Title: The Christie Affair
Author: Nina de Gramont
Series: n/a
No. Just no.
I would like to thank Nina de Gramont, Lucy Scott, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to a free audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I rarely DNF (did not finish) books, especially ones received via NetGalley, but I’m calling it. When at 48% I saw that I had five and half hours left of this audio galley, I simply thought, “Nope.”
Foremost, I HATE the chronology of this book. I don’t know who thought jumping around in time like a jackrabbit on speed was a good idea, but they should be taken out back. As well as every editor who failed to advise against it. Every chapter makes a time jump—or nearly every, it’s a bit hard to go back and check with an audio galley—and it’s not at all linear. Also, at times the narrator speaks of what happens in the future, unnecessarily I might add, further confusing things. It’s a fucking mess, a terrible narrative choice.
Also, I found it very irritating, confusing, and disorienting when the POV switched to another character—but also stayed within the POV of the first-person narrator. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll know what I mean if you read it. Another terrible narrative choice.
Next, I have no idea what the point of this novel is. It’s historical fiction, obviously, but is it a mystery? Maybe even a romance? By halfway I should know what the goal of the story is, and I don’t. Am I actually supposed to sympathize with a conniving homewrecker? With a cheating husband, who by this account was a selfish prick? With a woman who willfully went “missing” just to fuck with said husband (at least according to this book) and ended up wasting the authorities’ time and resources?
I do respect de Gramont for daring to make the “other woman” the main character and trying to make readers care about her, but Nan was not sympathetic in the slightest. She wasn’t sorry for being the other woman. She wanted what she wanted and didn’t seem to spare any thought for others or consequences. Sure, it’s sad that her older sister committed suicide. Sure, it’s sad that Nan got herself knocked up and had nowhere to go but an orphanage that was more or less a concentration camp. Sure, it’s sad that the man she truly loved went to war, came back traumatized, nearly died of influenza, and their life together didn’t happen the way she’d dreamed. None of that changes the fact that she’s a self-centered asshole. It seemed to me that Archie and Nan deserved each other. If I felt sorry for anyone, it was the Christies’ daughter, who was called Teddy here. Not sure why, since Agatha Christie’s only child was named Rosalind. *shrugs*
I’m not very familiar with Agatha Christie’s personal life, I haven’t even read any of her books (which is on my to-do list to rectify), but I always had the impression that she was intelligent and respectable. This book portrays her as neither, and it feels sacrilegious.
Lastly, Lucy Scott, the narrator of the audiobook, was, thankfully, excellent at her job. She had nothing to do with why I disliked this book.
Overall, this book was poorly done. An interesting premise, I guess, maybe, but not at all well executed.
