Reviews – Page 43

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie – Book Review

April 8, 2019November 9, 2022yggdrasille

In this novel, Poirot goes on a holiday in Egypt to escape dreadful British winter and has a nice relaxing cruise down the Nile, enjoying sunshine, tranquil balmy evenings and the ancient Egyptian temples. At least, that was the idea before he ends up investigating a murder onboard the river ship. Don’t you hate it when your job keeps following you around?

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie – Book Review

April 3, 2019September 10, 2023yggdrasille

“Yet who would have thought the old man to have so much blood in him?”

This Poirot novel was written as Christie’s response to her brother-in-law James, who had complained that her murders were getting too refined and anaemic. You’d hope that James’ craving for a ‘good violent murder’ was satisfied with this locked room murder mystery: its chief victim, a cantankerous wealthy patriarch, is found in a pool of his own blood, his throat cut, after making a noise described by witnesses as “a soul in hell” or “a stuck pig”.

The Fly – Film Review

March 27, 2019yggdrasille

I broke my tradition of never going out on a Monday night during a working week to watch this 1986 David Cronenberg horror film at the Astor Theatre.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty – Book Review

March 25, 2019October 19, 2022yggdrasille

This was a perfect book to spend time with while staying in bed with a nasty head cold: entertaining, fast-paced, insanely readable, deftly mixing froth and humour with heavier subjects like bullying, domestic abuse and single parenthood. My view of the novel is inevitably coloured by the excellent HBO mini-series, which I watched first, so I can’t help but compare. “The book is better” is a very routine remark about onscreen adaptations, but in this case I thought that both versions had their particular strengths and weaknesses.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin – Book Review

March 21, 2019yggdrasille

I read this remarkable landmark sci-fi novel all over again immediately after I finished it, which is exceedingly rare for me. I simply wasn’t satisfied with my first reading, which happened in short bursts separated by long periods of time; this is a kind of richly detailed and imaginative book that’s best appreciated by immersing yourself into it for a while.

Science fiction is a perfect medium for exploring “what if” scenarios, and the thought experiment in The Left Hand of Darkness goes like this: what would a human society look like if people had no fixed gender, and male/female dualism didn’t exist?

Neko Case @ Elisabeth Murdoch Hall

March 19, 2019July 12, 2023yggdrasille

I ended up going to this concert by a fluke, randomly deciding to scroll through the Melbourne Recital Centre program on a whim one evening two weeks ago. Hooray for random flukes.

Over the Limit – Film Review

March 16, 2019yggdrasille

I had expected this sports documentary about the backstage world of Russian rhythmic gymnastics to be a hard watch, and sure enough it was.

New Music 03/2019 – Kali Uchis, Heilung, Molly Burch

March 14, 2019September 2, 2020yggdrasille

Intoxicating genre-hopping pop by a Colombian-American singer; live album from an experimental folk band that delves deep into the Nordic past; vintage sound and a genuinely great voice.

Christine and the Queens @ Forum Theatre

March 8, 2019yggdrasille

I thought this French pop star would be good to see live after catching her excellent performance on The Graham Norton Show a while ago, but holy guacamole I had no idea she would be that good. This funky, joyful, sensual show was easily one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.