Even though I read this in my twenties oh, I will be 70. In 2 weeks so I will leave before the spoilers begin. I've read every single Christy or I thought until I saw your channel and you gave me a few new titles. Aloha
This is one of my favorites - I used to travel for work flying long-haul and I read through the Christie canon more than a few times, she’s the perfect companion! The Martine coincidence initially bothered me but on re-reading (multiple times) it occurred to me that in order to move on to the eventual solution she had to be found and this was more interesting than a simple police search. The audiobook of this read by Joan Hickson is one of the best performed versions - Audible doesn’t offer it but it’s available in other formats. Thank you for posting these reviews and talks!
In regards to the ending and who Lucy will end up with, I am very bothered by how the movie adaptations always get it wrong! Sometimes they put her with Bryan Eastly and one put her with the detective Craddock! What?!!! It's so obviously Cedric!
Then of course there's no Lucy in Murder, She Said. Miss Marple does it all herself, with some assistance from Mr. Stringer, who doesn't appear in the novel. Margaret Rutherford wanted a part for her husband written in.
I completely agree about ‘Lucy’ something about the way she carried herself and her aura in general was quite interesting. Also, this is the first video of yours that i’ve seen and i’m hooked! You’ve earned a new subscriber
What a great discussion, Mara. I loved Lucy’s idea of employment that suits her but doesn’t demand so much that she can’t pick and choose exactly what she wants to do. I was crazy about the Martine element, either, but the ending of the book is such a delight hat it overcame ny quibbles that I have. I wish Christie has written a dozen more Marples. Somehow they just hit my sweet spot.
The fact that they overlap makes that I have no idea who did it in this one anymore! It was such a mess to me, but I remember I loved Lucy! And the fact murder is announced is so low shocks me! I've almost read all and that's my absolute favorite in terms of characters. (The two female "companions" especially!! ❤️) The mystery is an absolute clusterfuck of course so that's probably why it's lower! 😂
The actresses looked so different. I hadn't previously thought of Mary Dove as a Lucy Eylesbarrow type. Mary was Lucy with less formal education and turned toward a grifter lifestyle instead. I can see that. Christie may have given Mary Dove a possibly fictitious posh name while Lucy Eylesbarrow's name was chosen to seem like solid British working class stock who has made good for herself through earnest hard work. Her way of possibly demarcating the two versions of the Action Girl trope.
I also loved the setup, the setting and Lucy as a protagonist, but there were issues wight he way the mystery was constructed. It's hard to put into words, but sometimes the red herrings and the solutions feel more equally fleshed out, and that's much more satisfying as a reader. Here essential clues were left to the very end, and some of the others were never tied up or explained. I still like it a lot, but it's not the best example of a well put-together mystery.
It's a UK Harper Collins edition-- there are 4 of them (the others are The ABC Murders, Murder on the Orient Express, and The Mystery of the Blue Train)
Mara, I just saw this pop up and noticed it’s April 2019. But, in case you read this comment I wanted to recommend to you the movie, Murder She Said, starring Margaret Rutherford. It is based on the book, 4:50 From Paddington. This is Rutherford’s first Marple movie and she is a hoot! She only did 4 movies, which is a shame. I think they are all good. TCM just did this series so maybe you saw it. I just read that John Malkovich will be playing Poirot in the new series in Dec 2020 in Britain and shown later in the US. Not sure about this but will reserve judgment after watching. Love your Christie reviews!
Did I hear you like Murder She Wrote? I love that show. If you do you should do a video. I must also admit, only to you that I love the very tacky books that go along with the series. They take no time to read and are fun.
Haven't read The Pale Horse yet, but Endless Night is one that I see why people like it, but as I guessed what was happening pretty early on, I didn't end up loving it. But of course, that's just my perspective :)
This was my first time reading the book,as I have a hugely soft spot for the movie adaptation "Murder,she said". It was,in fact,my first experience of Agatha Christie (as a 15 year old.) I must have watched it half-a-dozen times since then,mostly because of the hilarious presence of Margaret Rutherford. As an adaptation,it takes a huge amount of liberties with its source material - but not as massively as ,say,the 'Marple' TV series. Certainly,the murderer is the same....which is why I had always resisted reading the novel. As a book,I found that it started well (somewhat in the style of Hitchcock)and was a page turner for the first 6 chapters or so. Once we arrive at the Crackenthorpe's Mansion,it becomes a fairly typical Christie 'big old house and snobby extended family' tale. The weaknesses of her writing in the later years is beginning to show,I felt: characters keep saying the same things over and over,repeating stuff that we already knew; at least one massive coincidence occurs (as you pointed out),which happened too blatantly for the services of the plot; and characters are beginning to spend a lot of time musing over 'changing times and declining standards'. Nonetheless,the last couple of chapters really picked the story up. I am compelled to ask - whereabouts in the UK will you be staying?
Yes, you've nailed it-- it's repetitious throughout. That was what was bothering me and making me feel that it was off! And I agree, it starts stronger than it ends up And unsurprisingly given that it's a work trip, I'm in London :)
The discussion of the closed type compartments interested me too. Especially as in just the last month or so I became aware of an old real life mystery from 1920 of the murder a Florence Nightingale Shore (relative to THE Florence Nightingale). The case feels quite Christie-ish, and I believe it was fairly well known in its time, so I wonder if this inspired her in writing stories like "The Plymouth Express", "The Mystery of the Blue Train" and this novel. A weird coincidence, just after thinking how Christie-ish the case sounded I came across a drama on Netflix where they suppose that during the days she went missing she was trying to solve this case ("Agatha and the Truth of Murder" - I've not watched it yet myself). In the late 80's there was another murder in a closed compartment of a woman called Deborah Linsley and this is when they really sped up the removal of these types of carriages from trains. As it was, up to that time people already must've found these quite dangerous carriages as they were apparently marked with big red lines to warn people before they got onto the train what kind of compartment they may be getting into. And it seems Christie was well aware of the dangerous potential of these places a lot earlier! Lucy is wonderful, I agree, and I also agree that for some reason this and A Pocket Full of Rye are "partnered" in my mind (and I also rank that one higher). Wonderful review as always!
Oh that's interesting... yeah, after this book, I don't think I'd agree to get into a non-corridor car unless it was with someone I was 100% sure was happy with me :D
