Scan barcode
A review by mariafernandagama
Nemesis by Agatha Christie
4.0
I was delaying to write this review for a while because I knew it wouldn't be easy. First of all, this is a very good book. Miss Marple is at her best, although she's not as active as she once was, and for all intents and purposes this is her last adventure ([b:Sleeping Murder|16300|Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple, #12)|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1308808135l/16300._SY75_.jpg|739878] was published after it, but written circa 30 years before, in the 1940's). She can't take long walks or bend down to tend to her garden anymore, but her fantastic brain is as sharp as ever, and that's really all that matters. It's an appropriate farewell to the character. We get the impression that she will live happily for whatever time she has left, maybe still solving occasional mysteries now and then.
It's also a solid murder mystery, one that reveals itself slowly both to the readers and to Miss Marple herself. She has to hunt after clues, trying to solve a seemingly impossible puzzle: a dying wish from a dead man, urging her to investigate a crime she has zero information about. She doesn't know where or when it took place, or who was involved in it. And it's exciting to follow her steps as she tries to find out. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this might be the best Miss Marple story - although my heart will always choose [b:The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side|16372|The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Miss Marple, #8)|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466335226l/16372._SY75_.jpg|2107920] for sentimental reasons -, however easy it may be to guess the killer (trust me, it's really easy). I will, on account of these things I've mentioned, give it 4 stars. That's because I'm choosing, as a reviewer, to focus on these aspects of the book.
But there's a dark side to this apparently fantastic novel. As I've written in previous reviews, it's difficult to balance my genuine appreciation for Agatha's genius and her writing with my disgust at her views on some specific subjects, mainly the way she deals with minorities. I try to keep in mind that these were different times, I promise I do. A conservative lady in her eighties wrote this book, at the beginning of the '70s. She was bound to have a closed mind, and this is easier to believe when her racism is displayed at tiny casual remarks (although it does make one wonder why she would even include these moments at all, them being so unnecessary to the plot). But in this case, it's different. And I do believe it's somewhat of a spoiler, so please stop reading here if you think this might ruin the book for you.
I have said this before and I stand by it: I can read any book by any author and do my best to cut them some slack, and understand they had a different mindset, and that I could never expect them to care about how they portray minorities the way so many writers (thankfully) do nowadays. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still alive in 2021, and carry my beliefs and opinions with me wherever I go, all of the time. It's inevitable that we'll always meet halfway, me and the author; the current times and the times long gone. It's not something that can be erased and forgotten about just for the sake of enjoying a story. At least I can't do this.
I have the distinct feeling Dame Agatha will forever be published and read. In this way, she'll outlive us all, and she deserves it. But some of her work has already been considered so absurdly disrespectful that it simply had to be changed so that it could still be marketed to today's readers. Of course, I'm talking about [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391120695l/16299._SY75_.jpg|3038872], a book that has suffered significant changes to its title and some of its content, although none that would impact the story in any way. I'm sincerely hoping there will be a time when all of her racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and homophobia will be considered absurd enough to stop it from being printed. This way, there will have to be minor, or not so minor, changes throughout her books, and they won't in any way have a negative impact on her work: on the contrary, they will allow the part of her that's worthy to live forever to have the chance to do it - her brilliancy, her talent, her creativity. That's what needs to survive. All the rest belongs to a different age, a different century, and has no place in our society anymore.
It's also a solid murder mystery, one that reveals itself slowly both to the readers and to Miss Marple herself. She has to hunt after clues, trying to solve a seemingly impossible puzzle: a dying wish from a dead man, urging her to investigate a crime she has zero information about. She doesn't know where or when it took place, or who was involved in it. And it's exciting to follow her steps as she tries to find out. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this might be the best Miss Marple story - although my heart will always choose [b:The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side|16372|The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (Miss Marple, #8)|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1466335226l/16372._SY75_.jpg|2107920] for sentimental reasons -, however easy it may be to guess the killer (trust me, it's really easy). I will, on account of these things I've mentioned, give it 4 stars. That's because I'm choosing, as a reviewer, to focus on these aspects of the book.
But there's a dark side to this apparently fantastic novel. As I've written in previous reviews, it's difficult to balance my genuine appreciation for Agatha's genius and her writing with my disgust at her views on some specific subjects, mainly the way she deals with minorities. I try to keep in mind that these were different times, I promise I do. A conservative lady in her eighties wrote this book, at the beginning of the '70s. She was bound to have a closed mind, and this is easier to believe when her racism is displayed at tiny casual remarks (although it does make one wonder why she would even include these moments at all, them being so unnecessary to the plot). But in this case, it's different. And I do believe it's somewhat of a spoiler, so please stop reading here if you think this might ruin the book for you.
Spoiler
The homophobia contained in this is not a casual remark. In fact, it's very important to the characters. Miss Marple solves the mystery by hanging on to homophobic beliefs. And although I try as I might, I can't really make myself indifferent to this cruelty. She states plain and simply that the correct way to live is for women to seek their opposites, to get married, to have children. Even if that marriage is violent and terrible, is preferable to the alternative, to love another woman, which she deems as being unnatural and wrong. And she didn't really have to do this. She could have just written about a young woman in love with an older one, who suddenly realizes this is not really what she wants and walks away. But that's not what Christie does here: she repeats again and again how it was only natural for this to happen, since the girl would of course want to live a normal life, eventually.I have said this before and I stand by it: I can read any book by any author and do my best to cut them some slack, and understand they had a different mindset, and that I could never expect them to care about how they portray minorities the way so many writers (thankfully) do nowadays. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still alive in 2021, and carry my beliefs and opinions with me wherever I go, all of the time. It's inevitable that we'll always meet halfway, me and the author; the current times and the times long gone. It's not something that can be erased and forgotten about just for the sake of enjoying a story. At least I can't do this.
I have the distinct feeling Dame Agatha will forever be published and read. In this way, she'll outlive us all, and she deserves it. But some of her work has already been considered so absurdly disrespectful that it simply had to be changed so that it could still be marketed to today's readers. Of course, I'm talking about [b:And Then There Were None|16299|And Then There Were None|Agatha Christie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1391120695l/16299._SY75_.jpg|3038872], a book that has suffered significant changes to its title and some of its content, although none that would impact the story in any way. I'm sincerely hoping there will be a time when all of her racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and homophobia will be considered absurd enough to stop it from being printed. This way, there will have to be minor, or not so minor, changes throughout her books, and they won't in any way have a negative impact on her work: on the contrary, they will allow the part of her that's worthy to live forever to have the chance to do it - her brilliancy, her talent, her creativity. That's what needs to survive. All the rest belongs to a different age, a different century, and has no place in our society anymore.