Customer Rating:  
Summary: Another Christie Classic
Comment: Elephants Can Remember (Hercule Poirot)
As most people know, this was the last Hercule Poirot novel Dame Agatha Christie was to write. (CURTAIN, the last in the series had been written some years before with the intention of the author that it be published after her death). Again, as in FIVE LITTLE PIGS Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot), and HALLOWEEN PARTY Hallowe'en Party (Hercule Poirot) Hercule Poirot will have to delve into the distant past in order to solve the mystery. (Miss Marple was also quite capable of doing this as in Sleeping Murder (Miss Marple Mysteries).
This novel satisfies any true Christie fan on several levels. A baffling mystery, the return of old friends like Ariadne Oliver, the mystery writer who was a kind of self-portrait of the author, and Mr. Goby, the mysterious character who seems to have the ability to find out anything about anyone.
Altogether, as with almost ALL of the author's works---a good read for a cold winter's night! (also available as a kindle download: Elephants Can Remember
One note, Charles Osbourne, the self-professed Christie expert (who has even taken a stab at trying to write in her style with little success) posed a question in his essay on this book: "Why should a hand be covered in blood when all it has done is push someone over a cliff?"
He should have read Dame Agatha's novel a little closer---that wasn't all it did.
But don't worry---I won't tell you any more. GET the BOOK!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER (DODD, MEAD, & COMPANY/1972)
Comment: REVIEW: Not exactly the best book to start with if you're curious about Christie; and her expertly crafted, wildly plotted crime novels. Still, "ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER" does have its charms and its moments of glory. The story concerns the murder/suicide of General Ravenscroft and his wife Margaret on a lonely cliffside at their house in Cornwall some twenty-odd years before the book's opening scene. Famed mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver (Christie's alter-ego) is approached at a literary luncheon by the overbearing presence of a Mrs. Burton-Cox who wants her to find out the truth behind the tragedy as it involves Mrs. Oliver's goddaughter, Celia Ravenscroft, who just so happens to be engaged to Mrs. Burton-Cox's son, Desmond. The reason why she wants the whole affair dug up is puzzling to Mrs. Oliver, and so she pays a visit to her old friend M. Hercule Poirot who (though at first reluctant) decides to help Ariadne uncover the truth about the deaths. The solution to the killings is sound (if trite), yet no where near as intriguing as Christie's other "murder in retrospect" cases. On top of that: the book rambles on too much and is too leisurely paced for a lengthy novel (as a short story it might have had more success). Still it's hard to dismiss "ELEPHANTS" as an all-out failure. It is flawed yet engaging, and the sheer joy of reading along with such wonderful characters as Ariadne and Poirot makes it all worthwhile. Alas, there is an excuse for Dame Agatha's slightly below par performance: after all the woman was eight-two-years-old and in diminishing health when the book was written. HARSH LANGUAGE: none. VIOLENCE: about 8 instances. SEXUAL REFERENCES: none.
THE MORAL COMPASS: Agatha Christie will always be known as a treasure trove of first-class entertainment, and as such (and in comparison with her classic detective novels) "ELEPHANTS CAN REMEMBER" remains a terribly disappointing work. Luckily this was not to be the final Poirot case released before her death in 1976 (the wickedly twisted "CURTAIN" would have that honor). Hoever, if the reader doesn't expect too much from this book then the initial sense of disappointment will be lessened, while the die-hard Christie fan can appreciate the autobiographical asides that she infuses through the character of Mrs. Oliver. It is these little bits of insight into the mind of the author that proves the most amusing thing about "ELEPHANTS". Still, Christie manages to describe a most horrible crime with tact, and the handling of certain "manic" tendencies of the murderer is sympathetic yet not without a sense of Godly righteousness in how to deal with the consequences of such insanity. The use of suicide is also presented as understandable under the circumstances of the story even though it is viewed as wrong in the moral sense. But overrall: the tragedy of General and Molly Ravenscroft is quietly portrayed with taste and dignity, and with no foul language or sexual descriptions. As such the book's content should earn a strong ACCEPTABLE rating.
Customer Rating:
Summary: WILL SOMEONE LET THE WOMAN SPEAK?
Comment: Whose work are we actually reading at this point? There were major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There were further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the recent Signet, Berkley, and Leventhal and Black editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. Here the publishers at Collins, dissatisfied with their own earlier efforts, put still more distance between author and public with a "New Ed" edition. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What the Dog Noticed
Comment: "Elephants Can Remember" does not read like a typical Hercule Poirot mystery. Agatha Christie's famed detective is drawn into an old case by his friend, the amateur sleuth and mystery writer Ariadne Oliver. The case involves what was apparently the double suicide of a loving husband and wife, and the concern that these past actions might have left a horrible impact upon their children.
The story switches between the findings of Ariadne Oliver and Hercule Poirot as they each go in search of 'elephants' who might remember what happened around the time of the accident, because after all, an elephant never forgets. While there is no definite evidence as to what happened, there are those who have never accepted the double suicide theory because they couldn't answer the question why. But with Poirot and Mrs. Oliver working together, a long-unspoken truth is certain to be uncovered.
"Elephants Can Remember" is classic Agatha Christie, in terms of mystery. It's central mystery has a unique, if perhaps a little predictable, twist, the denouement of which is quite evenly paced and satisfactory. However, this might be one novel where the time period of the plot is more glaring than others. The prose is heavy-handed at times and one does get a little sick of all the mentions of 'elephants'. The characters are borderline two-dimensional and, therefore, the reader does not care about them, even if they are still interested in the mystery at hand.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Very Good, But Not Horrible Either
Comment: Definitely one of my least favorite Poirot books. As other reviewers have mentioned, the solution to this mystery is quite apparent about halfway through the novel. I sort of wanted to shake Mrs. Oliver and Poirot and ask them how they could be so obtuse and not realize the solution. The quirks our beloved Poirot typically display are all gone here; all that is left is rather dry prose and a mystery that should have been shortened by about sixty pages. Having said all of that, it does make for a quick read that does not require much thinking. If you are looking for a great example of a murder-in-retrospect book by Christie, I would recommend "Five Little Pigs" instead.
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