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Hello Book Lovers!!!
I've finished Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and enjoyed it but also had some issues with it. I really wanted to read this book as its of course its a classic and it sounded like something that I'd thoroughly enjoy as I'm a fan of murder mystery novels.
If you don't know what this is about I'll give you a brief overview now (with no spoilers). The story is of course set mostly on the Orient Express train and like the title suggests, someone is murdered while on there. The famous detective Hercule Poirot is also on this train so he takes it in his own hands to uncover what happened and who the murderer is.
There ends up being 12 suspects and the number 12 comes into play quite a lot as the story unfolds. There is also another story from the past which involves the person that has been murdered. This ends up being a key lead into finding out why this person has been murdered.
I think this story was clever and kept you guessing however I did have an incline quite early on as to who would be the main suspect in the murder. I did however like the back story of the murdered and how that came into play while finding out what had happened and why it had happened.
I thought the writing was easy to follow however I did find it quite repetitive at times. And I know its a murder mystery so when it comes to collecting evidence of course a lot of interviews were going to take place, however after reading that the suspect was asked to write down their name, age, home address etc. at the beginning of nearly every interview got really repetitive and a little annoying. We knew that this was going to be the beginning of each interview so it didn't really need to be written down each time.
The characters were well developed and each of their stories were told well in terms of their past, their links to the person that was murdered if they did have any links, and whether they had any reason as to why they might murder this person. I didn't however get attached to any of the characters and I felt myself being a bit stand offish with them instead of becoming engrossed in what they had to say.
Other than the repetitive writing, this story was fairly fast paced and because of that it didn't take me too long to read which I expected for some reason that it would. I would recommend this if you're an older reader, I definitely wouldn't recommend it to younger readers for obvious reasons, however it is a story I think everyone should read at some point in their lives to get their opinion on it.
I also watched both of the film adaptations to this story and again enjoyed them but I think the films made it even more obvious (but maybe that's because I'd already read the book). I enjoyed the 1974 adaptation as it has such a classic murder mystery feel to it. Hercule Poirot did get on my nerves a lot though as I just found him to be quite full of himself and although he is a well known detective so obviously knows a thing or two when it comes to uncovering crimes, he came across like he was boasting about this a lot of the time.
In the 2017 adaptation I found Hercule Poirot to be a lot more likable and I didn't find him annoying at all which increased my enjoyment of this film. I did however still find it obvious (again maybe that's because I already knew the outcome) but I did still like how it was brought to life on screen during this adaptation. It felt much more eery which did keep my attention more than I expected it to.
If I was to pick a favourite of the films I do think it would be the 1974 adaptation due to its feel. I really liked the old style murder mystery vibe it gave off whereas the new one although it is based on an old murder mystery novel, just didn't have quite the same feel.
If you've read this story or watched any of the film adaptations I'd love to know your thoughts on it (without spoilers for everyone who hasn't read/watched it) so feel free to leave a comment and I'll speak to you all very soon!
Rating /5
3
Happy Reading!!!
xHannahx
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