The Moonstone in Around the World in 80 Books

May 10, 2018 Steve rated it it was amazing

Shelves: crime-mystery-noir

As good as anything I've read by Dickens. What a wonderful gallery of characters! House steward Gabriel Betteridge, with his overall loyalty and decency, and constant use of Robinson Crusoe as a guide through life, is one of the great characters in literature. That said, I found the haunted doctor Ezra Jennings to be one of those secondary characters that stay with you forever. Anyway, as many have noted, The Moonstone is considered the first, and still among the very best, of detective novels. ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 Laura rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bricks, ill-request, british, hoopla, owned, classics, friend-love, library, friend-rec

3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading this and attempting to solve the mystery with a GR buddy. I love Victorian lit and Wilkie Collins too, but this book ran too long for me. I found myself much more attached to the minor characters than the major ones (except for Gabriel; he was special). I'd love to read a sequel in which Gooseberry plays detective asst. once more. I loved him. I don't want to say too much about the other characters I loved, as I don't want to spoil the mystery for anyone.

I really en ...more

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Sep 22, 2020 Nanosynergy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers-espionage, british, fiction, 1001-boxall, fiction-1800s, 2020read

From what I read about The Moonstone, it is one of the earliest detective mysteries and helped lay the groundwork for the genre. The book is long (overly long) and drags in places. The story unfolds through a series of first person narratives by several of the main characters. What I did not anticipate and enjoyed, was the humor, including the amusing use by Betteredge of the book Robinson Crusoe to provide guidance in life and clues to the future.

“You are not to take it, if you please, as the s ...more

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