~*~ The Read Goes Ever On ~*~: Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express

Despite having a truly epic workload last week (which included having a whole day seminar on both Saturday AND Sunday!) I managed to finish reading two books and a short story, possibly by using one of the Ministry of Magic’s time turners. (Don't ask me for more details though, or I'll have to obliviate you …)

Among the books I finished was Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, which I’ve decided to pick for this review, since I really grew to love it and it definitely deserves to have a few words said about it.

For those of you who, like me, have managed to live under a rock for the past eighty years or so here's what it's about:

Famous Belgian private detective Hercule Poriot is travelling on the Orient Express from Stamboul to Calais, when he is suddenly approached by one of the passengers, a man by the name of Rachett. Ratchett tells him that he has received threats on his life and asks Poirot to investigate the matter. However, having doubts about the man’s character and thinking him a bad sort, Poirot refuses the case. The next morning Ratchett is found dead in his compartment. With all the evidence suggesting that one of the other train passengers must be the culprit, Poirot sets out on his investigation to discover the murderer …

Okay then, let's dive right into the actual review!

1. The International Aspect: Languages and Stereotypes :)

As we have people from all manner of (mostly) European nations assembled on this train, there is naturally a wide variety of languages being spoken. The most exciting thing for me about this is that although the text is written in English, of course, the languages that the characters actually speak throughout the majority of the novel are not English, but rather French and German - and Agatha Christie really makes a point of telling her readers about this, always pre-empting an interview with a little aside as to which language is going to be spoken.

I suppose this sort of reflects the situation in Europe at the time, since English was not as widely spoken as nowadays, and you had to know more languages to get around. Nowadays you'd probably be alright with knowing only English - at least in my experience. I found it fascinating in the book though, because it was like a little window into the linguistic past of Europe!

Another thing that was quite entertaining were the stereotypes the characters had of each other - and they were really not shy about sharing them. Like, the Englishman really disliked the American, everyone was suspicious of the Italian, the German lady was convinced that kidnappings would not happen in her home country, etc. In a way it was all so stereotypical it really made me giggle.

2. Possible Sherlock Holmes References :D

Funnily enough, there were quite a number of times when I thought that Christie might be referencing Sherlock Holmes a little bit. For instance, there is this one bit at the end of chapter three when Poirot refuses to work for Ratchett, and this is the reason he gives him:

"'You do not understand, Monsieur. I have been very fortunate in my profession. I have made enough money to satisfy both my needs and my caprices. I take now only such cases as - interest me.'" (Christie 2001, p. 46)

This attitude struck me as very Holmes-ian, seeing as I'm sure that Holmes had a similar policy towards accepting cases. (Although to be fair, I think Poirot might also be lying a bit here - I think he just really disliked the idea of working for Ratchett, and that's why he refused the case.)

There's another point later on in the story, when my Sherlock Holmes radar went a bit crazy:

"'It is a good phrase that,' said Poirot. 'The impossible cannot have happened, therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.'" (Christie 2001, p. 213)

Who could not think of Holmes' famous words at this point, telling Watson exactly the same?

"'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'" (Doyle 2010, p. 51)

... I have to admit, I still get shivers when Benedict Cumberbatch says that line in 'The Hounds of Baskerville". It's just pitch-perfect in my view. But moving on ...

3. The structure of the novel :( & :)

Initially, the way that the story was structured really bothered me. After Ratchett is found dead, Poirot conducts a series of interviews in the dining wagon, and its arranged in such a way that he questions a different suspect every chapter - which gets teeedious after a while, because the chapters are structured in much the same manner! First Poirot consults with his friends about the possible identity of the murderer, then he interviews the next suspect, and finally there is some reflection about the truth value of the statements of the latest interviewee and whether they could have done it. This very repetitive style is reflected in the chapter titles as well:

The Evidence of the Wagon Lit Conductor

The Evidence of the Secretary

The Evidence of the Valet

etc.

See what I mean?

On the other hand, I have to admit that once the case seemed to start clearing itself up a little I was absolutely hooked. All of a sudden I was really looking forward to Poirot calling in the next suspect, in finding out more about their backstory and putting the pieces of the puzzle together! Maybe I just had to get used to the style, or perhaps I just wasn’t that interested in the murder initially … but boy, this story gains momentum if you give it a chance! Once it started drawing to a close, I really couldn’t stop reading anymore, so keen was I on finding out who the murderer was and whether my suspicion was right (which it was!).

4. Comedy

There are quite a number of comedic moments in this, which surprised me given my expectation of crime as a very serious genre: cold reason, sharp logic, you know, that kind of stuff. There are some genuinely funny scenes in this, however, and the genius thing is that they are not detrimental to the suspense of the story at all, but rather add to its uniqueness. Plus, it also reflects reality, I think, because I can't imagine that police officers in real life actually walk around with serious faces 24/7.

But anyway, let's get to the last part of this: all the interesting links and trivia that I found while researching this story on the internet!

5. Links and Trivia

The Orient Express

So, first of all here's a picture of the route the different kinds of Orient Expresses took:

The interesting thing is that Christie's story is actually set on the Simplon Orient Express (the purple line), and not the real Orient Express (the blue line) so to speak. This is explained really well on this website, but basically what it boils down to is that next to the original Orient Express, there were two other Orient Expresses running at the time, the Arlberg Orient Express and the Simplon Orient Express - and it was this latter one that Christie chose to set her story on. (Also interestingly, the original Orient Express ran until December 2009, when it was discontinued by the Austrian Rail Company ÖBB). Anyway, if you want to find out more, I can only recommend this website again - among other things it's got pictures of the original Orient Express, as well as its original timetable and a description of what it would have been like to travel on this train: Seat61,

Mapping the Story

The next thing which I found really interesting was the page on Murder on the Orient Express on Christie's official website. If, like me, you're into really finding out everything about the location the story is set in, then I can recommend scrolling down the website a little bit - there's a map which lets you click on all the different places that are mentioned and visited in the novel, which I find very useful in terms of visualising the setting.

Audiobook

And lastly, here's a link to an excerpt of the audiobook, read by Dan Stevens - I love the different voices he does for the characters! It's really funny!

References & Sources

Christie, A 2001 (1934), Murder on the Orient Express, Harper Collins, London.

Doyle, AC 2010 (1890), The Sign of Four, Penguin, London.

Audiobook:
https://soundcloud.com/harperaudio_us/murderontheorientexpress_christie

History of the Orient Express at Seat 61:
http://www.seat61.com/OrientExpress.htm#.VIiU1MmLC4x

Official Website of Agatha Christie:
http://www.agathachristie.com/christies-work/stories/murder-on-the-orient-express/43