Book Description
On the long train ride from Istanbul to Paris, detective Poirot must find the killer of a much-hated millionaire among 13 suspects with reasons to kill.
Download Description
E-book exclusive extras: Christie biographer Charles Osborne's essay on Murder on the Orient Express; "The Poirots": the complete guide to all the cases of the great Belgian detective.
Just after midnight, a snowstorm stops the Orient Express dead in its tracks in the middle of Yugoslavia. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for this time of year. But by morning there is one passenger less. A 'respectable American gentleman' lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Hercule Poirot is also aboard, having arrived in the nick of time to claim a second-class compartment -- and the most astounding case of his illustrious career.
Regarding chronology: Agatha Christie seems not much concerned in the course of her books with their relationship to each other. It is why the Marples and the Poirots may be ready in any order, really, with pleasure. However, the dedicated Poirotist may wish to note that the great detective is returning from 'A little affair in Syria' at the start of Murder on the Orient Express. It is a piece of business after this 'little affair' -- the investigation into the death of an archaeologist's wife -- that is the subject of Murder in Mesopotamia (1936). If one wishes to delay a tad longer the pleasures of Orient Express, Murder in Mesopotamia, available as a PerfectBound e-book, offers no better opportunity.
Of note: Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels, owing no doubt to a combination of its romantic setting and the ingeniousness of its plot; its non-exploitative reference to the sensational kidnapping and murder of the infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh only two years prior; and a popular 1974 film adaptation, starring Albert Finney as Poirot -- one of the few cinematic versions of a Christie work that met with the approval, however mild, of the author herself.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant "locked room" classic!.......2007-08-25
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" might be the locked room mystery that holds down honours for being the novel in which Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot to a grateful reading public. But it is "Murder on the Orient Express" that showcases a confident, polished Hercule at the height of his powers. Standing tall beside Sherlock Holmes and Auguste Dupin, Poirot is arguably the most widely read and best known detective in literature and "Murder on the Orient Express" is certainly one of the finest examples of the mystery genre. In a brilliant variation of the typical British drawing room mystery, Christie places her cast of thirteen suspects together with the victim and Poirot on the Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Calais.
Mr Ratchett, an unsavory looking man who obviously has some dark secrets in his past, approaches Poirot as the train leaves Istanbul with the offer of a very fat fee asking for his services to help protect his life from enemies he knows are out to kill him. Poirot, seeing this as a very uninteresting exercise from a cerebral point of view, politely declines. But when the train is stopped in its proverbial tracks by a huge snow storm and Ratchett is killed in his locked berth, stabbed no less than twelve times, Poirot is pressed into service to solve the case by his long time friend Bouc who is also a director of the corporation that owns the train.
Through the simple process gathering clues by interviewing the thirteen suspects - a wildly disparate lot that in modern terms would almost certainly be referred to as a "motley crue" - Poirot employs "the little gray cells" and intuits a positively brilliant solution. In that time honoured literary tradition of gathering all of the suspects into a single room, a somewhat less than humble Poirot puts on a flashy show of summarizing the case and revealing the identity of the perpetrator in a brilliant twist that only Poirot could fathom and only Dame Christie could create.
There is nothing about "Murder on the Orient Express" that does not deserve high praise - dialogue; the hilarious mis-translation of idiomatic French into spoken English; the less than subtle but accurate use of class distinctions and behavioural stereotypes unique to different nationalities; characterization; colourful narrative description; plot; suspense; red herrings; and, of course, a brilliant solution that deftly ties up every conceivable loose thread. And all of that is in an all too short package that can be read in the brief space of three or four thoroughly enjoyable hours. Read and enjoy, pass the book onto your best friend but, for goodness sake, keep your lip zipped about that brilliant ending!
Paul Weiss
Christie and Poirot at their best.......2007-08-11
Murder on the Orient Express is almost certainly the most famous Agatha Christie novel and may well be the best-known novel from the entire mystery genre. Despite the fact that I had been told the solution to the case many years ago, I decided to go ahead and finally read the book and am very glad that I did.
The basic plot, for any who don't already know, involves a murder on board a train with a small, but colorful, group of passengers. It becomes apparent relatively quickly that no one could have possibly committed the murder but Poirot has no option except to exercise his little gray cells to their utmost in an effort to solve the case. The story moves along at a nice clip and the cast is varied and interesting. My favorite aspect of any Poirot novel tends to be the little Belgian himself and he is in fine form here.
