Death on the Nile
Ratings335
Average rating4
A simple vista puede parecer que es un caso más de Hércules Poirot, pero lo que realmente le diferencia de los demás es que la autora introduce a Egipto como el protagonista indiscutible del libro, por asi decirlo, Egipto es la piedra angular de la historia.
Por otra parte, todos los personajes son muy carismáticos y muy complejos.
Personalmente lo considero como uno de mis favoritos de la autora.
Another easy, quick-paced, pleasant read that also has layers, surprises, and twists. Once again, the ‘putting it all together' is the show-stopper, but those moments continue to deliver in the most famous Poirot novels. Characters are well-written (albeit a tiny bit token) and you might actually even notice some light-hearted versions of certain story beats that are mostly only seen in dark thrillers these days.
My first Agatha christie book. I would say that it was beyond what I hope, more than the credit that I was ready to give before reading it. considering that I don't have a lot of interest in mystery novels, Christie was able to entice me to read one (this one) non-stop. but the most impressive aspect of her work in this book has to be her undoubtably perfect writing.
storywise: this is a mediocre piece, the beginning (as much as it may seem important) is some of the most tedious pages I've ever read! however it becomes extremally better and better.
and in the case of vocabulary: I've learned a lot and enjoyed a lot.
To keep in mind i) two previous Poirot mysteries are minorly spoiled in this book (Murder on the Orient Express and and Lord Edgware Dies ) ii) the polarity of the pacing between the first and second half of the book: the first half's leisurely-paced presentation of the characters switches to a dizzyingly fast-paced second-half where the crime and its resolution take place.
One of the greatest mysteries ever written. Poirot at the height of his powers and genius. A classic by any measure and a pure joy to read. 5 stars!
I first read this one ages ago, so even though this is a re-read, I pretty much went into this one without an idea of what the solution was. I had a vague recollection of the solution halfway through, though, and turns out my memory was better than I expected. Still, this was a great and entertaining read.
Though this seems pretty Egyptian on the outside, what with the title and the Egyptian-looking setting on the cover, the story is very much all-English (and a little bit American). There isn't much of Egypt in this one besides the names of the locations that the characters go to, which is a shame considering this book was inspired by Christie's own trip to Egypt with her archaeologist husband Max Mallowan. Christie herself became an archaeologist in later life!
Poirot in this one was at least very much involved in the mystery from start to end, which I enjoy a lot more than other stories where he just dips in in the last 30% to solve the mystery. We also meet some very memorable characters like Linnet Ridgeway, Simon Doyle, and Jacqueline de Bellfort. The love triangle between these three isn't anything fresh but I thoroughly enjoyed how much the emotions of guilt and betrayal popped off the page.
Even though I vaguely remembered the solution halfway through, this was still a pageturner for me. I stayed up hideously late because I couldn't stop reading it. There's something magnetic and so easy and even comforting about Christie's writing and the way her mystery unfolds.
I also went to look up the cast list of the 2022 film just to see who they would cast in each character. I have to say it was a pretty stellar list (without having actually seen the movie to judge their performances). Gal Gadot and Letitia Wright in particular being Linnet Ridgeway and Rosalie Otterbourne seemed very well-casted. Arnie Hammer, actually precisely because of all the sleaziness and controversy surrounding him at the moment, was also an ironically good fit for Simon Doyle as well.
Though perhaps not as mind-blowing as Murder on the Orient Express or the Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Death on the Nile is definitely a quintessentially great Christie to read and re-read, whether you're new to her or a long-time fan.
I love Agatha Christie, and becuase of that, this book was not very exciting. I knew who was goint to die and who the killer was in the first chapters and the murder only happens at the 30% mark, way to late for my tastes.
I am slowly falling into the Agatha Christie well. I AM LOVING THESE BOOKS SO MUCH. Should've read them sooner xD.
3.5 stars. Interesting story and characters, good plot, but the style is a little too formal and could have benefitted from slowing down a bit and delving into details some more.
Богатая леди отправляется в свадебное путешествие на пароходе по Нилу. Вокруг нее, как оказывается, совсем не случайные люди: половина просто темные личности, вторая половина хотят ей смерти, в том числе бывшая подруга богатой леди, у которой та увела жениха - того самого, кто стал ее мужем. Кто из них кто - непонятно, но леди, как водится, убивают, а Пуаро и неслучайно оказавшийся на борту Полковник Рейс начинают расследование....
Every time she gets me!
I managed to guess one of the mysteries at 70% because of a single throwaway line the author had written in the beginning, which was awesome. But as for the murderer - she got me again. I loved reading this book!
I have read very few Agatha Christie novels. I dont't know if all of them have the same pattern..
