The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

The Man in the Brown Suit is the fourth book I've read by Agatha Christie, the 'Queen of Crime.' I read Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile years ago and wasn't inspired enough to read any more of her novels but a couple of my children really liked The Secret Adversary so I eventually decided to read that. This is the first of Christie's Tommy & Tuppence books (she wrote five starring these two characters) and the setting involves the World War I sinking of the Lusitania. I did enjoy this book, probably because Hercule Poirot wasn't in it. I really don't like his character and it was interesting to read that even Agatha Christie got fed up with him and his idiosyncrasies.

I was trying to decide on a title written in the 20th Century as part of the Back to the Classics Challenge. I had a few books in mind but the other week I decided to clean our floor to ceiling bookshelves and discovered a whole lot of books that I'd forgotten or hadn't read yet. They included a row of Agatha Christie titles. 

I've always wondered why she has been so hugely popular - her books have been translated into over one hundred languages and she is the best-selling novelist of all time. I really didn't think Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile were notable at all. The Secret Adversary gave me some hope that I might actually enjoy some other titles.

Then along comes The Man in the Brown Suit and I think I've totally changed my mind about Christie. 

Published in 1924, this book was a pleasure to read. Fast paced and delightful - and no Hercule Poirot. 

Anne Beddington, an attractive young woman, is left orphaned and penniless when her archaeologist father dies. When she witnesses the accidental death of a stranger who falls and is electrocuted on an Underground platform, she also sees a man in a brown suit examine the body, pronounce him dead,  and then quickly leave. As she turns to go also, she sees the 'doctor' break into a run, dropping a piece of paper as he does so. With this piece of paper and its cryptic message, Anne embarks on a journey which takes her all the way to South Africa on a wild adventure. With a backdrop of political intrigue and murder, stolen diamonds, kidnappings and threats on her own life, Anne determines to solve the mystery of the man in the brown suit.

The book is written by two narrators: Anne, and Sir Eustace Pedler, MP and it is a thrilling story. I really enjoyed the humour sprinkled throughout this book, which was in keeping with Anne Beddington's personality, and the conclusion of the story was novel and unexpected.

It's an excellent introduction to Agatha Christie for ages around 14 years and up.

The Secret Adversary is a good introduction to Agatha Christie for a younger reader as it lacks the romantic elements of The Man in the Brown Suit.

'I suppose it is because nearly all children go to school nowadays and have things arranged for them that they seem so forlornly unable to produce their own ideas.'

Agatha Christie 

 

The BBC archives have a short video from 1955 in which Agatha Christie talks about 'her lack of formal education and how boredom during childhood led her to write 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles', which was completed when she was still in her twenties. She outlines her working methods and discusses why it is much easier to write plays than novels.'

 

This book is my entry in the Back to the Classics: 20th Century Classiccategory.

All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare (1604)

All's Well That Ends Well was based on a story from the Decameron (a collection of tales written in the 14th Century) and is often described as a problem play. It appears to be a comedy - it contains humorous scenes such as the interrogation of Parolles, and love wins out in the end - but there are other aspects of the play which are unlike Shakespeare's other comedies.

The story takes place in Rossilion, Paris, Florence and Marseilles.

 Helena & the Countess, Folger Shakespeare

The Main Players

Rosillion

Countess of Rossilion (or Rousillon)

Bertram - her son, the Count of Rossilion after his father's death Helena - a gentlewoman of the household
Lavatch - the Countess's clown
Parolles - a friend of Bertram's

Paris

King of France

Lafew (or Lafeu) - a old Lord

First & Second Lord Dumaine - Lords in the King's service  

Florence

Widow Capilet

Diana - her daughter

The Storyline

The King of France is ill and no one can cure him. When his friend Count Rossilion dies, he commands Bertram, the Count's son, to attend him at court.

Bertram takes leave of his mother and goes to the King in Paris.

As the King reminisces about Bertram's father, he laments that the skilful physician, Gerard de Narbon, is also dead and cannot help him.

Helena, the physician's daughter has been living under the care of the Countess Rossilion and secretly loves Bertram. When Bertram goes to Paris, Helena follows him and by using knowledge learnt from her father, she cures the King.

The King rewards her by allowing her to choose a husband from among the bachelors at his court and she chooses Bertram.

Bertram declares he cannot marry Helena because she is of an inferior class, but after threats from the King, he goes ahead with the marriage. Unwilling to consummate the marriage, he tells Helena to go to his mother under some pretence and he immediately runs away to the wars in Italy with his friend Parolles.

Bertram writes to Helena from Florence and says:

When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to, then call me husband; but in such a "then" I write a "never."

