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Taken at the Flood

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 11 months ago

There are multiple books by this title.

 

Christie, Agatha - Taken at the Flood aka There is a Tide... (1948)

 

Review by Nick Fuller

4/5

This middle-period (1948) Christie is under-rated by everybody except Robert Barnard. The tone is brisk and humorous — Christie at her best, although the mood is one of bleakness and despair, as Britain recovers from her victory in the War; the post-war village setting is skilfully depicted, Christie vividly evoking the times. The characters are well-drawn, particularly the dotty Mrs. Lionel Cloade, the heroine Lynn Marchmont, the nervy and "innocent" Rosaleen; and the romantic complications are not too many. The plot, which relies on timing, identity, impersonation and legal complications (Gordon Cloade's will and marriage left his family penniless, but the widow's husband — presumed dead — apparently turns up as "Enoch Arden" and is killed, proving his wife a bigamist) is solid and complicated, although Poirot appears only in the Prologue and Book 2.


 

Review by Xavier Lechard (contains some spoilers)

 

The recent discussion about Christie's disputed literary merits and (to some) unaccountable popularity prompted me to read Taken at the Flood which I have had on my shelves for million years. This is a very book, though not as famous as most of its predecessors and some of its successors. The characterization is excellent, as well as the depiction of both social and moral changes that occurred in post-War

Britain, and the plot is Christie at her best. Definitely a must-read for anyone questions the Great Lady's ability to do more than "plain puzzles". Still, there are some ideological and moral problems with the book.

 

As often with post-war Christie, the first half is the best part of the book, so much as one almost feels regrets when murder is committed and Poirot takes charge. But what is bothersome about "Taken at the Flood" is that first and second half seem not to be from the same hand or, to put it in a milder way, don't connect well ideologically.

 

The first part of "Taken at the Flood" offers some of Christie's finest characterization and also some of her most biting, radical, satire. The Cloades, even though Christie is careful not to present them in an exclusively negative way and highlights their good sides and "attenuating circumstances", are plain parasites who spent all their lives depending on Uncle Gordon's money and found themselves completely lost when they have to make a living on their own. Their attitude to Rosaleen - first hostile, then servile when they realize she's their only rescue - is positively disgusting. Christie clearly condemns this, and the rants of David Hunter (by far the most interesting character of a book which has many) echo the reader's (and possibly the author's) feelings. Also interesting is the way emancipated Lynn wonders about her place in a Britain no longer her "home" and questions her long-planned marriage to farmer Rowley, and progressively falls in love with the outsider.

Alas, it seems that Christie was afraid of what she was heading to and the second half looks like a retreat as it betrays nearly all of the first part's premises.

 

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

 

 

  • David Hunter is promptly evacuated from Lynn's life as he is revealed to be the ruthless murderer of poor Rosaleen who is then free to marry Rowley.
  • Rowley, who (accidentally) killed a man and then tried to frame someone else, gets a pass.
  • Same goes for Frances and Julian Cloade who tried to blackmail David and Rosaleen and are indirectly responsible for the death of a (relatively) innocent man, get a pass too.
  • More important, Rosemary turns to not be the real Rosemary so that the money finally gets back to the Cloades. Everything goes back into order.

 

I am not much of a progressive (I am a conservative by my country's standards) but I find that finale to be some reactionary, even though Christie provides some nuances.


Newman, Bernard - Taken At The Flood (1958)

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