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thaurisil's review against another edition
2.0
Originally created as a series of short stories, The Big Four sees Hercule Poirot take on a secret organisation that is behind all the unrest in the world, from wars to shipwrecks. It comprises a Chinese man Li Chang Yen, who has brains, an American man Abe Ryland, who has wealth, a Frenchwoman Madame Olivier, who is a scientist better even than Marie Curie, and a fourth, the most mysterious, known only as the destroyer. Segregated into short episodes, Poirot explores murders, missing persons and robberies, in each case encountering the hand of the Big Four. While Poirot and Hastings have interactions with Ryland and Curie, most of their interactions are with the destroyer, a man who disguises himself and plays the role of another person so well that he is never recognisable. Poirot eventually uncovers his identity, and finally faces down the Big Four and brings about their destruction.
I appreciate that this was written early in Christie's career and she was trying her hand at a new genre, but Poirot just does not belong in an espionage novel. Poirot's power lies in his cleverness, in his ability to sit in an armchair, deduce the solutions to mysteries, and then surprise everyone with his intelligence. There is little appeal in a Poirot who lays traps and uses disguises and smoke bombs to outwit international crooks. Moreover, the individual stories often involving the enemy laying a trap for Poirot which he sees through, which the enemy knows he will see through, which Poirot knows they will see through, and so on and so forth, creating a convoluted series of traps that are often actually rather easy to see through. There is more action than intelligence, and while Poirot repeatedly talks about his little grey cells, what is demanded of the reader is not so much grey cells as it is believing the opposite of whatever it is Hastings believes.
For Hastings, while brave and good-hearted and overall a pleasant man, is extremely dull-witted, and at some points, rather tiresomely so. He is a foil to Poirot, but the juxtaposition is too stark. As a narrator, he is meant to be as clueless and jump to the same wrong conclusions as the reader, but he ends up being even more clueless than the reader.
This is the only novel in which Vera Rossakoff appears. This flamboyant Frenchwoman is the only woman that Poirot ever shows any hint of romantic interest in. I liked the mutual admiration they have for each other, and their ill-fated affection and their mutual desire to trick and defeat each other but not to kill each other. Poirot is his usual vain and finicky self, sarcastic towards yer genuinely and ostentatiously affectionate towards Hastings.
P.S. There is a good GR review that explains why Christie wrote such an awful book. It’s interesting how the circumstances combined to produce this book just shortly after the ingenious success of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
I appreciate that this was written early in Christie's career and she was trying her hand at a new genre, but Poirot just does not belong in an espionage novel. Poirot's power lies in his cleverness, in his ability to sit in an armchair, deduce the solutions to mysteries, and then surprise everyone with his intelligence. There is little appeal in a Poirot who lays traps and uses disguises and smoke bombs to outwit international crooks. Moreover, the individual stories often involving the enemy laying a trap for Poirot which he sees through, which the enemy knows he will see through, which Poirot knows they will see through, and so on and so forth, creating a convoluted series of traps that are often actually rather easy to see through. There is more action than intelligence, and while Poirot repeatedly talks about his little grey cells, what is demanded of the reader is not so much grey cells as it is believing the opposite of whatever it is Hastings believes.
For Hastings, while brave and good-hearted and overall a pleasant man, is extremely dull-witted, and at some points, rather tiresomely so. He is a foil to Poirot, but the juxtaposition is too stark. As a narrator, he is meant to be as clueless and jump to the same wrong conclusions as the reader, but he ends up being even more clueless than the reader.
This is the only novel in which Vera Rossakoff appears. This flamboyant Frenchwoman is the only woman that Poirot ever shows any hint of romantic interest in. I liked the mutual admiration they have for each other, and their ill-fated affection and their mutual desire to trick and defeat each other but not to kill each other. Poirot is his usual vain and finicky self, sarcastic towards yer genuinely and ostentatiously affectionate towards Hastings.
P.S. There is a good GR review that explains why Christie wrote such an awful book. It’s interesting how the circumstances combined to produce this book just shortly after the ingenious success of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
achurxh's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bookwyrmknits's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
2.0
This is my least favorite of the Poirot novels yet. I had two main issues with it: First, the casual racism of the era is taken to the extreme in this one, and I greatly disliked the characterization of so many characters as a result. Second, apparently this was originally a set of short stories with a connected theme/enemy, and the flow of the story is lacking as a result. It felt broken up in odd ways as a result of its origin as short stories.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Kidnapping
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, and Racial slurs
Minor: Suicide
yudithy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
seth_hare's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kathideborah's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
kristenbooks's review against another edition
2.0
This book is very different from Agatha Christie's normal Poirot books. I really enjoy reading Poirot because it keeps me guessing to the end, and there's always some really intricate mystery. However, I thought that this was just really basic. It was hard to get through. Nothing about it was particularly suspenseful or intriguing. I was bored.
4/10.(2/5)
4/10.(2/5)
rosearchive's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Well this was definitely unlike any of christie’s other works. Instead of her usual murder mysteries of “Who did it?”, this book is more of a sum of different cases in which there leads a direct tie to four people referred to as “The big four”.
Honestly, at the beginning of this, I did not find “The Big Four” to actually be a real organization..maybe it’s because of how different this story was compared to christie’s other ones, but I honestly thought the whole thing was a sham.
In this book, I was kinda disappointed by Poirot and felt he wasn’t hercule poiroting as usual. A few things that I instantly guessed at seemed to pass by him which was very..odd. It felt like christie diminished some of poirot’s qualities in order to make it seem as if he finally faced his “biggest challenge”. I was still entertained by the book though. Poirot definitely fooled me with that “twin brother” act.
Honestly, at the beginning of this, I did not find “The Big Four” to actually be a real organization..maybe it’s because of how different this story was compared to christie’s other ones, but I honestly thought the whole thing was a sham.
In this book, I was kinda disappointed by Poirot and felt he wasn’t hercule poiroting as usual. A few things that I instantly guessed at seemed to pass by him which was very..odd. It felt like christie diminished some of poirot’s qualities in order to make it seem as if he finally faced his “biggest challenge”. I was still entertained by the book though. Poirot definitely fooled me with that “twin brother” act.
tiasreads's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs and Racism
lunchowl's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Very different to a typical Poirot novel.