The story is narrated, written, by Amy Leatheran, four years after the conclusion, to clear what happened and put a stop to all the gossip. It's not the first time that Agatha chooses a stranger to tell her story, but this time there's a difference.
The characters are: Mrs Leidner, the beautiful woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, our first victim; Prof Leidner, the famous archeologist; Mr Mercado and his over protective wife; ugly Mr Reiter, beautiful Mr Carey, cool Mr Emmott and young Mr Coleman; Miss Johnson, as it always happens in love with the man she works for, or with, as it's usual in Christie's books, who is also our second victim; father Lavigny and of course captain Maitland, nurse Leatheran, doctor Reilly and his daughter Sheila. These are all the characters we see, and as it's usual in her books, one of them must be the murderer, but we know at least three of those names are to be excluded. Poirot considers everyone, of course, but we know that years later Dr Reilly asked nurse Leatheran to write this story, and was not at all bothered by her description of the character of his daughter: this tells us that those three people didn't kill anyone. It doesn't matter that they are also the most 'outsider' characters, since they were not part of the expedition, we know in these books that means nothing, since is has been known to happen that the murderer was a policeman or the narrator or someone barely connected.
So, innocent Amy Leatheran joins this archeological expedition to assist the professor's wife, victim of her 'fantasies': she's afraid someone might kill her, and sure enough a few days later she's found in her room with her head smashed with something heavy. What a coincidence, Poirot is in Siria, about to go to Baghdad, so they call him for help (at the end of her tale the nurse says Poirot went to Siria and the next week he was going back home on the Orient-Express when he was involved in another mystery :-p).
Poirot moes as his usual by talking to people. Some letters, threats Mrs Leidner had received, confuse things a bit. Maybe her first husband is not dead, and has come there to kill her? Maybe he's always been there with a new identity? Or maybe it's his younger brother? Or maybe those letters were all fake, just a bad joke or a call for attention? I didn't have a clue because honestly those letters bored me a lot; my guess on the "who" was good, but I had absolutely no idea on the how because despite all the descriptions I could not visualize the place and had no idea that that was possible. To be clear and say names, I could not imagine one of the women or the young men as the murderer, because that ending would have lacked something, so I felt it had to be her loving husband, so desperately in love that could not bear her crush for Mr Carey, but could not live without her now that she was dead. I simply waited for Poirot to explain the why and the how to me. I had thought of the jealousy caused by the gossip on her and Mr Carey, but had not thought of him being also her first husband. She married the same man for the second time without knowing it... it's true that it is said she only lived with him for a few months twenty years ago, and also that she was very self-centered, and selfish, but it still seems hard to accept. Anyway, that's how it is, the first husband that used to threaten her with letters whenever she got close to another man met her again , and again got her to marry him, although she didn't feel any passion for him, since she then found that feeling with Mr Carey. So how come he convinced her to marry him not once, but twice? This part of the story I didn't like.
The rest was ok, but I would have gladly done without this last bit: it's a twist, yes, because the one man that loved her so much was also the man that had threaten her for years, but there was no need for it. It would have been enough to say that Leidner loved her with the same passion as her first husband, and like him could not bear to think of her with another man, and got crazy jealous when she fell for Carey. This would have been enough and, to me, a much better solution altogether.
Ita: Non c'è più scampo
venerdì 31 luglio 2015
The cat who played post office by Lilian Jackson Brown
This is the first book of these cats that I read. Jim Qwilleran is not a policeman or a detective: he writes a column in the paper, but still finds a way to be involved in mysteries that his intelligent, extraordinary cat helps him solve, or so he believes.
In this book he has quit his job because of an inheritance. Miss Klingenschoen has left him everything, which is A LOT, at the condition that he should move there and live there for a few years at least, and so he does, bringing with him his beloved siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. Soon he starts poking around into something that happened some time ago, concerning a girl that had worked in that house. Daisy Mull, one of the lowest class apparently, but also a girl with artistic talent, and gone away nobody knows where, and Jim starts thinking about her, that maybe she never went away, maybe she was killed. It all starts with Koko as always, "playing four notes on the piano", the notes of the tune 'Daisy'. Jim is sure about his cat's powers, and starts asking questions. First Daisy's mother dies the day he was about to go to her to talk, then Daisy's best friend Tiffany is killed after talking to Jim, and this time he's sure there is something behind it. The cats love the time when posts come in, they play with it happily, then Koko always chooses one or two letters for him, hence the title.
It must be said that Qwill doesn't unravel the mystery by himself, because at the end, after a woman (his new lawyer) apparently commits suicide, he receives a letter from her where she explains everything, which is: that she was very jealous of her brother because she loved him too much and wanted to be the two of them together forever, but he had a flirt with Daisy and she got pregnant and wanted to marry him. She could not bear either to lose her brother or the scandal if Daisy had decided to go public with the story, so she paid a man to 'persuade' her to abort and go away, but instead he killed her. She kept protecting her brother and their name, because at least she was happy that they were again alone and together, and to protect their secret and this state of things she let that same man kill those other two women. Now everything is falling apart for her because her brother (who is a good-for-nothing lawyer and always relied on her) has found a woman, a lawyer, to marry, that will take her place in his life. She can't accept that, so she confesses everything, also sending copy of her confession to the police and the media, making it clear that now she fears for her life too. Qwill therefore thinks she was killed making it look like suicide, but again Koko plays a part, because his disapproving verses make him understand that it was the other way around: she killed herself making it look like she was killed. As Qwill says, Koko communicates very well, the problem is that Jim himself is not intelligent enough to understand him sooner :-)
I like the cats part of the book, I love cats :-) I like the descriptions of what they do, I like the importance they have in the book, and I loved the beginning, when Jim was slowly geetting his memory back after a bad accident (which was really an attempt on his life) and has an unsettling feeling of someone he's neglecting, until he remembers the cats and starts yelling "the cats! where are the cats? I didn't feed the cats!" :lol: he was so worried about them, but of course they were very well taken care of by Mrs Cobb. Koko and Yum Yum are two very lucky cats :-)
Jim's stories about Koko's powers are questionable, to say the least, and we can't really believe that the cat knows everything, but it doesn't matter, I liked to 'watch' Jim trying to understand what Koko was revealing... but again, I love animals and I love cats, so I like every scene with them, more or less reasonable they might be...
Ita: il gatto che giocava all'ufficio postale
In this book he has quit his job because of an inheritance. Miss Klingenschoen has left him everything, which is A LOT, at the condition that he should move there and live there for a few years at least, and so he does, bringing with him his beloved siamese cats Koko and Yum Yum. Soon he starts poking around into something that happened some time ago, concerning a girl that had worked in that house. Daisy Mull, one of the lowest class apparently, but also a girl with artistic talent, and gone away nobody knows where, and Jim starts thinking about her, that maybe she never went away, maybe she was killed. It all starts with Koko as always, "playing four notes on the piano", the notes of the tune 'Daisy'. Jim is sure about his cat's powers, and starts asking questions. First Daisy's mother dies the day he was about to go to her to talk, then Daisy's best friend Tiffany is killed after talking to Jim, and this time he's sure there is something behind it. The cats love the time when posts come in, they play with it happily, then Koko always chooses one or two letters for him, hence the title.
It must be said that Qwill doesn't unravel the mystery by himself, because at the end, after a woman (his new lawyer) apparently commits suicide, he receives a letter from her where she explains everything, which is: that she was very jealous of her brother because she loved him too much and wanted to be the two of them together forever, but he had a flirt with Daisy and she got pregnant and wanted to marry him. She could not bear either to lose her brother or the scandal if Daisy had decided to go public with the story, so she paid a man to 'persuade' her to abort and go away, but instead he killed her. She kept protecting her brother and their name, because at least she was happy that they were again alone and together, and to protect their secret and this state of things she let that same man kill those other two women. Now everything is falling apart for her because her brother (who is a good-for-nothing lawyer and always relied on her) has found a woman, a lawyer, to marry, that will take her place in his life. She can't accept that, so she confesses everything, also sending copy of her confession to the police and the media, making it clear that now she fears for her life too. Qwill therefore thinks she was killed making it look like suicide, but again Koko plays a part, because his disapproving verses make him understand that it was the other way around: she killed herself making it look like she was killed. As Qwill says, Koko communicates very well, the problem is that Jim himself is not intelligent enough to understand him sooner :-)
I like the cats part of the book, I love cats :-) I like the descriptions of what they do, I like the importance they have in the book, and I loved the beginning, when Jim was slowly geetting his memory back after a bad accident (which was really an attempt on his life) and has an unsettling feeling of someone he's neglecting, until he remembers the cats and starts yelling "the cats! where are the cats? I didn't feed the cats!" :lol: he was so worried about them, but of course they were very well taken care of by Mrs Cobb. Koko and Yum Yum are two very lucky cats :-)
Jim's stories about Koko's powers are questionable, to say the least, and we can't really believe that the cat knows everything, but it doesn't matter, I liked to 'watch' Jim trying to understand what Koko was revealing... but again, I love animals and I love cats, so I like every scene with them, more or less reasonable they might be...
Ita: il gatto che giocava all'ufficio postale
The american - 2010
It's not a bad movie because George Clooney is a great actor, and he can carry the weight of a whole movie on his shoulders, as he does here, where the camera almost never leaves his face. Still, there's so much nudity it demeans it. It's like someone didn't really believe in the story and its potential and thought it had to be filled with cheap tricks to attract audience. I was very annoyed by it because I'm still of the same opinion that a good film, it it is really good, has no use whatsoever with nudity, it serves no real purpose, it is never necessary, it's merely a cheap way to get attention.
Here, we start from the beginning with a woman laying naked on the bed, with a shot of her naked butt, then we go to Violante Placido who wouldn't be a bad actress but here she's naked half the time, maybe more. Totally naked. How pathetic is that huh?
The story is all around Jack (George Clooney) a killer who is tired of his life: in Sweden he has to kill two men that were there to kill him, who knows why, then he killed his woman because now she knew. He comes to Italy and makes contact with Pavel, the man he works for. Amazing how Jack can easily find payphones and they always work, astonishing. Pavel tells him to go to Castelvecchio, but maybe it was too small for him, or maybe he preferred a place nobody knew about, so instead he goes to Castel Del Monte, in Abruzzo. A killer should never have family or friends, and yet he seeks them. He often chats with the local priest and becomes sweet on a prostitute. Btw how did he find her so quickly? I guess those houses can be found anywhere, but they don't have a big sign outside, they're not legal, so how did he find it? Did he 'ask around'? What about keeping a low profile? I mean, he's 'the American', it's not like he can do anything without people, everyone knowing about it.
Anyway, he likes her and gives her a lot of money, and she becomes sweet on him too and start seeing him privately, as a date, not as work. In the meantime he has another job, to build a customize weapon, then he tells Pavel that he wants out. He knows what's coming, he just hopes to be able to kill them and run away with Clara, but Pavel himself is out to kill him. Jack kills him, but he's been hit. Badly.
I understand him wanting to quit, he was losing it: a book falls down: he jumps on his bed; Clara has a gun for her own protection: he fears she's there to kill him; in every face he expects an enemy, what kind of life is that? Now there is beautiful, young Clara telling him he's not a client, asking him to take her away with him, begging him to stay with her forever.. and he wants just that. He sabotages his own creation so when that woman who bought it tries to use it to kill him she gets killed instead, but it's not over. Jack, or Edward as Clara knows him, is wounded, but still drives to where Clara is waiting for him, so he can see her, she's there for him, waiting for him, his dream is at hand, so near... and yet it'll never be fulfilled because as he stops the car he dies; she cries out his name and the movie ends. Well, of course, although he was the protagonist and wanted to change life, he did not deserve it, so this was the right ending. He had killed lots of good people, he did not deserve a happy ending.
I think if they had really believed in this movie, it could have been something really good, indeed, because Clooney is really great, he's a really really good actor. How sad that even actors and actresses are still labeled based on their appearances, and often their true talent is kept in the background, and saying how good they are seems to many a simple excuse to watch their beauty pretending to admire their work. It's sad, our society cares only about appearance, it's so depressing and stupid, and people are so used to lies and hypocrisy and duplicity that they expect it everywhere, always.
Anyway, this movie is all based on Clooney, and I think he does a superb job indeed.
I liked the 'processione', religious procession , at the end among the town's streets, with the Madonna and the priest. They should show our kind of processions, with the prayers on the loudspeakers and all the Christs carried along the streets, sometimes dancing if they're good enough carriers (it's not a real dance of course), and behind lots of people following :-)
Here, we start from the beginning with a woman laying naked on the bed, with a shot of her naked butt, then we go to Violante Placido who wouldn't be a bad actress but here she's naked half the time, maybe more. Totally naked. How pathetic is that huh?
The story is all around Jack (George Clooney) a killer who is tired of his life: in Sweden he has to kill two men that were there to kill him, who knows why, then he killed his woman because now she knew. He comes to Italy and makes contact with Pavel, the man he works for. Amazing how Jack can easily find payphones and they always work, astonishing. Pavel tells him to go to Castelvecchio, but maybe it was too small for him, or maybe he preferred a place nobody knew about, so instead he goes to Castel Del Monte, in Abruzzo. A killer should never have family or friends, and yet he seeks them. He often chats with the local priest and becomes sweet on a prostitute. Btw how did he find her so quickly? I guess those houses can be found anywhere, but they don't have a big sign outside, they're not legal, so how did he find it? Did he 'ask around'? What about keeping a low profile? I mean, he's 'the American', it's not like he can do anything without people, everyone knowing about it.
Anyway, he likes her and gives her a lot of money, and she becomes sweet on him too and start seeing him privately, as a date, not as work. In the meantime he has another job, to build a customize weapon, then he tells Pavel that he wants out. He knows what's coming, he just hopes to be able to kill them and run away with Clara, but Pavel himself is out to kill him. Jack kills him, but he's been hit. Badly.
I understand him wanting to quit, he was losing it: a book falls down: he jumps on his bed; Clara has a gun for her own protection: he fears she's there to kill him; in every face he expects an enemy, what kind of life is that? Now there is beautiful, young Clara telling him he's not a client, asking him to take her away with him, begging him to stay with her forever.. and he wants just that. He sabotages his own creation so when that woman who bought it tries to use it to kill him she gets killed instead, but it's not over. Jack, or Edward as Clara knows him, is wounded, but still drives to where Clara is waiting for him, so he can see her, she's there for him, waiting for him, his dream is at hand, so near... and yet it'll never be fulfilled because as he stops the car he dies; she cries out his name and the movie ends. Well, of course, although he was the protagonist and wanted to change life, he did not deserve it, so this was the right ending. He had killed lots of good people, he did not deserve a happy ending.
I think if they had really believed in this movie, it could have been something really good, indeed, because Clooney is really great, he's a really really good actor. How sad that even actors and actresses are still labeled based on their appearances, and often their true talent is kept in the background, and saying how good they are seems to many a simple excuse to watch their beauty pretending to admire their work. It's sad, our society cares only about appearance, it's so depressing and stupid, and people are so used to lies and hypocrisy and duplicity that they expect it everywhere, always.
Anyway, this movie is all based on Clooney, and I think he does a superb job indeed.
I liked the 'processione', religious procession , at the end among the town's streets, with the Madonna and the priest. They should show our kind of processions, with the prayers on the loudspeakers and all the Christs carried along the streets, sometimes dancing if they're good enough carriers (it's not a real dance of course), and behind lots of people following :-)
Cowboys & aliens - 2011
Well, it's one of those things that I actually enjoyed this first time, but see no need to watch it again. It's a good enough film, considering that the title was not reassuring, so I expected much worse. In a few words, this is like a classic western movie, only the enemy is what you usually find in sci-fi movies, not in westerns: Aliens, bad bad aliens.
Jake (Daniel Craig) is a robber, and when he brought home a sack full of gold coins he attracted some unwanted attentions. A 'ship' of aliens is here to steal all the gold they can find, and they abduct humans to study them, to find their weaknesses. Jake watches them killing his woman, but when it's his turn, he's able to free himself and somehow he manages to escape.
He wakes up with total amnesia, and with a metal thing on his wrist that he can't take off.
Meanwhile in town there's a typical western situation going on: the arrogant kid of the local rich man goes too far and is arrested, and his dad the colonel comes to demand his release.
When the village is attacked by the aliens, and many people are taken, Jake discovers that his 'bracelet' is a powerful weapon. To get back the people abducted, Jake goes with the old Colonel (Harrison Ford), doc (Sam Rockwell) and the sheriff's young grandson, because the sheriff (Keith Carradine), the kid and doc's white have been taken with many others. Someone else joins the expedition: Ella (Olivia Wilde), a woman that seems to know a lot about Jake. When she's taken too, Jake does his best to save her, and just when he thought he had succeeded she is severely wounded and dies.
They're captured by indians, and they burn Ella's body. A few moments and a big light breaks out from the fire, and a naked Ella, safe and sound, comes forward. She explains that she's 'not from here', that she took this form to talk to people but had no idea of what this body could take. She explains them all about those gold-hunting-aliens, saying she came here to stop them. Finally, remembering how he escaped, Jake takes them all to the ship, and with the help of his old band of criminals as well as the indians, all together they attack it. Jake and Ella free the prisoners, then she stays there to sacrifice her life in order to destroy them, and avoid them coming back with help.
At the end he goes away , alone.
I'm grateful that Percy was among the abducted because I really couldn't stand him; glad that doc's wife made it, now he'll finally appreciate what he has; the aliens looked like ugly monsters, which is the rightful look for the evil enemy; I liked a lot when Jake carried Ella's body all the way, never stopping to check if she was alive, not accepting the idea that she could not be, even when they all told him it was too late.
For sure it is absurd and stupid that a race so much more advanced should be defeated by cowboys, that they would fight with no weapons whatsoever, when we clearly know they have weapons, like the one Jake stole from them, so they had Ella explain to us that the aliens will be unprepared because they think of humans as insects, merely a nuisance, and will not expect a fight. Still, after hearing Jake use his weapon to kill them, none of aliens got one.. did Jake take the only weapon on the whole ship? Ridiculous. Anyway, aside from lack of anything reasonable, which was not a disappointment because I wasn't expecting any after seeing the title, it was a nice movie to watch, good action and some classic western scenes.
Glad I watched it.
Once.
I think that's enough.
