Endless Night

Endless Night
Agatha Christie

Summary (with spoilers):

Michael Rogers, our first-person narrator, is a ne'er-do-well who takes in interest in a land sale of Gipsy's Acre, even though he's been warned that the place is cursed. While looking at the property, he meets Ellie, a rich American. She doesn't have any real family, just a bunch of relations by marriage, like her step-mother Cora, who are reliant on Ellie's wealth. Michael and Ellie meet secretly, with the help of Ellie's assistant Greta, and eventually get married. Ellie has purchased Gipsy's Acre, so the couple hires Santonix, architect with a fatal illness and friend of Michael, to build them a house.

However, a gypsy women keeps warning them to leave, and someone throws a rock through their window. Michael and Ellie meet some neighbors, Major Philpot and Claudia, who was previously married to Ellie's banker, Stanford Lloyd. When Ellie sprains an ankle, Greta comes to live with them. Michael and Greta don't get along, and Michael had tried to hold off meeting her for as long as possible.

***SPOILER: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER*****

The murder happens near the end of the novel. While Michael is away at an auction, Ellie goes out riding, and is later found in the woods, dead. Michael goes to America to settle the business affairs, since the majority of her fortune has been transferred to him. Her lawyer, Lippincott, is suspicious of Michael. On the boat ride home, Michael reveals to the reader that he has been in love with Greta all along, and that they planned from the beginning to have Michael marry Ellie, and then kill her for her money. (We later learn this isn't the first time he's murdered for personal gain.)

Michael arrives back at Gipsy's Acre to celebrate. On the road up, he thinks he sees Ellie, but she looks right through him. Upon his reunion with Greta, he freaks out, quoting a song that Ellie often sang about how some are born to "sweet delight" and others born to "endless night." Realizing that he could have been happy with Ellie, Michael strangles Greta in a rage. Soon after, others arrive and he is caught.

My Thoughts:

I felt cheated by this book. The main character is the murderer and he's been lying to us all of this time? Really? If the main character is lying to me the entire book, I want it to be done well, like it was with Gone Girl. Although the narrator is strange, I don't think there's enough evidence to show that he's a serial killer.

Ellie is a tragic character. No one in her life truly loves her. Her best friend and husband, the people that should care for her most, are the ones who plot to kill her. Perhaps Christie is commenting on the difficulty of having lots of money.

There were a few other literary elements that didn't go anywhere. Michael frequently describes Major Philpot as God. (In fact, the sentence that introduces him to the reader is something like, "we met God today.") In contrast, Santonix, whose name sounds vaguely like Satan, struggles with evil himself. Since he's ill, Santonix says that he can do whatever he wants without fear of repercussion, since he will die soon anyway. Perhaps Michael is supposed to be torn between these two forces, but this doesn't play out well in the book. Upon his death bed, Santonix even tells Michael that Michael should have gone the other way.

Another baffling thing about this book is that the murder doesn't happen until almost the end. The work mostly focuses on character development, but since it's Christie, I'd rather be looking for clues.

Overall, this was an unsatisfying work. I enjoyed it while reading, but I didn't like the ending.

Slapstick

Slapstick

Kurt Vonnegut

Summary (with spoiler):

The book follows the life of Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, a deformed twin who eventually becomes president of the United States. Wilbur and his twin Eliza are mutants, assumed to be mentally deficient. They live the first 15 years of their lives in a large mansion with special helpers, pretending to be mentally challenged. When their parents come to visit, and their mother reveals she wishes they were intelligent, they reveal their ruse. As it turns out, Wilbur and Eliza are geniuses when in close physical contact, although when they are separated, they are fairly normal.

After an unfortunate intelligence test where the twins become too physically close, Wilbur is sent to school, while Eliza is sent to an institution. She is later released, and comes to visit Wilbur (although she is somewhat angry that he never came to help her.) Eliza reaches out to touch Wilbur, and upon contact have a days-long orgy.

