as we understand them today: a story and plot entirely revolving around the mystery and the process of solving it. (I say one of, because she was part of a starting trend.) Not to mention, her books are not actually cozy. They don't stray from a set circle of characters because she often used the closed circle format to limit the number of possible suspects, not because e.g. a country house with a rich old family is "cozy" and comfortable in its familiarity (although Christie-type settings have BECOME faimiliar and comfortable, because of her influence). Her murders and the motives of her culprits are typically gruesome. She writes psychopaths! "Endless Night" is not an outlier among her previous novels: it's a culmination to the endless "What sort of person kills?" exploration that she had been doing with so many of her books through so many decades. It is, in a sense, the most pure Christie book of all Christie books. Progenitors of it are plentiful: "Towards Zero", "Crooked Hourse", "The ABC Murders", "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", "Appointment with Death", "Dumb Witness", "Murder is Easy", "And Then There Were None", and probably more I'm forgetting.
I like Poirot but then again watching David Suchet play him makes him all that much better.
Yeah, I feel like those of us who like Poirot, like him because of Suchet and/or Ustinov. He is much less likable in the books, to be fair.
@@mynameisrama I totally agree but even in the books now I can hear David Suchet voice and it gives it a little softer edge to me. 😂
@@mynameisrama I agree. I also think the presence of 'Miss Lemon' in the TV series helps add humor and a 'sounding board' for our frustration with Poirot as she often expresses the same frustration (with a bit of 'mockery' thrown in) between she and Hastings.
I adore everything written by the genius, the queen of mystery Agatha Christie... I am always bewildered the soonest my eyes lay down on sentences of her books and I am instantly filled with joy... The way she wrote down the plot of the different events in her books, the way your heart batters when you reach the climax of the events, and the way she unravelled the secrets behind the mysteries, make me wander about her greatness as a an author... My favourite mystery novels author of all times
As a non-brit in the UK, it is a country that has long been and continues to be a place that LOVES its cozy mystery stories! Which I adore! I will say, there are some wording and descriptions of people that I felt are very 'dated' or 'of their time', is the polite way of saying it. But while I am trying to work my way through more books, she is undoubtedly fun and even the mystery that is her own life makes it more exciting to read her books! Definitely, the pinnacle of it's a rainy day, drinking a warm cup of tea, curled under a blanket, and time to enjoy a murder mystery story type of read! (Which, to be fair, rainy days with a cuppa happen quite frequently here in the UK, XD lol)
I actually do think the Murder of Roger Ackroyd could be solvable. I didn’t solve it when reading it, but looking back there were so many clues I overlooked. It’s like Christie was bypassing Poirot and dropping hints directly to the (observant) reader. Love your videos!
It is definitely solvable. I solved it when I first read it, and I seriously think it was because I was 12 years old and didn't know the "rules" yet, so I ignored them.
That’s true of most of her mysteries. I remember seeing a review of A Murder is Announced that criticised all the typos they saw in the book, and completely didn’t get that those ‘typos’ were Christie spelling out the solution.
Love a cozy mystery :)
For those of you who have dried up the well of Christie adaptations and other cozy mystery shows/movies to watch on a Sunday evening, may I suggest the show Poker Face? Rian Johnson is a huge Christie fan (those who have watched Knives Out & Glass Onion will know this), and Poker Face is his attempt at doing Columbo. Very cozy.
Omg ok so Knives Out is my all-time favourite film and I’m a massive Rian Johnson fan but I had no idea Poker Face existed!! Thank you!
Never read an Agatha Christie book yet, but my country has been translating a lot of her novels that weren't translated before in a new collection that seems very affordable, so I know I will eventually pick them up
I like cozy mysteries, I like dark thrillers, I like detective stories. But I would love to find more "puzzle" books/mysteries that focus on crimes other than murders. I want missing people, financial crimes... I don't know.
I've read 3 Christie's and I think that's gonna be it for a while.
Then I definitely recommend The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel if you haven’t already read it :)
@@WillowTalksBooks It sounds really good. On my list already. Right now I'm about to start my first Tana French book. :P
I forgot to include this in my other comment: Yes! Please make more "The genious of..." videos. I loved this. It helps me decide whether to read any book by an author more than a review of a specific book. But that doesn't mean that I don't like book-specific reviews XD
I loved this! ❤ I’ll be watching this again for sure! How about “The Genius of Daphne du Maurier” ?
