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A review by mediaevalmuse
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
4.0
I can’t believe that in all my years of living I’ve never picked up a Hercule Poirot novel. After reading Murder on the Orient Express, that seems like a crime in itself. I was prompted to finally fix that calamity when I saw the trailer for the new film, and I’m so glad I did because I devoured this book in 2 days. Not only was it fun to read, but I was genuinely intrigued by the series of inconsistencies and unexplainable sights that Poirot had to navigate. If you’re at all a mystery fan or are interested in the upcoming film, I’d highly recommend this novel.
Things I Liked
1. Characterization: I very much enjoyed seeing every character’s personality, and since there were quite a few of them, it was even more fun to read of so many different ones. There’s a hysterical woman, a kind one who isn’t so bright, stuffy Englishmen, and more. It was also interesting to see Poirot interact with each of them differently, especially when he explained why he did so during questioning.
2. Ending: This mystery doesn’t quite wrap up so cleanly as people might want, and I loved that aspect. At first, I thought everything was going to be fantastically improbable, and in some ways, it was - but the more the mystery unraveled, the more enraptured I became. I think a clean ending would have been dissatisfying, actually.
3. Confined Setting: I think many mysteries with such a confined setting are frustrating for a lot of readers since things tend to get repetitive, but Christie manages to make it work by making the setting integral to the wackiness of the plot. Because of the nature of the mystery, the confined space is important, but also, each individual compartment and what the people in it can and cannot witness is important as well.
Things I Didn’t Like
Treatment of Nationality: This novel is very much reflective of the time in which it was written because there were comments here and there about nationalities that were quite generalizing. I wouldn’t call it racist (since race didn’t exactly come up), but it was discomforting to see characters dismiss an entire population of people from time to time.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in murder-mystery, famous detectives, confined settings, trains, and travel.
Things I Liked
1. Characterization: I very much enjoyed seeing every character’s personality, and since there were quite a few of them, it was even more fun to read of so many different ones. There’s a hysterical woman, a kind one who isn’t so bright, stuffy Englishmen, and more. It was also interesting to see Poirot interact with each of them differently, especially when he explained why he did so during questioning.
2. Ending: This mystery doesn’t quite wrap up so cleanly as people might want, and I loved that aspect. At first, I thought everything was going to be fantastically improbable, and in some ways, it was - but the more the mystery unraveled, the more enraptured I became. I think a clean ending would have been dissatisfying, actually.
3. Confined Setting: I think many mysteries with such a confined setting are frustrating for a lot of readers since things tend to get repetitive, but Christie manages to make it work by making the setting integral to the wackiness of the plot. Because of the nature of the mystery, the confined space is important, but also, each individual compartment and what the people in it can and cannot witness is important as well.
Things I Didn’t Like
Treatment of Nationality: This novel is very much reflective of the time in which it was written because there were comments here and there about nationalities that were quite generalizing. I wouldn’t call it racist (since race didn’t exactly come up), but it was discomforting to see characters dismiss an entire population of people from time to time.
Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in murder-mystery, famous detectives, confined settings, trains, and travel.