Reviews

Giant's Bread by Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie

hjrey's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

We're none of us very happy, are we? 

About: Vernon Deyre has always had an overactive imagination. He believes in the fairytales and wants his life to be one. He wants to write music, to live in his rich, ancestral home, to be married to the women he loves... but he can't have it all. Not without sacrifice, and the cost of each may prove too high.

Thoughts
I love Agatha Christie books but I'm definitely not reading another Mary Westmacott one. Although Giant's Bread does start off interestingly. I liked the mystery of this genius composer and being teased about his unusual life. Then being thrown deep into a child's early years was another interesting beginning. Vernon as a young child were my favourite sections of the story as he was actually likeable in those moments. His parents marriage was complicated, his imagination wild and his friendships deep and meaningful. I could believe this child would grow up to be a genius.

Then he becomes a young man and Vernon stops being a believable character. The way he talks to Nell (who he falls instantly in love with) is infuriating. Gone is the insightful child. He doesn't understand Nell, expects her to give up everything for him time and time again, and never listens to her. When he meets Jane she points out his flaws, especially in relation to Nell, and yet nothing changes. He doesn't grow as a person and Jane ends up falling in love with him too.

And his talent for music just happens one day because things just happen to him. He doesn't have to work at them. He's endlessly encouraged and nurtured but never seems grateful for this, despite it being something he lacked in his childhood. The child Vernon and the adult Vernon are so drastically different that I don't really understand why we're given the childhood years.

The story itself revolves entirely around Vernon, the characters revolve entirely around Vernon, and I hated Vernon. Nell, Jane, Sebastian, Joe... they were all so much more interesting to me. Vernon's entitlement, his blindness to others and ungrateful attitude made his story both infuriating and boring. It's boring to follow a character that continues to make the same mistakes over and over again. His ending is a slap in the face but I suppose it was to prove that the Deyres are 'neither happy or successful. And they can't make good.'

Also Sebastian's descriptions and characterisations were horrendously bad. I liked the character very much and suspect Agatha Christie liked him too, but her stereotyping was relentless. 

ljutavidra's review against another edition

4.0

Vernona Dejra upoznajemo kao dete. Njegovo, na prvi pogled, bezbrižno detinjstvo je sve samo ne to. Jedinu ljubav koju je spoznao je bila od rođake vršnjakinje Džoi i susedskog deteta, Sebastijana. Otac mu je brzo poginuo u Burskom ratu, a majka koja nije puno marila za Vernona, odjednom postaje opsednuta njime i guši ga svojom ljubavlju (koja to zapravo i nije, nego joj ništa drugo u životu nije preostalo).

Vernon, Džoi i Sebastijan odrastaju i svako kreće nekim svojim putem. Životi im se i dalje prepliću, ali nerazumevanja među njima rastu. Sebastijan tuguje jer ga Džoi ne želi za muža, da bi kasnije pobegla sa jednim umetnikom. Vernon je rastrzan između želje da povrati porodično imanje i da oženi devojku koju (misli da) voli. Na sve to još dolazi i njegova novootkrivena ljubav za komponovanjem i produženje studiranja, kao i nedostatak novca.

Naravno, da drama bude veća, pojavljuje se i Džejn. Pevačica-glumica koja se čini savršenom partnerkom za Sebastijana, zaluđuje Vernona. Stvari se komplikuju, a komplikuju ih sami likovi. Niko zapravo ne zna šta želi od života, a onda počinje Prvi svetski rat.

Da vam ne otkrivam dalje, Agata, kao i do sad, zadire bez ikakve zadrške u najintimnije misli ovih likova i daje nam ih na tacni. Naravno, dosta toga i sami moramo da zaključimo između redova. Osim što me je sama priča veoma zainteresovala (a maestralno napisan prvi deo bih posebno istakla), ni u jednom trenutku nisam imala utisak da je tempo priče posustao. Jedinu zamerku imam na Vernonova pomalo nekoherentna pisma na kraju, ali s obzirom da je zapao u stanje u kom je bio, u retrospekciji razumem zašto su me zamorila.