Jake (Daniel Craig) is a robber, and when he brought home a sack full of gold coins he attracted some unwanted attentions. A 'ship' of aliens is here to steal all the gold they can find, and they abduct humans to study them, to find their weaknesses. Jake watches them killing his woman, but when it's his turn, he's able to free himself and somehow he manages to escape.
He wakes up with total amnesia, and with a metal thing on his wrist that he can't take off.
Meanwhile in town there's a typical western situation going on: the arrogant kid of the local rich man goes too far and is arrested, and his dad the colonel comes to demand his release.
When the village is attacked by the aliens, and many people are taken, Jake discovers that his 'bracelet' is a powerful weapon. To get back the people abducted, Jake goes with the old Colonel (Harrison Ford), doc (Sam Rockwell) and the sheriff's young grandson, because the sheriff (Keith Carradine), the kid and doc's white have been taken with many others. Someone else joins the expedition: Ella (Olivia Wilde), a woman that seems to know a lot about Jake. When she's taken too, Jake does his best to save her, and just when he thought he had succeeded she is severely wounded and dies.
They're captured by indians, and they burn Ella's body. A few moments and a big light breaks out from the fire, and a naked Ella, safe and sound, comes forward. She explains that she's 'not from here', that she took this form to talk to people but had no idea of what this body could take. She explains them all about those gold-hunting-aliens, saying she came here to stop them. Finally, remembering how he escaped, Jake takes them all to the ship, and with the help of his old band of criminals as well as the indians, all together they attack it. Jake and Ella free the prisoners, then she stays there to sacrifice her life in order to destroy them, and avoid them coming back with help.
At the end he goes away , alone.
I'm grateful that Percy was among the abducted because I really couldn't stand him; glad that doc's wife made it, now he'll finally appreciate what he has; the aliens looked like ugly monsters, which is the rightful look for the evil enemy; I liked a lot when Jake carried Ella's body all the way, never stopping to check if she was alive, not accepting the idea that she could not be, even when they all told him it was too late.
For sure it is absurd and stupid that a race so much more advanced should be defeated by cowboys, that they would fight with no weapons whatsoever, when we clearly know they have weapons, like the one Jake stole from them, so they had Ella explain to us that the aliens will be unprepared because they think of humans as insects, merely a nuisance, and will not expect a fight. Still, after hearing Jake use his weapon to kill them, none of aliens got one.. did Jake take the only weapon on the whole ship? Ridiculous. Anyway, aside from lack of anything reasonable, which was not a disappointment because I wasn't expecting any after seeing the title, it was a nice movie to watch, good action and some classic western scenes.
Glad I watched it.
Once.
I think that's enough.
The forbidden kingdom - 2008
I like this film, it's funny :-) funny as all Jackie Chan's films are funny, plus this also has Jet Li in it, which makes everything better :-)
The story: young Jason is a kid bullied by young criminals who almost dies the night one of them shoots the old owner of his favourite kung-fu-dvds shop, but instead the staff the old man (Charlie Chan) gave him transports Jason (Michael Angarano) to another world where he starts a mission to take the weapon back to Monkey King (Jet Li) :-) who has been betrayed by the evil Jade Captain (or Jade Warlord - Collin Chou) and turned into stone, since he can't be killed.
Jason is helped in his mission by drunk Yan (Jackie Chan), by Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), a young orphan girl seeking vengeance against the captain that destroyed her life killing her family, and the silent monk (Jet Li), apparently a monk whose mission is to find the staff guardian and yes, free the Monkey King.
After having completed his mission Jason goes back to where he was, with that shooter-bully beating him, but this time he has learned to defend himself and beats him, right before being reassured by the ambulance guys that the old man will make it :-)
Only annoying things: that the stupid american kid thinks he knows so much about kung-fu because he has seen all Bruce Lee's movies and has played Virtual Fighter *rollingeyes* and the same stupidity when he finds himself among chinese people who obviously speak chinese and he starts speaking slooowly saying Ipausedon'tpauseunderstand... *sigh* what he didn't understand is that it was him not knowing the right language, not them, and again him when after only two days of training he's all tired and bored and complaining..
Funny things: Jason when they both teach him :lol: even Sparrow laughs :-)
the fight between Chan and Li before realizing they're on the same side :-D
Other things I like: the fact that there is the Monkey King with his staff made me think of all the Son Goku stories, and seeing him with his staff most of all reminded me of the manga Saijuki's Goku :-D
everyone's look, so cool; the place, the scenery, so beautiful; the drunken style :lol: Chan was great here :-D ; the girls, so pretty and so cool; those white hair and everything she did with it, again very cool; Jet Li's laugh scene, because I like to see him laugh; the fact that the old owner doesn't die :-) ; the fact that the Captain is killed with Sparrow's jade weapon before she dies. I was sorry for her, but it was foretold, it was not a surprise. The monk had warned her not to seek vengeance, but only justice.
The story: young Jason is a kid bullied by young criminals who almost dies the night one of them shoots the old owner of his favourite kung-fu-dvds shop, but instead the staff the old man (Charlie Chan) gave him transports Jason (Michael Angarano) to another world where he starts a mission to take the weapon back to Monkey King (Jet Li) :-) who has been betrayed by the evil Jade Captain (or Jade Warlord - Collin Chou) and turned into stone, since he can't be killed.
Jason is helped in his mission by drunk Yan (Jackie Chan), by Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu), a young orphan girl seeking vengeance against the captain that destroyed her life killing her family, and the silent monk (Jet Li), apparently a monk whose mission is to find the staff guardian and yes, free the Monkey King.
After having completed his mission Jason goes back to where he was, with that shooter-bully beating him, but this time he has learned to defend himself and beats him, right before being reassured by the ambulance guys that the old man will make it :-)
Only annoying things: that the stupid american kid thinks he knows so much about kung-fu because he has seen all Bruce Lee's movies and has played Virtual Fighter *rollingeyes* and the same stupidity when he finds himself among chinese people who obviously speak chinese and he starts speaking slooowly saying Ipausedon'tpauseunderstand... *sigh* what he didn't understand is that it was him not knowing the right language, not them, and again him when after only two days of training he's all tired and bored and complaining..
Funny things: Jason when they both teach him :lol: even Sparrow laughs :-)
the fight between Chan and Li before realizing they're on the same side :-D
Other things I like: the fact that there is the Monkey King with his staff made me think of all the Son Goku stories, and seeing him with his staff most of all reminded me of the manga Saijuki's Goku :-D
everyone's look, so cool; the place, the scenery, so beautiful; the drunken style :lol: Chan was great here :-D ; the girls, so pretty and so cool; those white hair and everything she did with it, again very cool; Jet Li's laugh scene, because I like to see him laugh; the fact that the old owner doesn't die :-) ; the fact that the Captain is killed with Sparrow's jade weapon before she dies. I was sorry for her, but it was foretold, it was not a surprise. The monk had warned her not to seek vengeance, but only justice.
martedì 28 luglio 2015
L'homme aux cercles bleus by Fred Vargas (The chalk circles man)
I read it in Italian, obviously. It introduces Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, a bizarre character who doesn't like trees or dogs, can't think when he knows he's thinking and is very slow in everything he does, but at the same time he's able to "feel" cruelty, and has done a brilliant career that has taken him to Paris. He appears to be so space-minded, he draws tree leaves on his knees, he never seems to be working the case, but in the end he always gets his man. :-)
He works with Inspector Adrien Danglard: he drinks too much white wine and he's in need of money. He lives with five children, two couples of twins that his wife left him when she went away with her lover, plus the youngest who is not even his son, because said wife had him with the other man but left him to Danglard so that the children would be together, but Danglard loves him anyway. Basically she's kinda like Benjamin Malaussene's mother, who knows, maybe in the other books the number will increase... anyway, Danglard doesn't tell stories to his children, but sometimes they discuss his cases together, and he likes it when they get upset because of his drinking because it makes him feel loved. awww.
Another character in the office is Florence, who always seems to have everything: whatever Adamsberg needs, Danglard can find it in Florence's desk's drawer.
Two weeks after he started to work here and already Adamsberg solves his first case. At the same time all the papers start writing about a curious thing: at night, someone draws circles with a blue chalk on the streets, and inside those circles are meaningless things like magazines, beer caps, garbage of any kind he can find. Adamsberg is the only one who pays serious attention to this. He sends Conti the photographer and Danglard out every morning to take pictures of any new blue circle found, saying they'll need all that when it'll get big and serious. Danglard is not convinced but somehow he likes Adamsberg and always does what he tells him.
One morning he finds a dead cat, and one day he finds the corpse of a woman with her throat cut.
Other characters in the story are: Mathilde Forestier, a famous oceanographer but also a very strange person who likes to follow people at random, and in doing so has also "met" the man of the blue circles. Next to her lives Charles Reyer, a beautiful blind man that she sought out for some reason, and offered him an apartment to rent, despise him being evil and angry at the whole world who can see; Clémence Valmont also lives there and kind of works for her: Clémence is an old sad woman, constantly looking at personal ads in search of a man and always coming back home in tears.
There's a second murder, a man, and then a third, a woman, Delphine, who is the wife of Augustin-Louis Le Nermord, a Bizantin historian who's written various books. Danglard and everyone suspects hi until after a few days he reveals to be the man of the blue circles and the suspicion drops.
Adamsberg investigates the dead man: the old doctor Gérard Pontieux turns out to be the same man that 50 years ago left Clémence, so now all the suspicions are on her, but when they go to get her she's disappeared. Days of search lead to nothing. One day Adamsberg leads his men to the country and uses dogs to look for a dead body, and he knows that's the real Clémence, been dead for a few months at least. The fake Clémence that worked for Mathilde was actually Le Nermord, it was all his evil plan to murder his wife and make it look like someone else did it. It was Delphine the real mind that wrote all the books, and now she wanted to divorce him and he couldn't risk her revealing everything, so he patiently planned this evil thing.
Adamsberg gets him. Good.
Mathilde turns out to be the mother of Camille, Adamsberg great love that went away nine years ago and he can't forget, even if he has another girlfriend and also sleeps with his downstairs neighbor, but in his heart there's always her, and when he hears that Mathilde is at the train station to say hello to someone, he runs like we've never seen him and he finally meets her. Camille tells him she loves him, yes, but she can't be with him, because it's too difficult to be with him, that his soul wanders too much, but so does hers, so he must let her go away. He goes with her on the train to be together for a while. Next stop is in two hours: he dresses again and goes out. Same old life again as usual...
Ita: L'uomo dei cerchi azzurri
He works with Inspector Adrien Danglard: he drinks too much white wine and he's in need of money. He lives with five children, two couples of twins that his wife left him when she went away with her lover, plus the youngest who is not even his son, because said wife had him with the other man but left him to Danglard so that the children would be together, but Danglard loves him anyway. Basically she's kinda like Benjamin Malaussene's mother, who knows, maybe in the other books the number will increase... anyway, Danglard doesn't tell stories to his children, but sometimes they discuss his cases together, and he likes it when they get upset because of his drinking because it makes him feel loved. awww.
Another character in the office is Florence, who always seems to have everything: whatever Adamsberg needs, Danglard can find it in Florence's desk's drawer.
Two weeks after he started to work here and already Adamsberg solves his first case. At the same time all the papers start writing about a curious thing: at night, someone draws circles with a blue chalk on the streets, and inside those circles are meaningless things like magazines, beer caps, garbage of any kind he can find. Adamsberg is the only one who pays serious attention to this. He sends Conti the photographer and Danglard out every morning to take pictures of any new blue circle found, saying they'll need all that when it'll get big and serious. Danglard is not convinced but somehow he likes Adamsberg and always does what he tells him.
One morning he finds a dead cat, and one day he finds the corpse of a woman with her throat cut.
Other characters in the story are: Mathilde Forestier, a famous oceanographer but also a very strange person who likes to follow people at random, and in doing so has also "met" the man of the blue circles. Next to her lives Charles Reyer, a beautiful blind man that she sought out for some reason, and offered him an apartment to rent, despise him being evil and angry at the whole world who can see; Clémence Valmont also lives there and kind of works for her: Clémence is an old sad woman, constantly looking at personal ads in search of a man and always coming back home in tears.
There's a second murder, a man, and then a third, a woman, Delphine, who is the wife of Augustin-Louis Le Nermord, a Bizantin historian who's written various books. Danglard and everyone suspects hi until after a few days he reveals to be the man of the blue circles and the suspicion drops.
Adamsberg investigates the dead man: the old doctor Gérard Pontieux turns out to be the same man that 50 years ago left Clémence, so now all the suspicions are on her, but when they go to get her she's disappeared. Days of search lead to nothing. One day Adamsberg leads his men to the country and uses dogs to look for a dead body, and he knows that's the real Clémence, been dead for a few months at least. The fake Clémence that worked for Mathilde was actually Le Nermord, it was all his evil plan to murder his wife and make it look like someone else did it. It was Delphine the real mind that wrote all the books, and now she wanted to divorce him and he couldn't risk her revealing everything, so he patiently planned this evil thing.
Adamsberg gets him. Good.
Mathilde turns out to be the mother of Camille, Adamsberg great love that went away nine years ago and he can't forget, even if he has another girlfriend and also sleeps with his downstairs neighbor, but in his heart there's always her, and when he hears that Mathilde is at the train station to say hello to someone, he runs like we've never seen him and he finally meets her. Camille tells him she loves him, yes, but she can't be with him, because it's too difficult to be with him, that his soul wanders too much, but so does hers, so he must let her go away. He goes with her on the train to be together for a while. Next stop is in two hours: he dresses again and goes out. Same old life again as usual...
Ita: L'uomo dei cerchi azzurri
lunedì 27 luglio 2015
A Caribbean mystery by Agatha Christie
Well, this is the story that was talked about in that other book I read more or less recently, although I don't remember the title. This book is where Miss Marple meets Mr Rafiel and asks for his help declaring that she's the Nemesis :-) A bit melodramatic, no wonder he never forgot her :-p
Miss Marple is on holiday, as always sent there by Raymond, always so fond of his dear aunt Jane. It's all very beautiful there, but also so boring, with Major Palgrave talking of his old adventure stories over and over again, until the night he dies in his sleep and Miss Marple thinks back of the murder story he was telling her saying he had a picture of a murderer, but then he saw something that make him change his mind. Learning that no such picture is found in his wallet, she's convinced it was a murder; later a servant girl who had noticed something is stabbed. Among the people there: Greg and Lucky Dyson, Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon: two couple that give Miss Marple to think and gossip about. It seems sure that Lucky murdered Greg's previous wife to take her place, and she was helped by Edward who was in love with her but now hates her as he hates to be in her power.
Tim and Molly Kendall are the place owners. Mr Rafiel is an old, invalid millionaire, and is there with Jackson and Esther Walters, at his service.
Miss Marple tries to find out who was at her right when the major stopped talking, who he had recognized, until realizing that he had a glass eye and therefore he was looking at her left... something like that, and she asks Mr Rafiel to send Jackson with her to do whatever she tells him to. She's barely in time to stop Tim from killing Molly, after he had already killed Lucky mistaking her for his wife. Esther was in love with Tim and couldn't believe it, but Miss Marple knew the truth. Tim had a history of killing his wives making it look like they killed themselves.
Ita: Miss Marple nei Caraibi
Miss Marple is on holiday, as always sent there by Raymond, always so fond of his dear aunt Jane. It's all very beautiful there, but also so boring, with Major Palgrave talking of his old adventure stories over and over again, until the night he dies in his sleep and Miss Marple thinks back of the murder story he was telling her saying he had a picture of a murderer, but then he saw something that make him change his mind. Learning that no such picture is found in his wallet, she's convinced it was a murder; later a servant girl who had noticed something is stabbed. Among the people there: Greg and Lucky Dyson, Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon: two couple that give Miss Marple to think and gossip about. It seems sure that Lucky murdered Greg's previous wife to take her place, and she was helped by Edward who was in love with her but now hates her as he hates to be in her power.
Tim and Molly Kendall are the place owners. Mr Rafiel is an old, invalid millionaire, and is there with Jackson and Esther Walters, at his service.
Miss Marple tries to find out who was at her right when the major stopped talking, who he had recognized, until realizing that he had a glass eye and therefore he was looking at her left... something like that, and she asks Mr Rafiel to send Jackson with her to do whatever she tells him to. She's barely in time to stop Tim from killing Molly, after he had already killed Lucky mistaking her for his wife. Esther was in love with Tim and couldn't believe it, but Miss Marple knew the truth. Tim had a history of killing his wives making it look like they killed themselves.
Ita: Miss Marple nei Caraibi
The four just men by Edgar Wallace
Part interesting/part boring. Well, he wrote these books many years ago, the world was different, so where the adventures. The 'just men' are rich men that once felt victims of an unjust society, and got together to judge and punish those people that can't be touched by the law. In a few years they have killed 16 people, apparently starting in 1899.
One of them was found out and killed, so the remaining three just men: Leon Gonsalez, Poiccart and George Manfred find a fourth to help them in the next mission: they choose a criminal as an ally so if something goes wrong it won't be any tragic loss: Thery.
Their thinking is: there's a revolutionary leader who found refuge in England, and apparently he's important because he'll change all his Country, replacing all the corrupt government, because apparently these three men believe this to be possible... the government cleaned of all the thieves and corrupt ones, and a good man in charge... it seems a story for children but after all it was a century ago, so this view of things was different.
Now that an English Minister wants to make a law that will ban all the foreigners that had found refuge in England but that were wanted in other countries for 'political crimes', the four men warns Sir Philip Ramon that if he doesn't back down he'll be killed. Sir Philip talks to the press about it. The sensational news catch the public's interest and curiosity. Sir Philip receives other warnings, but has no intention of giving up, not afraid for his life but afraid of humiliation only. Policemen from all around the Country converge to Downing Street, they do anything possible to stop them, but at exactly the right moment Sir Philip dies. Thery was an electrician, and the plan was to change the telephone's wire with high-voltage wire; a little problem was the fact that Thery did something wrong and took on himself the worst of the energy, and of course died instantly, and Sir Philip got just a bit of it but it was enough, for he also had a bad heart...
I like to thing that one of those three rich, respectable men at this point said: "I love it when a plan comes together" ...
One of them was found out and killed, so the remaining three just men: Leon Gonsalez, Poiccart and George Manfred find a fourth to help them in the next mission: they choose a criminal as an ally so if something goes wrong it won't be any tragic loss: Thery.
