Liza Shashenkova > Recent Status Updates

Who is Alexander Bonaparte Cust? Why is he given chapters of his own, separate from Hastings’s personal narrative? I wonder if he is the serial killer, and whether this book will showcase Poirot’s brilliance in solving a nationwide mystery. I perked my ears up when we learn he had been in the war — as the paperboy remarks, some people don’t return quite right in the head. Hmmmm….

So, I am about to embark on Murder “C”. I don’t know who has read this book, but my assumption is that this string of highly calculated alphabetical murders was committed by someone in the police force or Scotland Yard, aiming to challenge Poirot. Currently, I am keeping a close eye on Japp and Inspector Crome.

I am currently devouring this on a road trip from London to the South of France and believe I’ve uncovered the inspiration behind Alderton’s Good Material. I am utterly immersed in the chapter on therapy and heartbreak (she is good!). A crucial reminder that we cannot control destiny; we can only ride the wave (and whatever we do, never kid ourselves that we can to avoid heavy drinking sessions and denial).

Not really a fan of the little tidbits about her random dates or failed house parties. It reminds me of the first 25% of the book which didn’t add much value. But her themes around adulthood—especially thatq inevitable phase of feeling lost and empty inside - are beautifully honest, offering a kind of soft, reassuring comfort to anyone who has lived through the same. Has kept me entertained during flu season.

I actually started this one ages ago but I found it so fundamentally dull and soulless (a huge disappointment after her other novel I read this year) that I could have given up but as Dolly moves into her early 20s it is really starting to pick up! Actually how her friendship with her childhood friend Farly becomes rocky is very relatable. Guess many are resistant to inevitable change in those nearest to them.

Quick update: I caught the AI bug before COVID, and watching The Thinking Game on a recent flight (highly recommend if you are flying Emirates anytime soon) reignited my obsession with the AI race. What makes it so compelling are the brilliant, slightly doomsday-leaning academics whose stories remind you that the ‘exaggeration’ might not be exaggeration at all.

Such a beautiful story so far! It makes me profoundly grateful not to have lived through the hardship and poverty of war-torn Japan in 1945.