It is a tribute to Agatha Christie's writing that I could enjoy reading a mystery novel so much on my first read even knowing the murderer before starting. The book is an excellent choice whether you are an old Poirot fan who hasn't gotten around to it yet or a first-time Christie reader.
One of the best ever.......2007-08-08
The plot is intricate, fascinating and suspense filled. You will find yourself turning page after page to discover what could possible happen next. The plot moves fast and the conversations are full of clues. Pay close attention. Enjoy.
If you are new to the mystery genre or if you have never read this book, even if you have seen the movie -- you must read this book. It is a true masterpiece of mystery writing.
Still a good read!.......2007-03-10
After watching the different movie versions (repeatedly) of Murder On The Orient Express over the years, I finally got around to reading the book. It was still a good read and there are enough differences to keep the story interesting.
The Murder.......2007-02-15
This type of book is fit for the sort who enjoy reading murder mysteries. I thought this book was at a medium difficulty level and was suitable for ages ten and above. The protagonist (Hercule Poirot) was a wonderful edition to the story. His cunning plans and charming attitude made him the perfect detective to solve the crime. The book overall was a fabulous thriller with twist and turns making you point your finger at every suspect.
Book Description
One of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries, Murder on the Orient Express was inspired by two real-life crimes and the author’s own experience being stranded on the Orient Express during Christmas of 1931. While traveling to Paris, a wealthy American is stabbed to death in his cabin on the Orient Express. With the train stuck in a snowdrift, there is no easy escape for the killer. Fortunately, detective Hercule Poirot is aboard and launches a clever investigation into the curious assortment of passengers, of whom each seems to have a motive.
Customer Reviews:
A brilliant "locked room" classic!.......2007-08-25
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" might be the locked room mystery that holds down honours for being the novel in which Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot to a grateful reading public. But it is "Murder on the Orient Express" that showcases a confident, polished Hercule at the height of his powers. Standing tall beside Sherlock Holmes and Auguste Dupin, Poirot is arguably the most widely read and best known detective in literature and "Murder on the Orient Express" is certainly one of the finest examples of the mystery genre. In a brilliant variation of the typical British drawing room mystery, Christie places her cast of thirteen suspects together with the victim and Poirot on the Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Calais.
Mr Ratchett, an unsavory looking man who obviously has some dark secrets in his past, approaches Poirot as the train leaves Istanbul with the offer of a very fat fee asking for his services to help protect his life from enemies he knows are out to kill him. Poirot, seeing this as a very uninteresting exercise from a cerebral point of view, politely declines. But when the train is stopped in its proverbial tracks by a huge snow storm and Ratchett is killed in his locked berth, stabbed no less than twelve times, Poirot is pressed into service to solve the case by his long time friend Bouc who is also a director of the corporation that owns the train.
Through the simple process gathering clues by interviewing the thirteen suspects - a wildly disparate lot that in modern terms would almost certainly be referred to as a "motley crue" - Poirot employs "the little gray cells" and intuits a positively brilliant solution. In that time honoured literary tradition of gathering all of the suspects into a single room, a somewhat less than humble Poirot puts on a flashy show of summarizing the case and revealing the identity of the perpetrator in a brilliant twist that only Poirot could fathom and only Dame Christie could create.
There is nothing about "Murder on the Orient Express" that does not deserve high praise - dialogue; the hilarious mis-translation of idiomatic French into spoken English; the less than subtle but accurate use of class distinctions and behavioural stereotypes unique to different nationalities; characterization; colourful narrative description; plot; suspense; red herrings; and, of course, a brilliant solution that deftly ties up every conceivable loose thread. And all of that is in an all too short package that can be read in the brief space of three or four thoroughly enjoyable hours. Read and enjoy, pass the book onto your best friend but, for goodness sake, keep your lip zipped about that brilliant ending!
Paul Weiss
An absolutely classic!!!.......2007-08-09
First Sentence: It was five o'clock on a winter's morning in Syria.
In the Orient Express Calais Coach, a wealthy American is found dead of multiple stab wounds. The train is stopped in the snow and it quickly becomes clear the killer is still on board. Monsieur Bouc, the director of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons Lits, asks his friend, and fellow passenger, M. Hercule Poirot to solve the case.
