The Moonstone

3/5/2020: Once again a much-enjoyed classic mystery. Whew! I'd forgotten there were so many intricate details in this one! I don't love it as dearly as The Woman in White, but it's still an entertaining and twisty mystery that has a lot of neat to it.

Content: a few swears; suicide; murder; opium

Good classic mystery!!

The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins, is a mystery in a mystery. It is a mystery novel that follows the story of a diamond from India that is not only stolen from its original custodians, but from a family in England that comes into possession of it. There are several questions that will be answered: How did the diamond come to England? How was the diamond stolen from the family? How did the diamond get to London? Does the diamond return to India or does it remain in England?

The Moonstone is one of the first modern mystery novels that helped create the genre and set the rules for mystery/detective fiction. It is written in a series of letters by the characters to understand what has happened. The story might be a bit slow in certain places (situations need to be set up), but it is an enjoyable read as both a mystery and an exploration of how the modern mystery began.

Long-winded, but we'll worth the read for the reveal! Gotta admit my guess to the culprit was wrong, but it was fun to be proven so.

My only regret about “The Moonstone” is that I didn't read it sooner! I purposely savored this book over a recent vacation instead of rushing through it.

As the first detective novel in the English language, it set the rules for thousands upon thousands of novels, movies, and TV series for over 150 years (and counting).

A delightful read. I love the way Wilkie Collins tells stories and I enjoyed reading the different narratives from the perspectives of various characters.

I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 for one main reason. I recently read The Woman in White (another of his books) and it instantly became one of my top 5 favorite books; thus, my bar for this one was set high. I liked it very much but not quite as much as TWIW, therefore it has one less star.

That said, I had recently watched a television adaptation of The Moonstone and knew the ending already when I read this one, which also affected my reading experience a bit. I suspect that if I read it again in a year or two, I may rate it higher then.

The 2016 BBC adaptation is worth watching; just read the book first to avoid spoiling the ending. :)

2.5. Too long for the story being told

This was an interesting read, but not one that I can really say that I loved. Reading it, you can definitely see how influential it was on other detective stories of the era. I think the serialized nature of its publication hurt it a bit, though? There were lots of cliffhangery moments, especially in the second half, and they eventually became trying rather than intriuging. If you're already a committed fan of 19th century detective stories you'll want to make sure you've read it, but beyond that you'd probably want to give it a pass.

Very fun read. I have some general complaints about the way the “mystery” unfolds, but for it being the first detective novel, I'll keep them to myself.

2017- Just too slow for me right now. I will come back to it at some point.

2020- Listening to this book made a big difference. I like hearing the parts of the story from so many different people. Collins did a great job making all the various tangents into an important part of the story. I like that the solution is not straightforward and easy. There are several twists and turns, so in the end the thief isn't the bad guy. I can see why this is a classic.

Although three are some wonderful stretches of writing, it's tooooo long

It took a while to get into, but it didn't disappointment, especially as a classic sensation novel. Stolen jewels! Mysterious Indians! Opium fiends! Peculiar doctor's assistants with shady pasts! Love a bit of Wilkie. I thought the multiple narrative voices worked well and there were some excellent characters. Best of all, the speculation the reader can indulge in about the things that are not explained in the story, like what the hell is wrong with Ezra Jennings?

2018 update: I wrote a terribly-worded review when I finished this book for my Victorian Literature class. It was a roundabout review basically saying that there are very distinct and interesting characters that drive this book, which keep you interested in what they're doing and where the story is going.

Fun detective novel. Very much full of old-fashioned manor houses and diamond thieves with a bit of colonialism thrown in for good measure. Interesting to see the start of this genre, and there's enough tongue-in-cheek humour and self-awareness to help the book rise above its flaws. A bit long-winded, but only by modern standards.