Meanwhile, China has developed a method to shrink people so that they use less resources. Wilbur is visited by a tiny Chinese person, who asks for some of the writings Wilbur and Eliza created as kids. Eliza is given a ticket to Mars, where she soon dies in an avalanche.

Wilbur becomes president of the US, but everything is falling apart. No fuel, plague, etc. Wilbur institutes an idea he and his sister came up with long ago, to assign everyone new middle names, creating artificial families. After the presidency falls apart, he lives on Manhattan, which has been ravaged by the "Green Death," later revealed to be caused when a normal-sized person accidentally inhales a miniature person. He meets a few people from the Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped, communicates with his sister in the afterlife through use of a strange machine, travels to see the King of Michigan, and dies shortly after his birthday party.

My thoughts:

Vonnegut has a style of writing all his own. He uses these short passages, often just a few paragraphs at a time, which somehow makes it impossible to stop reading. I enjoyed how he described the bizarre elements as if they were completely ordinary, so that I could easily believe the world Vonnegut created.

He begins the book with an introduction, where he says that this work is the most autobiographical one he's likely to write, noting that "it is about what life feels like to me." He thought of the book idea while on a plane to his uncle's funeral. In the introduction, he also meditates on his sister's death. And in the book, this is how things go. People die. Most people catch the plague. People come into and out of Wilbur's life without warning. There isn't a reason why things happen, just like in real life.

Part of the interest of this novel is what Vonnegut chooses to emphasize. Wilbur's marriage is first described in just 2 pages, and his wife is rarely mentioned again. His sister is center stage with Wilbur during the first half of the book. Then they are separated, he basically forgets about her, and then she dies. However, Eliza is central to the novel. Even though he doesn't see her much after childhood, or before her death, Wilbur constantly mentions his sister and their ideas.

Overall, this was a fun and quick read that also made me think. I enjoyed Vonnegut's imaginative voice, and I liked the concept of life as slapstick. I've felt that way, too.

On summarizing

Everyone remembers a book differently. We filter the book through our own experiences, highlighting and understanding themes, character motivations, and plot elements in a way that makes sense to us. Summarizing these books has made me realize how much I draw on my own ideas of life when I read. The act of summarizing is half science, half art. It's not possible to include everything that happens in the book (for that is the book itself), so I have to ask which plot points are important enough to make it into the summary.

For example, I'm reading this Vonnegut book right now. (His writing style is hard enough to summarize, because it's so unique). There's a few pages that discuss the National Archives. Being an archivist, that part grabbed my attention, even though it's not integral to the plot. I'll probably put that bit in my summary, since it impacted me, but someone else would choose another bit to pull out.

And what about the stuff I leave out? In my summaries, I've left out important parts that I was just too lazy to put in, or that I felt wasn't needed for me to remember the book. Sometimes I leave out bits I didn't like. Sometimes I leave out boring bits. Sometimes, like with The Peril at End House, I just don't feel like putting in all of the clues, so that the experience of reading the summary is a completely different one from the experience of reading the book.

Character description is another element that doesn't come across well in summaries, since my idea of a character is built up over dialogue and even the smallest action. I can use any adjective to describe a character (funny, intelligent, etc.) but it's hard to explain why I perceive a character to be that way without specific examples. I'm not looking to do a close reading or an English essay.

Doing these summarizes has also let me understand why I forget books so easily soon after I've read them. Simply, there is a lot to remember.

Peril at End House

Peril at End House
Agatha Christie

Summary (with spoilers):
Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings are on vacation. Poirot is retired, but wait, is that a bullet zooming past!? Yes, the beautiful Magdala Buckley, known to everyone as  "Nick," is in peril. She's narrowly escaped harm in a string of accidents, and Poirot believes that her life is in danger.


