This is basically Agatha Christie's autobiography, but stopped before she knew she would be happy again. It's bleak ( )

4/13/22

I heard that this book was a quasi autobiography of one of my favorite authors (Agatha Christie) that relates to a time when the author disappeared. This was an intriguing book. ( )

It is indicated by Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks that "It (Unfinished Portrait) also relied a lot on her (Agatha Christie) own experiences and early life." For more details, see the link at the bottom of this review.

There are moments when it seems absolutely impossible that the Mary Westmacott novels were written during the time period of 1930 - 1956. I can't imagine the joy for those that had the opportunity on their life journey to interact with Agatha Christie. She is so insightful and through her characters conveys an amazing clarity of relationships (e.g. husband/wife, father/daughter, mother/daughter, nurse/child, grandmother/granddaughter).

But there is also a sadness to the main character of Celia and perhaps it is best explained by quotes by Agatha Christie during her lifetime.
• “Everybody said, "Follow your heart". I did, it got broken”
• “But surely for everything you love you have to pay some price.”

I am looking forward to reading the next romance titled, "Absent in the Spring."

Don't miss reading more about the novels by Christie's daughter, Rosalind Hicks...
https://www.agathachristie.com/about-christie/family-memories/the-mary-westmacot... ( )

This was an odd listen. Read by a man, I spent quite a lot of the book undecided if the narrator was actually male or female, it didn't feel right being read by a man. The end revealed the unnamed and largely invisible narrator was a man. I remain unconvinced.
It tells of Celia starting with a probably suicide attempt, then fills in her narrative. It is a Victorian upbringing in the middle class, servants, a nurse, parents who socialse (but don't apparently work). Celia herself is a product of her time. She's sheltered, naive, unaware of the world and doesn't really have any idea of herself. She seems quite happy to mould herself to be whatever is expected of her. In short, a wet hen. Not my favourite character type. She passes through childhood and into adulthood without having any clear idea of what she wants from life, not that having any purpose is allowed to her (I think it would have done her the world of good). She gets engaged, then marries someone else, Dermot, who is so self centered that it's difficult to not dislike him. Quite how they ever thought they'd be suited, I don;t know. Celia spends her entire time giving in to him, accommodating his wishes. Well apart form their child, which he doesn't want as it would take Celia's attention away from him. He gets on just fine with his daughter once he realises that she's another person that can revolve about him. The end of the marriage was just a matter of time. When it comes, it is with typical Dermot arrogance and nearly destroys Celia. The remainder of her life is skipped over as is necessary. The last part, the finsihing the story that the first section started, struck me as somewhat trite.
The book has lovely passages of writing, but it is all very flat. There's no sense of highs and lows of emotion, even the suicide attempt is all a bit matter of fact.
I'm not sure what to make of this. As a story it's eventful enough, but the telling of it is lacking. The words are good enough, but it feels like a woman telling the story, yet is narrated by a man. I'm not sure it works. There's nothing to make this any more than a nondescript OK. ( )