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A review by silberfederling
A Murder Is Announced: A Miss Marple Mystery by Agatha Christie
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book was a hard read.
Generally, I really enjoy the Miss Marple crime novels. But this one is one of those who aged rather badly. Don't get me wrong, the good parts are extremly well written. Agatha Christie has quite a hand for building up her characters so they all feel like real people. It's the details that matter, that form a personality and make a difference.
But the pacing of this novel is ... bad. It's paced extremly slow. The contents itself were quite progressive for their time, but compared to other Miss Marple crime novels still a harder than usual read.
I really wish I could have enjoyed this book, but I really did not. Might been a more enjoyable read if it has been a casual reed in my native language. But if I am honest, it was definitly not the language that was the problem while reading.
Honestly, if the first half of the book would be compressed into a maximum of two or three chapters it might have been actually enjoyable. The second half of the book was a lot more plot dense and interesting, the characters got "more grip" as well.
Might be interesting to take a look at this story if someone is generally interested in what Agatha Christie wrote about. But I personally consider this one of her weakest stories and would not recommend the read to a newcomer to her books.
Generally, I really enjoy the Miss Marple crime novels. But this one is one of those who aged rather badly. Don't get me wrong, the good parts are extremly well written. Agatha Christie has quite a hand for building up her characters so they all feel like real people. It's the details that matter, that form a personality and make a difference.
But the pacing of this novel is ... bad. It's paced extremly slow. The contents itself were quite progressive for their time, but compared to other Miss Marple crime novels still a harder than usual read.
I really wish I could have enjoyed this book, but I really did not. Might been a more enjoyable read if it has been a casual reed in my native language. But if I am honest, it was definitly not the language that was the problem while reading.
Honestly, if the first half of the book would be compressed into a maximum of two or three chapters it might have been actually enjoyable. The second half of the book was a lot more plot dense and interesting, the characters got "more grip" as well.
Might be interesting to take a look at this story if someone is generally interested in what Agatha Christie wrote about. But I personally consider this one of her weakest stories and would not recommend the read to a newcomer to her books.