I love the crook house too!! This is so brilliant!! I'm learning so much now!!! 👏🏼👏🏼 😌
You are speaking my language...I love Agatha Christie. I was spoiled on the solution before I read Roger Ackroyd, so I can't speak to that one, but I've actually found a lot of the Poirots I've read so far to be solvable, albeit it is difficult. Of course, I'm kind of/sort of reading her books in publication order, so I'm really only dealing with the earlier Poirot novels. I have yet to read the ABC Murders, but I'm really looking forward to that one.
Would love to see more of this series! And Then There Were None was also my first Agatha Christie book, I was so scared by it i had to finish it in one sitting. Now I've re-read/listened to it so many times it's become cosy to me 😂
After I read one of Christie's books, I always have to immediately re-read it, to appreciate all the clues I didn't get the first time around. I think she plays fair with Poirot. It's been awhile since I read Roger Ackroyd, but I do remember at the end he reveals he sent a telegram and got an answer. But that was just to confirm something he had already deduced from the information that we as well as he were given. He not only has to figure out who did it - he has to come up with proof for the authorities, which the reader doesn't have to do.
Wonderful assessment and praise of Agatha Christie. I agree! Thank you! 💝 If I may offer an additional thought about her 'hate' for Poirot ... In addition to creating a sometimes/mostly 'unlikable' character in Poirot, the main reason that she grew to 'hate' him was because her publishers forced her to keep writing 'best-selling' novels that had him in the stories because HE is what the public wanted. Although Christie DID create other detective characters and other forms of novels, Poirot was her 'bread and butter' and the engine that really paid the bills! She felt like a 'slave' to him, and that is the reason that turned her feelings towards him to 'hate'. Arthur Conan Doyle grew to feel the same way toward 'Sherlock Holmes'. Thank you.
I love your take on Dame Agatha and your perspective on Poirot, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of your copy of Grady Hendrix’s How to Sell a Haunted House. It’s my third favorite Hendrix novel, after The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and We Sold Our Souls. I would love to hear you review any/all of them!
I love Hendrix so much! I’ve got a few more of his to read and then I’ll do a video all about him :)
@@WillowTalksBooks Wonderful! I’m looking forward to it!
“.. I can’t thank her enough for it “ 👍 💯
Just discovered your channel and have subscribed. I love how you describe books. You’re gonna cost me a fortune lol. I will defo try Crooked House 😊
Thank you for this beautifully executed analysis! I'd love to see more, and I second the suggestion of Daphne du Maurier.
I have read everything Christie wrote except her "romance" novels and a few of her more obscure plays, and Crooked House is also my favorite. I've embarked on a chronological reading of her œuvre and I can't wait to get to that one again!
I'd be really interested to see your thoughts on Christie's Death Comes as the End, which is acknowledged as the first ever historical mystery novel. It's a classic Christie story (with inheritence bitterness, sibling rivalry, a father marrying a young new wife to the fury of his grown children etc) set in a relatively ordinary family in Ancient Egypt. It's also the only book of hers with entirely non-white characters.
(Also Miss. Marple is often overlooked and dismissed as cosy but where Poirot is a 'technical' detective, Miss. Marple is a psychological one, and her stories often go to emotionally darker places.)
Well said Willow, and what a cute bunny you have!💜💜💜 (I had to do some repairs on my own, the stitching under the arm came a little loose)
Loved this! I am currently doing a chronological read through the Christie canon, but am getting distracted by new releases.
Love your videos
Awesome reviews! I adore Agatha Christie!😊
This was a surprise for me in that we do not have a foreign, say Asian, for example author. I enjoy your linking her to the Gothic and to the thriller genres. Thank you very much.
Poirot is frustrating yes, especially because he often goes off on a sneaky side mission to glean evidence we never see that will add to solving the case. Sherlock Holmes does this too. I don't like that aspect of it, but nonetheless it makes for a great time.
You should read some of her biographies. I recently read "A very elusive woman" and although the writing isn't that great, the content was intriguing. Christie died taking so many facts about herself to her grave. She is a mystery herself.
