Another month, another choice for the #ReadChristie2021 campaign!
I've had a really good reading month. It started off a little slow, but it definitely picked up in the last couple of weeks! Part of the reason for that was my re-read of Lord Edgeware Dies, as part of the campaign.
The prompt for March was: A story featuring a society figure.
Lord Edgeware Dies was also the Official Agatha Christie choice. I've read it before, but quite a long time ago. I remember enjoying it, so I thought it would be nice to revisit the story and see if it was as good as I remember the second time round! After my disappointment with February's pick The Secret Adversary, I also thought it might be quite nice to go back to a story I know I'd enjoy!
Below I've answered some of the questions Official Agatha Christie posed! You can find out more about #ReadChristie2021 on the official website.
1. What did you like about this novel?
I think the thing that I liked the most about this novel was because it was such an easy read. Agatha Christie is so good at creating books that are so immersive, but they're not always successful. This one, however, really hit the mark. From start to finish, I found it such an easy read, which made it a whole lot more enjoyable for me.
I also think this novel is a great example of Christie's work. There's the wonderful relationship between Poirot and Hastings that jumps off the page, the range of characters that are intriguing and suspicious, and, of course, twists and turns that take this beyond being just another murder mystery.
2. What did you think of Poirot and Hastings' relationship?
I'm an enormous fan of the Poirot and Hastings dynamic. I think it's really witty but also very playful at the same time. Hastings plays the natural sidekick, always missing the mark and helping to document and drive the key points of the plot for the reader. I think Christie does it really well, and Lord Edgeware Dies is a great example of this. I do like when Hastings makes a comment that inspires Poirot to solve the mystery, which isn't the case here. However, I really enjoyed their interactions. When they had dialogue together, it really jumped off the page and made the book such a joy to read.
3. Who were you most suspicious of?
That's a really interesting question! I can't remember who I was most suspicious of when I first read the book years ago, but I think reading this time, I found the most suspicious character to be Bryan Martin. His concoction about the mystery man with the gold tooth, and the way Poirot found it so amusing meant that there was clearly more to the story than he was letting on! There's quite a few different characters so there's a lot of different suspects, which is always great in a Christie murder mystery. Without giving any spoilers, I found reading the book very fun knowing who the murderer was. It all feels so simple when you're reading it from the other side, and I was left wondering how I didn't figure it out the first time I read it!
4. Did you like the variety of high-society settings explored?
One of the elements of Christie's world that I really love in her stories is the way high society figures feature. They bring some serious razzle dazzle to the stories, and add a bit of glamour that just makes the books a lot more exciting. I found in Lord Edgeware Dies that, although we have society figures featuring, they didn't steal the show as much as normal.
That being said, the settings that we get to see in the novel are really fun! Normally I love more closed-circuit mysteries, which are more intimate and have only a finite amount of suspects. However, I do have to admit that the different settings we're afforded because of some of the characters in this novel are very fun! The theatre was very glamorous, but I particularly liked the setting of the dinner party. That's probably because it felt more intimate!
5. What did you think about the final reveal?
I think reading a reveal has a lot less suspense when you know what happened, but it was very exciting to see it all unravel from a different perspective! However, what disappointed me about this reveal was that it was only delivered to a couple of people! I love when the reveal is a bit more of a spectacle, so it felt a little anti-climatic to me. That's one thing I think the television adaptations did a lot better.
6. What's your rating?
Rating: ✫✫✫✫
Overall, this was a solid four star read for me. I thought the idea for the story and the different characters were really fun to read about, and make for an intriguing plot. I particularly like the way the Poirot and Hastings relationship is explored in this novel, because it's a great example of the way they work together. However, I am more of a fan of the cosier, closed-circuit mysteries, so this wasn't quite a five star read for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment