Reviews and Comments

skribe

skribe@bookwyrm.social

Joined 7 months ago

Aussie in Singas.

Writer. Code dabbler. Former TV/film/commercial video producer/director/actor.

Married. Two bratty sons.

One of my novels (read it for free): www.royalroad.com/fiction/56204/coils-of-the-serpent

Mastodon: aus.social/@skribe Friendica: friendica.world/profile/skribe Pixelfed: pixelfed.social/@skribe Piefed: piefed.au/u/skribe Blog: skribeworks.com/

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J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback, 2001, Back Bay Books)

Holden Caulfield, knowing he is to be expelled from school, decides to leave early. He …

While I enjoyed moments, I only got half-way through this. I wanted to finish it, but I kept finding excuses to not read it. Maybe, if I had fewer library books piled on my bedside table, I might have continued a little longer with this one.

The very-respectable Colonel and Mrs Bantry have awakened to discover the body of a young …

Review: Body in Library

Despite reading a fair bit of Christie, this is my first Miss Marple. I can't say I'm impressed. The plot feels overly contrived, especially the lengths Christie goes to in order to manufacture the titular aspect (i.e. the body in the library). The fact that she needs to add a foreword explaining it says that there are problems with the concept.

For me, the biggest problem is that Miss Marple is barely in it. I'm not sure if this is typical or not for Miss Marple mysteries, but I found it annoying, especially in comparison to the Hercule Poirot stories. Poirot is central to the plot, leading the reader through the various discoveries and twists, and then POW, at the end, the grand reveal. In this, Miss Marple sits on the sidelines sipping tea with a smug look on her face because she solved the mystery half-way through the book, …