Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait

by Andrew Norman

When Agatha Christie, the so-called “Queen of Crime”, disappeared from her home in Sunningdale in Berkshire for eleven days on 3 December 1927, the whole nation held its breath. The following day, when her car was found abandoned fourteen miles away, a nationwide search was instigated.

From a painstaking reconstruction of Agatha’s movements and behavior during those eleven days, Dr Andrew Norman is able to shed new light on what, in many ways, has remained a baffling mystery. Only now, fifty years after Agatha’s death, is it possible to explain fully, in the light of scientific knowledge, her behaviour during that troubled time.
By deciphering clues from her celebrated works, Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait sheds light on what is perhaps the greatest mystery of all to be associated with Britain’s best-loved crime writer, namely that of the person herself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Agatha Christie, British Literature

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

In 1970 he qualified in medicine and worked as a family doctor in the UK until 1983 when sustaining a back injury.
Then deciding to use his diagnostic skills in a different way and become a writer.

Reviews

[Miss Marple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Криминален уют




Агата Кристи е от онези автори, които нареждам сред любимците си, но чиито недостатъци (не са много!) ясно осъзнавам. Още в ранна тийнейджърска възраст бях прочела всичките й романи и разкази. Помня как бях направила списъци с произведенията й на три езика, за да не пропусна някое от тях и горко съжалявах, че не е все още жива, за да твори. Тогава я виждах в съвършени краски и всеки, който я критикуваше, отнасяше недотам справедливия ми гняв. Сега, в 20-те си години, трябва да призная, че в нейното творчество понякога е налице преплитане в криминалните й сюжети, което дори самата тя признава (съдейки по биографичните материали). Тоест, използва повече от един път дадено идейно скеле, върху което налага различни фабулни дрехи. Имало е и романи, от които съм била откровено разочарована, но са не повече от 4-5. Въпреки това обаче - окончателната "оценка" на творчеството й, която давам, е висока - в противовес на гореспоменатото.



Продължавам да виждам в нея онази умна английска лейди, впечатляваща ме с очарованието на криминалния уют (никак не е оксиморонно съчетание), който създава. Вярвам, че мис Марпъл е нейното алтер его, някак и поради това тя е любимият ми разследващ не само в нейните книги, но от всички криминални като цяло, които съм прочела. Пък и ми е доста по-вълнуваща идеята за наблюдателна, разплитаща убийства бабка, която всички подценяват, отколкото за надутия пуяк Поаро и несъобразителния му приятел - Хейстингс:



И да, знам, че книгите й нямат за цел да навлизат в екзистенциални дълбини, но това не ги прави посредствени. Всъщност - мисля, че е много трудно да се създаде добро произведение в този жанр. Изискват се много въображение и особен вид интелигентност според мен, за да се напише нещо различно, излизащо извън стандартно заложеното. За съжаление, голяма част от криминалните книги на редица автори, които съм прочела, не мога да определя с нещо различно от конфекционна литература. Но това е друг въпрос. Връщайки се към Агата - мисля си, че част от очарованието на нейните произведения се дължи на културно-историческия контекст, в който е творила. Малко книги имат това типично британско очарование от онова време, към което съм толкова привързана. Както съм си мислела и преди, има книги, които те карат да си задаваш въпроса "какъв ли е бил авторът като личност" и да предполагаш или по-точно - да се надяваш, обзет от читателска романтика :Д, че той е не по-малко интересен от творенията си. Е, за Агата май съм била права: http://mentalfloss.com/article/52724/...



В крайна сметка биографията е интересна, но как да кажа - единствената заслуга е на Агата Кристи. Сигурна съм, че има доста по-добри и прегледно систематизирани нейни биографии. А и да не говорим, че в българското издание шрифтът беше абсурдно малък, а за хора с по-слабо зрение, четенето би било истинско мъчение.

[Stefania Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This read like a poorly edited book report

[Debbie Robson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an invaluable guide for those Agatha Christie lovers who want to find out more about the author, particularly her 11 missing days. Those 11 missing days are why I picked up this book. What really did happen to the famous author? Norman has his theories and I am, as it turns out, in agreement with him.
Norman quotes most frequently from Christie’s autobiography which I am familiar with but he does also draw on newspaper reports of the time which I am very grateful for as newspaper research is so tedious.
Where I got a little impatient with Norman was his often repeated explanations regarding the novel Unfinished Portrait that Christie wrote under the pen name of Mary Westmacott. (For readers unfamiliar with these six Westmacott novels they are definitely worth investigating and are very enjoyable to read).
Here is Norman explaining for the first of umpteen times the Agatha/Celia connection:
“That Agatha, from an early age, absolutely loved being read to can be deduced from her semi-autobiographical novel Unfinished Portrait (published in 1934, where the character of Agatha is represented by ‘Celia’).”
However Norman is very good at highlighting Agatha’s childhood loneliness and also pointing out the quirks in Christie’s personality, in particular her gunman dreams. He also investigates the psychology of her marriage with egotist Archie and her difficult early relationship with her daughter Rosalind.
In regards to Christie’s disappearance, Norman takes us through it step by step:
“The newspaper headlines of the time reveal the enormous public interest in the case, and the strenuous efforts that were devoted to the solving of it: ‘500 POLICE SEARCH FOR MRS CHRISTIE (Daily Mail); THE MISSING WOMAN NOVELIST: POLICE WORKING ON NEW INFORMATION: AEROPLANES USED FOR THE FIRST TIME’ (The Times). (There is no doubt that aeroplanes were seen overhead during the search but as Superintendent Kenward states, these were, ‘nothing to do with the police.)”
Norman does make conclusions about what caused Agatha to go missing. You will have to read the book to see if you are in agreement with Norman and myself.