Their thinking is: there's a revolutionary leader who found refuge in England, and apparently he's important because he'll change all his Country, replacing all the corrupt government, because apparently these three men believe this to be possible... the government cleaned of all the thieves and corrupt ones, and a good man in charge... it seems a story for children but after all it was a century ago, so this view of things was different.
Now that an English Minister wants to make a law that will ban all the foreigners that had found refuge in England but that were wanted in other countries for 'political crimes', the four men warns Sir Philip Ramon that if he doesn't back down he'll be killed. Sir Philip talks to the press about it. The sensational news catch the public's interest and curiosity. Sir Philip receives other warnings, but has no intention of giving up, not afraid for his life but afraid of humiliation only. Policemen from all around the Country converge to Downing Street, they do anything possible to stop them, but at exactly the right moment Sir Philip dies. Thery was an electrician, and the plan was to change the telephone's wire with high-voltage wire; a little problem was the fact that Thery did something wrong and took on himself the worst of the energy, and of course died instantly, and Sir Philip got just a bit of it but it was enough, for he also had a bad heart...
I like to thing that one of those three rich, respectable men at this point said: "I love it when a plan comes together" ...
The green archer by Edgar Wallace
A nice story, adventure, not crime; well, crimes are involved, but this is an 'adventure' structure, not a crime novel one. There is only one mystery, and that is the identity of the green archer, but honestly I can't say it had any importance whatsoever to me. The book wasn't bad, anyway, too long but I kind of liked reading it, but once is enough so no spoilers warning is needed since I don't want to read it again.
The main man of the book is Abe Bellamy= ugly, uneducated, rude and evil to the core. He's American but lives in England. He has bought a castle, Garre I think it was called, that was once used as a tribunal so it has cells underneath, something like that.
Valerie Howett is a very determined girl. She knows her dear dad Mr Howett is not her real father, and for years she's been investigating to find her real mother. She's sure Abe had something to do with her disappearance; Captain Jim Featherstone is there to protect her and of course the two fall in love. Spike Holland is a journalist who follows the whole thing. Julius Savini is the European/Asian secretary of the unpleasant Abe, and Fay is his wife. John Wood is a good and rich man living in Belgium, who cares terribly about poor children, and hates evil Abe.
23 years ago Abe stole Elaine Held's baby girl because, after having married his brother Michael instead of him, having lost everything and being now a widow, she still refused to marry him. Abe had his revenge taking her baby away. He gave it to a couple looking to adopt, then a few years ago, maybe eight, I'm not sure, he found Elaine again and trapped her in a secret cell!
Now he finds out her daughter's here, that she's rich and that she wants to find Elaine. He plans to have her abducted, sent far away on a boat and married to a disgusting criminal. He was about to succeed, but not only Jim opposed him. Julius and Fay, despite their past of thieves, help her and save her. During all this, there's the unknown figure of the green archer, who is not a ghost but a man who has killed with his bow and arrows Coldharbour Smith, the criminal that was about to sail with Valerie locked inside, and also Mr Creager, another disgusting man who used to take Abe's money to carry out his evil deeds when he was a prison guard. He freed Elaine from her cell and helped Valerie when she was in danger. The only thing not clear is why, when he went back to the cell to retrieve Elaine's diary, he did not leave it open so to free poor Julius and Fay ,trapped there by Abe? Didn't he know? Didn't he ask himself who had left all those lights on?
Anyway. Abe does not give up on his revenge: he traps Julius and Fay where Elaine once was, then he also traps Jim, then he sends rotten-to-the-core Lacy to abduct Valerie and lock her up too. Once it is done, Abe locks Lacy in the cell with the others. Finally the green archer comes to kill Abe and open their door. Lacy still tries to kill Jim, but Julius saves him.
Jim had been jealous of Valerie and John Wood's connection, but in the best Star Wars tradition it turns out that John is her brother, real name John Bellamy, first child of Michael and Elaine.
In the last page we 'find out' the identity of the archer... but honestly, at this point who else could it be? Not Jim, not Julius, trapped in the cell. He was on the good-side, so not one of the criminals. Honestly I couldn't imagine Mr Howett in such an action role... the journalist was impossible... the only other recurrent name was John Wood...
The main man of the book is Abe Bellamy= ugly, uneducated, rude and evil to the core. He's American but lives in England. He has bought a castle, Garre I think it was called, that was once used as a tribunal so it has cells underneath, something like that.
Valerie Howett is a very determined girl. She knows her dear dad Mr Howett is not her real father, and for years she's been investigating to find her real mother. She's sure Abe had something to do with her disappearance; Captain Jim Featherstone is there to protect her and of course the two fall in love. Spike Holland is a journalist who follows the whole thing. Julius Savini is the European/Asian secretary of the unpleasant Abe, and Fay is his wife. John Wood is a good and rich man living in Belgium, who cares terribly about poor children, and hates evil Abe.
23 years ago Abe stole Elaine Held's baby girl because, after having married his brother Michael instead of him, having lost everything and being now a widow, she still refused to marry him. Abe had his revenge taking her baby away. He gave it to a couple looking to adopt, then a few years ago, maybe eight, I'm not sure, he found Elaine again and trapped her in a secret cell!
Now he finds out her daughter's here, that she's rich and that she wants to find Elaine. He plans to have her abducted, sent far away on a boat and married to a disgusting criminal. He was about to succeed, but not only Jim opposed him. Julius and Fay, despite their past of thieves, help her and save her. During all this, there's the unknown figure of the green archer, who is not a ghost but a man who has killed with his bow and arrows Coldharbour Smith, the criminal that was about to sail with Valerie locked inside, and also Mr Creager, another disgusting man who used to take Abe's money to carry out his evil deeds when he was a prison guard. He freed Elaine from her cell and helped Valerie when she was in danger. The only thing not clear is why, when he went back to the cell to retrieve Elaine's diary, he did not leave it open so to free poor Julius and Fay ,trapped there by Abe? Didn't he know? Didn't he ask himself who had left all those lights on?
Anyway. Abe does not give up on his revenge: he traps Julius and Fay where Elaine once was, then he also traps Jim, then he sends rotten-to-the-core Lacy to abduct Valerie and lock her up too. Once it is done, Abe locks Lacy in the cell with the others. Finally the green archer comes to kill Abe and open their door. Lacy still tries to kill Jim, but Julius saves him.
Jim had been jealous of Valerie and John Wood's connection, but in the best Star Wars tradition it turns out that John is her brother, real name John Bellamy, first child of Michael and Elaine.
In the last page we 'find out' the identity of the archer... but honestly, at this point who else could it be? Not Jim, not Julius, trapped in the cell. He was on the good-side, so not one of the criminals. Honestly I couldn't imagine Mr Howett in such an action role... the journalist was impossible... the only other recurrent name was John Wood...
domenica 26 luglio 2015
The thirteenth tale by Diane Setterfield
It's difficult to say if I liked it or not, or how much, because I'm still crying and my soul has not yet calmed down. What I can say is that since I started it I never stopped, going to sleep was a little painful because I had to stop for a few hours. Six, seven tops, not too much maybe, but the separation was no fun nonetheless. Towards the end I was so anxious to know what had happened that I overcooked my lunch. It happens when one keeps reading a book instead of checking the fire.
I liked the protagonist Margaret Lea because she loves books. We are totally different otherwise, but we have that in common, although we like different kinds: history and dates don't matter all that much to me. I want fantasy and fiction to take me away from my life, introduce me to people that don't exist in my world, make me part of something extraordinary that I could never find in my ordinary life.
Bit of plot, so I won't forget it... well, I will forget it, anyway, but that's the point, I write it so I'll have it all here if I want to remember it...
The book is the story of famous writer Vida Winter that, now old and sick, tells her story to biographer Margaret Lea. A tough story, full of deaths and violence. Her real name is Adeline March, she says, and her story starts with her grandparents. George and Mathilde had a son, Charlie, and when their daughter Isabelle was born, Mathilde died. George was catatonic, but when months later the nanny gave his his little Isabelle leaving them alone he changed and from that moment he lived only for his precious daughter. Charlie was cruel but Isabelle was strange. They were very close until they grow up and Isabelle went out and met Roland. Charlie's attachment to his sister was like an insane obsession, he loved her so much he was going crazy without her, and took it out on other girls, that they wanted to be with him or not.
When Isabelle went away with Roland, Charlie became catatonic and their father died. Isabelle married Roland but seven months later he died and Isabelle went back home. With two daughters, twins. Left to themselves, because Charlie didn't are and Isabelle kind of forgot their existence, they were out of control. Mrs Dunne the nanny and "John-the-dig" Digence the gardener did all they could, but the twins never cared for their efforts, only about each others and what they wanted. Emmeline was quiet but Adeline was a fury. They had no respect for anything or anyone, they entered other people's houses, and if they wanted something they simply took it. One day they stole a cradle to play with it, not caring for the child inside. Something had to be done, so the doctor called a governess to take care of them, after their mother was locked in an asylum. Charlie never cared about anything anymore, after they took her away, and when later on she died he shot himself.
Hester Barrow came into their lives changing them. Thanks to her the house was finally clean, and so were the twins. She wanted to help them, teaching them a regular life. She thought Emmeline was sweet and Adeline strange, but sometimes she saw a different Adeline, and she thought that separating the twins she would have helped them to be a whole person without the sister. She took it as a study project with dr. Maudsley: she kept Emmeline while he brought Adeline to his own house. Adeline stopped living, while slowly Emmeline started to like other games without her. One day Hester saw them together, or so she thought, but Adeline had never moved from the doctor's house. She was shocked and when the doctor's wife caught them kissing, she left town forever. When old Mrs Dunne died, only John remained to take care of them.
You see? It's all sad and dark. I could not have read it all had it been one long story, but it was divided in short tales, and in between there were Margaret's thoughts, her pictures of the old Angelfield house, her surprising friendship with Aurelius, a good giant connected to that story. Those moments brought peace to the story, the atmosphere no more as heavy as it was before. It was finally bearable, and like Margaret I wanted to know the rest, what had happened to the twins.
When later on John had an 'accident', Miss Winter was left alone to care for her sister; for a while there was also Ambrose, the boy that used to help John, but she never requited his feelings (or maybe she did, but she didn't want to , so she didn't) and when she discovered that Emmeline was pregnant she sent Ambrose away.
It took a long time but Margaret finally understood: why there seemed to be a ghost at Angelfield, why Hester thought Adeline had two different personalities in her, what she saw that day... Margaret thought: what if there weren't two girls in the house, but three? At this point the truth comes out. Miss Winter is not Adeline, she's the third girl. When John and nanny had found her, she was all dirty and starving, abandoned. They took care of her and once clean they saw she was a girl, and that she looked just like the twins. She had to be family, so they kept her without telling anyone. She had no name, and only played with Emmeline when Adeline was not there. She was sane and responsible, and loved Emmeline very much. Sometimes she passed herself for Adeline, confusing Hester. After Emmeline had given birth to her baby boy, Adeline was so jealous that she feared her actions. She tried to protect Emmeline and her baby, but Adeline was as she had always been: crazy and out of control. One night Adeline took the baby and tried to set it on fire. Without being noticed she saved him and took him away, but afraid of Adeline she took the baby to the house of a good old lady that would have cared for him; then, back to the house she found it on fire. She went inside to save Emmeline and had to drag her out. The twins didn't want to separate, not even in those circumstances. She saved her nonetheless, but once in the open she had a terrible doubt: she was not sure if that was Adeline or Emmeline... she always called her Emmeline and took care of her, and she wrote book after book to keep her ghosts away.
Margaret is terrible sad when Emmeline dies first and then Miss Winter. Now she has the whole story, including the famous thirteenth tale that was never included in the 'thirteen tales' book, her own story, of a girl that was raped by Charlie Angelfield and had a daughter; a story never finished of a poor child left on her own.
Margaret can now give peace of mind to Aurelius telling him his story, and also make him happy giving him a step-sister (Karen)and her two children, Tom and Emma.
Margaret herself finds peace: she had always been haunted by the twin sister she had never known, that had died when the two of them were separated, with a little scar as the only thing Margaret has of her.
The story is ended but the author knows 'what it means to finish a book and wonder, a day or maybe a week later, what has been of the butcher or who got the diamonds or if the widow will ever reconcile with her niece..' and Margaret imagines her readers wondering about Judith and Maurice and tells us they still live and work in Miss Winter's house. I wasn't thinking of them and I had forgotten about Hester, with everything that was happening at the end, but like she says I would have thought about it later and that detail would have slightly ruined the memory of the book. I liked to know that once a widow the doctor had gone to America to marry Hester and live happily with her.
When she also told me about Shadow the cat I was touched. I can't explain why, but I was.
Things I don't like to think about: not just that disgusting shit that raped all those poor girls, but even more so the fact, so realistic in this shitty world, that he was causing trouble and scandal when he went after rich girls, but then when he turned his unwanted attentions to poor girls nobody said anything anymore, because he was a rich sir and they were nothing. That is beyond disgusting because it is so realistic, in this superficial world one means nothing if without money or position of power. I'm glad he didn't just disappear but it was cleared that he blew his head off, freeing the world of his useless presence.
Things I like to think about after having closed the book? The way Margaret was consoling Miss Winter and then Dr Clifton was consoling her, lost in a pain that is always different but that every human can understand. It's so well written I felt that pain, that desperation of the soul.
Another thing that touched my soul was the doctor's cure when she was ill. For years she had read over and over Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility, so to quiet her wild emotions he gave her Sherlock Holmes to read: 10 pages twice a day. I love dr Clifton and I have the feeling she will too..
I mean: Sherlock Holmes books as therapy, how lovely was that?!? Unfortunately it doesn't (always) work for me, it would be so wonderful...
I liked the protagonist Margaret Lea because she loves books. We are totally different otherwise, but we have that in common, although we like different kinds: history and dates don't matter all that much to me. I want fantasy and fiction to take me away from my life, introduce me to people that don't exist in my world, make me part of something extraordinary that I could never find in my ordinary life.
Bit of plot, so I won't forget it... well, I will forget it, anyway, but that's the point, I write it so I'll have it all here if I want to remember it...
The book is the story of famous writer Vida Winter that, now old and sick, tells her story to biographer Margaret Lea. A tough story, full of deaths and violence. Her real name is Adeline March, she says, and her story starts with her grandparents. George and Mathilde had a son, Charlie, and when their daughter Isabelle was born, Mathilde died. George was catatonic, but when months later the nanny gave his his little Isabelle leaving them alone he changed and from that moment he lived only for his precious daughter. Charlie was cruel but Isabelle was strange. They were very close until they grow up and Isabelle went out and met Roland. Charlie's attachment to his sister was like an insane obsession, he loved her so much he was going crazy without her, and took it out on other girls, that they wanted to be with him or not.
When Isabelle went away with Roland, Charlie became catatonic and their father died. Isabelle married Roland but seven months later he died and Isabelle went back home. With two daughters, twins. Left to themselves, because Charlie didn't are and Isabelle kind of forgot their existence, they were out of control. Mrs Dunne the nanny and "John-the-dig" Digence the gardener did all they could, but the twins never cared for their efforts, only about each others and what they wanted. Emmeline was quiet but Adeline was a fury. They had no respect for anything or anyone, they entered other people's houses, and if they wanted something they simply took it. One day they stole a cradle to play with it, not caring for the child inside. Something had to be done, so the doctor called a governess to take care of them, after their mother was locked in an asylum. Charlie never cared about anything anymore, after they took her away, and when later on she died he shot himself.
Hester Barrow came into their lives changing them. Thanks to her the house was finally clean, and so were the twins. She wanted to help them, teaching them a regular life. She thought Emmeline was sweet and Adeline strange, but sometimes she saw a different Adeline, and she thought that separating the twins she would have helped them to be a whole person without the sister. She took it as a study project with dr. Maudsley: she kept Emmeline while he brought Adeline to his own house. Adeline stopped living, while slowly Emmeline started to like other games without her. One day Hester saw them together, or so she thought, but Adeline had never moved from the doctor's house. She was shocked and when the doctor's wife caught them kissing, she left town forever. When old Mrs Dunne died, only John remained to take care of them.
You see? It's all sad and dark. I could not have read it all had it been one long story, but it was divided in short tales, and in between there were Margaret's thoughts, her pictures of the old Angelfield house, her surprising friendship with Aurelius, a good giant connected to that story. Those moments brought peace to the story, the atmosphere no more as heavy as it was before. It was finally bearable, and like Margaret I wanted to know the rest, what had happened to the twins.
When later on John had an 'accident', Miss Winter was left alone to care for her sister; for a while there was also Ambrose, the boy that used to help John, but she never requited his feelings (or maybe she did, but she didn't want to , so she didn't) and when she discovered that Emmeline was pregnant she sent Ambrose away.
It took a long time but Margaret finally understood: why there seemed to be a ghost at Angelfield, why Hester thought Adeline had two different personalities in her, what she saw that day... Margaret thought: what if there weren't two girls in the house, but three? At this point the truth comes out. Miss Winter is not Adeline, she's the third girl. When John and nanny had found her, she was all dirty and starving, abandoned. They took care of her and once clean they saw she was a girl, and that she looked just like the twins. She had to be family, so they kept her without telling anyone. She had no name, and only played with Emmeline when Adeline was not there. She was sane and responsible, and loved Emmeline very much. Sometimes she passed herself for Adeline, confusing Hester. After Emmeline had given birth to her baby boy, Adeline was so jealous that she feared her actions. She tried to protect Emmeline and her baby, but Adeline was as she had always been: crazy and out of control. One night Adeline took the baby and tried to set it on fire. Without being noticed she saved him and took him away, but afraid of Adeline she took the baby to the house of a good old lady that would have cared for him; then, back to the house she found it on fire. She went inside to save Emmeline and had to drag her out. The twins didn't want to separate, not even in those circumstances. She saved her nonetheless, but once in the open she had a terrible doubt: she was not sure if that was Adeline or Emmeline... she always called her Emmeline and took care of her, and she wrote book after book to keep her ghosts away.
Margaret is terrible sad when Emmeline dies first and then Miss Winter. Now she has the whole story, including the famous thirteenth tale that was never included in the 'thirteen tales' book, her own story, of a girl that was raped by Charlie Angelfield and had a daughter; a story never finished of a poor child left on her own.