Ostaje još samo jedna stvar na koju nisam dobila odgovor, ali blagosloveni bili - izmisliše internet. Edit: u pitanju je Brumagem, pogrdan naziv za ljude iz Birmingema. The more you learn.

Takođe, ako niste sigurni da li biste čitali ovo "druge" romane Agate Kristi, bacite pogled na moj gostujući post kod Marijane: https://viewfrommyshelf.wordpress.com/2020/08/06/otkrivanje-meri-vestmakot-kako-sam-pocela-da-kupujem-romane-sa-trafike/

Na kraju mi još ostaje da pročitam Nezavršeni portret, a moja trenutna top lista MV romana izgleda ovako:
1. Absent in the Spring
2. Giant's Bread
3. The Rose and the Yew Tree
4. The Burden
5. A Daughter's a Daughter

anas27's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

showell's review against another edition

4.0

Knowing that this was Agatha Christie writing what is essentially a romance under a different name, I found myself waiting for the mystery to start. Still, excellent character development, as usual. After finishing the book last night, I found myself pondering Vernon's character at 5 am this morning.

annrhub's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

colorfulleo92's review against another edition

3.0

3.5 star. I've known about Agatha Christie's other books that wasn't in the crime mystery genre for a while now but only read one beside this one. I decided to give this one a go. While this was a very different take on her writing (at least of what I've read so far) it's still have her unique author voice. It really shows her variety of her writing and I'm intrigued to read the others after this one. However I think I enjoy her crime novels a lot more then this but this book is still full of talent.

legalois's review against another edition

4.0

Check out my review on my blog http://youmeandacupofteablog.blogspot.com/2014/05/mary-westcott-agatha-christie-novels.html

hannahthomnoble's review against another edition

4.0

A brilliant story and brilliantly written.
But I couldn't give it 5 stars because of the antisemitic views that appear throughout the book, which are jarring to read and leave a bad taste in the mouth.

prashiie's review

adventurous emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“You can have the brains to foresee things, and the wits to plan things and the force to succeed, but with all the cleverness in the world you can't avoid suffering some way or another.”

I’m currently reading all of Agatha Christie’s books in order of publications and that’s how I ended up reading this book. I didn’t realise that this is not one of her classic works. I expected there to be a mystery and was very disappointed. My habit of not reading the synopsis before starting a book therefore made this an interesting adventure. At some point I didn’t understand where this story was going, so I decided to Google for more information and found out that this was a tragedy. I thought it would be only fair to finish this book to see if this is a genre that I like. Well, the answer is no. Nevertheless, there were quite some interesting aspects in this story. This book touches upon xenophobia, classism, the first world war and the new world thereafter. 

Agatha Christie had a good understanding of human psychology and this is what makes her work really stand out, be it a mystery or a tragedy. I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book where Vernon is still a young boy and we experience his world through his eyes which is very fascinating. His world is very simple and only a few people are really part of it. His parents were not aware of how perceptive Vernon actually is, but as a reader we know what he sees/hears and how he feels about it. I think this is good for (future) parents to realise! The relationship that his parents had was not healthy and definitely had an impact on Vernon. We also see how Vernon and Joe’s parents are and the children realise that this is not what they want to be like when they grow up.

“She was too soft,” said Joe. “I'm not going to be soft. People are mean to you if you are. Men are beasts anyway, but if you're a beast to them first, they're all right. All men are beasts.”

But as they get older they start looking more and more like their parents.

Love is the central topic of this book and the characters realise throughout the story that love is not as simple as it seems. The rational side of life catches up to the irrational side of love and Nell definitely struggles with this. Vernon and Nell and their love for each other was exhausting. Every time Vernon decided to go for Jane, Nell would come into the picture. I pitied Jane so much… And Nell’s time during the war didn’t really interest me, so I skimmed that part.

When I got towards the end, I actually didn’t understand why this book was classified as a tragedy. That was until I read the last few chapters. It’s always the last few chapters of a book that get you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Sexism, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, and War

stirlitza's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0