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EuSei
Dec 26, 2014EuSei rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Agatha Christie’s fans will probably not enjoy this book. It departs completely from Mrs. Christie’s style. First of all, it is a spy thriller—but not like other and older Christie’s spy thrillers. It reminded me a lot of Buchan’s books—especially The 39 Steps. So, if you don’t like old-fashioned spy thriller, don’t even get this book out of the library shelf! If you read Buchan and liked it, you will enjoy this book. Mrs. Christie was highly criticized, even ridiculed, when the book appeared. A fellow writer condemned its “idiotic conventions.” A highly condescending critic wondered if “the old dear” understood “the difference between a hippie and a skinhead.” One will never know, since she never mentioned either in the book; one then wonders if this critic actually read her book... Another critic wrote the plot was “inconceivable,” which is surprising, considering he was old enough to have heard of Hitler’s Youth. For him the book’s end was “incomprehensible muddle,” yet, it was clear to me. (I guess I am a very, very bright person!) The same critic believed Mrs. Christie did not understand what “Third World” meant; yet it was clear she used it not with the connotation of “Third World Country,” but the world the rebelled youths thought they were going to create. It is clear that her critics never perused the pages of John Buchan; they would have been well informed had they bothered, instead of dishonorably belittling an eighty year-old extremely lucid lady. She was quite write when she described how the youths were being brainwashed: "against their mode of government; [...] their parental customs, [...] the religions in which they have been brought up." Just like it is (still) happening nowadays.