N or M? (With Spoilers)

January 25, 2026 at 3:53 pm (Reviews) (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , )

Years ago, in 2012 to be exact, I planned to read the entire Agatha Christie Crime Collection in 23 months and blog about it. I loved it while it lasted, but it fell off my to do list as I became too accustomed to Christie’s work and figured out all the endings before the endings while also getting derailed by a toddler. That toddler is now in high school. I have new toddlers now. But the Crime Collection is the same and sits on my shelf, waiting.

Last night I read N or M? with a friend and was introduced for the first time to Tommy and Tuppence. Previously, I’ve mostly read Hercule Poirot novels, Tommy and Tuppence were a breath of fresh air and I will definitely revisit them soon.

My favorite thing about Agatha Christie is that she gives you all the clues you need to solve the puzzle. My least favorite thing about Agatha Christie is that she give you all the clues you need to solve the puzzle. It’s a conundrum. I love that her stories make sense and you can track the pieces falling together. I hate that I always know the end before the end, therefore I enjoy that they are at least short.

SPOILER ALERT – Do not read this post without reading the novel first! Get the novel here: https://amzn.to/3YSHSvU (I am an affiliate and if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

In this particular puzzle, the protagonists must discover who is spying for the Germans during WWII. (Christie actually wrote this novel during the war, so it would make a fun novel for a student studying the era in history as well.) The opening sequence of Tuppence cleverly pulling one over on her boss and husband tickled me pink and let me know that Tuppence would likely be the one to solve the crime. I adore her character. Tommy is wonderful too, but he set a prescendent in the opening of the story to have the wool pulled over his eyes a bit.

The pieces of the puzzle being delivered via fairy tale metaphors delighted me. The first suspect is compared to the big bad wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, what big teeth she had, the better to eat with. The second suspect has a room that smells like peppermint and gives Tuppence a feeling akin to the witch in Hansel and Gretel. Nursery rhymes and children’s fairy tales walk us straight into an unexpected kidnapping. Add to that a suspicious “miracle” and a vague mention of Solomon in the Bible and I realized immediately that the true adversary had to be the one associated with the true story.

Christie brilliantly spoon fed us everything we needed to know and then we just had to ride out the waves to see how Tommy and Tuppence would piece it all together as well.

So wonderful! Well done, Agatha.

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Impromptu Post on Being Changed

December 9, 2013 at 9:47 pm (In So Many Words, Reviews) (, , , , , , , , , , )

There’s a little chain status going around on facebook that I recently participated in…

List 15 books that have changed your life. Don’t spend more than 15 minutes on the challenge. Tag 15 people (14 + me) so they can see your list.

Completely off the top of my head, in about five minutes versus the fifteen offered, and in no particular order I wrote:

1. Til We Have Faces – C.S. Lewis
2. The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
3. On Writing – Stephen King
4. Seed Savers – Author S. Smith
5. The Well Educated Mind – Susan Wise Bauer
6. Persuasion – Jane Austen
7. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
8. The Giver – Lois Lowry
9. Sixpence House- Paul Collins
10. Banvard’s Folly – Paul Collins
11. How to Buy a Love of Reading – Tanya Egan Gibson
12. Fizz & Peppers – M.G. King
13. Lord of the Rings series/ The Chronicles of Narnia series/ The Harry Potter series – they get one number because they occurred to me in exactly ONE thought
14. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
15. The Metamorphosis – Frankz Kafka.
I’m not sure how that list happened without a single Dickens title, that shocks me.

Soon after posting my version of the status update, conversation ensued.  One of my friends posted his own list on my thread instead, Tanya Egan Gibson felt honored to be on the list (she is so beautifully humble and I just love her and her work, she tickles me), and a college buddy posted a query.

Andi, I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on how “Metamorphosis” was life-changing for you. I studied it, but would have never thought of that one, so I’d be interested to hear how it was, for someone unlike me. : )

I started to answer right there on facebook, but I thought it deserved a blog post instead.

Franz-Kafka-The-MetamorphosisI read Metamorphosis first in… I’m not sure… 8th grade? I think it is best first experienced during puberty when you’re going through that everything creepy is wonderful phase.  Young teens are always the ones who haunt the shelf where Edgar Allen Poe is; and for me it was Edgar Allen Poe, Franz Kafka, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.  I identified greatly with Gregor, which if you read a Sparknotes’ character summary, try to think of a 13 year old geek who wouldn’t.

Gregor Samsa –  A traveling salesman and the protagonist of the story. Gregor hates his job but keeps it because of the obligations he feels to pay off his father’s debt and care for his family. He has transformed into a large bug and spends the rest of his life in that state. Although hideous and unrecognizable to others, Gregor retains his some of his inner life and struggles to reconcile his lingering humanity with his physical condition. (-from Sparknotes)

metamorphosis bugObviously a teen is the protagonist of their own story, they hate their job (school) but keep going because of obligations (to their existence, their parents, and the government).  Teens work their butts off seemingly for the sake of their family… chores, chores, more chores… honestly what 13 year old thinks they’re doing the dishes for themselves? And rarely do they actually think school is for themselves.  I wanted to learn and I enjoy research, but ultimately I wanted to make sure my parents weren’t pissed off by my report card.  Gregor is hideous and unrecognizable to others, and at thirteen who doesn’t feel gross and pimply – simultaneously invisible and on display to the world like a freak show.  At thirteen you’re sub-human, neither child nor adult, and most of your life feels like it’s happening in your head.

Or, maybe that was just me.

To quote another post I wrote:

[…] I read The Metamorphosis over and over again, wrote a paper on it in high school and two more in college.  I can’t count how many times I’ve read it, I just think its so wonderful.  After reading The Castle and The Trial, however, I’m realizing that Kafka’s greatest skill is in writing the most frustrating scenarios a human being could be plopped into – alienation and bureaucracy.  Whether it becoming a giant bug, living under mysterious and unfair authorities, or dying after a year long quest to discover what crime you have been accused of, Kafka has helplessness down to an art.  I love Kafka!

I love him because his concepts are fascinating.  He is the most wonderful creator of modern day myth that I’ve read. […]

(-from my review of The Trial)

When you read something that reminds you that you are not alone in your feelings, that even this great emaciated and pale world renown author could understand you, everything seems a little bit better.  If a dude can turn into a giant cockroach, I can get through middle school – at least I’m not literally a disgusting bug.

I recommend that anyone re-read The Metamorphosis, but from the eyes of their 13 year old self.  What do you think of it now? I remember feeling like my parents were repulsed by me.  I remember feeling like every adult saw me as a liar and was distrusting of my existence.  I remember feeling alone and wanting a friend.  What do you remember?

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