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Loading... Postern of Fate (original 1973; edition 2000)by Agatha Christie
Work InformationPostern of Fate by Agatha Christie (1973)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Read this decades ago and hated it, but decided to read it again to see if it could really be that bad. It is! At least this time I knew I could skim over the 85% of the text that is filler, and that helped make reading it a little bit bearable -- as long as you don't give it too much thought, because the plot holes are as big as the sky. ( ) This is either pure genius or total insanity. And I honestly don't know which one I'm leaning towards. I've loved all four of the Tommy and Tuppence novels. They've been well written, hilarious, strong mysteries and I've adored every minute. This one had moments of that but it was also fairly scattered. Did Christie plan that? It was apparently the last book she wrote. She would've been 82 years at the time and she was experiencing dementia. Tommy and Tuppence are also of advanced age and experiencing dementia. Did Christie get confused while writing? Or did she plan for the writing to emulate the behaviour of herself and her characters? It made it hard to follow but it also accurately captured the forgetfulness that plagues the elderly. I'm sad that there weren't more Tommy and Tuppence because they were terrific - smart, brave, funny and with a knack for solving crimes. They were supportive of one another and were still as in love by the end as they were from the very start. This might not have been the best Agatha Christie novel but it wasn't a terrible read - just not quite up to the high standards she'd set for the majority of her career. 3 stars. As with most other reviews, I found this one sadly disappointing. The characters spend much of their time rambling on in a kind of stream of consciousness musing. Although Tommy and Tuppence always did have a bit of banter in their conversations, and you could imagine that developing into rambling in their old age, unfortunately the more obvious explanation is Christie dictating the story and frequently losing her train of thought. There are some good ideas, which sadly don't really go anywhere. I like the way that Tommy and Tuppence have aged from young 20-something young adventurers in their first book to 70-somethings in this one. But unfortunately, this one is not a good swansong. It would have been nice to have had a few more stories written when they (and Christie) were younger. The overall idea is an intriguing one - a murder and a conspiracy that took place decades earlier, casting a shadow over the present. But unfortunately it doesn't really deliver. Much of the investigation just seems to be padding that doesn't yield any information. The plot mostly limps forward on occasional expositions from senior government figures. It was interesting to see Christie return to the idea of some 'Baker Street irregulars' in the form of a bunch of villages youths, who Albert doesn't trust - ironically he was one of the urchins in the first Tommy & Tuppence novel - but even they are only in for one chapter and don't actually contribute anything. no reviews | add a review
Distinctions
"Tommy and Tuppence Beresford have just become the proud owners of an old house in an English village. Along with the property, they have inherited some worthless bric-a-brac, including a collection of antique books. While rustling through a copy of The Black Arrow, Tuppence comes upon a series of apparently random underlinings. However, when she writes down the letters, they spell out a very disturbing message: "Mary Jordan did not die naturally." And sixty years after their first murder, Mary Jordan's enemies are still ready to kill..."--P. [4] of cover. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.912Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1901-1945LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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