Review: And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I know this story inside out for some reason. I don't believe I've read it before, but to be honest I cannot be quite so sure.

And I don't think I've seen any adaptation of this either.

Either way, I picked this up last night and finished it in just under 4 hours.

I think Agatha Christie is not great for writing detective or mystery novels. She's great for capturing the human mindset.

This novel is a perfect demonstration of such ability.

The way each guests thinks, doubts, suspects and is tortured with their own thoughts and fears. The fantastical description of how the dark side of human minds are at work. The endless questioning and cunning of each individual.

They are all so lively. Reading this book was like watching a play, a movie.

Knowing whodunit from the start did not spoil the story for me. It may have, in fact, enhanced it. To see that particular character at work, to comprehend the actions, and the derailed mind.

I shall refrain from picking up another until I finish Alan Glynn's Limitless. But oh the temptation!



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Review: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I finished this one two days ago, was just lazy to type it out.

Another reason was I wasn't not sure what I could add to the Agatha Christie glory already out there. I always liked mystery and detective novels, most of the ones I've read however, prior to the 3 years spent in the UK, were in Chinese.

I have the full Arsen Lupin collection, as well as the Sherlock Holmes collection, in Chinese, sitting next to me right this very minute. In Taiwan and Japan, Arsen Lupin is a lot bigger a deal than Sherlock Holmes. At least such was the case of my generation.

I suspect the reason being French are inherently more romantic, and thus their stories presents themselves more romantic as well; while the English are...well, not dull, but oh-so-formal, and stiff. Sherlock can never be the ladies man, the moment he starts speaking that mysterious air of his vaporises, turning stern.

Anyway, Agatha Christie is English, and so...not very romantic. Poirot is set to be Belgian, but still more English than believable.

But I picked this out of my ebooks one night after watching the ITV movie adaptation. So it lives up to the task. She's truly remarkable in story telling, the dear Agatha. The story flows, the characters are, so lively (even though just a touch more stiff than in real life, but consider the time...I can live with that). And my favourite character of them all must be M. Bouc. He's more alive than anyone in the story. But that's just me.

I always dreaded picking up Agatha Christie, for there are so many. I was given a Poirot collection couple Christmases back, by my not-so-much-better-but-one-can't-complain other half, who saw me wasting time on a pc game demo based on her work. I don't think I really read it, I just picked it up to make him feel like he didn't waste the money.

Also I had it in my head that her work would be difficult to read. I am more into modern mysteries and detective novels, like the Jeffrey Deaver type.

But this was surprisingly fluent, for a person that's native tongue isn't English. I've been working on finishing the novel Limitless (or The Dark Fields), which the movie is based upon, but it's narrative left me with a headache so I stop constantly. With Murder on the Orient Express my only stops were when I was attending my Grandmother's funeral, and when I fell asleep while reading.

By the way I tend to read just before bed time, so falling asleep while reading (especially after spending the entire day working on translation or surfing the web), is a common thing. So the above statement was meant to be complimentary.

I think I'll pick another Agatha Christie book, for my next read.



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"What is your name?"

Seems like an innocent enough question, doesn't it?

I needn't think much about it, not prior to the last two months.

This is a rant, ignore.

I hate grammar. And I suck at it.

If you read any of my writing you'd realise I tend to rant on and on and on, without stopping, using way too many commas, and end up having an overly long sentence, like this one. It just formed a paragraph! = =

Ranting on

I went to bed at 7am. Fiddled around with my phone... and of course we know where that leads...by the time I closed my eyes and went into lala-land, it was noon.