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vctoriaj's review against another edition
4.0
This was the definition of a yap. I'd re-read if it wasn't so long.
Loved Miss Clack's chapter, what a lol
Loved Miss Clack's chapter, what a lol
dark_library_'s review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
deekaykay's review against another edition
5.0
Yay! Still the best detective novel by far. Except for Trent's Last Case. And all of Dorothy Sayers. And one or two Holmes mysteries.
blue_caribou's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
nb61's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
Definitely the basic structure for detective novel, but so slow. I felt like I was the actual detective being forced to plod through each person’s individual viewpoint, in addition to their testimonies, to get to the truth. That’s too much for entertainment.
ptrmsschrs's review against another edition
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-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
3.5
lizziestudieshistory's review against another edition
2.0
Before I get into my review, I must preface this by saying - The Moonstone is the first ever detective novel (according to some people at least) and is an undisputed milestone in English literature. Whether I enjoyed this or not, the impact this book had on the crime/detective genre is phenomenal and without Sergeant Cuff we probably wouldn’t have Sherlock Holmes. So with the obligatory acknowledgement out of the way, here’s my review.
This book could have been an absolute triumph if it hadn’t been for: the resolution, drawn out and slightly pointless bits of ‘scene setting’, and Gabriel bloody Betteridge and the prophetic qualities of Robison fucking Crusoe. All in all, that probably leaves less than 10% of the book... The other 90+% was an tedious, unbearable slog...
There were moments of brilliance. Miss Clack and her insufferable evangelical Christianity was repulsively entertaining - I had second hand embarrassment from her despite being an atheist! She was exactly the type of unbearable, irritating, hypocrite that I couldn’t help but adore her contribution to the story. She was so horrible that I loved her (I also enjoyed that she was the only character that didn’t worship the ground Rachel walked on… That was a huge plus!) Her section was the highlight of this book.
I also enjoyed Ezra Jennings’ diary, the actual plot (a opium fuelled science experiment that instantly cleared Blake’s name) was so far fetched that I couldn't believe it. However, Jennings himself was a fascinating character - shunned by society for his looks and a crime he didn’t commit, and looking for a quiet place to find some peace whilst providing an income for his daughter. I wish we had spent more time with him and explored his character more thoroughly (he was much more interesting than ANY of the other characters or in fact the actual plot… It was unfortunate.) I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Jennings and Collins’ idea of what a mixed race individual looks like, but as a character himself I was happily surprised with how much sympathy and care Collins presented him with.
Alas, this is about as much praise I can give The Moonstone. I did largely detest reading this novel. It could have been entertaining if it was 150 pages, max? Every tiny development of the plot milked for all it was worth. Collins would introduce an interesting point, for example Rosanna might have stolen the Moonstone because she has a secret conviction for theft. This was introduced around the 40 page mark and it’s only cleared up 160 pages later when it’s obvious to the reader that she hadn’t done it. It was an okay plot point for a couple of chapters but to have 150-200 pages of ‘what if Rosanna did it?’ grew tedious very quickly. However, this just kept happening with almost every development in the case.
The effect from this was only exacerbated by my guessing who had stolen the Moonstone within moments of it going missing - the conclusion was so obvious (due to how the character was framed in their public life) that I saw it a mile off. This could be a product of The Moonstone being one of, if not the, first detective novels written in English. The tropes and conventions of the genre were established by Collins and anyone reading this 150 years later is going to be able to see the conclusion a mile off. It’s unfortunate because this isn’t really fair to Collins but it did impede my enjoyment of the book so much that I ended up hating it.
I think I now need to address the elephant in the room, which is Gabriel Betteridge** and his bloody Robinson Crusoe. This is a small part of the book to fixate on. It’s almost inconsequential to the vast majority of the plot and character developments to everyone except Betteridge. However, I loathe Robinson Crusoe. I can’t stand it. If Collins had kept it as a small part of the characterisation of Betteridge that came up once or twice whilst we were establishing his character then I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye despite my hatred for Robinson Crusoe. Yet, EVERY BLOODY CHAPTER WITH BETTERIDGE INCLUDED A REFERENCE TO BETTERIDGE SITTING DOWN WITH ‘[HIS] ROBINSON CRUSOE’ AND A PIPE. This might be a slight exaggeration but a ridiculous amount of this book was dedicated to Betteridge (a well drawn out but ultimately a character that I disliked as a person) with his belief in the prophetic and therapeutic benefits of Robinson bloody Crusoe.
I hated this obsession with RC so much that I docked The Moonstone a star… Character and plot wise it’s probably a three star book, but I spent 90% of my reading time pissed off by these references that I had to knock it down.
Overall*, this book doesn’t really make sense. Individual characters and plot points, when looked at separately, should make a compelling read. There’s some spectacular characters, events, and even some lovely bits of writing in here that I really enjoyed. However, when these elements were combined it created a boring slog of a book to read. I found myself counting pages, wishing for the narrative to swap over to a new narrator (the only exception being Miss Clack and Jennings, they were brilliant in completely different ways.) This was at its worst with Betteridge and the ‘First Period’ - his 200 page monologue bored me to tears, so much so that I nearly DNFed the book around 100 pages in.
The Moonstone was inevitably a disappointment. I was excited to see another of Collins’ novels after ADORING The Woman in White so much 2 years ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy this book. The Moonstone is too long, full of unnecessary side discussions and events, and didn’t contain enough believable ‘red herrings’ to make the attempted intrigue worth the slog it was to read it. If The Moonstone had been 200-250 pages long it probably would be an enjoyable early mystery novel. However, at its almost 500 page count I have happily enjoyed disposing of this book in a purely vindictive manner which I am not ready to disclose on the internet.
