Agatha Chritie "Five Little Pigs" (Elisa FV)

Five Little Pigs

This little piggy went to market, 

This little piggy stayed home, 

This little piggy had roast beef, 

This little piggy had none.

And this little piggy cried wee wee wee all the way home

Click here to listen to the nursery rhyme: (00:00-01:47)

“Five Little Pigs” is a murder mystery written by bestselling author Agatha Christie. It was first published in the USA in May of 1942, under the title “Murder in retrospect”;  then in the UK in November of the same year. It was made into a film in 2003 by Kevin Elyot. 

Sixteen years ago, Caroline Crale was hung for the murder of her husband, Amyas. However, in a letter written to her daughter, she swears not to have committed the crime.  The question remains: Who did? 

• Philip Blake: The Best Friend “This little piggy went to the market”
• Meredith Blake; The Scientist: “This little piggy stayed home”
• Elsa Greer: The Mistress: “This little piggy had roast beef”
• Cecilia Williams: The Governess: “This little piggy had none”
• Angela Warren: The Half-Sister: “This little piggy cried wee wee wee all the way home”

This book was my very first Agatha Christie. It allowed me to define the characteristics that make an Agatha Christie bestseller: most notably the famous Belgian detective: Hercule Poirot. I found this book very rich and interesting. It definitely has things going in its favour but there were also some things that I didn't particularly like. 

What I liked:
This novel is character-driven since we explore the murder through the character’s minds. To no surprise, the characters are all really fascinating. We see different character types interacting in exciting ways. I really loved learning about their relationships and their snide remarks made my day! I found the ways the suspects talked about each other really interesting: especially the relationship between Meredith & Philip Blake. I especially loved reading about the suspects’ relationships with the supposed murderer, Caroline. 
I found the idea of solving a murder that happened 16 years ago fascinating. There were no real clues and Poirot had to solve the case with only the suspect’s foggy memories and testimonies. Because of this he often got confused. In most mystery books we often see the detective up and about searching for clues, always having an idea of who did it. In this book, we see Poirot sitting at his desk looking through testimonies, having absolutely no clue what happened. This was an element that I particularly appreciated because this is how I often feel when reading mystery books.  He also referred to the suspects with rhymes from the five little pigs nursery rhyme which I found pretty funny. 

What I didn’t like:

Even though I liked the book I found it really hard to get into. At first, you don’t really know the characters and you don’t care about them. It’s really easy to lose interest. However, if you keep reading the story gets good. Although the plot is interesting; I did find it boring at times. There are several pages of description that were not the most fun to read. 

This book was very interesting and I really enjoyed reading it. There were some elements that I didn’t particularly appreciate but I would still recommend it. It’s very well written with some excellent quotes. 

“Poirot said placidly, “One does not, you know, employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think. It is this – ” he tapped his egg-shaped head – “this, that functions!”

“Rest assured," said Hercule Poirot. "I am the best!”

“Men have the best of this world. I hope that it will not always be so.”

ReplyForward