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Title: The Moonstone (Oxford World's Classics) by Wilkie Collins, John Sutherland ISBN: 0-19-283338-3 Publisher: Getty Ctr for Education in the Arts Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.14 (49 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: the magnum opus of suspense and intrigue
Comment: T.S. Eliot was not exaggerating when he dubbed Collins' masterpiece "the first, the longest, and the best of modern English detective novels". The Moonstone, first published in 1868, is the magnum opus of suspense and intrigue that will surely please the avid mystery and/or classics buff.
The adventure begins when the priceless yellow diamond from India, known as the 'Moonstone', is brought to English as spoils of war and is bestowed upon the spirited Rachel Verrinder on her 18th birthday. Chaos soon commences. The valuable jewel is stolen that very night and the entire household falls under suspicion - including a hunchbacked maid, an assemblage of enigmatic Indian jugglers, and Miss Verrinder's cousin Mr. Franklin Blake. Suspicion of thievery does not even escape Miss Verrinder herself. The famed Sergeant Cuff is summoned to the house to try and make sense of the baffling mystery of the diamond's disappearance and the strange events that ensue.
The Moonstone is comprised of three novelettes and a handful of sub-sections, each narrated by three individuals (and a handful of other characters writing shorter supporting memoirs), with their own whimsical writing styles and detailed anecdotes about their adventures surrounding the jewel's disappearance and the aftermath. Their varying perspectives on incidents throw interesting light on the events unraveling around the reader. Introducing the novel is the household's elderly and garrulous manservant, Mr. Gabriel Betteredge, with his witty maxims and proverbial quotes from his personal bible, "Robinson Crusoe". The pious and almost-fanatical Miss Clack's cold recital of events, is followed soon after by Mr. Franklin Blake's narrative of events, and the mystery's final and most ingenious outcome. It will not disappoint.
I leave you with a bit of insight bestowed upon us by the lovable and amusing Mr. Betteredge:
"When my spirits are bad -- Robinson Crusoe. When I want advice -- Robinson Crusoe. In past times when my wife plagued me; in present times when I have had a drop too much -- Robinson Crusoe. I have worn out six stout Robinson Crusoes with hard work in my service. On my lady's last birthday she gave me a seventh. I took a drop too much on the strength of it; and Robinson Crusoe put me right again. Price four shillings and sixpence, bound in blue, with a picture into the bargain. Still, this don't look much like starting the story of the Diamond -- does it? I seem to be wandering off in search of Lord knows what, Lord knows where. We will take a new sheet of paper, if you please, and begin over again, with my best respects to you."
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the Greatest Victorian Novels by Storytelling Master
Comment: First published in 1868, Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" has been never out of print. This fact testifies the popularity of the book, but somehow because of the famous comment by TS Eliot, "The Moonstone" is likely to be regarded as 'detective fiction.' The fact is slightly different, and you have to keep that in mind before you read it.
The story is absolutely the classic style of "Who-Done-It." The Moonstone, a sacred Hindo stone is stolen from India, and makes its way to the peaceful Yorkshire countryhouse where the rich daughter Rachel Verinder lives with her mother. On her birthday night, however, immediately after the stone is presented to the young lady, it vanishes without a trace. So, who stole it? Or is it just 'missing,' as the inimitable London detective Sgt. Cuff thinks?
The story sounds like Agatha Christie (who, like Collins, wrote stories about the British middle-class), but if you are looking for some ingenious 'trick' or something, you will be disapponited. The story is written BEFORE Sherlock Holmes is born, and though the basic elements of detective stories can be found here, Collins does not use them as you might expect the later writers like Conan Doyle do. I cannot reveal much, but I can tell you that the whereabout of the stone is not necessarily the primary concern of the novel.
The most strikingly original aspect of the novel is its characters. Remember, "The Moonstone" is primarily a Victorian novel, and Wilkie Collins is one of the best friends of Charles Dickens, who wrote "Great Expectations" which attacks the idea of 'gentleman.' The story is told by many characters themselves, and they unwittingly reveal the hidden side of their personalities in the narrative. The best case is the statement of Miss Clack, whose too religious attitudes conceal her surpressed curiosity (and perhaps love) for handsome philanthropist Godfrey Ablewhite. Clack's narrative, always amusing and in a sense grotesque, is one of the greatest among the 19th English novels.
About the mystery of the novel ... well, there are lots of them in there, but they are rather about how and why these colorful characters did certain things or didn't. Rachel Verinder, independent and strong-willed (Collins loved this type of females), certainly knows something about the missing stone, but she never talks about it. The housemaid Rosanna Spearman knows something about the 'smear' of the paint (one of the crucial points of the story), but she never talks about it ... until the time you know the reason. The 'mystery' is about these people, rather than about the Moonstone.
{ABOUT THE BROADVIEW EDITION by STEVE FARMER}
Broadview's edition of "The Moonstone" comes in handy for academic use, so let me record the details of the book. It has Mr. Farmer's informative introduction that follows the modern critical readings of the book. Plus, you see the novel's contemporary reviews, and the play version of "The Moonstone" (which Collins himself made for the stage) and even the reviews of that play. You also get the excerpts of the letters concerning the novel and the play, and the brief newspaper accounts of the real-life cases of Constance Kent and Northumberland Street (both of which became part of the story). The long (and well-chosen) list of select bibliography is included.
You may not find the same thrill as you have in Doyle or Christie, but "The Moonstone" is still a good example of great storytelling. Read it like you read Dickens, another great storyteller.
"The Moonstone" is made a TV show starring Greg Wise in UK in the late 1990s. This version is also great, keeping the atmosphere of the original novel intact. Find the video and see it.
Rating: 3
Summary: Lost me at the end
Comment: I enjoyed this book for about the first two-thirds and then it became remarkably tedious. For the last third I really just wanted it to be over. Some of the characters are fantastic and funny and interesting and some are just plain dull. I think "The Woman in White" is a much better book and would recommend it over this long-winded mystery.
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Title: The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins ISBN: 055321263X Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1985 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: No Name (Oxford World's Classics) by Wilkie Collins, Virginia Blain ISBN: 019283388X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Armadale (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins, John Sutherland ISBN: 0140434119 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: October, 1995 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins ISBN: 0486243338 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 June, 1982 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: The Dead Secret by Wilkie Collins ISBN: 0486237753 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 February, 1979 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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