*Just as a side note - I don’t want to discuss Collins’ discussion of India or Hindu mythology and belief because I have almost zero experience with this subject. It is much better to go and read other discussions of this book from a much more informed and experienced viewpoint than I could ever provide.
** I have just realised I've spelt Betteredge wrong, but I can't be bothered to go back through and change it at the moment...
This book could have been an absolute triumph if it hadn’t been for: the resolution, drawn out and slightly pointless bits of ‘scene setting’, and Gabriel bloody Betteridge and the prophetic qualities of Robison fucking Crusoe. All in all, that probably leaves less than 10% of the book... The other 90+% was an tedious, unbearable slog...
There were moments of brilliance. Miss Clack and her insufferable evangelical Christianity was repulsively entertaining - I had second hand embarrassment from her despite being an atheist! She was exactly the type of unbearable, irritating, hypocrite that I couldn’t help but adore her contribution to the story. She was so horrible that I loved her (I also enjoyed that she was the only character that didn’t worship the ground Rachel walked on… That was a huge plus!) Her section was the highlight of this book.
I also enjoyed Ezra Jennings’ diary, the actual plot (a opium fuelled science experiment that instantly cleared Blake’s name) was so far fetched that I couldn't believe it. However, Jennings himself was a fascinating character - shunned by society for his looks and a crime he didn’t commit, and looking for a quiet place to find some peace whilst providing an income for his daughter. I wish we had spent more time with him and explored his character more thoroughly (he was much more interesting than ANY of the other characters or in fact the actual plot… It was unfortunate.) I’m not entirely sure what is going on with Jennings and Collins’ idea of what a mixed race individual looks like, but as a character himself I was happily surprised with how much sympathy and care Collins presented him with.
Alas, this is about as much praise I can give The Moonstone. I did largely detest reading this novel. It could have been entertaining if it was 150 pages, max? Every tiny development of the plot milked for all it was worth. Collins would introduce an interesting point, for example Rosanna might have stolen the Moonstone because she has a secret conviction for theft. This was introduced around the 40 page mark and it’s only cleared up 160 pages later when it’s obvious to the reader that she hadn’t done it. It was an okay plot point for a couple of chapters but to have 150-200 pages of ‘what if Rosanna did it?’ grew tedious very quickly. However, this just kept happening with almost every development in the case.
The effect from this was only exacerbated by my guessing who had stolen the Moonstone within moments of it going missing - the conclusion was so obvious (due to how the character was framed in their public life) that I saw it a mile off. This could be a product of The Moonstone being one of, if not the, first detective novels written in English. The tropes and conventions of the genre were established by Collins and anyone reading this 150 years later is going to be able to see the conclusion a mile off. It’s unfortunate because this isn’t really fair to Collins but it did impede my enjoyment of the book so much that I ended up hating it.
I think I now need to address the elephant in the room, which is Gabriel Betteridge** and his bloody Robinson Crusoe. This is a small part of the book to fixate on. It’s almost inconsequential to the vast majority of the plot and character developments to everyone except Betteridge. However, I loathe Robinson Crusoe. I can’t stand it. If Collins had kept it as a small part of the characterisation of Betteridge that came up once or twice whilst we were establishing his character then I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye despite my hatred for Robinson Crusoe. Yet, EVERY BLOODY CHAPTER WITH BETTERIDGE INCLUDED A REFERENCE TO BETTERIDGE SITTING DOWN WITH ‘[HIS] ROBINSON CRUSOE’ AND A PIPE. This might be a slight exaggeration but a ridiculous amount of this book was dedicated to Betteridge (a well drawn out but ultimately a character that I disliked as a person) with his belief in the prophetic and therapeutic benefits of Robinson bloody Crusoe.
I hated this obsession with RC so much that I docked The Moonstone a star… Character and plot wise it’s probably a three star book, but I spent 90% of my reading time pissed off by these references that I had to knock it down.
Overall*, this book doesn’t really make sense. Individual characters and plot points, when looked at separately, should make a compelling read. There’s some spectacular characters, events, and even some lovely bits of writing in here that I really enjoyed. However, when these elements were combined it created a boring slog of a book to read. I found myself counting pages, wishing for the narrative to swap over to a new narrator (the only exception being Miss Clack and Jennings, they were brilliant in completely different ways.) This was at its worst with Betteridge and the ‘First Period’ - his 200 page monologue bored me to tears, so much so that I nearly DNFed the book around 100 pages in.
The Moonstone was inevitably a disappointment. I was excited to see another of Collins’ novels after ADORING The Woman in White so much 2 years ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy this book. The Moonstone is too long, full of unnecessary side discussions and events, and didn’t contain enough believable ‘red herrings’ to make the attempted intrigue worth the slog it was to read it. If The Moonstone had been 200-250 pages long it probably would be an enjoyable early mystery novel. However, at its almost 500 page count I have happily enjoyed disposing of this book in a purely vindictive manner which I am not ready to disclose on the internet.
*Just as a side note - I don’t want to discuss Collins’ discussion of India or Hindu mythology and belief because I have almost zero experience with this subject. It is much better to go and read other discussions of this book from a much more informed and experienced viewpoint than I could ever provide.
** I have just realised I've spelt Betteredge wrong, but I can't be bothered to go back through and change it at the moment...
carbonaden's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-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
4.0