Agatha Christie: Investigating Femininity

by Merja Makinen

Christie's books depict women as adventurous, independent figures who renegotiate sexual relationships along more equal lines. Women are also allowed to disrupt society and yet the texts refuse to see them as double deviant because of their femininity. This book demonstrates exactly how quietly innovatory Christie was in relation to gender.

218 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2006

Reviews

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A feminist critique of Agatha Christie's novels and short stories arguing that she is more feminist than she has been given credit for in the past. The author examines the female heroes and villains of Christie's stories (writ ten from the 1920's to the 1970's) and compares them with the handling of the male characters. She also examines contemporary popular and press accounts of real-life females convicted of murder and their treatment compared to Christie's female murders. Makinen argues that Christie, though conservative with regards to class, was progressive when it came to her portrayal of female characters, even if she didn't identify herself as a feminist.

I found it to be an enjoyable read. The book was accessible, seemed well-argued to me and provided a new viewpoint to Christie's work that I hadn't considered before.

[Avril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and enjoyable, but this is a book that needs a good edit. It was disappointing finding proof-reading mistakes, sentences than don't make sense, and the invention of a completely unknown Agatha Christian novel. And a conclusion would have been nice - the books ends very abruptly. But its thesis is well argued and it has sent me back to reread the books it discusses, so I'd argue that overall it's worth the read.

[Verity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fascinating and eye-opening longitudinal look at Christie's work, brought down by increasingly poor editing as the book goes on (did they run out of money??) and what feels to me like some glaring omissions in the discussion of race. While Hercule Poirot got a substantial discussion, I'm sorry that Mr Satterthwaite did not, especially in a book about 'femininity' rather than 'women'. But still, highly recommended!!

[Cássia Sousa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um tanto quanto apologético, mas se você tem a cabeça no lugar sabe filtrar os argumentos válidos e aqueles que esticam demais a corda. Mas muito boa a análise dessa autora. Só senti falta de uma análise mais detida do último romance com a Miss Marple: Um crime adormecido, que acho um dos mais interessantes para se compreender perfis de feminino (a mãe e a filha da história) e o poder masculino (o tio).

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pleasingly persuasive that Agatha was more feminist than she's given credit for

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...