Margaret can now give peace of mind to Aurelius telling him his story, and also make him happy giving him a step-sister (Karen)and her two children, Tom and Emma.
Margaret herself finds peace: she had always been haunted by the twin sister she had never known, that had died when the two of them were separated, with a little scar as the only thing Margaret has of her.
The story is ended but the author knows 'what it means to finish a book and wonder, a day or maybe a week later, what has been of the butcher or who got the diamonds or if the widow will ever reconcile with her niece..' and Margaret imagines her readers wondering about Judith and Maurice and tells us they still live and work in Miss Winter's house. I wasn't thinking of them and I had forgotten about Hester, with everything that was happening at the end, but like she says I would have thought about it later and that detail would have slightly ruined the memory of the book. I liked to know that once a widow the doctor had gone to America to marry Hester and live happily with her.
When she also told me about Shadow the cat I was touched. I can't explain why, but I was.
Things I don't like to think about: not just that disgusting shit that raped all those poor girls, but even more so the fact, so realistic in this shitty world, that he was causing trouble and scandal when he went after rich girls, but then when he turned his unwanted attentions to poor girls nobody said anything anymore, because he was a rich sir and they were nothing. That is beyond disgusting because it is so realistic, in this superficial world one means nothing if without money or position of power. I'm glad he didn't just disappear but it was cleared that he blew his head off, freeing the world of his useless presence.
Things I like to think about after having closed the book? The way Margaret was consoling Miss Winter and then Dr Clifton was consoling her, lost in a pain that is always different but that every human can understand. It's so well written I felt that pain, that desperation of the soul.
Another thing that touched my soul was the doctor's cure when she was ill. For years she had read over and over Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Sense and Sensibility, so to quiet her wild emotions he gave her Sherlock Holmes to read: 10 pages twice a day. I love dr Clifton and I have the feeling she will too..
I mean: Sherlock Holmes books as therapy, how lovely was that?!? Unfortunately it doesn't (always) work for me, it would be so wonderful...
mercoledì 22 luglio 2015
The body in the library by Agatha Christie
One of her most famous books. I really liked it. I like to see Miss Marple in her territory :-) so we meet again Colonel Melchett and Inspector Slack (who is very similar to that Flannery I recently read about in the Charlie Chan book) as well as Sir Henry Clithering. I like sir Henry because he never takes Miss Marple for 'just an old woman with too much imagination'. We also meet again other people of St. Mary Mead, like Dolly and Arthur Bantry, her dear friends, or the vicar Clement and his wife Griselda: they now have a baby: David! I'm glad, I like Griselda very much. Here she has a little role, but adorable.
The story starts at Gossington Hall, where Colonel Bantry and his wife get woken up with the strange news that "there's a body in the library". Dolly calls Miss Marple asking for her help, because she wants this problem to be sorted out as soon as possible. She knows what will happen otherwise: the 'good' people talking, the gossip: people would speculate that the colonel knew the girl, that he certainly behaved inappropriately for a married man of his position, maybe even that he himself killed her. So miss Marple helps her and gets to the truth.
Spoilers. There are many many characters: young dancer Ruby Keene -real name Rosy Legge- and 16 years old student Pamela Reeves are the victims; Basil Black and his woman Dinah Lee, with their bad reputation living as they are in a little village like that; Josephine "Josie" Turner, Ruby's cousin that worked with her at the Majestic; old Conway Jefferson, who lost his legs in the same accident that killed his wife Margaret, his son Frank and his daughter Rosamund; Mark Gaskell, his son-in-law; Mrs Jefferson, his daughter-in-law; Peter, her 9 years old child from her first marriage (a cute little thing who likes to read crime novels and said he already has the signatures of authors "Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Dickson Carr and H.C. Bailey" :lol:
Harper, another policeman, much nicer that Slack; George Bartlett, a useless guy that danced with Ruby the night she disappeared; Raymond Starr, that teaches tennis and dance at the Majestic; Hugo McLean, forever in love with Mrs Jefferson.
Josie recognizes the body as being her cousin Ruby. Conway had been so charmed by Ruby that wanted to adopt her legally, and leave her a lot of money in his will; Pamela's body was found burned in a car with her clothes, and the police knew it was her because the few things not burned belonged to her, and I thought: that's a bit superficial, isn't it? But after all this book is from 1941, I think, so they probably had to do with what they could.
Miss Marple looked at the first body's nails, and saw their bad conditions, and thought 'this girl eats her nails', like young girls do (well, when I'm really nervous I still do it..)
She thought that they only had Josie's word that it was Ruby... Miss Marple unmasked her whole plan: Josie had married Mark Gaskell a year ago and at Mr Jefferson's death he would have inherited, but now Ruby was to take that money away, so they used poor Pamela to give themselves an alibi. They disguised her as Ruby and then he killed her and brought her to Basil's house when everybody could see Ruby alive, then a very drunk Basil brought the body to the old Colonel's house. Josie killed Ruby and burned her body. Miss Marple set a final trap. Conway told them that the day after he was going to change his will giving Ruby's part to charity, so when Josie tried to kill him the police stopped her.
I loved Miss Marple explanation of how she had guessed that Basil and Dinah were actually married: they fight a lot, and Miss Marple says that only married coulples can fight without fear of consequences. Without that legal bond people are more careful, fearing to ruin/end something, so never fight seriously, while married couples can enjoy their fights as they enjoy making up.
This is so true, I thought that myself. Not about the books' characters, but about life. So absolutely true.
About the book, I also liked the ending, when Mrs Jefferson went to Conway with Hugo to bravely tell him she intended to marry him... and instead of getting angry he said he would have changed his will leaving all to Peter, and she was so happy :-) nice ending, I like when she ends on a happy note, after so much evilness..
In the book Melchett refers to the murder at the vicarage case, while sir Henry remembers that other case when Miss Marple gave him on a piece of paper the name of the murderer, asking him to prove it. I don't recall which one was that... damn my memory!
ITA: C'è un cadavere in biblioteca
The story starts at Gossington Hall, where Colonel Bantry and his wife get woken up with the strange news that "there's a body in the library". Dolly calls Miss Marple asking for her help, because she wants this problem to be sorted out as soon as possible. She knows what will happen otherwise: the 'good' people talking, the gossip: people would speculate that the colonel knew the girl, that he certainly behaved inappropriately for a married man of his position, maybe even that he himself killed her. So miss Marple helps her and gets to the truth.
Spoilers. There are many many characters: young dancer Ruby Keene -real name Rosy Legge- and 16 years old student Pamela Reeves are the victims; Basil Black and his woman Dinah Lee, with their bad reputation living as they are in a little village like that; Josephine "Josie" Turner, Ruby's cousin that worked with her at the Majestic; old Conway Jefferson, who lost his legs in the same accident that killed his wife Margaret, his son Frank and his daughter Rosamund; Mark Gaskell, his son-in-law; Mrs Jefferson, his daughter-in-law; Peter, her 9 years old child from her first marriage (a cute little thing who likes to read crime novels and said he already has the signatures of authors "Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Dickson Carr and H.C. Bailey" :lol:
Harper, another policeman, much nicer that Slack; George Bartlett, a useless guy that danced with Ruby the night she disappeared; Raymond Starr, that teaches tennis and dance at the Majestic; Hugo McLean, forever in love with Mrs Jefferson.
Josie recognizes the body as being her cousin Ruby. Conway had been so charmed by Ruby that wanted to adopt her legally, and leave her a lot of money in his will; Pamela's body was found burned in a car with her clothes, and the police knew it was her because the few things not burned belonged to her, and I thought: that's a bit superficial, isn't it? But after all this book is from 1941, I think, so they probably had to do with what they could.
Miss Marple looked at the first body's nails, and saw their bad conditions, and thought 'this girl eats her nails', like young girls do (well, when I'm really nervous I still do it..)
She thought that they only had Josie's word that it was Ruby... Miss Marple unmasked her whole plan: Josie had married Mark Gaskell a year ago and at Mr Jefferson's death he would have inherited, but now Ruby was to take that money away, so they used poor Pamela to give themselves an alibi. They disguised her as Ruby and then he killed her and brought her to Basil's house when everybody could see Ruby alive, then a very drunk Basil brought the body to the old Colonel's house. Josie killed Ruby and burned her body. Miss Marple set a final trap. Conway told them that the day after he was going to change his will giving Ruby's part to charity, so when Josie tried to kill him the police stopped her.
I loved Miss Marple explanation of how she had guessed that Basil and Dinah were actually married: they fight a lot, and Miss Marple says that only married coulples can fight without fear of consequences. Without that legal bond people are more careful, fearing to ruin/end something, so never fight seriously, while married couples can enjoy their fights as they enjoy making up.
This is so true, I thought that myself. Not about the books' characters, but about life. So absolutely true.
About the book, I also liked the ending, when Mrs Jefferson went to Conway with Hugo to bravely tell him she intended to marry him... and instead of getting angry he said he would have changed his will leaving all to Peter, and she was so happy :-) nice ending, I like when she ends on a happy note, after so much evilness..
In the book Melchett refers to the murder at the vicarage case, while sir Henry remembers that other case when Miss Marple gave him on a piece of paper the name of the murderer, asking him to prove it. I don't recall which one was that... damn my memory!
ITA: C'è un cadavere in biblioteca
The Garden murder case by S. S. Van Dine
A nice crime novel, but nothing special. A guy is killed in Prof. Garden's garden. It seems suicide but Philo Vance is present and he knows better. He calls the police and investigates.
What surprised me more was how the police obeyed him... a dilettante working with DA Markham and Sergeant Heath and both them and the other policemen involved do everything Vance tells them to . Vance interrogates people and decides what to do. The police doesn't do a thing!
Vance's partner/friend Van Dine has basically no role at all. He's there to witness the story so he'll be able to write about how brilliant Vance is. Nothing more. Vance doesn't talk to him about his ideas, doesn't ask him for his opinion. Vance seems rather posh in the way he speaks, but he has no problem speaking his mind when someone is interfering.
This case was not too difficult, it was rather clear that he was suspecting a certain person. Ok, now to the story.
Professor Garden's son Floyd likes to bet on horses. He does so at home with a bunch of friends. Vance and Van Dine are there too, although nobody bothers to talk to Van Dine or ask him if he wants to bet.
Other guests are : ill-tempered cousin Woode Swift, middle-aged Lowe Hammle, Cecil Kroon with moustaches, Madge Weatherby, very showy with all her make-up, and Zalia Graem, lively and pretty.
When they all hear a shot they find Swift dead; he had just lost all his money on one single bet and everybody thought he had killed himself because of it, but Vance doesn't believe it's suicide and starts the investigation.
Spoilers.
Well, he takes the lead, and the others are there only to watch and assist him. Miss Beeton, Mrs Garden's nurse, is also in the house, placing a little bet with Vance's help, and appears to be of help during his investigation, when of course he treats all the people present as suspects, but who could not notice when Vance sent her to check that the key to a little room upstairs was at its usual place? She came down saying it was there, hanging from a nail as usual... it was clear he wanted to check if she knew about it. He treated her as if he suspected everyone but her, as if he trusted her , which clearly meant that he DID suspect her. The final trap was a bit naif: alone with her, he accused her to induce her to try to kill him, having instructed the police photographer to take a good picture when she pushed him off to his death. Everything went according to his plan, and once she was unmasked in front of everyone she ran to throw herself off the roof. Nothing too thrilling, in my opinion. It was presented in the first pages as Vance's most brilliant case, but I hope it wasn't. This is the first I read, and I hope the others are a bit better, in case I'll ever read them.
What surprised me more was how the police obeyed him... a dilettante working with DA Markham and Sergeant Heath and both them and the other policemen involved do everything Vance tells them to . Vance interrogates people and decides what to do. The police doesn't do a thing!
Vance's partner/friend Van Dine has basically no role at all. He's there to witness the story so he'll be able to write about how brilliant Vance is. Nothing more. Vance doesn't talk to him about his ideas, doesn't ask him for his opinion. Vance seems rather posh in the way he speaks, but he has no problem speaking his mind when someone is interfering.
This case was not too difficult, it was rather clear that he was suspecting a certain person. Ok, now to the story.
Professor Garden's son Floyd likes to bet on horses. He does so at home with a bunch of friends. Vance and Van Dine are there too, although nobody bothers to talk to Van Dine or ask him if he wants to bet.
Other guests are : ill-tempered cousin Woode Swift, middle-aged Lowe Hammle, Cecil Kroon with moustaches, Madge Weatherby, very showy with all her make-up, and Zalia Graem, lively and pretty.
When they all hear a shot they find Swift dead; he had just lost all his money on one single bet and everybody thought he had killed himself because of it, but Vance doesn't believe it's suicide and starts the investigation.
Spoilers.
Well, he takes the lead, and the others are there only to watch and assist him. Miss Beeton, Mrs Garden's nurse, is also in the house, placing a little bet with Vance's help, and appears to be of help during his investigation, when of course he treats all the people present as suspects, but who could not notice when Vance sent her to check that the key to a little room upstairs was at its usual place? She came down saying it was there, hanging from a nail as usual... it was clear he wanted to check if she knew about it. He treated her as if he suspected everyone but her, as if he trusted her , which clearly meant that he DID suspect her. The final trap was a bit naif: alone with her, he accused her to induce her to try to kill him, having instructed the police photographer to take a good picture when she pushed him off to his death. Everything went according to his plan, and once she was unmasked in front of everyone she ran to throw herself off the roof. Nothing too thrilling, in my opinion. It was presented in the first pages as Vance's most brilliant case, but I hope it wasn't. This is the first I read, and I hope the others are a bit better, in case I'll ever read them.
The man who bought London by Edgar Wallace
I liked reading it. All of Wallace books sound so terribly old, of course, but one thing I must give to him: he very well knew how to write. The characters are interesting and catching, and I wanted to see them to the end. I love this King Kerry, and Elsie Marion too. It was a fine story which would make a lovely film. I wonder, how come his books have inspired no films, it's extraordinary, if adapted they could make great screenplays! I don't know, maybe there are and I simply don't know about them..
Elsie is a normal girl, working at the counter in a clothes shop, or something like that, when one day her luck changes. She meets American millionaire King Kerry. He was buying a lot of London shops and properties, and he bought the one she worked in too. He took her as his personal assistant, and obviously she fell in love with him. He has grey hair, but must be 35 to 40 years old, no more.
He plans to buy all the land within the territory where he wants to build a new city of London, with new houses for everyone and better shops. I have no knowledge of all those places' names; he bought so much, papers called him "the King of London", and also "the man who bought London".
His worst enemy is Hermann Zeberlieff, who had tried (not honestly) to go against him in business and had always been scorned. He lives with his half-sister Vera because forced by their father's will, but as soon as possible she gets free of him. She lived in fear, near him, afraid for her own life, and could get out only with Kerry's help. A great scene was when Hermann came to her about Gordon Bray. Bray is a young and good man, poor but with talent and ambitions, and very much in love with Vera, apparently requited. When he learned that, Hermann drugged him and locked him up in his wine cellar, then went to Vera saying "at what figure do you value his life?" because he wanted her money, and then I got it. For a moment there I thought Edgar had betrayed me by killing a good-lovable character, but no, Hermann was just using him to get his sister's money. She was pale and deadly afraid for him, so much more than she had ever been for her own safety, but also she felt the hate rage inside her. For an instant, when she went to her desk I thought, is she really giving him a cheque? But no, she takes out a revolver aiming it at him, who gets scared, and when she fires so near to him he's really scared, and then she tells him quietly "I want to tell you that if any harm comes to Gordon Gray I will kill you, that is all. Now get out" :-) Vera was great! :-) I loved that scene :-)
Unfortunately the end of the book wasn't as good as the rest. It turns out that young Kerry married Vera's half-sister Henrietta and that story might now ruin his reputation and his future happiness with Elsie because Henrietta is evil, dishonest and probably mad as her mother was. Yet it all ends in a moment when trying to kill him Herman kills himself instead and it is revealed that he's actually a woman: Henrietta! (By the way, that suicide girl in his past was not killed but had really committed suicide after discovering that the man she had fallen in love with was actually a woman. Suicide! My God, what were the girls back then??)
The threat is now gone, and he's no more married, so he can marry Elsie and Vera can marry Gordon, and a happy ending it is for all the good characters in the book :-D
I wonder, would it be possible, in a film with real people, to pass a woman for a man for at least 3/4 of the film , really making people believe it's a man?
Elsie is a normal girl, working at the counter in a clothes shop, or something like that, when one day her luck changes. She meets American millionaire King Kerry. He was buying a lot of London shops and properties, and he bought the one she worked in too. He took her as his personal assistant, and obviously she fell in love with him. He has grey hair, but must be 35 to 40 years old, no more.
He plans to buy all the land within the territory where he wants to build a new city of London, with new houses for everyone and better shops. I have no knowledge of all those places' names; he bought so much, papers called him "the King of London", and also "the man who bought London".
His worst enemy is Hermann Zeberlieff, who had tried (not honestly) to go against him in business and had always been scorned. He lives with his half-sister Vera because forced by their father's will, but as soon as possible she gets free of him. She lived in fear, near him, afraid for her own life, and could get out only with Kerry's help. A great scene was when Hermann came to her about Gordon Bray. Bray is a young and good man, poor but with talent and ambitions, and very much in love with Vera, apparently requited. When he learned that, Hermann drugged him and locked him up in his wine cellar, then went to Vera saying "at what figure do you value his life?" because he wanted her money, and then I got it. For a moment there I thought Edgar had betrayed me by killing a good-lovable character, but no, Hermann was just using him to get his sister's money. She was pale and deadly afraid for him, so much more than she had ever been for her own safety, but also she felt the hate rage inside her. For an instant, when she went to her desk I thought, is she really giving him a cheque? But no, she takes out a revolver aiming it at him, who gets scared, and when she fires so near to him he's really scared, and then she tells him quietly "I want to tell you that if any harm comes to Gordon Gray I will kill you, that is all. Now get out" :-) Vera was great! :-) I loved that scene :-)
Unfortunately the end of the book wasn't as good as the rest. It turns out that young Kerry married Vera's half-sister Henrietta and that story might now ruin his reputation and his future happiness with Elsie because Henrietta is evil, dishonest and probably mad as her mother was. Yet it all ends in a moment when trying to kill him Herman kills himself instead and it is revealed that he's actually a woman: Henrietta! (By the way, that suicide girl in his past was not killed but had really committed suicide after discovering that the man she had fallen in love with was actually a woman. Suicide! My God, what were the girls back then??)
