I’m a little bit behind, but I’m finally getting round to my May wrap-up for #ReadChristie2021! Things have been a little crazy, but I can’t miss the opportunity to post my thoughts about my choice for last month, A Pocket Full of Rye.
The prompt for May was: a story featuring tea.
It’s yet another month where I chose to join in with the Official Agatha Christie choice. I’ve never read A Pocket Full of Rye before, and it was my first ever Miss Marple story! Yes, I’ve read every single Poirot, but not a single Marple. Shameful. I was really excited to see what I made of the meddling Miss Marple!
I’ve answered some of the questions posed by Official Agatha Christie below. You can find out more about #ReadChristie2021 on their website.
1. Miss Marple is more of a secondary character in this story. What did you make of her role in the novel?
I was really excited to read some Miss Marple, so I was really surprised when I found out that she was a background character for most of the story. However, I found that I wasn’t disappointed. Although she doesn’t feature hugely for a lot of the story, she was a really fun character, and it felt like a really great introduction to her. Part of me does wish she had been a bit more at the front and centre of the action, but I did love the story regardless. It made me really keen to read more from her.
2. Which character did you dislike the most?
That’s a really interesting question, because one of the great things about this story was just how many characters there are! There were a lot of them I wasn’t keen on, but I think my least favourites were probably Percival, or Miss Dove.
Percival I just found very annoying, and so I was rooting for his downfall. Miss Dove, on the other hand, could easily have been a character I quite liked under different circumstances. She was cool, aloof, and sophisticated. However, she was also arrogant and conceited, and I disliked her more and more as the story progressed.
3. What did you make of the Fortescue family?
I thought they were such a fantastic group of characters for a Christie novel! Along with the other characters, they provided a lot of variety and drama. I can't say they're a particularly likeable family, but I think that definitely added to the intrigue. I loved reading about the dynamics between them all.
4. What did you like about the book?
There is so much I loved about this book! I thought the range of characters all in a closed circuit mystery felt like Christie at her very best, and I spent the entire read excited to see what would happen! I also thought the idea was fabulous. I know Christie has used a lot of nursery rhymes and idioms to inform her story progression, and I love it. This was a very specific one, and I thought it made for a really fun story.
5. Two characters are seemingly killed off using tea. Why did you think Christie did this?
I'm not sure why Christie chose to do this, but tea does make for a straightforward murder. It's a British staple, so it's realistic that the characters could easily have been poisoned that way.
6. What would you rate this novel out of five?
Rating: ✫✫✫✫✫
I enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would! I thought it was a fun idea, the characters were really intriguing, and I loved my first introduction to Miss Marple! I understand why it might not be everyone's favourite, but I thought it was wonderful.
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