I just finished reading The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side by Agatha Christie. That's pretty much one of the few books I've read in a week all year. And that's how quickly I'm supposed to be reading them for my degree... well that's awkward.
I'd never heard of it before, and I'm not sure how well-known it is - have you ever read it? What did you think? I quite enjoyed it, although perhaps not as much as other Agatha Christie books I've read. I thought that what really happened was very clever, but then, I always do think that about her novels!
I haven't read many Agatha Christie books - I think I've only read three - The Moving Finger, The Body in the Library, and The 4:50 From Paddington are the only ones I remember reading, anyway. I really admire the way she devises her plot, and I cam safely say that I've never guessed who dunnit. The closest I came was when I read The 4:50 From Paddington, and I vaguely wondered whether the Doctor had committed the murder, and he had, but for different motives than I had supposed, and he was in cahoots with another character. Sorry if I spoiled that for you! Forget I said anything....
But The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side didn't feel quite as good as the other ones - at least, not until the last quarter of the book, when things started to unravel a bit, and more people died. There was a lot of questioning and theorising that felt quite repetitive, and I felt that foreshadowing could have been used to much greater effect than it was.
I'm a big fan of foreshadowing. You could easily argue that it is because of my love for Harry Potter, in which foreshadowing is used flawlessly. JK Rowling, Queen of Foreshadowing! I mean, things like the golden snitch, and the way Harry caught it in his first Quidditch game being directly relevant in the final book. And the Invisibility Cloak being a Deathly Hallow. And the mention of Sirius Black in PS. It's genius. Oh, look, I've done it again: brought Harry Potter into something completely unrelated!
Back to the novel at hand, I just feel like a large part of it felt... uneventful? I'm not sure when this was written, but Miss Marple was very old in this book, and maybe it was just a reflection of how her life is becoming restricted and confined inside. Maybe Christie was trying to slow things down to deliberately contrast with the pretty fast-moving final part. But I didn't find it as gripping until the end.
The end, however, was very impressive. But, in case you haven't read it and are planning to, here is a
***SPOILER ALERT***
The increasing number of deaths made it highly intriguing, as it killed off one of my own suspects, and increased the mystery as to who was to blame. The most (deliberately) frustrating part was when Miss Marple realised what had happened, and we didn't hear what she thought for another chapter, keeping us very successfully in suspense for longer.
In addition, the death of Marina Gregg was a shock, as I didn't think she'd actually die, but of course, the main surprise was that Marina has killed Heather Badcock and the other people! At least, she and her husband had conspired on the other people, but Marina had been entirely to blame for the first one. I had not seen that coming in the slightest, especially as she made it look like she, herself was the target.
***Spoilers over***
If you haven't read this book, and don't plan to, then I'm sure this post has been pretty confusing! Here's a link to its Wikipedia page and plot summary.
Overall, I did enjoy it, but I won't call it one of my favourite Agatha Christie novels. I think my favourite was The Body in the Library, because it was such a complex plot, and I think my mind was pretty much blown when the truth came out.
The book I'm reading now is called The Daydreamer by Ian McEwan. I started it today, and I'm already on page 61, so expect a post about that soon!
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