Category: From Page to Screen

Book Review: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

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Murder on the Orient ExpressAbout the Book

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside.

Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer.

Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again.

Format: Hardcover, special edition (240 pp.) Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: 19th October 2017 [1934]                 Genre: Crime, Mystery

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Find Murder on the Orient Express on Goodreads

My Review

I know the 1974 film version of Murder on the Orient Express, starring the wonderful Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot, very well. It has a fantastically star-studded cast and the most gorgeous theme music, composed by Richard Rodney Bennett. I can’t in fact recall whether I’ve read the book before, although I suppose I must have done many years ago. So I was really intrigued to see how – if it did – the original book differed from the film version. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film version I know follows the book very closely, including much of the dialogue with only a few changes to the names of characters and minor plot deviations.

Although many of Agatha Christie’s books could vie for the title of ‘cleverest’, I think Murder on the Orient Express must be a strong candidate for that accolade (along with perhaps The Murder of Roger Ackroyd). Along with a superb plot, numerous red herrings and myriad possible suspects, Murder on the Orient Express features Hercule Poirot exercising all his powers of deduction – no access to forensics, criminal records or outside assistance, just the exercise of the ‘little grey cells’. You might say, detection in its purest form. As he says himself:

“We are cut off from all the normal routes of procedure. Are these people whose evidence we have taken speaking the truth or lying? We have no means of finding out – except such means as we can devise ourselves. It is an exercise, this, of the brain.”

Added to this you have the glamour of the Orient Express itself and the evocation of an age of luxurious travel very different from that we experience today (unless we’re very rich or very lucky).  And the solution to the mystery of who killed Ratchett? As Doctor Constantine remarks: “This…is more wildly improbable than any roman policier I have ever read.” Maybe. But it’s a riveting read nonetheless and still exceptionally clever, even if the ending of the book is a little rapid.

Murder on the Orient Express forms part of my From Page to Screen reading challenge. I’ll be publishing a comparison of the book and the latest film version starring Kenneth Branagh in a few weeks time. Thank you to my husband for this beautiful special edition published to coincide with the release of the film.

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In three words: Stylish, clever, mystery

Try something similar…Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Agatha ChristieAbout the Author

Born in Torquay in 1890, Agatha Christie became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.

Website ǀ Goodreads

 

From Page to Screen: A Man Called Ove

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About the Book: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door. Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbour from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn’t walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heart-warming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

Read my review of the book here.

About the Film:  En man som heter Ove (2015)

A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove) is directed by Hannes Holm from his own screenplay based on Fredrik Backman’s novel. The film stars Rolf Lassgård as Ove, Filip Berg as Young Ove, Ida Engvoll as Sonja and Bahar Pars as Parveneh.

More information about the film can be found here.

Book v Film

The film largely follows the plot of the book, interspersing Ove’s encounters with his new neighbours and his thwarted attempts to be reunited with his beloved wife, Sonja, with flashbacks to his early life. I thought the flashback scenes were done particularly well with some very dramatic moments and some very touching scenes between Sonja and the young Ove. The performance by the actor playing the young Ove was terrific and I thought the actress playing Sonja was well-cast as well. The scenes between them were some of my favourites in the whole film – believable, tender and heart-warming.

The screenplay focused on some of the best humorous moments from the book and (thankfully) dropped some of the more repetitive elements (including my personal bugbear, the Saab jokes). The film wisely concentrated on the growing friendship and mutual respect between Ove and Parveneh, rather than trying to bring in the whole cast of characters from the book.   The location was well-chosen, emphasising the proximity of the houses in the little community.

The Verdict

The film is well-crafted with excellent performances and brings out the best of the humour of the book. I felt the film was particularly good at conveying the story of the young Ove and his relationship with Sonja. I still found it difficult to see the transition from the young Ove to the embittered curmudgeon but I felt the director and the actor playing Ove managed to humanise the older Ove a little more than in the book.

Overall, I preferred the film to the book because it contained more of those elements of the book I liked and the humour seemed sharper and, basically, funnier.   It will be interesting to see how the recently announced US remake of the film, set to star Tom Hanks, compares both to the Swedish version and the original book.

What do you think? Have you read the book or seen the film?