So who is the would-be murderer? The suspects are:
Charles Vyse: Cousin and lawyer
George Challenger: In love with Nick
Ellen + family: Servants
Frederica Rice: Best friend
Jim Lazarus: An art dealer and boyfriend of Rice
Mr. and Mrs. Croft: Couple from Australia living on the estate of End House. Mrs. Croft is paralyzed

Poirot suggests that Nick have a friend (other than Ms. Rice) stay with her. Nick telegraphs her cousin Maggie. During a dinner and fireworks party, Nick (who is wearing black, a color she never usually wears), goes inside to replace her shawl with something warmer. Her cousin follows to get a coat. Poirot, whose feet are getting wet, goes into the house and discovers that someone has been shot. At first, he believes it to be Nick, because the victim is wearing Nick's shawl, but in fact it is the cousin, Maggie.
After the shock, Nick is persuaded to stay at a hospital (which is really just for her protection.) No one is allowed to see her. Poirot does some snooping about. He finds that Nick was secretly engaged to the airman Michael Seton, who is probably dead. Seton, conveniently, has just inherited a large fortune. While in the hospital, Nick eats some chocolates which she thinks were sent by Poirot, but which were laced with cocaine. 

There are lots of clues, but I'll just talk about the giveaway clue. While looking for a will that Nick drew up, Poirot finds some love letters from Seton that are fishy. There aren't a lot of them, and it's clear that more were written than the bundle that Nick kept.
Poirot finally figures things out. He decides to  tell everyone that Nick is dead, and stages a dinner party at End House with all of the suspects. Nick's will, which has been missing for the entire book, mysteriously shows up. Charles Vyse reads the will, which says that all of Nick's assets are to be left to Mrs. Croft. Nick shows up, pretending to be a ghost, and Chief Inspector Japp also makes an appearance, revealing that Mrs. Croft is actually a scammer who forged the will.

Spoiler alert: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER NOW!

Twist! The murderer is actually Nick. It was her cousin, whose full name is the same as Nick's, who was engaged to Seton. Nick killed her cousin so that she could pretend to be Seton's fiance and inherit all of his money. Tricky.

My Thoughts:
I haven't read much Christie (or many mysteries, for that matter), but I preferred And Then There Were None. I didn't see the ending of The Peril at End House coming, although I thought the letters were a bit weird. It crossed my mind that Nick might not actually have been engaged to Seton, but then when he uses her name in a letter, I thought that he must have been. (Totally didn't think about how her cousin could have the same name).

It was easy to read, but the mystery didn't grab me that much. There were all of those clues, but I wanted to breeze through to see what happened. Enjoyable, but forgettable. 

The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy

J. K. Rowling

Summary (with spoilers): The book opens with the sudden death of Barry Fairbrother, beloved citizen of the town of Pagford and member of the parish council. Barry grew up in the Fields, a piece of land within the jurisdiction of Pagford, but that contains houses built by the neighboring town of Yarvil. Before Barry's death, the council was mired in a decision about whether to keep the Fields, which are slums housing the poor, or whether turn over the jurisdiction for the Fields and their associated costs to Yarvil.

 The reader is quickly introduced to a number of point of view characters, which J. K. Rowling switches between effortlessly throughout the book.

 Mary Fairbrother: Wife of Barry. Grieving widow.
Howard Mollison: Anti-Fields council member and rival of Barry. Owns a deli with Maureen Lowe. Extremely obese.
Shirley Mollison: Wife of Howard. Dislikes her daughter-in-law, Samantha. Miles Mollison: Son of Howard and Shirley. Has a law practice. Runs for Pagford council (anti-Fields).
Samantha Mollison: Wife of Miles. Immature and unhappy. Obsessed with a boy band.
Colin Wall: Husband of Tessa. Headmaster of the high school. Runs for Pagford council (pro-Fields).
Stuart (Fats) Wall: Adopted son of Colin and Tessa. Best friends with Andrew Price. Sleeps with Krystal Weedon. Wants to be "authentic," but really uses that as an excuse to be a jerk and do whatever he wants. Makes fun of Sukhvinder.
Andrew Price: Best fried of Fats. In love with Gaia. Simon Price: Father of Andrew and husband of Ruth. Prone to fits of rage, where he hits his family.
 Gaia Bawden: Daughter of Kay. Unhappy that she has been forced to move to Pagford from London.
Kay Bawden: Social worker, carrying for the Weedon family for most of the book. Moved to Pagford for a relationship with Gavin.
Gavin Hughes: Law partner of Miles. Later realizes he's in love with Mary.
Krystal Weedon: Lives in the Fields. Mother is a drug addict.
 Parminder Jawanda: Doctor married to the super hot Vikram. Pro-Fields council member.
 Sukhvinder Jawanda: Daughter of Parminder. Teased at school. Friend of Gaia.