It had been about 25 years since last I'd read Dame Agatha but I now remember just how good she was. Her dialogue is flawless; it flows in the natural style of conversation, particularly multi-lingual conversation. I'm reminded, too, that her books were written in a time when the middle- and upper-class English had, and may still have, a rudimentary understanding of French so no translations were made in the story. Her humor is light and deft. Her characters, Poirot particularly, are fascinating representatives of certain classes of the time. Her clues are deftly placed and it such fun to watch Poirot engage his "little gray cells." Dame Agatha is definitely deserving of the term "classic." I'll not wait another 25 years before reading another of her books.
Christie and Poirot at their best.......2007-06-02
Murder on the Orient Express is almost certainly the most famous Agatha Christie novel and may well be the best-known novel from the entire mystery genre. Despite the fact that I had been told the solution to the case many years ago, I decided to go ahead and finally read the book and am very glad that I did.
The basic plot, for any who don't already know, involves a murder on board a train with a small, but colorful, group of passengers. It becomes apparent relatively quickly that no one could have possibly committed the murder but Poirot has no option except to exercise his little gray cells to their utmost in an effort to solve the case. The story moves along at a nice clip and the cast is varied and interesting. My favorite aspect of any Poirot novel tends to be the little Belgian himself and he is in fine form here.
It is a tribute to Agatha Christie's writing that I could enjoy reading a mystery novel so much on my first read even knowing the murderer before starting. The book is an excellent choice whether you are an old Poirot fan who hasn't gotten around to it yet or a first-time Christie reader.
Book Description
Inside the Minds: The Hotel Business is an authoritative, insider's perspective on the ins and outs of hospitality and the future of the industry, on a global scale. Featuring Presidents, CEOs and proprietors representing some of the world's leading hotels, top franchisors, most luxurious resorts and quaintest Inns, this book provides a broad, yet comprehensive overview of the current shape and future state of the industry. Discussing such issues as technology-driven trends, the sheer vulnerability of organizations to the constant ebb and flow of international travel and tourism and the intricacies involved in meeting and exceeding guest expectations, authors raise critical points around the business and offer indispensable advice for success. From the capabilities and characteristics of the successful hotelier to the experts' own definitions of luxury accommodations, authors explore all facets of the business - beginning to end. From the processes involved in choosing and employing the right people, to attending to the details that transform a hotel stay into a memorable experience, these visionaries articulate the finer points around hospitality now, and what will hold true into the future. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great minds of today as experts offer up their thoughts around an endlessly demanding and highly rewarding industry.
Customer Reviews:
much ado about nothing.......2006-11-14
I but this book with great expectations. I expected to be an eye opener. To read something interesting. Instead I found a book full of old and dated cliches. totally useless. If you read hotel babylon, wich is a novel, you will learn more about the hotel industry. Only one good essay there from the MD of Relais and Chateux. Reathing the others I was bored senseless. DO NOT BUY IT
Book Description
In 1928, Agatha Christie—the world's most widely read author—was a thirty-something single mother. With her first marriage falling apart, she has decided to take a much-needed holiday—the Caribbean has been her intended destination, but her mind was changed during a dinner conversation, and five days later she was off on a completely different trajectory.
Merging literary biography with travel adventure, and ancient history with contemporary world events, Andrew Eames tell a riveting tale and reveals fascinating and little-known details of this exotic chapter in the life Agatha Christie. His own trip from London to Baghdad—a journey much more difficult in 2002, with the political unrest in the Middle East, than it was in 1928—becomes ineluctably intertwined with Christie's, and the characters he meets seem like they could have stepped out of a mystery novel.
Fans of Agatha Christie will delight in Eames's descriptions of the places and events that appeared in and influenced her fiction, and armchair travelers will thrill in the exotica of the journey itself.
Customer Reviews:
Like it.......2007-09-10
I bought this book for my Mum because she loves Christie and ended up reading it myself. I was especially taken by the sections in Eastern Europe and Iraq. This book introduced me to places in geography and history that I had not been to before and was a pleasant and thought-provoking read.
