Five Little Pigs
Ratings117
Average rating3.9
I don't understand the correlation with the Five Little Pigs rhyme, but I did end up really enjoying this one.
I'm not sure where to put this in my ranking of Agatha Christie novels but it's definitely a favorite. The characters are so vivid, and that's always what pulls me in with her writing, but I think this story relies on it in a way the others I've read don't. It reminds me of Wuthering Heights in a way, how the tragedy is all past and inescapable, the bittersweetness of the ending.... after it all, there is still possibility because there is still life, there is still youth....
and, of course, there's nothing I love as much as a misunderstood woman
“I am something of a magician. There are things I know without having to be told.”
Sixteen years after the murder of her father a young woman tasks Poirot with finding out the truth. Was her mother actually the murderer or has someone else been to blame all along?
I found this a clever little book with the usual twists and turns right up to the end. It was an enjoyable read, mostly, but the ‘little pigs' references did rather get on my nerves and rather detracted from the telling of the tale. Goodness knows how American readers coped when their title had absolutely nothing to do with the annoying children's ditty!
On an aside, I'm loving reading these 1970 era Fontana novels with distinctive cover art. It brings an extra level of enjoyment to hold these old pages, pre-loved by a great friend of mine, while I read these words for the first time.
When both All About Agatha and Shedunnit rank this Christie so highly, you have to finally read it. It definitely lived up to the praise. It's really tightly done, nothing is wasted. I loved that the crime was so long in the past. Poirot was so good here, doing what he does best. The ending was a bit underwhelming, but that's it.
I really enjoyed the set up of this book: Poirot first goes to interview each of the “five pigs” or primary people involved, and then you get to read their written accounts of the crime. Then at the end of course Poirot ties everything up nicely!
Peppathon 2021: popular book, backlist, & fast-paced
This was okay and I definitely want to read more from Agatha Christie but I really did get bored at times and felt like it dragged on too long for what the book is. Considering this book is short as it is, that really isn't a positive.
Trigger warnings: racism, death, infidelity, murder, and suicidal thoughts
Frankly, I don't care what people say about Agatha Christie's writing. It works for me. :-D
I find it interesting that this is what she created from
“This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
And this little piggy cried “wee wee wee” all the way home.”
:-D
I also find it fascinating with all the cultural references in this book.
I like Caroline and Angela. I suppose Angela inspired the character of Delia Westholme in the Poirot tv series Appointment with Death. (The “real” lady Westholme wasn't an adventurous archaeologist :-D)
I dislike the Artists who think it's their prerogative to be a-holes, egotistical, temperamental, abusive, often unreliable and unfaithful. Passionate but heartless. I'm an artist, and I might be all this, but it's not something I take as a privilege and “expression of my artistic nature”, but as a character flaw which I am aware hurts people closest to me, and which I am very sorry for.
“One does not, you know, employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think. It is this – ” he tapped his egg-shaped head – “this, that functions!”
In one of the finest mysteries of Queen Agatha, five people - five little pigs - are suspect for the murder of Amyas, an allegedly brilliant artist who was a womanizer, a manipulator and one of those men who believe they have the right to catch as many flies as they want. Well, beware of those...flies. You never know what they carry in their wings, mate.
“It takes more than a printed notice to keep you from reality. . . . We've only one life to live.”
An idyllic summer, an act of childish wrath that had serious consequences, a man who craved reassurance, a young woman who thought everyone is a toy to meddle with. A crime with a crystal-clear perpetrator. Or maybe not. The daughter of Caroline and Amyas askes our beloved Belgian genius to investigate a murder by a lake, so that her mother may be exonerated after death. And it is now time for the little pigs to gather and cry all the way home...
The 2003 ITV adaptation with the remarkable David Suchet as Poirot is a masterpiece.
“What do most people mean when they say that? So young. Something innocent, something appealing, something helpless. But youth is not that! Youth is crude, youth is strong, youth is powerful—yes, and cruel! And one thing more—youth is vulnerable.”
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I am reading all of Chrisitie's mysteries chronologically. I have to say, some of the Poirot books tend to be slow. I felt that with this one, but I did think the outcome was clever and unexpected. I also liked the retrospective framework. Not one of my favorites thus far, but they are all good. On to the next . . .
Not only can Poirot solve a recent crime, but he can solve one sixteen years later! I liked how he knew how to behave with each person, making him or her feel comfortable enough to share what they saw and believed.