The threat is now gone, and he's no more married, so he can marry Elsie and Vera can marry Gordon, and a happy ending it is for all the good characters in the book :-D
I wonder, would it be possible, in a film with real people, to pass a woman for a man for at least 3/4 of the film , really making people believe it's a man?
Hickory dickory dock by Agatha Christie
This book starts with Poirot in his London apartment, shocked that his super efficient secretary made three mistakes in a letter. Miss Lemon! She never make mistakes. Both Miss Lemon and George the butler are always so efficient and precise, perfect, impeccable.
He learns that Miss Lemon was thinking of her sister Mrs Hubbard, who is shaken due to a series of little thefts in the little hotel for students that she runs. Poirot talks to her and he's intrigued by the case, so he offers to look into it. Soon the thing becomes much more serious when a girl dies but the same Mrs Hubbard is able to reveal that the note left was not written by the poor dead Celia Austin, so it was not suicide, it was murder. (The night before Celia had put green ink in her pen).
Later Mrs Nicoletis, the hotel owner, a drunk woman, is killed and then Patrizia Lane too. Poirot and inspector Sharpe investigate. Poirot reveals a big drugs and precious stones smuggling business, lead by Valeria Hobhouse, Mrs Nicoletis' daughter. Opss I should have put a spoilers warning before that maybe. Oh well.
Students of all nationalities are in that hotel: Sally Finch is American, Genevieve and René French, Akibombo African, Elizabeth Johnston Jamaican. Len Bateson, Colin McNabb and Nigel Chapman should all be English, I think.
All the murders were by Nigel's hand, because they knew or saw something about it, so he killed them like he killed his mother years before.
I'm not too fond of this book. There are things I like, yes, and there's Poirot in it, which is always a good thing, but he has a relatively little role; the best part of the book is occupied by the students, and honestly I don't like them, and I can't understand why everyone gets always so angry when the police asks questions. There's been a murder, they have to, what's to be angry about, if they talk to everyone? There wasn't a single student I was fond of. Akibombo was the only one nice and good. The others were either too silly or too rude. Sally was ok but both Sally and Akibombo talked very, very little compared to all the others.
Little side note: Miss Lemon's name is Felicita :-) the irony :-)
Ita: Poirot si annoia
He learns that Miss Lemon was thinking of her sister Mrs Hubbard, who is shaken due to a series of little thefts in the little hotel for students that she runs. Poirot talks to her and he's intrigued by the case, so he offers to look into it. Soon the thing becomes much more serious when a girl dies but the same Mrs Hubbard is able to reveal that the note left was not written by the poor dead Celia Austin, so it was not suicide, it was murder. (The night before Celia had put green ink in her pen).
Later Mrs Nicoletis, the hotel owner, a drunk woman, is killed and then Patrizia Lane too. Poirot and inspector Sharpe investigate. Poirot reveals a big drugs and precious stones smuggling business, lead by Valeria Hobhouse, Mrs Nicoletis' daughter. Opss I should have put a spoilers warning before that maybe. Oh well.
Students of all nationalities are in that hotel: Sally Finch is American, Genevieve and René French, Akibombo African, Elizabeth Johnston Jamaican. Len Bateson, Colin McNabb and Nigel Chapman should all be English, I think.
All the murders were by Nigel's hand, because they knew or saw something about it, so he killed them like he killed his mother years before.
I'm not too fond of this book. There are things I like, yes, and there's Poirot in it, which is always a good thing, but he has a relatively little role; the best part of the book is occupied by the students, and honestly I don't like them, and I can't understand why everyone gets always so angry when the police asks questions. There's been a murder, they have to, what's to be angry about, if they talk to everyone? There wasn't a single student I was fond of. Akibombo was the only one nice and good. The others were either too silly or too rude. Sally was ok but both Sally and Akibombo talked very, very little compared to all the others.
Little side note: Miss Lemon's name is Felicita :-) the irony :-)
Ita: Poirot si annoia
Sad cypress by Agatha Christie
A good book; some moments were boring because in the trial things that we already knew well were repeated over and over, but it's a good story and a honest one, as always. Yes, the clues were all there.
I'm glad I got it wrong because I suspected Roddy to be simply acting, to be actually evil and to hate Elinor... why? because he seemed too sensitive and simple to be true.
A bit of plot before I explain: Elinor is madly in love with Roddy, he simply likes her dearly. Their aunt is ill and they visit her. Young Mary Gerrard is much loved by their aunt Mrs Welman, and she's beautiful. As soon as Roddy sees her, he falls in love, passionately. When the old woman feels worse, she asks for her lawyer, to be sent for first thing in the morning, to make her will, but she never survived the night. Without a will, the only heir is Elinor. She was engaged to Rodney, but the engagement is broken because he admits his love for Mary and refuses every attempt from Elinor to give him part of the money.
You see? It seemed too honest to be true.
Elinor hates Mary because she thinks that without her Roddy would come back, and she thinks of killing her, but thoughts and actions are two different things. Truth is, and the big spoiler is about to come, that she did not kill her. She didn't know but Mary was actually Mrs Welman love child, the result of a great love she had for a man that died years ago, in the war I think. If known, she would have inherited, not Elinor. Nurse Hopkins had convinced Mary to make a will leaving all to Mary Riley, sister of Eliza Riley, the woman she thought was her mother. Hopkins was really that same Mary Riley, and she killed Mary planning to reveal the truth on her identity, so to inherit herself all of Mrs Welman's money. If you stop and think about it like Poirot does, you must see the truth because Mary was poisoned with something they ate or drank together. The three women ate the same thing, and only Hopkins and Mary drank the tea. Had the poison been on the food, only Elinor could be guilty, nothing else was possible. What about the tea? Two women drank it and after an hour one was dead, but the other? Shortly afterwards she drank it the nurse is seen as if she wasn't feeling well, but getting slowly better. She had a sign on her arm and she said she hurt herself with the roses' thorns, but later Poirot touches those roses and says nothing. He doesn't hurt himself nor he damages his always impeccable outfit. Why? Because that particular rose has no thorns. So the nurse lied. As you see, if you want to stop and think about it, all the clues are there for you to see as Poirot sees them. That's why I love Agatha's books, and she's my favourite crime-novels writer. She doesn't trick you like others do, like they don't tell you a lot of things and at the end the main character tells you that, I don't know, for example that 'he went there that night because his shoes were all muddy' when the writer never mentioned anything about any shoe, or stuff like that which can of course make a book a pleasant reading, can make a good story and everything, but it's not an honest one, not like Agatha has always been honest with her readers.
This book starts with Elinor already on trial, then there's the big flashback until Mary's death and also explaining Poirot's part in the story. Mrs Welman's doctor Peter Lord is in love with Elinor so he begs Poirot to find something to save her life or else she'll be hanged and Poirot accepts. Peter Lord knows Poirot's reputation because Stillingfleet has told him what Poirot did in the Farley case, when everybody thought it was suicide but he proved it to be murder.. now, I don't remember a Farley case, but wasn't Stillingfeet the doctor in the 'third girl' book? Maybe not, if it was it would be a first, really, that I actually remember something.
I'm glad Elinor was declared innocent, and at the end she wants to start a new life, and Dr Lord is so peaceful and reassuring which is exactly what she needs, and she was impressed when he lied for her in the trial, and yes, she won't love Lord like she loved Roddy, so desperately, but what she needs now in her new life is something different, less desperate :-) and as Poirot says, can't you accept it? She loved Roderick, but why does it matter now when only with you she'll be able to be happy?
I love match-making Poirot :-D
Ita: La parola alla difesa
I'm glad I got it wrong because I suspected Roddy to be simply acting, to be actually evil and to hate Elinor... why? because he seemed too sensitive and simple to be true.
A bit of plot before I explain: Elinor is madly in love with Roddy, he simply likes her dearly. Their aunt is ill and they visit her. Young Mary Gerrard is much loved by their aunt Mrs Welman, and she's beautiful. As soon as Roddy sees her, he falls in love, passionately. When the old woman feels worse, she asks for her lawyer, to be sent for first thing in the morning, to make her will, but she never survived the night. Without a will, the only heir is Elinor. She was engaged to Rodney, but the engagement is broken because he admits his love for Mary and refuses every attempt from Elinor to give him part of the money.
You see? It seemed too honest to be true.
Elinor hates Mary because she thinks that without her Roddy would come back, and she thinks of killing her, but thoughts and actions are two different things. Truth is, and the big spoiler is about to come, that she did not kill her. She didn't know but Mary was actually Mrs Welman love child, the result of a great love she had for a man that died years ago, in the war I think. If known, she would have inherited, not Elinor. Nurse Hopkins had convinced Mary to make a will leaving all to Mary Riley, sister of Eliza Riley, the woman she thought was her mother. Hopkins was really that same Mary Riley, and she killed Mary planning to reveal the truth on her identity, so to inherit herself all of Mrs Welman's money. If you stop and think about it like Poirot does, you must see the truth because Mary was poisoned with something they ate or drank together. The three women ate the same thing, and only Hopkins and Mary drank the tea. Had the poison been on the food, only Elinor could be guilty, nothing else was possible. What about the tea? Two women drank it and after an hour one was dead, but the other? Shortly afterwards she drank it the nurse is seen as if she wasn't feeling well, but getting slowly better. She had a sign on her arm and she said she hurt herself with the roses' thorns, but later Poirot touches those roses and says nothing. He doesn't hurt himself nor he damages his always impeccable outfit. Why? Because that particular rose has no thorns. So the nurse lied. As you see, if you want to stop and think about it, all the clues are there for you to see as Poirot sees them. That's why I love Agatha's books, and she's my favourite crime-novels writer. She doesn't trick you like others do, like they don't tell you a lot of things and at the end the main character tells you that, I don't know, for example that 'he went there that night because his shoes were all muddy' when the writer never mentioned anything about any shoe, or stuff like that which can of course make a book a pleasant reading, can make a good story and everything, but it's not an honest one, not like Agatha has always been honest with her readers.
This book starts with Elinor already on trial, then there's the big flashback until Mary's death and also explaining Poirot's part in the story. Mrs Welman's doctor Peter Lord is in love with Elinor so he begs Poirot to find something to save her life or else she'll be hanged and Poirot accepts. Peter Lord knows Poirot's reputation because Stillingfleet has told him what Poirot did in the Farley case, when everybody thought it was suicide but he proved it to be murder.. now, I don't remember a Farley case, but wasn't Stillingfeet the doctor in the 'third girl' book? Maybe not, if it was it would be a first, really, that I actually remember something.
I'm glad Elinor was declared innocent, and at the end she wants to start a new life, and Dr Lord is so peaceful and reassuring which is exactly what she needs, and she was impressed when he lied for her in the trial, and yes, she won't love Lord like she loved Roddy, so desperately, but what she needs now in her new life is something different, less desperate :-) and as Poirot says, can't you accept it? She loved Roderick, but why does it matter now when only with you she'll be able to be happy?
I love match-making Poirot :-D
Ita: La parola alla difesa
Hallowe'en party by Agatha Christie
A fine book, but a sad one. From the start I had half solution, meaning that I felt a certain woman was guilty, but didn't think of the other murderer until very late in the book.
There is Ariadne Oliver again, calling for Poirot's help because at a children's party a 13 years old girl has been killed. That day poor Joyce had said that she had witnessed a murder years ago, and someone had silenced her forever, so Poirot goes to Woodleigh Common and starts investigating the past. Two years before an old woman died and her au pair girl vanished (ex-superintendent Spence's sister calls her "opera girl" :lol: funny). A man had been stabbed but no arrest was made.
Everyone says Joyce was a chronicle liar and yet she had been killed because of it. Her little brother, who seems to have too much money, is killed too, because instead of talking to Poirot he chose blackmail. Spoilers, future me be warned, if you care. Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe had changed her will leaving all to Olga, the au pair girl, but Olga was accused of having falsified the will and she said she had a friend that would have helped her to tun away, but she didn't. She was killed.
The party was in Rowena Drake's house, because she's so efficient she always organize everything. The murder happened in her library, but the house was open and at least 30 people were there... but she never fooled me, I felt her right away, she sounded so false... well, ok, it may seem ridiculous to say "sounded" because I just read them, but when you read a book you live the story and hear the conversations, so as I was saying, she sounded so false to me I was sure about her being guilty of having killed Joyce and also of taking her mother-in-law's money by making it look like the poor girl Olga was dishonest. She wasn't, but she was in love with Michael Garfield, Drake's lover, so he knew about the will and they killed her. They paid Lesley Ferrier to make another will and presented that one which was of course declared a false and the blame fell on Olga. Then they stabbed Ferrier. Joyce's brother had been spying on people and blackmailing for money, so they killed him too. At the end they understood that liar Joyce had not seen them, but poor innocent Miranda had, and had told her friend all about it. Michael tried to poison her, but once found out he drank the poison and died. Good.
I think Agatha wrote this book in 1969 and it is said in the book that hanging had been banned, no more death even for murderers, which in a book is a pity because Michael and Rowena deserved it. In real life of course it's a good thing, we don't have many Poirot, Columbo or others that always get to the truth, the true truth, and never give up until they find it because they care.
It was sad to read about poor Olga and Joyce, killed because Michael wanted to be so rich as to buy a greek island and make it a garden of Eden, or about a woman able to kill children.
A few light notes: while preparing the party, someone asks Ariadne Oliver to plan a Murder-Hunt, but she goes Never again! I tried once and it didn't go well... or something like that, and I thought it was funny because I've just finished that book, the Dead man's folly, precisely before I took this one amongst all the other books. Funny huh? One of those coincidences that happen.
Ariadne Oliver's passion for apples is much talked about here, but when she sees the girl she starts hating them: she eats dates instead; there's a young couple leaning on the door of the room where she "needs" to go and she's forced to insist to make them move, and they are all: she saw we wanted to be left alone! People are so selfish, they only think of, they have no consideration for others than themselves.. :-p points of view, right?
Remembering his past, Poirot thinks of a few cases of many years before that he called The labours of Hercules :-)
Conclusion, I knew about Rowena, Joyce and Olga, but had not thought of the Michael and Miranda theme until I saw them together in that garden and she talked about the well...
Ita:Poirot e la strage degli innocenti
There is Ariadne Oliver again, calling for Poirot's help because at a children's party a 13 years old girl has been killed. That day poor Joyce had said that she had witnessed a murder years ago, and someone had silenced her forever, so Poirot goes to Woodleigh Common and starts investigating the past. Two years before an old woman died and her au pair girl vanished (ex-superintendent Spence's sister calls her "opera girl" :lol: funny). A man had been stabbed but no arrest was made.
Everyone says Joyce was a chronicle liar and yet she had been killed because of it. Her little brother, who seems to have too much money, is killed too, because instead of talking to Poirot he chose blackmail. Spoilers, future me be warned, if you care. Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe had changed her will leaving all to Olga, the au pair girl, but Olga was accused of having falsified the will and she said she had a friend that would have helped her to tun away, but she didn't. She was killed.
The party was in Rowena Drake's house, because she's so efficient she always organize everything. The murder happened in her library, but the house was open and at least 30 people were there... but she never fooled me, I felt her right away, she sounded so false... well, ok, it may seem ridiculous to say "sounded" because I just read them, but when you read a book you live the story and hear the conversations, so as I was saying, she sounded so false to me I was sure about her being guilty of having killed Joyce and also of taking her mother-in-law's money by making it look like the poor girl Olga was dishonest. She wasn't, but she was in love with Michael Garfield, Drake's lover, so he knew about the will and they killed her. They paid Lesley Ferrier to make another will and presented that one which was of course declared a false and the blame fell on Olga. Then they stabbed Ferrier. Joyce's brother had been spying on people and blackmailing for money, so they killed him too. At the end they understood that liar Joyce had not seen them, but poor innocent Miranda had, and had told her friend all about it. Michael tried to poison her, but once found out he drank the poison and died. Good.
I think Agatha wrote this book in 1969 and it is said in the book that hanging had been banned, no more death even for murderers, which in a book is a pity because Michael and Rowena deserved it. In real life of course it's a good thing, we don't have many Poirot, Columbo or others that always get to the truth, the true truth, and never give up until they find it because they care.
It was sad to read about poor Olga and Joyce, killed because Michael wanted to be so rich as to buy a greek island and make it a garden of Eden, or about a woman able to kill children.
A few light notes: while preparing the party, someone asks Ariadne Oliver to plan a Murder-Hunt, but she goes Never again! I tried once and it didn't go well... or something like that, and I thought it was funny because I've just finished that book, the Dead man's folly, precisely before I took this one amongst all the other books. Funny huh? One of those coincidences that happen.
Ariadne Oliver's passion for apples is much talked about here, but when she sees the girl she starts hating them: she eats dates instead; there's a young couple leaning on the door of the room where she "needs" to go and she's forced to insist to make them move, and they are all: she saw we wanted to be left alone! People are so selfish, they only think of, they have no consideration for others than themselves.. :-p points of view, right?
Remembering his past, Poirot thinks of a few cases of many years before that he called The labours of Hercules :-)
Conclusion, I knew about Rowena, Joyce and Olga, but had not thought of the Michael and Miranda theme until I saw them together in that garden and she talked about the well...
Ita:Poirot e la strage degli innocenti
martedì 21 luglio 2015
Dead man's folly by Agatha Christie
I liked a lot 3/4 of this book, but I'm not too fond of the ending.
I liked that Poirot was present from the beginning, all the time part of the story :-)
Ariadne Oliver called him "telling" him to go to her immediately, so Poirot rushes out the door and after more than three hours he arrives to the Devonshire. Mrs Oliver is there to plan the story and the clues for a Murder-Hunt, a who-dunnit? around the big Nasse House, and is afraid something bad will really happen, she just senses something wrong and calls Poirot, but when a girl is found strangled, and after four-five weeks the mystery is not yet been solved, he feels very humiliated: he did not prevent it, and he did not solve it... when he can't stand the humiliation a minute longer, he leaves for Devon again, investigates some more and finally gets to the truth.
In a way, I liked to see him in such difficulty :lol: it doesn't often happen :-D
Characters: Nasse House has always been of the Folliat family, but when both her husband and two sons died in the war Mrs Folliat was left without money so she sold the house to sir George Stubbs and his pretty wife Hattie.
