Holy hell

so many people died in this book

.

I will fully concur that this rating is quite low for a book by Agatha Christie, especially one of her more famous ones. If you're looking for a Hercule Poirot story, this is definitely a good one, and I would highly recommend picking it up - if you don't mind a slow start and if you are good at remembering a lot of side characters.

I like the fact that this book keeps you on your toes (or in my case, surprises you with a new death because I will never read mysteries like some people where they try to solve the mystery at the same time - I'm just along for the ride, baby). I dislike the fact that it took Christie about 100 pages before I was truly starting to get worried someone might die soon. All the interlude before the murder is long, and while I would avoid the word tedious, I did struggle with keeping my reading pace up. The only reason I finished this book now is that I dreaded reading Jane Eyre even more (thank you, Charlotte Brontë!).

The murder mystery is good. I will never be someone that actively tries to solve the murder during the reading, and as such the reveal was a big surprise to me. It's a good one, and I think upon rereading this novel one I will enjoy unraveling. I liked the twists at the end - I had to work to school my features during my transit when I was reading the last 40 pages, because it kept surprising me. I have no doubt these twists would be less out there for people paying more attention to the book, but it was a fun ride.

My main gripe with this book is that it has so many characters, and I had a hard time distinguishing between them, especially the women in the story. The older women all seemed tiresome (but at least I could keep them apart!) and the younger women, apart from the main characters, were all wet rags. Seriously, if you were to ask me what the difference between Rosalie Otterbourne and the other girl

that marries

would be, it's that I can't even remember what the other young lady is called. Because I struggled so much with the side characters, it was hard for me to care about their problems. 

All in all, it definitely was a good read. It was let down by the fact that I read it in bursts (definitely don't recommend doing this, it's way better if you keep with it) and by the sheer number of characters I had to keep in mind. If you're looking for a murder mystery, it's definitely a fun one.

it is so disappointing to be reading this book and come across racist comments. it ruins any enjoyment i was feeling. 

aside from that, this was a less enjoyable Christie because I was able to guess the plot in the first 30ish pages. however, i really enjoyed the last 20 pages where we get the interactions between Poirot and Jacqueline after the murderer is revealed.