Captures people, place, and time vividly--well recommended.......2007-08-06
Why would anyone still read a travelogue in this, the beginning of the 21st century, when it was so easy to find outstanding independent film travel documentaries, many prepared by only one or two individuals at most? Certainly this visual medium combined with well-edited documentary realism and well-scripted travel guide dialog would serve better than print for the purpose of introducing a novice to a new culture, people, or place. But a modern-day print-based travelogue was what our book club leader assigned for our next book. That is how I came to read "The 8:55 to Baghdad" by Andrew Eames. I am glad I did.
In 2003, on the eve of the second Gulf War, seasoned English travel-writer Andrew Eames retraced the famous train trip that Agatha Christie made 75 years earlier on the Orient Express from London to Baghdad. Thus this book is a delightful hybrid--part history and biography of Christie, part travelogue concerning a unique trip through parts of the world where few Westerners choose to travel, and part transcribed candid conversations with strangers and interviews with local dignitaries that the author hooked up with during this travels.
Thankfully, Eames knew better than to bore us with the familiar. Most of the travelogue deals primarily with the wholly unique--parts of the trip where the typical Western traveler has little to no experience. I am speaking of countries like Croatia, Serbia, Syria, and Iraq, as well as little travel portions of Hungary and Turkey.
Personally, I was only mildly interested in the Christie history. What interested me most was the candid conversations that the author was able to have with strangers everywhere along his travels. These conversations often open up a whole new perspective on world politics. Eames was able to pick up some amazingly straightforward points of view about important topics from complete strangers. This is what kept me glued to the book.
Take for example:
1) The conversation Eames had with a Belgrade businessman who genuinely felt that what Serbia needed was another war in order to jump start its stagnant economy. The man says: "Today, Serbia is old news. Now there's 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq, we're not important any more. Everyone's left or leaving and all the money is going elsewhere. That's why we need another war. To bring back the budgets." The author politely inquires against who the war should be. "Dunno. Someone will pop up. They always do" (p. 141).
2) The conversation Eames had with a fellow train traveler in rural Turkey about President Bush: "You have traveled. I have traveled. We understand each other. But President Bush? Has he traveled? What is that expression--travel broadens the mind? I wonder if he would still be demonizing the Islamic world if he'd come here on his holidays" (p. 205). A few pages later, while the author is still conversing with the same Turkish passenger, they start talking about Iraq. The man says: " Iraq will probably be a better place without Saddam Hussein, but the war must not go on for too long. Might is only right for a limited time; look at Genghis Khan. Justice, that is the important thing. If the U.S. treats Iraq with justice, then I don't think there'll be any backlash from here. But if America shows itself to be greedy, then it'll be a problem. A real problem." Then the conversation turns naturally to Israel and we get this candid comment: "There you see it, comes the problem of justice. There is no justice, not for the people of Palestine. For them Israel sets the parameters and inflicts the penalties. Imagine if a foreign power claimed the heart of London, and you could do nothing because it had a big, powerful bully of a friend. Well...I have Jewish friends, but we can't talk about it. It is such an injustice, and it is deeply felt elsewhere in the world. Deeply felt" (p. 209).
3) Or the conversation he had with a Canadian engineer on the border between Turkey and Syria. Eames asks the man if he thinks there is going to be a war. The man who builds grain silos for a living says that he does not think so, "Don't think the Syrians do either. How could there be, with so little pretext?" But what about the oil, the author asks. "No way; Even Big George wouldn't do anything so cynical. No, I tell you what...I predict that water, not oil, will be the next big justification for war. The Syrian aquifers are going down at a rate of fifteen feet a year. That's serious for Syria, and it's even more serious for Iraq...you know what Mesopotamia means? It means land between two rivers. The Tigris and the Euphrates. They both originate in the mountains of Turkey. Without those two rivers Iraq would not, could not exist." They go on to discuss the Turkish Central Anatolian Project to construct 20 dams on the Euphrates and the Tigris by the year 2020. "Those dams will pull the plug on Iraq...the poor buggers will die of thirst. They don't have any other source of water" (p. 251-2).
If you like reading that kind of candid dialogue, you'll love this book. I did, and it opened my eyes.
EXQUISITE NOSTALGIA FOR TRAIN LOVERS.......2007-03-02
By Mark V. Rose, author of BANGKOK, OH BOY!
Andrew Eames' THE 8:55 TO BAGHDAD evokes exquisite nostalgia for train lovers in search of exotic destinations. But Eames does much more. He personally traveled the same rail routes taken by Agatha Christie as she developed ideas for Murder on the Orient Express and many other popular mystery novels often while traversing Europe to Istanbul, Syria and finally Iraq. Simply, it is a traveler's treat.