Another thing I love in Christie is her deep curiosity on how it FEELS to be a murderer. Not the looking at a corpse and knowing you killed them, but living day to day with that, and knowing how easy it was.
And Then There Were None is a whole study on how murderers can rationalize their crimes. Two quotes come to mind. One is Emily Brent, after confessing to causing the death of a teenage ward, snickering and claiming that that COULDN'T be murder because she, Emily Brent, was a devout religious woman from a "good family" and murder is done by immoral people.
The other is Vera Claythorne ultimate confession that murder is NOT shooting someone, poisoning or hanging a person, that murder is the series of little choices that lead to that final act, the slippery slope that starts some times years before the person is dead, and while you are looking at your intended victim and smiling at them, you are already commiting murder: "Murder is so... easy." But then you have to live with knowing just how easy it is. And that messes with her head.
I think that was something Chrisie herself might have believed in, since this theme returns in other stories, like Murder is Easy and Courtain.
Most of her killers are extremely ordinary people, and I do mean ordinary.
There is seldom an insane murderer and almost never any mustache twirling.
They might kill to protect a child, to save their reputation or as part of an elaborate vengeance plan, but even when they commit murder simply for money, it is surprising how, for as broad as her characters can be, it always makes sense that an ordinary person could embrace murder to get said money not just because but out of a lingering laziness, pride, sense of inherent superiority, excessive moralization...
I think that might be it: that besides the "motive" (money, vengeance, self-preservation...) there is always an understanding that there are more banal motives or, let us say, "submotives".
Sorry for the rambling.
I always thought Miss Marple should have got better footage.. Love her stories. They are much more of murder mysteries. I am trilingual as in can read, write & speak English, Hindi and Marathi (my mother tongue). I recently brought a translated AC book Evil under the Sun in Marathi. Cannot wait to read.
And Then There Were None was my first Agatha Christie book, then Crooked House this year. I also plan on reading By the Pricking of My Thumbs and Murder on the Orient Express (idk where my copy of that one is, boo ☹️).
And as for a genius video, one for Jane Austen would be pretty cool. Or maybe someday Ottessa Moshfegh. Perhaps one for Mieko Kawakami too. Oh also that mug is super cute! 😻
Agatha christie ❤❤❤❤❤
Five Little Pigs is one of my top five Christie’s, my favourite is Endless Night.
You SOLVED "The Crooked House"... I am so impressed! I had to read the book again and still couldn't figure out the "obvious" solution. (Have you noticed how a solution is always "obvious" after it has been saved down your throat?)
So, the library in my home town is small. Back then it looked big. It had Sidney Sheldon, Isaac Asimov, Jane Austhen and Agata Christie... So I read them as a teenager. Maybe just maybe I should re-read some...but I like to take a walk in my memory. Very nice in there when it is about books.
Your video this time shows is masterpisce. Like you show how it is done. What reading is when it is not just free time=read book. I can't explain it well. I like it more that talking about one book. There are time I know I wouldn't be reading it so I listen all of it...and other I jump. Right here I love all of analysing you are doing! I cought being "yes thats it!" or true puzzels a cozy, why have I not noticed it! It is like the mystery of why I liked her book so much is now solved. I think I looked for adventure, one that does not scare me. Back than I like Poirot for being so smart.
Let me end my rambling with: Make more like this one!
great video! would love to see more of "The genius of ___"
Yes definitely more genius of please !❤
I really enjoy your book reviews. I would really enjoy hearing what have been your...humm..let's say 3 favorite Agatha Christie novels and why. You have uninteresting perspective. Thank you and Happy New Year.
I enjoyed this topic....How about "The Genius of Laura Purcell"? She has become one of my favorites, thanks to watching your recommendations.
Yeah.
The Pale Horse is another one with a dark tone. The first chapter sounds like something straight out of The Omen!
And I have to say I LOVE her spy novels. They Came to Bagdad had me at the edge of my seat! Why is it so unknown?
The best thing she does is seemingly leave no clues to who the killer is or how they did it. Then, on a re read, you feel so stupid for not realizing it because it seems so obvious.
This!!!!
'The Murder of Roger Ackroyd' is widely considered the greatest example of 'Detective Fiction' ever written.
