Reviews with content warning for Rape - Nemesis

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Nemesis by Agatha Christie

23 reviews

stanieldaylewis's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

3.0

Slow for a Christie; and she seems more outdated than her previous novels some forty years earlier. There are unforgiving views on homosexuality and those who accuse others of rape; when it doesn’t really seem to deal with the plot. A novel with a lot of promise reduced by rantings of an old coot

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amberacks12's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Quite spooky at times, a little slow for such a short book. I don’t like how much victim blaming there was, especially from a certain “expert” in criminology. I enjoyed the final reveal as it seemed to flip a lot of the silly assertions many of the characters made on their heads. But really this short palate cleansing cozy mystery unintentionally turned into a little bit of a slog to get through, and had me wrinkling my nose at many of the comments made throughout the book, by Miss Marple and others. I won’t go into specifics, but basically this was not my favorite Christie so far. Not the worst for sure, but unfortunately not the best either.

Writing style: 3
Enjoyment: 2
Emotional impact: 3
=2.75

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readingthroughthelists's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Surprisingly boring, this one. The action takes a very long time to get started and even at the halfway point, I still had no idea what mystery or crime we were trying to solve. Characters spend *the longest* time recounting stories/narratives, but it never feels like these recitals add that much new information. The mystery, when it finally arrives, is fine, I guess, but the entire book is much, much longer than it needed to be.

Whereas A Pocketful of Rye had some (poorly executed) Arthurian resonances, Nemesis leans more into Greek allusions, particularly those from The Oresteia.

Here it works: the comparison between Clotilde and Clytemnestra--both possessed by a love so jealous and obsessive that it justifies any other crime, both suffering from the torment of the Furies in the aftermath of committing murder--is resonant without being too heavy-handed. Anthea is a kind of suffering Electra, and Miss Marple gets to take her place as the unlikely Nemesis/Fury here to bring justice.

But speaking of justice…wasn’t Michael Rafael a rapist? This was established, right, that he’d raped some women even before he ever met Verity? So why are we rooting for him to get out of jail and meet a nice, new girl? Like, Miss Marple is a nice old lady and all, but yikes, don’t take relationship advice from her…

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mossytangle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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jedimasterminerva's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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carolineloveswombats's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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meekumoh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

So bittersweet to see Rafiel brought back this way. But what a wonderful story. Finally Ms Marple taking center stage. Pity it's the second last book in the series.

Of course, there's a healthy scoop of slut shaming and racism for the era. I've read enough Christie to glaze over it but it's very present and unapologetic.

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