The Countess is furious with her son's behaviour and blames Parolles' influence. Helena goes on a pilgrimage to Florence and there she meets the Widow Capilet and her daughter Diana, who is being courted by Bertram. When Helena reveals her situation to the Capilet's, they fall in with her plan and Bertram is told that Helena is dead. Under cover of darkness, Helena takes Diana's place and goes to meet Bertram, who has promised to marry Diana. He gives Helena his ring, believing her to be Diana, and in return receives the ring that the King gave to Helena after she had cured him. Helena conceives a child that night and Bertram returns to his mother's house unaware that he had shared his bed with his wife and not Diana.

The King is also at Rossilion and expresses his grief over Helena's death. Bertram asks for his forgiveness saying that he did love Helena but when the King sees the ring he gave Helena, Bertram is suspected to have done her harm.

Diana arrives not long after which compounds affairs even more until Helena finally enters, tells Bertram that she has fulfilled both conditions he placed upon her and he declares that he will love her dearly, forever.

The king's a beggar, now the play is done; All is well ended, if this suit be done...

We listened to the BBC Arkangel audio as we read the play, spreading it over about 11 weeks. I read along with the Cambridge School guide and Benj read it from this website
 

Some thoughts:

Bertram - initially I was a little sympathetic towards him as he was expected to marry someone he had no wish to. His attitude and behaviour quickly put an end to that. He was self-seeking and callous; immature and easily led. His change of heart towards the end of the play seems a little strange.

Helena - a mixed bag. I thought she was rather insipid at times but she did end up displaying some strength of character. Did she really love Bertram or was she just ambitious? Why would she want to marry a man who had been so indifferent to her?

Countess Rossilion - a just, sensible woman who, although she thought Parolles was a bad influence on her son, didn't make excuses for Bertram's bad behaviour.

Parolles - was the source of some light hearted moments in the play even though he was a rogue. He learnt some humility towards the end.

Lafew - the quick witted old Lord discerned Parolles' true nature.

The King - benevolent and kind; his behaviour in the scenes towards the end of the play where the situation comes to a head is amusing.

Diana - both she & her mother were decent people and wanted to do what was right. She had a good head upon her shoulders and didn't allow herself to be taken in by Bertram's flattery.

Something that stood out to me was that apart from Bertram, all the people of rank and position in the play were honourable and well-intentioned. The Countess, for example, loved Helena and was happy for her to marry Bertram even though she was beneath him in rank.

This play is probably best left until highschool unless you use an abridged version such as Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare. There are some interesting ideas & themes for discussion in this play regarding relationships and morals.


All's Well That Ends Well is my choice for A Classic Play as part of the Back to the Classics Challenge 2015.

Adam Bede by George Eliot (1819-1880)

Adam Bede is an unusual book in many respects, which shouldn't be surprising, as George Eliot was an unusual woman.

*  George Eliot was the non de plume of Mary Ann Evans

*  Eliot was a fervent Evangelical up until her early twenties, when she rejected her Christian beliefs

*  Although she rejected her faith, she believed Christian ethics to be valuable

*  She is regarded as one of the greatest novelists of the nineteenth century

*  Adam Bede was first published in 1859, the same year as Darwin's Origins of the Species; Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities and Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White

For a woman living in the Victorian Era, George Eliot had some radical ideas and she openly defied the social customs of that time. I expected this to colour her writing to a large extent, but instead, the strong Christian ethic which formed her younger years permeated the whole story. It is perplexing to read Adam Bede, with its strong Christian undertones and commendable Christian characters, knowing that the author did not share the beliefs of the characters she wrote about so sympathetically.

Invitation to the Classics, edited by Louise Cowan & Os Guinness sheds some light on this puzzle:

Eliot's fiction...employs Christian ethics - as a form of goodness without God - to create a model in which morality evolves through suffering, sympathy, and duty.

Eliot...believes in a radically nontraditional world that is evolutionary and unpredictable. She still relies, however, on such traditional values as kindness, sympathy, a fellowship of suffering, self-sacrifice, and duty as guides for living in that world.

I'm not going to say anything about the actual story - except that I loved it. For the first couple of chapters the colloquial language slows the story down as it takes a little getting used to, but before long it becomes an engrossing tale, peopled with believable and loveable characters.

I had a pencil in hand most of the time I read, underlining regularly. Eliot's skill with words is wonderful and her characters come alive beautifully. She also has a biting sense of humour, as her portrayal of Mrs Poyser, one of my favourite characters, highlights when she stands up to the conniving old Squire:

"Thee'st  done it now," said Mr Poyser, a little alarmed and uneasy, but not without some triumphant amusement at his wife's outbreak.