He's not a real sir, but seems pretty comfortable around the place. She's pretty but naive, not bright, very beautiful and very showy, with make-up, elegant dresses and big chinese hats. Miss Brewis lives there as his assistant, but contrary to the others she thinks Hattie is a devious woman.
Spoilers now, be warned.
Marlene, the young girl that played the part of the victim in the game, is really found dead, and Lady Stubbs seems to have misteriously disappeared. Poirot is a bit lost, he feels a bit beaten but doesn't give up, of course.
Mrs Folliat, talking about Hattie, says things like You must not believe what she says, and She was a good girl, simple but she would have never hurt anyone. More or less.
There are other characters of course, a married couple, an old man, a young architect and a young, rich, foreign cousin of Hattie that she seemed so afraid of, saying that he's an evil man; only when old Marlene's grandfather is found dead, apparently victim of an accident, Poirot sees finally the truth. Marlene used to spy on people, and get "gifts" from them in exchange for her silence. Her old granddad must have told her something that she tried to use... Poirot understands it all remembering when the old man had said "there will always be the Folliat at Nasse House"... he knew what he was saying because he had recognized in sir George the son of Mrs Folliat that was believed dead while truth is, he deserted and ran away, he married a young italian girl and came back under another name. He married Hattie too, but soon killed her and buried her in the garden, and his real wife played her part but was afraid that Hattie's cousin would see the truth and they staged her disappearance. Marlene knew sir George was actually James Folliat, and talked to him about it, so both she and her grandfather were killed.
As always Agatha's books are honest, it is possible to see the truth, if you want to find it.
I sensed that that place in the garden screamed of corpse-buried-underneath, but had not thought of George and Hattie's double identity. I don't like to stop and think about it, because if I get it too early it ruins the rest of the book. Nevertheless it must be ackknowledged that the clues were there: Hattie's character was a contradiction, she was pure and simple or smart and acting simple? She did not want to see the only man that knew the real Hattie, and liked to wear big hats that covered her expression. If she was not who she said she was, then sir George had to know for sure. What the old man said combined to Mrs Folliat's reticence to speak, make Poirot think of one of the Folliat brothers: one had sunk with his ship, the other was lost in Italy.. but he didn't die. Real Hattie had the money, so Mrs Folliat married her to her son and gave them Nasse House. She loved Hattie, but James was her son, so she could not speak against him; she suffered greatly, but there was nothing she could do, until Poirot revealed the truth, the painful truth.
Ita: La sagra del delitto
I liked that Poirot was present from the beginning, all the time part of the story :-)
Ariadne Oliver called him "telling" him to go to her immediately, so Poirot rushes out the door and after more than three hours he arrives to the Devonshire. Mrs Oliver is there to plan the story and the clues for a Murder-Hunt, a who-dunnit? around the big Nasse House, and is afraid something bad will really happen, she just senses something wrong and calls Poirot, but when a girl is found strangled, and after four-five weeks the mystery is not yet been solved, he feels very humiliated: he did not prevent it, and he did not solve it... when he can't stand the humiliation a minute longer, he leaves for Devon again, investigates some more and finally gets to the truth.
In a way, I liked to see him in such difficulty :lol: it doesn't often happen :-D
Characters: Nasse House has always been of the Folliat family, but when both her husband and two sons died in the war Mrs Folliat was left without money so she sold the house to sir George Stubbs and his pretty wife Hattie.
He's not a real sir, but seems pretty comfortable around the place. She's pretty but naive, not bright, very beautiful and very showy, with make-up, elegant dresses and big chinese hats. Miss Brewis lives there as his assistant, but contrary to the others she thinks Hattie is a devious woman.
Spoilers now, be warned.
Marlene, the young girl that played the part of the victim in the game, is really found dead, and Lady Stubbs seems to have misteriously disappeared. Poirot is a bit lost, he feels a bit beaten but doesn't give up, of course.
Mrs Folliat, talking about Hattie, says things like You must not believe what she says, and She was a good girl, simple but she would have never hurt anyone. More or less.
There are other characters of course, a married couple, an old man, a young architect and a young, rich, foreign cousin of Hattie that she seemed so afraid of, saying that he's an evil man; only when old Marlene's grandfather is found dead, apparently victim of an accident, Poirot sees finally the truth. Marlene used to spy on people, and get "gifts" from them in exchange for her silence. Her old granddad must have told her something that she tried to use... Poirot understands it all remembering when the old man had said "there will always be the Folliat at Nasse House"... he knew what he was saying because he had recognized in sir George the son of Mrs Folliat that was believed dead while truth is, he deserted and ran away, he married a young italian girl and came back under another name. He married Hattie too, but soon killed her and buried her in the garden, and his real wife played her part but was afraid that Hattie's cousin would see the truth and they staged her disappearance. Marlene knew sir George was actually James Folliat, and talked to him about it, so both she and her grandfather were killed.
As always Agatha's books are honest, it is possible to see the truth, if you want to find it.
I sensed that that place in the garden screamed of corpse-buried-underneath, but had not thought of George and Hattie's double identity. I don't like to stop and think about it, because if I get it too early it ruins the rest of the book. Nevertheless it must be ackknowledged that the clues were there: Hattie's character was a contradiction, she was pure and simple or smart and acting simple? She did not want to see the only man that knew the real Hattie, and liked to wear big hats that covered her expression. If she was not who she said she was, then sir George had to know for sure. What the old man said combined to Mrs Folliat's reticence to speak, make Poirot think of one of the Folliat brothers: one had sunk with his ship, the other was lost in Italy.. but he didn't die. Real Hattie had the money, so Mrs Folliat married her to her son and gave them Nasse House. She loved Hattie, but James was her son, so she could not speak against him; she suffered greatly, but there was nothing she could do, until Poirot revealed the truth, the painful truth.
Ita: La sagra del delitto
Fried green tomatoes - 1991
A film that will make you cry, indeed. I'm still drying my eyes...
It has two storylines: one now (well, now in 1991) with housewife Evelyn (Kathy Bates) who meet 83 years old Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy). Ninny will tell her a big story that happened a long time ago . The other starts like 70 years ago and it's the story told by Ninny: when Idgie was little her beloved brother died. Growing up Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) seemed kind of out of control, so her mother asked Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker) to help her. To do so, Ruth gets to know her, and they become great friends. At the end of that summer Ruth gets married, and they don't see each other for a long time, but her husband Frank Bennett is a pathetic bastard who beats her, so Idgie takes Ruth home with her with the help of Big George (Stan Shaw). Together they open a nice café near the train station (where they make the fried green tomatoes of the title).
Idgie's friend Grady is worried because the kkk may not like that they work with and serve black people in the café. Ruth has her baby, and one night we see the kind of people that hides behind those hoods: Frank is one of them. He comes to Ruth's house to get her and their baby back, but at the end he goes away. He'll come back, though, at night and with a rifle, to steal his baby. Ruth is not there, just Sipsey who hits him on the head with a frying pan to stop him. When Idgie is informed, she knows they can't tell the truth because either in Alabama where they are or in Georgia where Bennet was from, the word of a black woman has no value. When a cop from Georgia will decide to charge Idgie and George with his murder, she will stay and face the trial to not leave George and Sipsey alone. Thanks to the reverend that lied for her the judge dismissed the case ( well, he had sworn on Moby Dick, not on the Bible, after all...)
However a few years later Ruth got sick and died, then the train stopped passing through there and therefore the café was closed.
At the end it is clearly implied that Ninny is actually Idgie, so we know that she got married and had a son. Now that she's alone and with no house, Evelyn insists to have her stay at her own house. Evelyn's grown so fond of Ninny she wants to take care of her now.
I love the friendship between Idgie and Ruth, so precious and strong, a real friendship that changed their lives. I also like that Ninny says friendship is the most important thing in the world. Wow, finally a movie giving friendship the right importance, there's not so many.
A friendship like the one Ruth and Idgie had is so precious and rare, I think most people don't realize how rare it is. For those who have it, I hope they understand how precious it is.
Their love was so touching, I cried when Ruth died; I wanted the two of them to be friends forever. One day Idgie would have married someone anyway, probably... well maybe... actually she was so happy as she was maybe she wouldn't have. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It was very sad but also very good. Touching.
Only thing I didn't like: the explanation of how they managed to make the body disappear. Apparently they barbecued him, for everyone to eat, and nobody noticed because the secret is in the sauce... and they laughed... is it funny? I couldn't avoid seeing a lot of problems with what they wanted to pass as the easiest solution. What did they do with all the... ehm.. the waste and with the head... I didn't like this.
It has two storylines: one now (well, now in 1991) with housewife Evelyn (Kathy Bates) who meet 83 years old Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy). Ninny will tell her a big story that happened a long time ago . The other starts like 70 years ago and it's the story told by Ninny: when Idgie was little her beloved brother died. Growing up Idgie (Mary Stuart Masterson) seemed kind of out of control, so her mother asked Ruth (Mary-Louise Parker) to help her. To do so, Ruth gets to know her, and they become great friends. At the end of that summer Ruth gets married, and they don't see each other for a long time, but her husband Frank Bennett is a pathetic bastard who beats her, so Idgie takes Ruth home with her with the help of Big George (Stan Shaw). Together they open a nice café near the train station (where they make the fried green tomatoes of the title).
Idgie's friend Grady is worried because the kkk may not like that they work with and serve black people in the café. Ruth has her baby, and one night we see the kind of people that hides behind those hoods: Frank is one of them. He comes to Ruth's house to get her and their baby back, but at the end he goes away. He'll come back, though, at night and with a rifle, to steal his baby. Ruth is not there, just Sipsey who hits him on the head with a frying pan to stop him. When Idgie is informed, she knows they can't tell the truth because either in Alabama where they are or in Georgia where Bennet was from, the word of a black woman has no value. When a cop from Georgia will decide to charge Idgie and George with his murder, she will stay and face the trial to not leave George and Sipsey alone. Thanks to the reverend that lied for her the judge dismissed the case ( well, he had sworn on Moby Dick, not on the Bible, after all...)
However a few years later Ruth got sick and died, then the train stopped passing through there and therefore the café was closed.
At the end it is clearly implied that Ninny is actually Idgie, so we know that she got married and had a son. Now that she's alone and with no house, Evelyn insists to have her stay at her own house. Evelyn's grown so fond of Ninny she wants to take care of her now.
I love the friendship between Idgie and Ruth, so precious and strong, a real friendship that changed their lives. I also like that Ninny says friendship is the most important thing in the world. Wow, finally a movie giving friendship the right importance, there's not so many.
A friendship like the one Ruth and Idgie had is so precious and rare, I think most people don't realize how rare it is. For those who have it, I hope they understand how precious it is.
Their love was so touching, I cried when Ruth died; I wanted the two of them to be friends forever. One day Idgie would have married someone anyway, probably... well maybe... actually she was so happy as she was maybe she wouldn't have. Anyway, it doesn't matter. It was very sad but also very good. Touching.
Only thing I didn't like: the explanation of how they managed to make the body disappear. Apparently they barbecued him, for everyone to eat, and nobody noticed because the secret is in the sauce... and they laughed... is it funny? I couldn't avoid seeing a lot of problems with what they wanted to pass as the easiest solution. What did they do with all the... ehm.. the waste and with the head... I didn't like this.
Wallace & Gromit - The curse of the were rabbit
I liked a lot the first half, much much less the second. The beginning was really cute, presenting Wallace the inventor and his big dog Gromit, showing their activity of rabbit-busters :lol, and also how Gromit is much more than a simple dog, he is the sane mind in the house! Then Wallace does an experiment: he wants to brainwash the rabbits so to change their diet and make them no more a threat for the town-people's precious vegetables. Something goes wrong, he and a rabbit get attached head to head and after Gromit separates them they start to show worrying signs: the rabbit has a craving for cheese, while Wallace phisically transforms into a giant rabbit and starts destroying people's veggies. From here on I liked it less, it was ... well, too absurd, really too much for me. When Gromit flew into that toy plane it was such a long scene! I liked the bit when the two dogs fighting stopped to put coins in it, though :-) but the rest was boring. Of course there had to be a bad guy, it must be some kind of rule, so here we have Victor, that wanted to marry Lady Tottington until she realized his real temper : he's a hunter and wants to shoot dead the little creatures, instead of simply catching them like Wallace does. Victor wants to shoot the were-rabbit too, even knowing that it's really Wallace, but Gromit will save him. Obviously.
Endless night by Agatha Christie
A good book, I liked it a lot. It's a bit unusual, in a way. The story is told in the first person by Michael Rogers, telling us about his many little jobs and his dreams that one day he would have found something special and someone special. How he used to dream to have enough money to have his architect friend Santonix build the house of his dreams. One day he met Fenella "Ellie" Guteman, they started to see each other and when she reached 21 she married him in secret, so that her family could do nothing about it. Ellie was one of the richest persons in America, and her only relatives were a stepmother, a cousin and her father's brother-in-law: all the others were dead.
Mike and Ellie have their house built and it's beautiful, they love it. A dear friend of Ellie comes to stay with them: Greta Andersen, a beautiful girl and very efficient: Ellie's only friend. Mike doesn't see a lot his wife's relatives, and only saw a couple of times the men that worked for her: banker Stanford Lloyd and lawyer Andrew Lippincott, that had been her tutor and financial administrator for years, and was very fond of her.
I liked this Mr Lippincott, much much more than I liked Mike himself. I did not like him, his choice of lifestyle, the way he thought about work and women.. then he strongly opposed the idea that Ellie should ever meet his mother, and was angry when she secretly did it, and never told him. From that moment, not only I disliked him, but I started to be very suspicious. He didn't like the way his mother looked at him, as if she knew him, really knew him, while I didn't like how easily he used the money he now had, never thinking "this is Ellie's money".
My book has 193 pages, and at page 141 she's found dead, her horse near her. No clear cause of death, maybe she had a weak heart? Nobody knew.
As usual I never stop to think about the mystery, so I didn't know the "how", but the "who" was different, I had a strong feeling against Mike.
More pages about him and Greta dealing with the funeral, the hearing and the documents, since Mike is Ellie's heir, then he says he'll marry Greta and keep living in that same house... he comes back and sees Ellie where he first saw her that day, his mind playing tricks on him.
At home with Greta, he feels like he has no more plans, no more dreams, that house and Greta were what he wanted so strongly.. but he also thinks about Ellie, sweet innocent Ellie that loved him so much. He could have been happy with her; he reveals that he has killed twice before, when he was a kid to get his friend's valuable watch and later on to steal a friend's money. Now he had poisoned Ellie to get her money. All of a sudden he feels the urge to really feel what murder someone feels like and strangles Greta. He stays there until people arrive and simply confesses everything. There is nothing more for him, now. He asks for pen and paper and writes his story, this story.
More than a mystery novel this is a psychological story of a deranged mind slowly losing it.
I liked it.
ITA Nella mia fine è il mio principio
Mike and Ellie have their house built and it's beautiful, they love it. A dear friend of Ellie comes to stay with them: Greta Andersen, a beautiful girl and very efficient: Ellie's only friend. Mike doesn't see a lot his wife's relatives, and only saw a couple of times the men that worked for her: banker Stanford Lloyd and lawyer Andrew Lippincott, that had been her tutor and financial administrator for years, and was very fond of her.
I liked this Mr Lippincott, much much more than I liked Mike himself. I did not like him, his choice of lifestyle, the way he thought about work and women.. then he strongly opposed the idea that Ellie should ever meet his mother, and was angry when she secretly did it, and never told him. From that moment, not only I disliked him, but I started to be very suspicious. He didn't like the way his mother looked at him, as if she knew him, really knew him, while I didn't like how easily he used the money he now had, never thinking "this is Ellie's money".
My book has 193 pages, and at page 141 she's found dead, her horse near her. No clear cause of death, maybe she had a weak heart? Nobody knew.
As usual I never stop to think about the mystery, so I didn't know the "how", but the "who" was different, I had a strong feeling against Mike.
More pages about him and Greta dealing with the funeral, the hearing and the documents, since Mike is Ellie's heir, then he says he'll marry Greta and keep living in that same house... he comes back and sees Ellie where he first saw her that day, his mind playing tricks on him.
At home with Greta, he feels like he has no more plans, no more dreams, that house and Greta were what he wanted so strongly.. but he also thinks about Ellie, sweet innocent Ellie that loved him so much. He could have been happy with her; he reveals that he has killed twice before, when he was a kid to get his friend's valuable watch and later on to steal a friend's money. Now he had poisoned Ellie to get her money. All of a sudden he feels the urge to really feel what murder someone feels like and strangles Greta. He stays there until people arrive and simply confesses everything. There is nothing more for him, now. He asks for pen and paper and writes his story, this story.
More than a mystery novel this is a psychological story of a deranged mind slowly losing it.
I liked it.
ITA Nella mia fine è il mio principio
Planetoid 127 by Edgar Wallace
A short story, kind of boring sometimes but fascinating in a way.
A science-fiction story with a bit of mystery. The story is: young Tim Lensman visits his old professor Colson, and is very surprised when he tells him he wants him to be his successor in his work. Colson is very rich, over the years he has gained money over money playing the market as if he could know the future. Now Hildreth, a very wealthy con-man, is angry at hi because he can't get control of Colson's source of news. Hildreth tries to buy Colson, then threatens him, then sends a thief that kills Colson, than tries again to find Colson's manuscript with all the explanations, but this time Tim manages to get it back, and can read it. Colson had found a new planet and a way to communicate with it, but Tim knows now that it is lost forever because both the Colson in this and in that world are dead. This Neo is a planet just like Earth, same size, more or less same people and same events, with the same orbit around the sun. More precisely, around our sun. Planet Neo is invisible to us because it's exactly behind the sun, moving as Earth moves, so that they can never be visible to each other, with the sun always between them.
It was published in 1924, I read, and I guess the world was so different back then, but it is still a fascinating idea, in a nice, simple, very little short story. :-)
A science-fiction story with a bit of mystery. The story is: young Tim Lensman visits his old professor Colson, and is very surprised when he tells him he wants him to be his successor in his work. Colson is very rich, over the years he has gained money over money playing the market as if he could know the future. Now Hildreth, a very wealthy con-man, is angry at hi because he can't get control of Colson's source of news. Hildreth tries to buy Colson, then threatens him, then sends a thief that kills Colson, than tries again to find Colson's manuscript with all the explanations, but this time Tim manages to get it back, and can read it. Colson had found a new planet and a way to communicate with it, but Tim knows now that it is lost forever because both the Colson in this and in that world are dead. This Neo is a planet just like Earth, same size, more or less same people and same events, with the same orbit around the sun. More precisely, around our sun. Planet Neo is invisible to us because it's exactly behind the sun, moving as Earth moves, so that they can never be visible to each other, with the sun always between them.
