Novel Review #2 - Sad Cypress · 1:27am Jul 9th, 2017
First off, starting tomorrow at 10am US Eastern, I will be gone until midday day Saturday. I will have no way to access this site, so you will not be able to reach me for any reason. If you're wondering why this is, I'm going camping.
And now, while I say these are reviews, they are more of a brief commentary with a recommendation at the end.
Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie
A description of the novel: Sad Cypress is, for the most part, a third-person murder mystery novel, where Hercule Poirot, the detective of the hour, must solve said murder mystery.
A summary of the novel: During the trial of a lady accused of murder, she thinks back to how everything began. It then provides the backstory. Once we catch up to her being arrested, one of her friends contacts Hercule Poirot to prove her innocence. Poirot then runs through everything that has happened, trying to figure out who did what, who is lying, and if the lady is guilty. Eventually, of course, he figures it out.
Warning about spoilers. Not the car kind.
So, I started this one right after reading The A.B.C. Murders, and as such was not sure what to expect. On one hand, I really wanted to keep an open mind and enjoy it, on the other my previous experience was such that I was afraid of disappointment. But I powered through my fear, and read it anyway. And it was... well, different.
The first half was all backstory. Needed backstory, but still backstory. This was incredibly hard to read through, as at the time it seemed unrelated to anything. Only later did I find out what this backstory gave us was necessary hidden facts and character development. But still, very boring to read through.
The second half is much more interesting, for it is where we see Poirot solve the murder. He does this by questioning people. Which kind of bothers me, because there are fewer facts and more reading between the lines, reading what has not been said, and a little bit of psycologic procedures; none of which I'm good at when reading casually. So, yeah, that was rather annoying.
The ending, which was what bothered me about The A.B.C. Murders, also bothered me here, but not for the same reason. In Sad Cypress, the ending was hard to follow and, like the beginning, boring. This is because it is the court case, and it must describe the entire court case. So, bleh.
Recommendation: Worth Reading. (Despite its boring parts, this is a pretty solid novel).