"Yes, I know I've done it," said Mrs Poyser; "but I've had my say out, and I shall be th' easier for 't all my life. There's no pleasure i' living, if you're to be corked up forever, and only dribble your mind out by the sly, like a leaky barrel. I shan't repent saying what I think, if I live to be as old as th' old Squire; and there's little likelihoods - for it seems as if them as aren't wanted here are th' only folks as aren't wanted I' the other world."

An interesting historical aspect of the book is its portrayal of early Methodism. One of Eliot's characters is a greatly respected young female preacher who plays a very important role in the story.

I think it was Virginia Wolfe that said George Eliot was for grown ups - not because the content of her books is unsuitable  - but perhaps because her probing into human behaviour, character and the role suffering plays in its development, may require some maturity to appreciate.

Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds; and until we know what has been or will be the peculiar combination of outward with inward facts, which constitutes a man's critical actions, it will be better not to think ourselves wise about his character.

 

When I told my 22 yr old daughter I was going to read George Eliot she mentioned she really didn't like Middlemarch when she read it (in her mid-teens, I think) but thinking of Wolfe's comment, and another similar comment I read by another author somewhere else, I suggested she try again. I also think Adam Bede would be a better book to start with than Middlemarch.

It was a still afternoon - the golden light was lingering languidly among the upper boughs, only glancing down here and there on the purple pathway and its edge of faintly-sprinkled moss: an afternoon in which destiny disguises her cold awful face behind a hazy radiant veil, encloses us in warm downy wings, and poisons us with violet-scented breath.

(He) would so gladly have persuaded himself that he had done no harm! And if no one had told him the contrary, he could have persuaded himself so much better. Nemesis can seldom forge a sword for herself out of our consciences - out of the suffering we feel in the suffering we may have caused: there is rarely metal enough there to make an effective weapon.

When death, the great Reconciler, has come, it is never our tenderness that we repent of, but our severity.

This post is linked to the Back to the Classics Challenge under Classic With a Name in the Title

An Old Captivity by Nevil Shute (1940)

This is the fifth book I've read by Nevil Shute (1899-1960). He is definitely an author I want to keep on reading. An engineer by trade, his great love was aircraft, and details of flying and various types of aircraft are often found in his stories. I'm not very technically inclined but I don't mind the detailed explanations he includes in some of his books.

There is a website devoted to Nevil Shute which includes an address made by his daughter at a Nevil Shute Celebration in 1999 in which she talks about her father and the type of man he was. The main character in An Old Captivity, David Ross, seemed to possess a similar sort of character to the author.

The first couple of pages are narrated in the first person by a psychiatrist who is travelling through France on the same train as Ross. When the train is prevented from continuing on its journey to Rome due to a breakdown of the train ahead of them, the two men decide to have dinner together.

Over dessert, Ross suddenly asks the psychiatrist a question concerning dreams and reality. It is clear that Ross is concerned about his mental stability.

He stared at me across the table; there was a strained look about him, and I knew we were coming to the root of things...

I said gently: "We've got a long evening  before us. Would you like to tell me about it?"

What follows is a third person narrative of the events leading up to the meeting on the train. Donald Ross is employed by Oxford archaeologist, Mr. Lockwood, to pilot a plane to take him to Greenland on a surveying expedition.

Much to Ross's dismay, the don's very attractive but antagonistic daughter, Alix, insists on travelling with them, which seriously complicates their journey.

Nevil Shute usually includes a romantic thread in his stories and this book is no exception.

Upon reaching the old Viking colony at Brattalid, the combination of overwork, exhaustion and the use of medication to help him sleep, brings Ross to a point where he confuses reality.

At this point the chronology of the story fluctuates. The atmosphere of the old colony seeps into Ross's dreams and he becomes Haki, serving under Leif the Lucky with his woman, Hekja. When he awakes it is in a state of confusion. The dreams are so real; backed by evidence and circumstances.

It is an interesting twist to the story but the book ends rather abruptly. Maybe Nevil Shute didn't know how to 'land' this one. Although it was an enjoyable, compelling story, it was a frustrating end for me and I kept thinking of what might have happened. 

During the expedition Ross grew fond of Alix. She began to appreciate his skill and his hard work and was genuinely concerned for his welfare when he was in a delirious state.  Did the budding romance fizzle out on their return to England? Why was Ross on a train to Rome at the beginning of the book and why didn't Shute take us back to the psychiatrist?

I read this in a Vintage Classic, one of the few paperbacks I'm happy to buy.