 The book centers around the relationship between all of these characters, whose lives are intertwined in the small town of Pagford. The first main plot point occurs when Andrew Price, deciding to get revenge on his father, hacks into the Pagford council website and posts as "The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother," revealing that his father's criminal activities, like buying a stolen computer and doing after-hours jobs at work. Sukhvinder follows suit, claiming that her mother was in love with Barry. Fats, another child angry at his parents, posts about his father's OCD. Scandal ensues.

 Meanwhile, Howard is pushing for a vote on the Fields and also whether to close Bellchapel, the drug addiction clinic which is currently helping Krystal's mother Terri Weedon. Parminder gets so angry that she says Howard has also cost the government a lot of money by gorging himself to obesity, and reveals other health information about him.

 Miles wins the parish council election.

Gaia, Sukhvinder, and Andrew, who have gotten jobs at Howard's deli, are asked to assist at his birthday celebration. Gaia and Andrew get drunk, Fats shows up, and Gaia ends up kissing Fats, to the dismay of Andrew. Samantha, who is distraught because she did not get to attend the concert of the boy band she is obsessed with, also gets roaringly drunk, and ends up kissing Andrew (who is 25 years her junior.) Her husband Miles walks in on them in the kitchen. Howard's daughter, who also doesn't like her parents (I'm sensing a theme here), reveals to Andrew that Howard had an affair with Maureen. Since Andrew feels some guilt for posting that message about his dad, which resulted in Simon being fired, Andrew reveals Howard's secret to Simon, and they post about it on the Pagford council website, which still has lax security.

When Shirley reads the message the next day, she confronts Howard, who does not immediately deny the affair. When Shirley returns to the house, she plans to kill Howard with an EpiPen (which the deli kept in case Andrew had an allergic reaction). However, she finds Howard is already in the middle of a heart attack. Miles runs to Parminder for help, but Parminder refuses to see to Howard because she is under review by the medical board, and does not want to practice until she is cleared.

Krystal, who lives in the Fields with her unstable mother, gets sexually assaulted by her mom's drug dealer. A few days later, she finds the man in a room with her little brother, Robbie. Afraid for her brother's safety, she takes him on a bus to Pagford. Krystal believes that if she becomes pregnant with Fats' child, his family will have to take care of her. She convinces Fats to sleep with her in some bushes, and tells her little brother to stay put. Robbie falls into a nearby river. Sukhvinder, who happens to be walking along, jumps into the river to save the boy, but she is too late. When the police return Krystal to her home, Krystal knowingly takes an overdoes of heroin, which kills her. The book ends with the double funeral of Krystal and Robbie.

There's a lot more I didn't summarize, but those are the main points.

My Thoughts:
Pros:
 -Despite being about council politics, the book was exciting
 -Masterfully switches between point of view characters
 -Characters were real and well-rounded. Their motivations were believable.

 Cons:
 -Difficult to keep up with all of the characters introduced at the beginning of the novel
-Although the decision around the Fields is a central focus of the book, the actual decision is anti-climatic. No one cares about the decision, except for Howard, who promptly has a heart attack
-It was weird reading about all of the sex/drugs and thinking "this never would have happened in the Harry Potter books!"
-The relationship between Fats and Andrew was not resolved. The book closes with the two friends not speaking, even though Andrew will soon move away from Pagford. Since they've been best buds since they were 4, I don't buy that they'd just cut off all communication, even though Fats is devastated about the deaths of Robbie and Krystal.

After my disappointment with the seventh Harry Potter book, I thought J.K. Rowling might have lost her touch as a writer. However, I found the Casual Vacancy to be well done and engaging.