[Rose Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written. Meh.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great background on the author and details of what influenced her writing. Interesting reading for Agatha Christie lovers.

[Cass · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. It read like a poorly written book report on another book-"Agatha Christie: An Unfinished Portrait".

[MegaBo33 · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF… Really poorly written. Most of this book was boring and unnecessary. I stuck with it through the more interesting chapters about her childhood night terrors and disappearance but ultimately did not finish.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. So poorly written. Where was the editor? They should be ashamed of themselves. I only stuck with it so I could see what happened to who. Don't bother. Wikipedia would be more enlightening.

[Aimi Tedresalu]

Ma ei pea end küll Agatha Christie andunud fänniks, kuid ilmselgelt on ta tähelepanuväärne naine ja pean tunnistama, et ega ma temast endast enne selle raamatu lugemist suurt ei teadnudki.

Sissejuhatuses öeldakse, et peamiselt pööratakse selles teoses tähelepanu 1926. aasta detsembrikuule, kui Agatha närvivapustusest tingituna 11 päevaks kadus. Tegelikult räägitakse raamatus palju ka tema lapsepõlvest, mis oli "liiga turvaline" ega valmistanud teda reaalseks eluks ette. Samuti tema suhetest ema, mehe ja tütrega ja muidugi loomingust. NB! Kes Christie teoseid eriti palju lugenud pole ja alles plaanib avastama hakata, siis spoiler alert. Kui lugemise alguses midagi nagu häiris, siis lugemist lõpetades veendusin, et tegelikult oli tegemist täitsa hea raamatuga. Eelkõige on keskendutud just kuulsa kirjaniku hingemaailma avamisele ja psühholoogilistele aspektidele. Muu hulgas visatakse õhku küsimus, kas see 11-päevane kadumine oli ikka ehtne või vaid lihtsalt nutika naise reklaamitrikk. Ja tõeline fänn võib ehk veidi pettuda, saades teada, miks Agatha üldse peamiselt kirjutas. Igal juhul täitsa kobe lugemine, kui kirjavead välja arvata.

[Sakshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a prize in school, and could never bring myself to read it until a few days ago. I liked the insights into Agatha's childhood - seemed to find a lot in common with myself, meheh - but overall, kind of boring. I guess I was expecting more of how Agatha's life cropped up in her writing, but the book's primary focus was her disappearance and the circumstances surrounding it. Read it if you're a huge fan, or if you're bored and have it lying around.

[Saskia Van Elburg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Execrable. Not just badly, almost childishly, written, but facile, superficial, and lacking any real understanding of psychology; literature, culture, and their possible relevance to Christie's life and work, are ignored, and on top of this he also gets facts quite fantastically wrong. Any book about Agatha Christie which tells you that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd features Miss Marple is pretty difficult to take seriously. The real mystery is how it ever got published.

[Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has to be one of the worst books I've ever read. It's a copy and paste job with the same paragraphs appearing in several chapters. Instead of taking short extracts from the ideas of psychiatrists etc whole chunks of their work are included with little in the way of original expansion provided. Where the author tries to add their own ideas, they feel totally outdated or stilted. Read Westmacott's Unfished Portrait instead and read between the lines.

[G. Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, particularly about her break down or assumption of an alternate identity.

[Marissa Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapters on Christie’s 11-day disappearance— including news reports, the author’s own statements,
and her fictionalized version of the events—were filled with surprises.

[Shereen Lang · Rating 2 out of 5]

The background on the author was interesting, but very poorly written

[Andres "Ande" Jakovlev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ma ei ole kunagi eriti elulooraamatuid lugenud ja tegelikult on üsna kahju, et üks neist vähestest, mis mu kätte on sattunud, on niivõrd nadi.

Jutt on hüplik ning toimetus- ja faktivigu täis. Näiteks väidetakse, et "Roger Ackroydi mõrvamine" oli esimene raamat, kus tegelasena esines miss Marple. Tegelikult on see aga Poirot lugu. Ja sugugi mitte esimene.

Suure osa raamatust võtavad enda alla erinevate Christie teoste (või lõikude) lühikokkuvõtted.

Palju rõhku on ka tema (isiklikul elul põhineval) romaanil "Lõpetatud portree".

Kuigi autor ütleb, et keskendub eriti Christie 11-päevasele kadumisele, ei tee ta sedagi. Kadumisest antakse üsna napp ja üldsõnaline ülevaade.

Tegelikult on kõnekas seegi, et raamatus on 39 peatükki. See tähendab, et ühe peatüki pikkuseks on keskmiselt napilt viis lehekülge. Teemaarenduseks kuidagi vähevõitu.

[Rhona Arthur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting - I knew the story and read many of her novels. At library school we were taught she only had three plots, the most obvious (but there's an untraceable alibi), the most obscure and where there's a sequence but only one of the victims is important to cracking the crime (ABC Murders). Anyway, poor soul was married unhappily to a complete bouncer but brought joy to millions with her detective stories and Hercule Poirot is a Belgian legend.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read Agatha Christie detective novels when I was 11 years odl. since then, i have read most of them. There was a 1978 film made about Agatha Christie's disappearance which at the time i found fascinating. It was interesting to read this book and learn more about this author.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

The life and career of a famous writer are described in this book.

Quite interesting but the writing was very dry - it was like reading an academic research paper (in my opinion). This is probably only really for Agatha Christie fans.