Years after the famed mystery writer's own far-reaching travels, Eames, took his travel cues from Christie's autobiography and memoir. While the train cars had long ago been replaced or refurbished, the terrain remained similar enough, and in some areas such as Bulgaria, Serbia still remained the same. Eames stayed in hotels where Agatha had, walked the same streets and even talked with several people who had met her--one in Aleppo, the other in Ljubljana.
Given the relative slowness of trains in today's fast-paced world and the comfort and ambience of the coach's interiors, Eames recreates the sense of leisure that Christie must have felt, almost to the point of giving a sense that time has stood still. It was probably that very freedom that allowed Christie to think about what she would eventually write about.
Besides interesting, brief, useful historical backgrounds of the countries he passes through, Eames supplies enticing illustrations and maps, helping the reader to feel a part of the journey. One learns much from Eames' generous narrative. Given Christie's adventurous spirit, it is not too surprising that she sometimes traveled alone. For me, the most astonishing information is that her first solo voyage in 1928 followed the disappointing end of her first marriage to Archie Christie. Perhaps the Orient Express would ease the sad and lonely young author's pain as her philandering husband had just divorced her to marry another woman. She took the 8:55 out of London for Baghdad. It is in the figurative sense, as one train never went all the way, Istanbul being the last stop on the Express which she had boarded on the continent. From Turkey travelers take yet another "Express".
Christie more than succeeded in her quest to discover "what sort of person I was--whether I had become entirely dependent . . ." Through friends in Iraq she met her second husband Max Mallowan--an archeologist thirteen years her junior whose life and work she happily shared. They spent many winters on important digs in both Syria and Iraq. Eames reports that Christie adored working in archeology, quoting from her archeological memoir COME TELL ME HOW YOU LIVE if she had not become a writer that would have been her profession. Eames did his amazing homework and then some! Highly recommended. MARK ROSE, Author BANGKOK, OH BOY!
Appeals on many levels........2006-09-08
Part travelogue, part history (of the Balkans and the Middle East, most notably), part Agatha Christie biography, the book satisfied this reader on all three levels. Eames sometimes tried too hard to coin meaningful metaphors, but those instances were easy to overlook. What wasn't easy to overlook was his mis-categorization of Syria as part of President Bush's axis of evil which, as far I know know, included Iran, Iraq, and North Korea. It seems that would have been a relatively easy fact to check. One suggestion for any future editions would be to include more maps, perhaps one at the head of each chapter. Overall, an extremely enjoyable read.
Good stuff.......2005-11-01
This wonderful piece of travel literature is a good quick, fun, enlightening read. It follows the Orient express from London, to Trieste, through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and on to Iraq. Many interesting people are met along the way and the fascinating history of the various countries is told in a new fresh light. Also Agatha Christies `secret' life is brought to light. Topics include, sex in Serbia, Tsar Boris and his love for trains, genocide in Croatia, and the history of Trieste and the Orient Express. A wonderful book, that makes excellent reading as a companion to any trip to eastern Europe or Turkey as well as a good companion on any trip.
Seth J. Frantzman
Customer Reviews:
Disappointment in a microcosmos.......2006-08-09
Of course far from his masterworks, this novel is still better than most which plague the bestsellers lists today. It is one of the first novels written by Greene, on of which he calls "entertainments", to distinguish them from his more serious novels. Nevertheless, here in an early work his recurrent subjects loom already: hope and regret; the moral loneliness of each individual; the inevitability of fate; the consciousness, or lack of it, of good and evil.
A group of people are travelling from Ostende (Belgium) to Istanbul, each one with their fears or illusions. During the long way they meet and interact, love and forget each other. Carleton Myatt, a young Jewish merchant, is on his way to solve a problematic business situation with his employees in Turkey. During the trip he meets and seduces (through kindness and sacrifice) a young starlet of nightclubs who only dreams of love and welfare. Dr. Czinner (sinner?) a socialist revolutionary from Yugoslavia, is on the same train bound for Belgrade, but he is discovered and harassed by Mabel Warren, a British, alcoholic and lesbian journalist. The interaction between the characters creates an increasing tension which is only resolved, for good or evil, when each one of them meets his or her particular fate. Foremost is the heartbreaking story of the young dancer, who loses love in the middle of a snowstorm and political intrigue of which she understands nothing. In this book, Greene lets us see the great qualities that would later lead him to write his great novels.