It was published in 1924, I read, and I guess the world was so different back then, but it is still a fascinating idea, in a nice, simple, very little short story. :-)
The golden hades by Edgar Wallace
Nothing special, but a pleasant reading, with captivating characters. The title refers to the cult at the centre of the story, and its symbol put on money that cause trouble to whoever comes in contact with it, once even death. Investigating this case are chief of police Flint, and detectives Wilbur Smith and Peter Correlly. I liked these two men a lot.
To the story: very rich professor Cavan is really an English con-man who calls himself Rosie, who uses his intellect to fraud people. We're in New York and banker George Bertram is very, very, very rich, and the perfect victim. Rosie convinces Bertram that the God Hades speaks to him and wants him to use his money to help poor people in need... and Bertram believes it all, his faith is unshakable, not even his beloved daughter Jane can bring him back to reason. Bertram hides money in a book he sends back to the book shop, or throws it in the air, or whatever he's told to do by the "God". Giving voice to the statue of Hades was Tom Scatwell, the evil mastermind. Together with Sam Featherstone the three men planned to take from Bertram all his money... but they weren't real professionists, just thugs. When a woman bought the book with the money Tom killed her to get it, after having almost destroyed the bookshop to find it. They beated Wilbur Smith almost to death and abducted his friend the actor Frank Alwin. Basically, they were a real disaster: what use is a con if you use all this violence??
The end was almost pathetic: Tom sees a worker that only speaks Italian who resembles Peter Correlly so much he has the idea of using him to lure Jane into a trap and convince her to marry him. Rosie and Sam escape with all of Tom's money, while he risks again: he goes to Jane saying: you can't have me arrested or you and your father will be involved in a homocide case, but if you marry me, so that you won't be able to testify against me, I will declare here and now in front of Correlly himself that you two have nothing to do with it.
Of course Tom thinks the man with him is poor Italian worker Giuseppe Gatti, and in front of him he confesses dMrs Laste's murder, Mr Alwin's abduction and Wilbur's aggression, sure as he is that "Giuseppe" doesn't know a word of English. Surprise surprise (only for Tom, not for the reader) it was Peter all along, undercover... Tom then tries to escape but both Smith and Alwin, hidden nearby, shoot him dead. Happy ending for Peter and Jane, the happy couple that has fallen in love :-)
So cute, those two. :-)
Well , the story is what it is, but after all it was written in 1919, or 1929 according to wiki, and religious cults were a much bigger story then, probably. Anyway it's a very pleasant reading and I like Peter very much.
To the story: very rich professor Cavan is really an English con-man who calls himself Rosie, who uses his intellect to fraud people. We're in New York and banker George Bertram is very, very, very rich, and the perfect victim. Rosie convinces Bertram that the God Hades speaks to him and wants him to use his money to help poor people in need... and Bertram believes it all, his faith is unshakable, not even his beloved daughter Jane can bring him back to reason. Bertram hides money in a book he sends back to the book shop, or throws it in the air, or whatever he's told to do by the "God". Giving voice to the statue of Hades was Tom Scatwell, the evil mastermind. Together with Sam Featherstone the three men planned to take from Bertram all his money... but they weren't real professionists, just thugs. When a woman bought the book with the money Tom killed her to get it, after having almost destroyed the bookshop to find it. They beated Wilbur Smith almost to death and abducted his friend the actor Frank Alwin. Basically, they were a real disaster: what use is a con if you use all this violence??
The end was almost pathetic: Tom sees a worker that only speaks Italian who resembles Peter Correlly so much he has the idea of using him to lure Jane into a trap and convince her to marry him. Rosie and Sam escape with all of Tom's money, while he risks again: he goes to Jane saying: you can't have me arrested or you and your father will be involved in a homocide case, but if you marry me, so that you won't be able to testify against me, I will declare here and now in front of Correlly himself that you two have nothing to do with it.
Of course Tom thinks the man with him is poor Italian worker Giuseppe Gatti, and in front of him he confesses dMrs Laste's murder, Mr Alwin's abduction and Wilbur's aggression, sure as he is that "Giuseppe" doesn't know a word of English. Surprise surprise (only for Tom, not for the reader) it was Peter all along, undercover... Tom then tries to escape but both Smith and Alwin, hidden nearby, shoot him dead. Happy ending for Peter and Jane, the happy couple that has fallen in love :-)
So cute, those two. :-)
Well , the story is what it is, but after all it was written in 1919, or 1929 according to wiki, and religious cults were a much bigger story then, probably. Anyway it's a very pleasant reading and I like Peter very much.
Nemesis by Agatha Christie
Very well written, of course, and very interesting, but there are a couple of things in my mind.
Well, first, the book. Miss Marple is given a mission by Jason Rafiel, a man she had known a year before and now dead, via his lawyers Broadribb & Schuster. He asks her to bring justice in a homocide case, without giving any more details. She accepts, and later finds that before dying he had planned everything. She goes on a trip that he had paid for her, then after two or three days they stop at Jocelyn St. Mary and she's approached by Lavinia Glynne, a woman living nearby . Mr Rafiel had asked her to have Miss Marple stay in her house, and of course Miss Marple accepts, considering it the logical next step to find out what Mr Rafiel wanted her to know. Lavinia lives with her two sisters, Anthea and Clotilde Bradbury-Scott. Miss Marple learns from ex-teacher Elizabeth Temple that a girl had died there, a few years ago. Verity Hunt was about to marry Michael Rafiel, Mr Rafiel's son, but they never did because she died. What was the cause? "Love" says Miss Temple "one of the most dangerous feelings". Later Miss Marple learns the whole story from the sisters' maid: Verity had lived there for some time, since her parents had died in an accident, and Miss Clotilde loved her very much. She was killed by Michael Rafiel, and Clotilde was never the same since the day she went to identify her body: her face had been beaten so to make it hard to recognize her. Then Miss Temple dies when someone moves a big rock so that it would fall on her. At the funeral Miss Marple speaks to an old priest, a friend of Miss Temple. He recalls Verity's story and remembers that she wanted to marry Michael, and that they both looked very much in love. Miss Marple also learns that at the same time another girl had disappeared, and her body had never been found. She understands the truth and reveals that Clotilde had killed Verity Hunt to avoid her leaving with Michael, she could not lose Verity, so she gave her some poison, or sleeping pills, or something, and then buried her in the garden. Clotilde had also killed Nora Broad, she had strangled her and then had ruined her face, so when she was found days later Clotilde could identify her as Verity. Clotilde had also killed Miss Temple to avoid her finding out the truth.
Now, things I like: how well it is written, the fact that Miss Marple thinks of the Bertram Hotel with a sigh :-) and that while chatting she tells her companion that once a friend of hers found the body of a girl in his library :lol:
I like when they remember other books, because after all if the characters are the same, they should keep it all in their memory...
The book also talks of Mr Rafiel and Miss Marple being allied in a case at the Caribbean, where they saved a life together. I don't remember about this, but I seem to remember there is a book with Miss Marple at the Caribbeans, I need to read it again.
Here it is said that Mr Rafiel's secretary, Esther Walters, in now married and happy as Mrs Anderson.
Elizabeth Temple mentions a friend they have in common: Henry Clithering: I don't remember this name, could it be the Lord Henry policeman that so admired Miss Marple?
Now, things I don't like: the fact that I got to the truth quite early, both the identity of the murderer and the garden burial, as well as the obsessive-love motive, but most of all the fact that, if you think about it, Miss Marple didn't do all that much..there's Miss Cook to consider! The woman she had seen at St Mary Mead with the name of Miss Bartlett, said to be a guest at Mrs Hastings' house. The two women were now Miss Marple's companions in her trip, but with the names Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow. Only at the end Miss Marple realizes that they're there to protect her, two private detectives, her two guardian angels paid by Mr Rafiel to watch over her :-) I loved that they were two women!
Anyway, it is Miss Cooke who prevents Miss Marple from drinking her cup of coffee, given to her by Clotilde. Miss Cooke insists, blinking her eye (or however it is said) to make her understand that she means it, that it would really be better not to drink it. So what? Miss Cooke knew about Clotilde, then? It wasn't Miss Marple's big discovery after all?
Well, anyway it was a nice scene when the little old lady sat on the bed, at night, with her pink scarf, telling Clotilde that one of her names is Nemesis, and that she's not afraid that Clotilde might kill her too because she has two guardian angels...
A thing I totally did not like was how it was repeatedly said that Michael's rape charges were not to be taken too seriously because some girls ask for it than say that to their parents to come out clean, or something like that. I hated that, to generalize like that, that's a crime in itself, I hate talks like that.
I noted though that two men said those hideous words, a doctor and a lawyer, but a woman said that judges are too clement towards these crimes, too benevolent towards the boys and the possibility to ruin their reputation.
I hate these things because even nowadays I think this kind of violence is not considered as it should be. Things are slowly changing, but so slowly. It was once talked about as if it was little more than sex, but it's not, it's torture, and like that it should be treated. Torture, I say, and I stand by it.
ITA Miss Marple : nemesi
Well, first, the book. Miss Marple is given a mission by Jason Rafiel, a man she had known a year before and now dead, via his lawyers Broadribb & Schuster. He asks her to bring justice in a homocide case, without giving any more details. She accepts, and later finds that before dying he had planned everything. She goes on a trip that he had paid for her, then after two or three days they stop at Jocelyn St. Mary and she's approached by Lavinia Glynne, a woman living nearby . Mr Rafiel had asked her to have Miss Marple stay in her house, and of course Miss Marple accepts, considering it the logical next step to find out what Mr Rafiel wanted her to know. Lavinia lives with her two sisters, Anthea and Clotilde Bradbury-Scott. Miss Marple learns from ex-teacher Elizabeth Temple that a girl had died there, a few years ago. Verity Hunt was about to marry Michael Rafiel, Mr Rafiel's son, but they never did because she died. What was the cause? "Love" says Miss Temple "one of the most dangerous feelings". Later Miss Marple learns the whole story from the sisters' maid: Verity had lived there for some time, since her parents had died in an accident, and Miss Clotilde loved her very much. She was killed by Michael Rafiel, and Clotilde was never the same since the day she went to identify her body: her face had been beaten so to make it hard to recognize her. Then Miss Temple dies when someone moves a big rock so that it would fall on her. At the funeral Miss Marple speaks to an old priest, a friend of Miss Temple. He recalls Verity's story and remembers that she wanted to marry Michael, and that they both looked very much in love. Miss Marple also learns that at the same time another girl had disappeared, and her body had never been found. She understands the truth and reveals that Clotilde had killed Verity Hunt to avoid her leaving with Michael, she could not lose Verity, so she gave her some poison, or sleeping pills, or something, and then buried her in the garden. Clotilde had also killed Nora Broad, she had strangled her and then had ruined her face, so when she was found days later Clotilde could identify her as Verity. Clotilde had also killed Miss Temple to avoid her finding out the truth.
Now, things I like: how well it is written, the fact that Miss Marple thinks of the Bertram Hotel with a sigh :-) and that while chatting she tells her companion that once a friend of hers found the body of a girl in his library :lol:
I like when they remember other books, because after all if the characters are the same, they should keep it all in their memory...
The book also talks of Mr Rafiel and Miss Marple being allied in a case at the Caribbean, where they saved a life together. I don't remember about this, but I seem to remember there is a book with Miss Marple at the Caribbeans, I need to read it again.
Here it is said that Mr Rafiel's secretary, Esther Walters, in now married and happy as Mrs Anderson.
Elizabeth Temple mentions a friend they have in common: Henry Clithering: I don't remember this name, could it be the Lord Henry policeman that so admired Miss Marple?
Now, things I don't like: the fact that I got to the truth quite early, both the identity of the murderer and the garden burial, as well as the obsessive-love motive, but most of all the fact that, if you think about it, Miss Marple didn't do all that much..there's Miss Cook to consider! The woman she had seen at St Mary Mead with the name of Miss Bartlett, said to be a guest at Mrs Hastings' house. The two women were now Miss Marple's companions in her trip, but with the names Miss Cooke and Miss Barrow. Only at the end Miss Marple realizes that they're there to protect her, two private detectives, her two guardian angels paid by Mr Rafiel to watch over her :-) I loved that they were two women!
Anyway, it is Miss Cooke who prevents Miss Marple from drinking her cup of coffee, given to her by Clotilde. Miss Cooke insists, blinking her eye (or however it is said) to make her understand that she means it, that it would really be better not to drink it. So what? Miss Cooke knew about Clotilde, then? It wasn't Miss Marple's big discovery after all?
Well, anyway it was a nice scene when the little old lady sat on the bed, at night, with her pink scarf, telling Clotilde that one of her names is Nemesis, and that she's not afraid that Clotilde might kill her too because she has two guardian angels...
A thing I totally did not like was how it was repeatedly said that Michael's rape charges were not to be taken too seriously because some girls ask for it than say that to their parents to come out clean, or something like that. I hated that, to generalize like that, that's a crime in itself, I hate talks like that.
I noted though that two men said those hideous words, a doctor and a lawyer, but a woman said that judges are too clement towards these crimes, too benevolent towards the boys and the possibility to ruin their reputation.
I hate these things because even nowadays I think this kind of violence is not considered as it should be. Things are slowly changing, but so slowly. It was once talked about as if it was little more than sex, but it's not, it's torture, and like that it should be treated. Torture, I say, and I stand by it.
ITA Miss Marple : nemesi
lunedì 20 luglio 2015
The joker by Edgar Wallace
A nice enough book, although the final switch didn't really appeal to me. It's the story of Scotland Yard's inspector Jim Carlton and his pursue of millionaire and philanthropist Stratford Harlow, too rich and powerful to be honest. Other characters are inspector Elk, who works with Carlton; Saul Marling, a man who took care of Harlow's education when he was young; Mr Ellenbury, a lawyer working for Harlow, totally slave to his comands; Aileen Rivers, a pretty girl with a bizarre sense of humour and her uncle Arthur Ingle, recently released from the Dartmoor prison.
The whole time Carlton tries to keep the pace to figure out Harlow's plans, but Harlow's too smart and too used to his tricks to be easily caught. Towards the end, we see Ellenbury intending to leave the country with a lot of money, Harlow's money, when Aileen knocks at his door. She has been sent by her employer to bring a letter to him and then one to Mr Harlow. Ellenbury feels trapped now, and plans to kill the poor girl, but she's saved by Harlow himself.
In Harlow's house also lived Mr Marling, locked in there but very well taken care of.
After saving Aileen, Harlow asks her to stay hidden in his house for one day, to give him some time to escape. She does so, voluntarily, because she likes him and because, well, he did save her life!
Since she disappeared Carlton was out of his mind worried about her, but he finally found her safe and sound in Harlow's house. Because of his very bizarre sense of humour, Harlow instead of being too angry and vengeful gives Ellenbury a bag of money and sends him abroad, with his word that he won't try to kill anyone else *rollingeyes*
Harlow then hides inside another apartment among the many he has, bringing Marling with him, but Marling escapes and reveals everything to the police: that he is the real Stratford Harlow, and the other man is the real Marling, who switched his identity with him many years ago. He tells of the "joke" to put off balance the markets of the world, having ex-actor Ingle play the part of Sir Joseph Layton, a Minister, so to have him speak in front of the Parliament, saying of a serious crisis between their country and France that could even bring to a war. To do this he had abducted Sir Joseph and had kept him hidden until it was all done. When fake-Harlow/actually-Marling is captured, he goes to the police station cell without a struggle, and Carlton understands why only when it's too late.
Years ago, being extremely wealthy and prevident, he had decided to have a police station built at his only expenses, and then he donated it to the community. This was because he had deviced a secret passage from the cell, so had he ever been arrested he would have had the perfect escape route!
So now he has escaped, and hiding who knows where in the world, no doubt planning others of those little 'jokes' that he likes so much :-)
In the last sentences it is revealed that Carlton has married Aileen, and that she never told him a secret fake-Harlow had confided in her, being sure she would not have betrayed him: she knew about the cell and the way he would have escaped!
Now, it was fun enough to read. I didn't like the final "I'm Harlow, not Marling, and he's Marling, not Harlow" switch, I found it boring, but like Aileen I liked the scoundrel, he was very smart, brilliant. Nobody was killed and the police deduced very little on their own :lol:
The whole time Carlton tries to keep the pace to figure out Harlow's plans, but Harlow's too smart and too used to his tricks to be easily caught. Towards the end, we see Ellenbury intending to leave the country with a lot of money, Harlow's money, when Aileen knocks at his door. She has been sent by her employer to bring a letter to him and then one to Mr Harlow. Ellenbury feels trapped now, and plans to kill the poor girl, but she's saved by Harlow himself.
In Harlow's house also lived Mr Marling, locked in there but very well taken care of.
After saving Aileen, Harlow asks her to stay hidden in his house for one day, to give him some time to escape. She does so, voluntarily, because she likes him and because, well, he did save her life!
Since she disappeared Carlton was out of his mind worried about her, but he finally found her safe and sound in Harlow's house. Because of his very bizarre sense of humour, Harlow instead of being too angry and vengeful gives Ellenbury a bag of money and sends him abroad, with his word that he won't try to kill anyone else *rollingeyes*
Harlow then hides inside another apartment among the many he has, bringing Marling with him, but Marling escapes and reveals everything to the police: that he is the real Stratford Harlow, and the other man is the real Marling, who switched his identity with him many years ago. He tells of the "joke" to put off balance the markets of the world, having ex-actor Ingle play the part of Sir Joseph Layton, a Minister, so to have him speak in front of the Parliament, saying of a serious crisis between their country and France that could even bring to a war. To do this he had abducted Sir Joseph and had kept him hidden until it was all done. When fake-Harlow/actually-Marling is captured, he goes to the police station cell without a struggle, and Carlton understands why only when it's too late.
Years ago, being extremely wealthy and prevident, he had decided to have a police station built at his only expenses, and then he donated it to the community. This was because he had deviced a secret passage from the cell, so had he ever been arrested he would have had the perfect escape route!