In part one, she arranged different characters like long thin threads next to each other, clean and distinct, in the next part she mangled all of them together, that I could barely follow the connections...throw in a few red herrings here and there, towards the end I felt this was going to be an obscure unsatisfactory ending, that sprouted mid story - but no! everything was carefully crafted beginning to end and kind of veiled in plain sight. Awesome read.
Shoutout to David Suchet, who read the audiobook, for showing me what true commitment to reading a story out loud sounds like.
I can never figure out with detective novels whether I should be disappointed that the reveal matched my guess or whether I should be pleased with myself for getting it right. I think I prefer being tricked so to speak so I can have that “Aha, that's a clever twist!” moment.
In truth, I think some of it easily telegraphed here. The sudden jump from Simon and Jacqueline being a couple to Simon and Linnet being married was an immediate eyebrow raiser to me. Then Poirot overhears a conversation “We have to go through with this...” and finally Christie shows her hand a bit too much when neither of the two are present on Race's list of possible suspects. I also did clue in that the shooting managed to give both of them an alibi, though I didn't quite figure out how Simon could then go commit murder with a wounded leg, so the reveal of the second bullet was clever.
Of course, the thought pops up in my head afterwards... why didn't he just “accidentally” push her overboard rather than hatching an overly elaborate plan to generate a murder mystery on a boat with a world famous detective onboard? But obviously that's all part of the fun with these books ;)
One side note: Christie's conservatism comes out here with her ridiculously silly portrayal of the leftist Ferguson as an Angry Young Man railing against the entire world and who is excessively rude and boorish to every single person he meets apparently.
Sono affascinato dai libri gialli, più ne leggo e sono attirato da essi. Personalmente li vedo come una sfida tra me -il lettore- e l'autore, in questo caso, Agatha Christie. Sono affascinato soprattutto quando perdo ovviamente, è un gioco difficile quello del giallista, riuscire a mostrare il trucco di magia senza svelarlo, in questo caso però ho vinto con largo anticipo. Non saprei dire se è stata colpa di un eccesso di indizi, o semplicemente ho iniziato ad avere occhio per alcune cose, ma devo ammettere che onestamente se avevo intuito il chi, non ho di certo indovinato il perché. Anche perché solitamente le soluzioni proposte sono così ben costruite (e al limite della realtà) che difficilmente uno si può immaginare per filo e per segno tutto quanto.
Ricapitolando, si tratta del romanzo che meno mi è piaciuto dell'autrice (di quattro). La prima metà è molto lenta a introdurre i personaggi, o meglio, lo “spaccato umano” del romanzo. Tutta una lunga serie di personaggi particolarmente (e volutamente) esagerati, che in tutta franchezza non mi hanno né entusiasmato né suscitato interesse, complice anche averli introdotti poco a poco in maniera disordinata. Ho preferito infatti la seconda parte del romanzo, dedicata al delitto.
Tuttavia mi piace lo stile dell'autrice, e anche se trovo che la narrazione di questo romanzo non sia un granché, i dialoghi sono sempre molto curati e interessanti (anche se questa volta un po' ridondanti). La Christie proviene da un'epoca in cui non esisteva il politicamente corretto e infatti si nota molto, rendendo per assurdo i personaggi che ho criticato, molto più umani di tanti di quelli che si leggono al giorno d'oggi. Un'ultima critica che sento di fare, è che in questo romanzo il troppo stroppia. C'è tanto di tutto, e alla fine l'intera faccenda ne risente e francamente non la ritengo molto credibile.
I have been reading all of Christie's mysteries chronologically and this was number 25, I believe. I have to say, though, it stands out. It has a rich setting, interesting characters, and a challenging plot. It's definitely one of her better ones.
The one thing I will say is that if you have read as many of her books as I have you may notice a trend in her writing that gives you a good guess of who the murderer is right from the beginning. But don't let that stop you–it's good either way!
I am in the minority on this, but Death on the Nile is not one of my favorite Christie mysteries. It's actually my least favorite of all the ones I've read so far. There were a number of things that didn't work well for me.
1) Poirot was especially smart-alecky. I know, I know, the little gray cells are part of his shtick, but at least 3 times he assured his sidekick Colonel Race (I missed Hastings big time too) that he had figured it all out and was just piecing the puzzle together, and that of course Race would know who it was if he just thought about it! Poirot's ego overly seeps through these pages.
2) When I think about Agatha Christie, I think about mysteries that I cannot solve. To me, that's part of what makes her novels so great. All the clues are there, and I am always surprised to learn who the culprit is (or culprits). Unfortunately, I had most of this one figured out solely based on how odd the characters behaved. Their behavior made no sense. I'm not going to spoil anything, like I spoiled the ending of the novel for myself by simply using my “little gray cells”.
3) It was a good deal longer than most of the other Christie mysteries I've read, which is in and of itself not bad; however, there was a lot of filler. I think having so many characters is really confusing. They were interviewed multiple times, and it was too challenging to keep everything straight.