Scan barcode
maryd_smallcraft's review
4.0
I spent a long time working my way through its 500-something pages, despite being charmed by her childhood stories, entertained by her eccentric family, and enjoying myself throughout.
She was a remarkable woman and I found much to admire- her hospital/pharmacy services during the wars, her enjoyment in writing, and her spirit of adventure. How incredible that almost a century ago she traveled- solo- to Iraq and Syria after her divorce.
I immediately read her memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live, after finishing this and enjoyed that as well.
She was a remarkable woman and I found much to admire- her hospital/pharmacy services during the wars, her enjoyment in writing, and her spirit of adventure. How incredible that almost a century ago she traveled- solo- to Iraq and Syria after her divorce.
I immediately read her memoir Come, Tell Me How You Live, after finishing this and enjoyed that as well.
debralewi's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
anhtran221's review
3.0
This book would've benefited greatly from some editing. It feels like she tried to do a little bit in the beginning but then gave up later on. Overall, she lead an interesting life, and her outlook on life is refreshing. She tries to be fair and empathetic in her observations about people, which I think is how she writes her books and why it's relatable to so many people.
She had some interesting observations, some of which I don't agree with. Her view that the greatest joy of being a woman is to marry is a man is very outdated. She accepts as a fact that your lifestyle depends on the man you marry and even find it exciting, somewhat understandable since women didn't have a lot of options then. But she also blame mental health problems in her later years on the fact that women are more educated and have more options and expectations in life now? That's a very privileged view from someone whose parents barely had to work and she had servants all her childhood, her maids probably love that fact that they have more options in life than to clean chamber pots. I find it kind of ridiculous that her childhood household was not considered well off because they didn't have a butler or carriages, but still kept servants even when they were close to "ruin".
Side notes: Her observation of David having the upper hand in David and Goliath was the same observation mentioned in Outlier. Her journey on the Orient Express was like her version of Eat, Pray, Love.
Quotes:
"The Victorians looked dispassionately at their offspring and made up their mind about their capacities. A. was obviously going to be the pretty one. B. was 'the clever one'. C was going to be plain and definitely not intellectual. Good works would be C's best chance. And so on. Sometime, of course, they were wrong, but on the whole it worked. There is an enormous relief in not being expected to produce something that you haven't got."
Agatha Christie talking about the invention of airplanes and destruction of humans, "What will it all end in? Further triumphs? Or possibly the destruction of man by his own ambition? I think not. Man will survive, though possibly only in pockets here and there. There may be some great catastrophe, but now all mankind will perish. Some primitive community, rooted in simplicity, knowing of past doing by hearsay, will slowly build up a civilisation once more.
She had some interesting observations, some of which I don't agree with. Her view that the greatest joy of being a woman is to marry is a man is very outdated. She accepts as a fact that your lifestyle depends on the man you marry and even find it exciting, somewhat understandable since women didn't have a lot of options then. But she also blame mental health problems in her later years on the fact that women are more educated and have more options and expectations in life now? That's a very privileged view from someone whose parents barely had to work and she had servants all her childhood, her maids probably love that fact that they have more options in life than to clean chamber pots. I find it kind of ridiculous that her childhood household was not considered well off because they didn't have a butler or carriages, but still kept servants even when they were close to "ruin".
Side notes: Her observation of David having the upper hand in David and Goliath was the same observation mentioned in Outlier. Her journey on the Orient Express was like her version of Eat, Pray, Love.
Quotes:
Spoiler
"My dear, such a sad case,’ Grannie would murmur to her friends. ‘Such a poor little creature, deformed, only one passage, like a fowl.""The Victorians looked dispassionately at their offspring and made up their mind about their capacities. A. was obviously going to be the pretty one. B. was 'the clever one'. C was going to be plain and definitely not intellectual. Good works would be C's best chance. And so on. Sometime, of course, they were wrong, but on the whole it worked. There is an enormous relief in not being expected to produce something that you haven't got."
Agatha Christie talking about the invention of airplanes and destruction of humans, "What will it all end in? Further triumphs? Or possibly the destruction of man by his own ambition? I think not. Man will survive, though possibly only in pockets here and there. There may be some great catastrophe, but now all mankind will perish. Some primitive community, rooted in simplicity, knowing of past doing by hearsay, will slowly build up a civilisation once more.
sophia_konrad's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Racial slurs
we_are_all_mad_here26's review
4.0
Having enjoyed so much of ACs fiction, I greatly enjoyed (for the most part) getting to see where it came from. This was a woman who found much pleasure in life, even as she aged and things like long walks and swimming in the sea became impossible.
Things I loved:
--The mentions of her writing, though I do wish there'd been a little more writing and a little less archaeology;
--Her acceptance of her own shyness and inarticulateness: in one case she even allowed herself to be turned away from the door of an event held in her honor;
--The fact that as a fairly young and recently divorced woman, she traveled solo to the Middle East in a time when I can't imagine many young women traveled solo anywhere;
--The revelation that even the highest-selling author ever (aside from the Bible and Shakespeare) did not for many years consider herself a "real writer."
--Quotes like this:
Not a book that anyone will tear through, and I suspect more enjoyable for fans than for casual readers. I'm glad I picked it up.
Things I loved:
--The mentions of her writing, though I do wish there'd been a little more writing and a little less archaeology;
--Her acceptance of her own shyness and inarticulateness: in one case she even allowed herself to be turned away from the door of an event held in her honor;
--The fact that as a fairly young and recently divorced woman, she traveled solo to the Middle East in a time when I can't imagine many young women traveled solo anywhere;
--The revelation that even the highest-selling author ever (aside from the Bible and Shakespeare) did not for many years consider herself a "real writer."
--Quotes like this:
“We are all the same people as we were at three, six, ten or twenty years old. More noticeably so, perhaps, at six or seven, because we were not pretending so much then, whereas at twenty we put on a show of being someone else, of being in the mode of the moment. If there is an intellectual fashion, you become an intellectual; if girls are fluffy and frivolous, you are fluffy and frivolous. As life goes on, however, it becomes tiring to keep up the character you invented for yourself, and so you relapse into individuality and become more like yourself every day. This is sometimes disconcerting for those around you, but a great relief to the person concerned.”
Not a book that anyone will tear through, and I suspect more enjoyable for fans than for casual readers. I'm glad I picked it up.
ilonare's review
5.0
An awesome read!!! I don’t remember when was the first time I read one of the Agatha Christie’s detective stories. It was really a long time ago. But i knew nothing about her life. I loved this book: cozy and nice read.