Not Greene's best work.......2006-02-23
I have enjoyed a number of Greene's novels, but was disappointed with Orient Express. For a better read and more compelling characters, I recommend Greene's later work including The Quite American, The Comedians or even The Heart of the Matter.
Train Wreck.......2006-02-08
I find Graham Greene to be almost unreadable. I know that this is going to be considered near blasphemous, since literary critics have heaped such praise upon him and so many reviewers here have done likewise.
However, in a word, I find him depressing. His characters suffer from interminable analysis of their every thought and action. The larger story is merely a vehicle for these internal monologues that, frankly, I don't find particularly insightful or interesting. It was V. S. Pritchett who first remarked about Greene's 'perverse and morbid tendencies'. While Greene is no doubt highly intelligent and capable of a very high level of writing, the end result, for me, is something very unpleasant.
I first read 'The Heart Of The Matter'. God, what an endlessly depressing scene! Nor was there any particular character I could sympathize with or even care about. In spite of my negative reaction to this highly praised work, I thought I would give him another try with 'Orient Express' (a.k.a., 'Stamboul Train'), thinking that in this 'entertainment' as Greene called it I would actually be, well, entertained. Instead, I get a trainload of depressing characters whose every thought is scrutinized to an excruciating degree.
Example (from Myatt's suspicions about his business dealings):
'It was odd. He had chosen the samples with particular care. It was natural of course that even Stein's currants should not all be inferior, but when so much was suspected, a further suspicion was easy. Suppose, for example, Mr. Eckman had been doing a little trade on his own account, had allowed Stein some of the firm's consignment of currants, in order temporarily to raise the quality, had, on the grounds of that improved quality, indeed, induced Moults' to bid for the business. Mr. Eckman must be having uneasy moments now, turning up the time-table, looking at his watch, thinking that half Myatt's journey was over. Tomorrow, he thought, I will send a telegram and put Joyce in charge; Mr. Eckman shall have a month's holiday. Joyce will keep an eye on the books, and he pictured the scurrying to and fro, as in an ants' nest agitated by a man's foot, a telephone call from Eckman to Stein or from Stein to Eckman, a taxi ordered here and dismissed there, a lunch for once without wine, and then the steep office steps and at the top of them the faithful rather stupid Joyce keeping his eye upon the books. And all the time, at the modern flat, Mrs. Eckman would sit on her steel sofa knitting baby clothes for the Anglican mission, and the great dingy Bible, Mr. Eckman's first deception, would gather dust on its unturned leaf.'
Lord have mercy. This stuff is like fingernails on a chalkboard!
William Golding called Green 'the ultimate twentieth-century chronicler of consciousness and anxiety'. This does not, however, make for entertaining reading. Greene's writing is an examination of the human condition totally devoid of lightness, humor (at least as I understand the word) or romance. His characters are an unpleasant, unhappy bunch.
Ultimately all his writing reveals is the real Graham Greene.
Everyday existence found at the bottom of suitcase.......2005-01-07
ORIENT EXPRESS differentiates from other Graham Greene's works, which are normally considered literary fiction of a serious writer, in its entertaining nature. It reads like an adventurous story whose every little detail exuded demands one's undivided attention in order to piece it all together. As the Orient Express hurtles across Europe on its three-day journey from Ostend to Constantinople, the driven lives of several of its passengers become bound together in a fateful interlock. The curious skein of characters include a beautiful chorus girl enroute to a performance, a rich Jewish businessman bound for a business deal, a mysterious, sinister-looking but kind doctor returning to his native Belgrade after being fugitive for five years, a cunning murderous burglar who had fled a crime, and a spiteful journalist who contrived to make the headline story.
Given the nature of these various characters and a backdrop that constitutes to a curious sense of suspension in a confined, onrushing train, ORIENT EXPRESS, though a less literary work, does not fail to combine the exotic and the romantic with the sordid and the banal. These passengers, who have little or nothing in common with one another that they will probably never overlap have they not been assigned in the same car, retain their own life drama, conditions and secrets under the changing skies. The meanness of everyday existence is found at the bottom of every suitcase, and has in fact been packed along with everything else.
