Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Murder on the Orient Express

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

21 reviews

duh_uwu's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It's the second time I've read this book (the first was like 5 years ago or so) and still my first Agatha Christie story. With that being said, the only part I still remembered was the final. But that didn't stop me from enjoying it. In fact, it's much more interesting and confusing than I remember.

It's a great story, considered a classic, and I can see why. The plot twist is what makes this book different from other mysteries, I suppose. That and having Hercule Poirot in it. I think one difference between Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes is that the former's stories actually give the reader a chance to guess what happened, who did what, etc. With Sherlock Holmes, I could never guess anything (or maybe I could, only occasionally. It's been years since I read his stories). Besides, Poirot seems to be more realistic because he won't look at the suspect's dirty shoes and guess he's from Romania because the dirt there is different. ~~Also, I'm not sure why, but, by the end of the book, I think the second theory makes more sense, hmm. I wonder if...~~
Now, onto the negatives. The characters are a little too many for me to remember them all, but that's just me. One thing that I didn't catch on the first read was the sexism and xenophobia, though. They aren't displayed all the time, but it served as a reminder that this book was published almost a century ago. Oh, and some things were a ~~cultural~~ social shock, like asking someone to prepare their beds for the night. Moments like those made me question a lot of things. Also, some moments on the interrogation process were repetitive (which I know it's supposed to happen, given that they had new information), but slow too. The final moments of that process were also frustrating because they were going over all the points time after time. Which shows how impossible the case seemed to be, but it's still frustrating.

Overall, I'm glad I picked this book again and I'm looking forward to read more stories with this curious detective. Totally worth a read!

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nidzi_c's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lucyatoz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is the first book I have read featuring Hercule Poirot.

I have recently begun to enjoy reading murder mysteries and obviously needed to read one by one of the greatest authors of this genre. And it was brilliant, truly brilliant!

I really appreciated the way the story unfolds and how Poirot works with investigating the scene, questioning the suspects and evaluating the evidence and how the deductions he has made using only his "little grey cells" are laid out methodically, although the novel is in many ways is quite fantastical.

For a book originally published in 1934, there is a certain timeless quality to the story with the Orient Express still being the height of first class train travel. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and did not see the ending coming at all!

I borrowed a copy of this book from Taunton Library and listened to it on CloudLibrary. I read this for prompt 1, a locked room mystery, for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2024.

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luxton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.0

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bzliz's review against another edition

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mysterious 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

I have to cut it a little slack for the incredible racism, xenophobia, etc given the time it was written but, having never read an Agatha Christie book before, I was still surprised at things that were “okay” to say at the time, as well as how many of the phrases used are still said today. I was familiar with the story prior to reading and I can only imagine how shocking the ending would’ve been when the book was originally published.

I may read more of Christie’s titles whenever I’m in a reading slump in the future.

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