Jessica-sim’s Comments (group member since Jan 01, 2016)

Jessica-sim’s comments from the Reading the Detectives group.

Haha I am so happy you all understood the problem!

I stroked the book with apologies as per Sandy's advice and went with the audiobook ;-)

This will be a reread for me, and I promised the book on my shelves that I would pick it up this month BUT now that I discovered there is an audiobook read by Hugh Fraser, I do not think I can resist that ....

it is a terrible case of book betrayal haha

Oh the luxury of not running a monthly challenge yourself la die da... not finished yet!

But am enjoying the adventure. Even though I had to opt for a Dutch edition (online library catalogue is weirdly sparse in English editions which I think is a shame but must be due to some kind of publishers right limitations), the Dutch translation is from the 60s or something and cringy yet delightfully old fashioned which I think works well for this story (though of course it is meant to be a quite serious translation 😅)

Sandy wrote: "I'm planning to satisfy my Poirot fix by reading Poirot and Me."

Interesting! Another one added to the TBR ;-)

I was absolutely shocked by the turn of events. I found myself saying "Oh no, what?! You got to be kidding" aloud multiple times from chapter 18 on.

What I find most strange is that Poirot would make himself look more fragile and weak, it's a very long ploy to catch his suspect. Of course he has taken matters into his own hands before, most notably in Murder on the Orient Express but also with the Countess and the The Nemean Lion (that was also really strange I thought). The questions troubling me here are shouldn't Poirot have become better than the murderers he has brought to justice all those years, or is he just human? Is he a villain or a hero?

Poirot’s last actions were to write the explanation and await his death. It is unclear to me if he feels any remorse for again playing on the gullibility of his friend Hastings or for turning into that what he always fought in others. Perhaps he does as he neglects to take his heart medication to accelerate his own passing.

In any case, the final chapters took me breath away. We have now read all the words Agatha wrote about Poirot and this last book does them all justice.

Wow!!! Shocking. Shame on me for doubting Agatha Christie, to be fair the last couple of books in the series were not really up to snuff but I should have trusted her not to leave us hanging.

I'm really sad that this is the last book in the series, but what an ending it gives. Maybe I have to immediately return to the The Mysterious Affair at Styles and remind myself that these stories are still there to enjoy, but first let me head over to the spoiler department.

All right, I'm gonna man up and read the last 3 chapters now... :-(

Testament to her amazing story telling is that I really want to know the resolution, despite my sadness of having read all the Poirot stories if I finish I will have to read on to find out the secret of Styles. Also as always I have many theories myself but no definite suspect at all!

Don’t worry Adrian, I think we all envy you a bit of not having reached the end yet!

Do you think Hastings would have returned had Agatha not written this book so early on?

That’s also the reason I haven’t watched the final episode (yet?)

I was lost in exams for a couple of weeks and couldn't focus on a new story. So I'll start again today whilst cleaning up the remaining house mess of 2.5 wks continuous studying ;-)

Indeed a great idea Sandy! I made it through the first chapters, filled with reminiscing about Styles, without revisiting the earlier book but I must admit that I do not have the details fresh in my mind.

Enjoy all your spoilers here

Dear all, we made it! The last Poirot in the series to bring us into 2021!

Happy reading

Oh that's interesting Sandy! I googled it and it does seem that the Last Poirot and Marple were written 36 years earlier. Hm will be interesting to see the difference in style next month and whether or not all the loose ends tie up.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We are nearing the end of our 3yr Poirot adventure. I loved it. I started out as a Poirot sceptic but ended as I Poirot defender, such a joy to read all the books in order. As I allowed myself to buy a physical copy of each book I am afraid that my home library is a bit unbalanced now, 3 IKEA Billy Book Cases and one almost entirely filled with Agatha Christie haha

2020 has been a challenging year with so much viral stress load. For all of us. As I work in health care I sometimes really lost track of time, but thankfully I was still able to have one reliable reading highlight each month and could count on the lovely Mods of our Reading the Detectives group for opening up the monthly discussion when I was MIA... sorry... Thanks for sticking with me!

We still have one book rationed out for us for January and then we can all hop over to the Agatha Christie challenge to get our monthly Agatha fix ;-)

Up next: Curtain: Poirot's Last Case

I always find it interesting which stories are or aren’t published in America. Seems like this story was published in Europe, translated as well, at the same time. For those with a Scribd subscription there are many different versions to choose from.

Oh wow, I never really considered that Poirot might be cooking up a story just to make a love-match again! And I also don't really think he did, it would have been an awful lot of trouble to think this solution out and get so many accomplices too. Working up to the solution he repeatedly warns that the truth might not be easy to handle but nevertheless that is all he can offer. No, I do think this was the actual solution. Perhaps if we by now weren't so trained in picking up all the sub plots and red herrings and we didn't deeply suspect any ig that ever crosses our paths, perhaps then the storyline would be more satisfactory.

But even with a lesser storyline I still enjoyed the story, after the majority of the frenzied house calls by Ariadne were over. With the contemplations on old age and memory loss I found it a bit darker in tone. Especially when the narrator mentioned regarding Poirots fading fame:

‘Many of the people who had heard of him and known him were now reposing with suitable memorial stones over them in church yards.’
Ouch, I hope Poirot didn't hear that...

Hm that's very nicely put Susan! A meditation on memory .

I am glad I didn't let all the side characters confuse me, I didn't pay much attention to which particular elephant Ariadne was talking to when, but just the the conversations wash over me whilst listening for interesting clues. I think that strategy worked fine, and in that way I could enjoy the meandering mind and conversational style of Ariadne.

I finished the book now, it's not in my top 10 of Poirots but did enjoy it.

When reading about Ariadne visiting her elders friends in care homes and such today, I wondered whether Agatha was doing some digesting or processing of her own experience when ageing.

It’s interesting how she presented us early on with ‘old’ protaganists, Miss Marple, Poirot retired ages ago! But only in the last two books we’re really exploring the limitations of old age.

That being said, I’m afraid I cannot keep all the Elephants Ariadne is visiting straight... but picked up on some vital clues in the conversations (I think 😂)