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wednesdayzombie's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
notcreativeusername's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
laradahm's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing web of deception she weaved in her first novel. This is my first Agatha Christie novel, but I’ve seen several movies, episodes of Hercules Poirot, documentaries about her and her life. My husband couldn’t believe I had never read her. She is the master for sure! How her brain worked to concoct such a story!
alexpler's review against another edition
4.0
"La imaginación es buena criada, pero mala ama. La explicación más sencilla es siempre la más probable".
El primer caso de Poirot viene a ser una plantilla de otros muchos que vendrían después (una mansión, una habitación cerrada, líos familiares, herencias...). Y desde el principio Agatha Christie demostró que sabía anticipar y jugar con lo que creerá el lector.
El primer caso de Poirot viene a ser una plantilla de otros muchos que vendrían después (una mansión, una habitación cerrada, líos familiares, herencias...). Y desde el principio Agatha Christie demostró que sabía anticipar y jugar con lo que creerá el lector.
kleonora's review against another edition
2.0
Despite (or perhaps because of) my slavish adoration of all things Sherlock, I have always considered mysteries to be lower form of literature, more closely related to Mills and Boon than Crime and Punishment. Like romance novel, mysteries are functional books. Women read bodies rippers with a purpose; to feel tingly down there. The stories need to be different, but they can’t be new. If heroine in ‘The Princess and the Scoundrel’ starts campaigning for the rights of peasants or becomes obsessed with the works of Emile Zola the literary merit of the book might improve but the tingle straight-up dies.
Eventually, in every woman’s life there comes a time when the tingle dies forever and no amount of lusty rouges and heaving bosoms can revive it. That is when you give up and switch to mystery novels to fill the void. This is why my grandmother reads them. This is why my grandmother has always read them.
Such was my general perception of Agatha Christie going into this and now that I have finished the Mysterious Affair at Styles I can report that my prejudices have been 100% confirmed. This is a whodunit, a different beast altogether from your average Sherlock Holmes. For all the clues and deductions, Conan Doyle’s work reads more like an adventure focusing on Sherlock and how cool he is. The narratives often begin with clues and sometimes the entire story is just about how Sherlock found out a crime had even been committed. Sherlock begins and ends the story, once he is no longer concerned with a case neither are we.
These familiar constraints abandoned me in Styles. It starts with a murder. Then I had to meet the usual suspects and learn about their hopes, dreams and schemes. Then the story continues after the reveal and everyone gets married. Nan, eat your heart out.
I did meet Poirot, a character whose existence I had become aware of through various references. I can’t say I’m impressed. For starters, he speaks French all the time. Also, he loves plants. I bet he wouldn’t know a seven percent solution if it slapped him in the vein. Still, for people who give a shit about figuring out a fictional murder before the book straight-up tells you, I suppose he did admirably well as the person who tells you that things are clues and reacts in significant ways when new information comes to light.
I suppose the trouble was, I really didn’t care about beating the book to the punch, as it were. I knew it would tell me eventually. It had to. That is its function. I really wasn’t going to tax myself with keeping track of correspondences or teacup locations all so I could solve a made-up murder faster than a made-up detective. Okay, there might be a bit of sour grapes in this. I thought I knew who it was early on but it ended up they were just in love. It’s an easy mistake. Happens to me all the time.
The thing is, though, I really couldn’t *dislike* this book. Despite the plot revolving around a murder, it was just so light and happy. The narrator Hastings is a self-congratulatory doofus, the sort of man who would propose to a women he’s just met for the sole reason that she’s crying, and then be insulted at her polite declination. Poirot keeps all his used matches in a jar in his room so that they can’t contaminate any flower beds and lets an innocent man stand trail on the off-chance the ordeal might re-kindle the love between him and his increasingly estranged wife. Also, it works, hurrah!
Still, you’d never see Sherlock pulling shit like that and Sherlock got a 3+ so Poirot gets a 2. Tell you what, a 2+. I've got a few more of these to go so maybe they'll grow on me.
Title The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
When January 2012
Why Found it at SKOOB
Rating 2+
Eventually, in every woman’s life there comes a time when the tingle dies forever and no amount of lusty rouges and heaving bosoms can revive it. That is when you give up and switch to mystery novels to fill the void. This is why my grandmother reads them. This is why my grandmother has always read them.
Such was my general perception of Agatha Christie going into this and now that I have finished the Mysterious Affair at Styles I can report that my prejudices have been 100% confirmed. This is a whodunit, a different beast altogether from your average Sherlock Holmes. For all the clues and deductions, Conan Doyle’s work reads more like an adventure focusing on Sherlock and how cool he is. The narratives often begin with clues and sometimes the entire story is just about how Sherlock found out a crime had even been committed. Sherlock begins and ends the story, once he is no longer concerned with a case neither are we.
These familiar constraints abandoned me in Styles. It starts with a murder. Then I had to meet the usual suspects and learn about their hopes, dreams and schemes. Then the story continues after the reveal and everyone gets married. Nan, eat your heart out.
I did meet Poirot, a character whose existence I had become aware of through various references. I can’t say I’m impressed. For starters, he speaks French all the time. Also, he loves plants. I bet he wouldn’t know a seven percent solution if it slapped him in the vein. Still, for people who give a shit about figuring out a fictional murder before the book straight-up tells you, I suppose he did admirably well as the person who tells you that things are clues and reacts in significant ways when new information comes to light.
I suppose the trouble was, I really didn’t care about beating the book to the punch, as it were. I knew it would tell me eventually. It had to. That is its function. I really wasn’t going to tax myself with keeping track of correspondences or teacup locations all so I could solve a made-up murder faster than a made-up detective. Okay, there might be a bit of sour grapes in this. I thought I knew who it was early on but it ended up they were just in love. It’s an easy mistake. Happens to me all the time.
The thing is, though, I really couldn’t *dislike* this book. Despite the plot revolving around a murder, it was just so light and happy. The narrator Hastings is a self-congratulatory doofus, the sort of man who would propose to a women he’s just met for the sole reason that she’s crying, and then be insulted at her polite declination. Poirot keeps all his used matches in a jar in his room so that they can’t contaminate any flower beds and lets an innocent man stand trail on the off-chance the ordeal might re-kindle the love between him and his increasingly estranged wife. Also, it works, hurrah!
Still, you’d never see Sherlock pulling shit like that and Sherlock got a 3+ so Poirot gets a 2. Tell you what, a 2+. I've got a few more of these to go so maybe they'll grow on me.
Title The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
When January 2012
Why Found it at SKOOB
Rating 2+
j_rowley's review against another edition
3.0
Rich woman is killed at Styles, where Hastings is recovering from war wounds. Hastings wishes his old friend, a funny little Belgium chap were around to help. And he is. Poorly is recovering in England thanks to the rich woman's generosity. Poirot solves the case, reunites a husband and wife, and gets another young couple together. We are also introduced to inspector japp.
Read on iBooks thanks to project Gutenberg.
Read on iBooks thanks to project Gutenberg.
mahiedine's review against another edition
5.0
j'étais tellement convaincu d'avoir trouvé le meurtrier
theleoheff's review against another edition
3.0
Poirot great as always but my god can Hastings be annoying.
jacobsanchez's review against another edition
5.0
Really great re-read. After listening to the All About Agatha episode on this book, I was looking for more of what those authors pointed out, the clues, red herrings, and the plot. I think it holds up really well. I could imagine the David Suchet version too. I'll probably keep reading them all in order now and then listen to the pod after.