It doesn't seem obvious at first that ORIENT EXPRESS bespeaks self-sacrifice and betrayal. It is the usual case when people are far from home and routine that they will stair to make an unwonted exertion of the spirit or the will. The book, though its contrariety of style to Greene's other works, turns out to be a useful if not fortunate failure in containing the themes of self-sacrifice and betrayal. It is almost unexpected that the train, the passengers, and the direction to which the train steered symbolize a time period and the revolution.
A first-class journey through "Greeneland.".......2004-10-29
Originally published in 1933 as the Nazi Party was preparing to take power, Penguin Classics recently reissued a new, centenial edition of Graham Greene's classic novel of romance and betrayal, ORIENT EXPRESS, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. While the Orient Express rolls across Europe, from Ostend to Constantinople, Greene's entertaining novel follows the action inside the train. The cast of characters include Coral Musker, a beautiful showgirl; Dr. Czinner, a Communist political exile traveling ingognito; Mabel Warren, an alcoholic journalist; Josef Grunlich, a murderous burglar; and the controversial character (or perhaps more accurately, caricature), Carleton Myatt, a rich, Jewish businessman. While ORIENT EXPRESS probably does not rise to the standards set by some of Greene's other novels (e.g., THE END OF THE AFFAIR; TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT; THE POWER AND THE GLORY), it is nevertheless an entertaining minor novel.
G. Merritt
Product Description
Snowbound in the Balkan hills, the passengers on the Orient Express awaken to find a man brutally murdered in his berth. Poirot has not a moment to waste. For the killer is still at large on the train.
Average customer rating:
|
Suspense: Orient Express, This Gun for Hire, the Ministry of Fear, Our Man in Havna, This Gun for Hire, Our Man in Havana and the Ministry of Fear
Graham Greene
Manufacturer: BBS Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
| Arts & Photography
| Audiobooks
| Biography
| Business & Investing
| Calendars
| Children
| Computers & Internet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Film
| Greeting Cards & Accessories
| Health, Mind & Body
| History
| Home & Garden
| Humor, Comics & Pop Culture
| Literature & Fiction
| Mysteries & Thrillers
| Nonfiction
| Parenting & Families
| Reference
| Religion & Spirituality
| Romance
| Science & Nature
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Sports
| Teens
| Travel
Greene, Graham
| Classics
| British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Anthologies
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Greene, Graham
| ( G )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Anthologies
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Spy Stories & Tales of Intrigue
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0883659077 |
Average customer rating:
|
Luxury Trains: From the Orient to the Tgv
George Behrend
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
| Arts & Photography
| Audiobooks
| Biography
| Business & Investing
| Calendars
| Children
| Computers & Internet
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Film
| Greeting Cards & Accessories
| Health, Mind & Body
| History
| Home & Garden
| Humor, Comics & Pop Culture
| Literature & Fiction
| Mysteries & Thrillers
| Nonfiction
| Parenting & Families
| Reference
| Religion & Spirituality
| Romance
| Science & Nature
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Sports
| Teens
| Travel
General
| Railroads
| Transportation
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Transportation & Highway
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0865650160 |
Books:
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
- Navigating the Dark Side of Wealth: A Life Guide for Inheritors
- Notes from Underground; The Grand Inquisitor
- Nurturing Yourself Through IVF: Improve Your Experience, Maximize Your Odds of Success
- On Baking: A Textbook of Baking and Pastry Fundamentals
- Paradise Lost (Penguin Classics)
- Phantom: Chainfire Trilogy, Part 2 (Sword of Truth, Book 10)
- Plato, I, Euthyphro. Apology. Crito. Phaedo. Phaedrus (Loeb Classical Library)
- Quicksand and Passing (American Women Writers Series)
- Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History And Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applicatio
- History: Fiction or Science
- Lion Taming: Working Successfully with Leaders, Bosses, and Other Tough Customers
- International Competition Law: A New Dimension for the WTO
- Jazz Styles: History and Analysis
- New Complete Home Landscaping
- iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach
- The Politics of Market Reform in Fragile Democracies: Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela
- Designing Strategic Cost Systems: How to Unleash the Power of Cost Information
- Getting Started in Online Brokers
And Then There Were None
Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)
Cards on the Table (A Hercule Poirot Mystery)
ABC Murders: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)