Ok
When I occasionally rad Agatha Christie , and (almost usually) enjoy it, I get the feeling afterwords, "why did I do this?" I could have read Dickens, or Smollet or Stern or Anne Bronte, or Hardy or anyone that is a genuinely good writer. I suppose I did like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the first time I read it, but the whole thing seems like an obvious gimmick. To a large extent, while I enjoy stories, characters, etc., I am very sensitive and aware of an authors prose style, the way the author constructs sentences, and strings sentences together to create effects (example: The wonderful foggy opening of Bleak House, or the extended banana breakfast opening of Gravity's Rainbow.) . And in this I think Christie fails in comparison to some others, in the mystery genre, for instance Chandler (who has other problems, though, which I won't go into here). Nonetheless, in overall structure Christie is often good, though occasionally gimmicky (for instance the one with the mirrors). BTW, I love the Dame Rutherford films of Miss Marple, though I can see how they are not very true to the original stories.
Have you read Edmund Wilson's essay "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".
@@PotrzebieConolly I just reread it. It makes some good points, but I really do like The Nine Tailors.
One of my favourite is the moustrap
Love the genius video's.
Just got this notification. I did just buy ‘Halloween Party’ today to be fair, so maybe I’m becoming one with the algorithm.
I enjoyed your commentary. I'm a huge AC fan. I've read her and studied her all my life. You are the second book reviewer on youtube that lauds Five Little Pigs. That is one of my least favorites. The constant re-hashing of the day of the murder wore me down. But I did like Elephants Can Remember which is panned by most critics. And that may be the genius of Agatha Christie.
How many days you take to read a Book.
A few
Oh Thankyou for your Reply. I like Haruki Murakami very much. I've read The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. This was the first Murakami Novel I've read. I've also read Norwegian Wood, Hear The Wind Sing and Pinball 1973. This one is my recent Murakami Novel. I've also read two of his Short Stories Collection namely Men Without Women and First Person Singular. First Person Singular is the First Haruki Murakami Book I've read in my life. It took me more than two months to complete The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I've also read Two Books by Paulo Coelho The Alchemist and The Fifth Mountain.
But the reason "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" is unsolvable is not because POIROT keeps things from you. Poirot is not the POV character of that novel, you are literally reading the notebook which the killer wrote so as to fool Poirot and law enforcement. That is its central conceit and genius, and why it was so contested at the time. Criticizing it for being unsolvable because you don't know everything the detective knows is missing the point of the novel entirely -- you are not following the detective in the first place! The novel becomes solvable the moment you realize what it is you have actually been reading, because then you realize the text was lying (which is also how Poirot solves it).
You also misunderstand what her geinus is (to be fair, you are no different than the majority of people who talk about Christie). Christie's genius is not in puzzles or in being cozy. There are very few Christie novels which fool you by being difficult puzzles (although those are some of her most famous), the genius of Christie is in how she fools the reader through narrative obfuscation and misdirection and how expertly she utilizes character writing in this effort to fool you.
Also, murder mysteries when Christie started writing were not cozy, so she is not following some sort of formula because she knew mysteries somehow "needed" to be cozy. They were gothic adventure stories (e.g. The Hound of Baskerville) that happened to have a mystery. The genius of Christie is in how she was one of the very first people to write mysteries as we understand them today: a story and plot entirely revolving around the mystery and the process of solving it. (I say one of, because she was part of a starting trend.)
Not to mention, her books are not actually cozy. They don't stray from a set circle of characters because she often used the closed circle format to limit the number of possible suspects, not because e.g. a country house with a rich old family is "cozy" and comfortable in its familiarity (although Christie-type settings have BECOME faimiliar and comfortable, because of her influence). Her murders and the motives of her culprits are typically gruesome. She writes psychopaths! "Endless Night" is not an outlier among her previous novels: it's a culmination to the endless "What sort of person kills?" exploration that she had been doing with so many of her books through so many decades. It is, in a sense, the most pure Christie book of all Christie books. Progenitors of it are plentiful: "Towards Zero", "Crooked Hourse", "The ABC Murders", "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd", "Appointment with Death", "Dumb Witness", "Murder is Easy", "And Then There Were None", and probably more I'm forgetting.
consider me influenced
I strongly disagree. Christie gives you all the clues, but as you read more of her, you cab pick up her red herring.
Ok