So now he has escaped, and hiding who knows where in the world, no doubt planning others of those little 'jokes' that he likes so much :-)
In the last sentences it is revealed that Carlton has married Aileen, and that she never told him a secret fake-Harlow had confided in her, being sure she would not have betrayed him: she knew about the cell and the way he would have escaped!
Now, it was fun enough to read. I didn't like the final "I'm Harlow, not Marling, and he's Marling, not Harlow" switch, I found it boring, but like Aileen I liked the scoundrel, he was very smart, brilliant. Nobody was killed and the police deduced very little on their own :lol:
The man who was nobody by Edgar Wallace
:lol: nice. I think I probably read some Wallace's books when I was very young, but I don't remember anything. I know I was sure he wrote adventurous/mystery novels, when I chose to read something of his and read this book... well, what a surprise, just a bit of adventure, a tiny tiny bit of mystery, but not mysterious at all, I had guessed it all along, and the rest is what I might call a romance novel :-)
It's more Jane Austen than Agatha Christie, if you know what I mean :lol:
Let's see, we have our protagonist, Marjorie Stedman, a good pretty girl working as secretary for the Vance&Vance law firm. Working there she briefly meets Sir James Tynewood, recently married to actress Alma Trebizond. Nothing to like in both of them, I'm afraid. The only nice thing of Alma is the mysterious man following her everywhere: Javot. I liked him.
One night Marjorie brings a message to Tynewood Chase, and incidentally is left there to hear what they say. There's sir James, Dr Fordham and another man, that she had very recently met in the studio: he had told her he was Mr Smith from Pretoria. She hears a shot, and Sir James is on the floor. She is sworn to secrecy, but she's very shaken when she learns that he's dead!
Four years later Marjorie is not working anymore. She lives in a nice house in the country with her mother. Her father died long ago, but she has an uncle in South Africa. He went there and found a gold mine, and since they're his only relatives he's been sending them money. Uncle Solomon Stedman met Pretoria Smith (yes, mr Smith from Pretoria..) four years ago, and Smith saved his life. They became friends and partners in the mine. Smith liked the work, the place, and the man. Solomon would from time to time receive letters from Marjorie or her mother, and is now convinced that the girl is about to marry Lance Kelman. Solomon met Lance when he came to South Africa to see the place, hoping for some well-paid-but-with-nothing-to-do job. Both Solomon and Smith disliked him, of course, as does anyone reading the book: so arrogant and stupid! Now Solomon wants to prevent this marriage at all costs, and he wants to leave his money to someone good, that won't take advantage of Marjorie wealthiness, and insists that Smith must go to England and marry her. Solomon even writes to her that if she won't marry him he'll stop sending her money. She's outraged, and would have refused, had it just been for her. She would have found a job and lived her life, but she can't because she has an annoying, ungrateful, stupid mother who is full of debts. Marjorie is astonished, with all the money that uncle Solomon had sent them! Mrs Stedman has been playing cards with Alma Tynewood, losing everything; so proud to be friends with a "Lady" that she won't even consider the possibility of Alma cheating.
Marjorie hates that woman, and is sure that she cheats, but her mother won't hear a word about it! She's so arrogant and so proud to be a 'dear friend' of Lady Tynewood.. *rollingeyes*
Marjorie is forced to accept the marriage; little by little she changes her opinion about her husband, starts to have trust in him. At first she thought ill of him because of the lies Lance had told her, and because he looked drunk when she saw him and also at their wedding! but later learned that he doesn't drink, he suffers from Malaria and feels that bad if he hasn't taken his medicine.
Alma and Javot live together near their house; relations are not easy, but in the end she'll fail all her plans. It is ultimately revealed that she was already married to Javot when she married 'sir James', and that he was not what she thought. Her 'sir James' was only the stepbrother Norman Garrick, and he died that night, shooting himself. Smith is the real James Tynewood, so Marjorie is now Lady Tynewood of Tynewood Chase.
Alma wants to go back to London, but Javot likes his country life, and they reach a compromise. Their moments together were the only Alma-moments I liked.
That Marjorie and Smith would end up in love with each other was rather obvious, though, and even the 'revelation' that he was the real sir James was not a surprise at all to me. I loved the scene when they first met, and fake-James/Norman came in and she was a bit scared by the tension between the two men and instinctively she moved towards Smith to feel safe :-)
I liked this Smith very much, from beginning to end: nice, sweet, ironic, spontaneous, sarcastic, funny and loyal. I love the ending too, when of course he will stay here, living with her, not going back to Africa, and she wants him to move from his room to hers, to make it theirs, but he seems to not understand what she wants :lol:
-isn't your room very damp?
-no, not noticeably - he said in surprise - I've never seen the slightest vestige of damp
-isn't it awfully uncomfortable?
-most comfortable - he replied - I have never complained
-don't you sometimes feel as if you'd like to get up and make some tea at an electric stove? - (which she had in her room...) - she asked desperately.
"James Tynewood smiled into her eyes and pinched her ear. - Let's" he said.
The end. :-)
It's more Jane Austen than Agatha Christie, if you know what I mean :lol:
Let's see, we have our protagonist, Marjorie Stedman, a good pretty girl working as secretary for the Vance&Vance law firm. Working there she briefly meets Sir James Tynewood, recently married to actress Alma Trebizond. Nothing to like in both of them, I'm afraid. The only nice thing of Alma is the mysterious man following her everywhere: Javot. I liked him.
One night Marjorie brings a message to Tynewood Chase, and incidentally is left there to hear what they say. There's sir James, Dr Fordham and another man, that she had very recently met in the studio: he had told her he was Mr Smith from Pretoria. She hears a shot, and Sir James is on the floor. She is sworn to secrecy, but she's very shaken when she learns that he's dead!
Four years later Marjorie is not working anymore. She lives in a nice house in the country with her mother. Her father died long ago, but she has an uncle in South Africa. He went there and found a gold mine, and since they're his only relatives he's been sending them money. Uncle Solomon Stedman met Pretoria Smith (yes, mr Smith from Pretoria..) four years ago, and Smith saved his life. They became friends and partners in the mine. Smith liked the work, the place, and the man. Solomon would from time to time receive letters from Marjorie or her mother, and is now convinced that the girl is about to marry Lance Kelman. Solomon met Lance when he came to South Africa to see the place, hoping for some well-paid-but-with-nothing-to-do job. Both Solomon and Smith disliked him, of course, as does anyone reading the book: so arrogant and stupid! Now Solomon wants to prevent this marriage at all costs, and he wants to leave his money to someone good, that won't take advantage of Marjorie wealthiness, and insists that Smith must go to England and marry her. Solomon even writes to her that if she won't marry him he'll stop sending her money. She's outraged, and would have refused, had it just been for her. She would have found a job and lived her life, but she can't because she has an annoying, ungrateful, stupid mother who is full of debts. Marjorie is astonished, with all the money that uncle Solomon had sent them! Mrs Stedman has been playing cards with Alma Tynewood, losing everything; so proud to be friends with a "Lady" that she won't even consider the possibility of Alma cheating.
Marjorie hates that woman, and is sure that she cheats, but her mother won't hear a word about it! She's so arrogant and so proud to be a 'dear friend' of Lady Tynewood.. *rollingeyes*
Marjorie is forced to accept the marriage; little by little she changes her opinion about her husband, starts to have trust in him. At first she thought ill of him because of the lies Lance had told her, and because he looked drunk when she saw him and also at their wedding! but later learned that he doesn't drink, he suffers from Malaria and feels that bad if he hasn't taken his medicine.
Alma and Javot live together near their house; relations are not easy, but in the end she'll fail all her plans. It is ultimately revealed that she was already married to Javot when she married 'sir James', and that he was not what she thought. Her 'sir James' was only the stepbrother Norman Garrick, and he died that night, shooting himself. Smith is the real James Tynewood, so Marjorie is now Lady Tynewood of Tynewood Chase.
Alma wants to go back to London, but Javot likes his country life, and they reach a compromise. Their moments together were the only Alma-moments I liked.
That Marjorie and Smith would end up in love with each other was rather obvious, though, and even the 'revelation' that he was the real sir James was not a surprise at all to me. I loved the scene when they first met, and fake-James/Norman came in and she was a bit scared by the tension between the two men and instinctively she moved towards Smith to feel safe :-)
I liked this Smith very much, from beginning to end: nice, sweet, ironic, spontaneous, sarcastic, funny and loyal. I love the ending too, when of course he will stay here, living with her, not going back to Africa, and she wants him to move from his room to hers, to make it theirs, but he seems to not understand what she wants :lol:
-isn't your room very damp?
-no, not noticeably - he said in surprise - I've never seen the slightest vestige of damp
-isn't it awfully uncomfortable?
-most comfortable - he replied - I have never complained
-don't you sometimes feel as if you'd like to get up and make some tea at an electric stove? - (which she had in her room...) - she asked desperately.
"James Tynewood smiled into her eyes and pinched her ear. - Let's" he said.
The end. :-)
Why didn't they ask Evans? by Agatha Christie
A good book, a pleasant read and a nice mystery. Protagonists are two young people, Bobby the vicar's son and his friend Lady Frances Derwent. It all started when Bobby saw a man lying below a cliff. The man is dying and Bobby thinks he must have slipped and fallen down because of the fog. Before dying, his only words are "why didn't they ask Evans?", words that seem meaningless to Bobby that is in a hurry to go away and when a stranger, who introduces himself as Roger Bassington-ffrench, offers to take his place, he gladly accepts. The man is identified by his sister as Alex Pritchard. Everybody accepts it because the dead man had a picture of her in his pocket. Later on, Bobby miraculously survives what he and his friend Frankie think to be a murder attempt: a high dose of morphine in his beer. Frankie insists that the reason must be because Pritchard had been killed, that it had not been an accident at all. The two start investigating the matter, all the more convinced when Bobby realizes that the picture that was found in Pritchard's pocket was not the same picture he had seen while alone with him. Only Bassington-ffrench could have replaced the picture, so they greatly suspect him. They investigate him, and Frankie finds that he's a charming, innocent-looking man living with his brother Henry addicted to morphine, his very nice sister-in-law Sylvia and their son Tommy. Bobby finds out who was the woman of the picture he really saw in the dead man's pocket: Moira Nicholson, the wife of an ambiguous man running a sanatorium nearby. Moira tells him that she's very afraid her husband might kill her, and Bobby believes her and is worried for her. Both Bobby and Frankie change their mind now and think Dr Nicholson is the murderer (because he's neither pretty and helpless, or charming and good-looking..) but later on they are both kidnapped by Roger, and saved only thanks to the fortuitous arrival of Bobby's friend Badger Beadon. Bobby and Frankie are now sure that Pritchard's real name was Alan Carstairs, that he was investigating having great suspicions regarding his friend John Savage's suicide. Savage had been visiting a woman, Mrs Templeton, and feeling bad one day he had made his will and they called a lawyer who had never met him, the house cook and the gardener. We are now around 20 pages until the end of the book, and Frankie asks herself one question: why did they go outside to ask the gardener instead of asking the house maid? Knowing that the house maid was called Evans, they are now where poor Alan was, wondering "why didn't they ask Evans?". Simple, because she knew John Savage and would have known that the man writing his will was not Savage at all, but Roger impersonating him! They arranged his faked will then killed him. Evans is now married and working at Bobby's home! which is why Carstairs was found near it, more or less. They discover that Moira and Mrs Templeton are the same person when she tries to poison them, and she's arrested. Roger, however, had previously managed to escape with Moira's help, and is now living in South-America under a false name. He even writes Frankie a letter confessing everything! The last two pages are very obvious, with Bobby and Frankie getting engaged.
Frankie reminded me of Bundle from 'the seven dials mystery', only much nicer. This book needed to have two young, inexperienced people instead of a real detective, because they fell so easily for every lie. Bobby blindly believed that Moira was a poor, helpless girl in need of help, his help, and Frankie believed Roger's innocence because of his kindness and good manners, going back on their rightful suspicions of him, believing his not-at-all-satisfying explanation about the photograph. A true detective would know that not liking a man is not enough reason to suspect him of murder; Dr Nicholson was exactly who he said he was, but they believed the pretty girl and the charming man.
Many things are still not answered, though. Why did Roger have the picture of his other friend in his pocket, ready to replace it with Moira's? How could Moira find out where Bobby was having his picnic alone, being therefore able to poison his beer while he was sleeping? Why go through all that trouble instead of killing Bobby there and then to prevent him from learning anything? All questions without an answer. If you really want to you can say that Roger had a picture ready because he knew or suspected that Alan had Moira's picture with him probably to show it to Evans, and that Moira simply got lucky, finding Bobby asleep at the right moment... but you must really want to.
The fact that in the end Evans was living at Bobby's vicarage reminded me of The Alchemist book, where the protagonist after his journey finds out that what he had gone looking for was actually back where he started, but the voyage had been the important part ;-)
Ita: Perché non l'hanno chiesto a Evans?
Frankie reminded me of Bundle from 'the seven dials mystery', only much nicer. This book needed to have two young, inexperienced people instead of a real detective, because they fell so easily for every lie. Bobby blindly believed that Moira was a poor, helpless girl in need of help, his help, and Frankie believed Roger's innocence because of his kindness and good manners, going back on their rightful suspicions of him, believing his not-at-all-satisfying explanation about the photograph. A true detective would know that not liking a man is not enough reason to suspect him of murder; Dr Nicholson was exactly who he said he was, but they believed the pretty girl and the charming man.
Many things are still not answered, though. Why did Roger have the picture of his other friend in his pocket, ready to replace it with Moira's? How could Moira find out where Bobby was having his picnic alone, being therefore able to poison his beer while he was sleeping? Why go through all that trouble instead of killing Bobby there and then to prevent him from learning anything? All questions without an answer. If you really want to you can say that Roger had a picture ready because he knew or suspected that Alan had Moira's picture with him probably to show it to Evans, and that Moira simply got lucky, finding Bobby asleep at the right moment... but you must really want to.
The fact that in the end Evans was living at Bobby's vicarage reminded me of The Alchemist book, where the protagonist after his journey finds out that what he had gone looking for was actually back where he started, but the voyage had been the important part ;-)
Ita: Perché non l'hanno chiesto a Evans?
Suspect Zero - 2004
Not really that much, I thing that with other actors I wouldn't have watched it to the end. I stayed because Ben Kingsley portrayed a very interesting madman. There is also Aaron Eckhart, not bad himself, and with wet hair he also looked kinda sexy, which was a nice plus.
Eckhart is Tom Mackelway, an Fbi agent suspended because he assaulted a rapist and in trial, because of this, he walked free (yep, that's the world we live in). Now he's here to work with Rich (Harry Lennix) and Fran ( Carrie-Ann Moss). The fact that Tom and Fran have a past together, and he's still in love with her, is completely useless in the movie.
They start to find bodies killed in the same way, at least three, one of them being the rapist Tom knows so well, and that was actually raping a poor girl when his killer stopped him. Good timing.
Tom is personally involved because this person sends him drawings, faxes, directly to him. Eventually Tom realizes that this Benjamin O'Ryan (Kingsley) is killing serial-killers.
O'Ryan knows what they are because he was in a special program of the Fbi, project Icarus, and he can see them, their actions, with his 'special sight'. Actually he has no choice, he doesn't know how to stop his visions anymore, he's gone mad, and has killed some of them to stop it. Tom shares a bit of that ability, and O'Ryan knows this better than he himself does. When Benjamin gets Tom, and threatens to kill him, Tom is not scared because he's convinced that O'Ryan kills only the guilty. He was right. Benjamin frees him and shows him the 'suspect zero', the ultimate serial killer, that has killed so so many without trace. Tom runs after him, they fight and Tom beats him to death. He can't believe what he has done, and refuses O'Ryan words that they are the same. O'Ryan can't live with all that pain and asks him to kill him, but Tom wouldn't; O'Ryan then pretends to attack him so that Fran would shoot him to save Tom. It's absurd that Fran could really be there in such a short time: he just called her and they appear to be in the middle of nowhere!
She saves the kid that would have been the latest victim, but still manages to find them on time.
Now, the movie has many boring moments in which we just look at Tom being consumed by this obsession and by his headaches, plus many boring-and-unclear moments that represent all the pieces of visions both of them have. Really too much.
Fran was a useless character, that served no real purpose at all. Only things I really liked , here, were cute Aaron and all of Kingsley's scenes.
Eckhart is Tom Mackelway, an Fbi agent suspended because he assaulted a rapist and in trial, because of this, he walked free (yep, that's the world we live in). Now he's here to work with Rich (Harry Lennix) and Fran ( Carrie-Ann Moss). The fact that Tom and Fran have a past together, and he's still in love with her, is completely useless in the movie.
They start to find bodies killed in the same way, at least three, one of them being the rapist Tom knows so well, and that was actually raping a poor girl when his killer stopped him. Good timing.
Tom is personally involved because this person sends him drawings, faxes, directly to him. Eventually Tom realizes that this Benjamin O'Ryan (Kingsley) is killing serial-killers.
O'Ryan knows what they are because he was in a special program of the Fbi, project Icarus, and he can see them, their actions, with his 'special sight'. Actually he has no choice, he doesn't know how to stop his visions anymore, he's gone mad, and has killed some of them to stop it. Tom shares a bit of that ability, and O'Ryan knows this better than he himself does. When Benjamin gets Tom, and threatens to kill him, Tom is not scared because he's convinced that O'Ryan kills only the guilty. He was right. Benjamin frees him and shows him the 'suspect zero', the ultimate serial killer, that has killed so so many without trace. Tom runs after him, they fight and Tom beats him to death. He can't believe what he has done, and refuses O'Ryan words that they are the same. O'Ryan can't live with all that pain and asks him to kill him, but Tom wouldn't; O'Ryan then pretends to attack him so that Fran would shoot him to save Tom. It's absurd that Fran could really be there in such a short time: he just called her and they appear to be in the middle of nowhere!
She saves the kid that would have been the latest victim, but still manages to find them on time.
Now, the movie has many boring moments in which we just look at Tom being consumed by this obsession and by his headaches, plus many boring-and-unclear moments that represent all the pieces of visions both of them have. Really too much.
Fran was a useless character, that served no real purpose at all. Only things I really liked , here, were cute Aaron and all of Kingsley's scenes.
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