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Rate 'They Do it With Mirrors'

sapphire_arisa 22 Mar 09 at 6:18 a.m. GMT

Hey there.

I just wanted to know what you guys think about 'they do it with mirrors'.

I'm thinking about what to read next.

thanks! :-D

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12 replies

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mirror 22 Mar 09 at 7:55 a.m. GMT

I love this book. The analogy between the affair and play is very interesting. And Miss Marple's interpretation of the constant dramatic changes of an young mental patient is really sharp.

drdavid 22 Mar 09 at 12:53 p.m. GMT

I have just finished listening to Joan Hickson'd audio book of this novel. Hearing the wonderful "Miss Marple" telling the story brings it even more to life. The book is classic Christie and the "magic trick" scenario is one she has used in several other books, notably Death on the Nile. The magician's gift is to divert his/her audience to make them concentrate on the less important happening. (this is no spoiler)

The characters here are all tremendoudly well drawn and we even get a glimpse into the young Jane Marple's world since there is a reunion of old friends who have known each other for many decades.

A highly recommended, and often neglected, work Agatha Christie takes on a younger generation of disillusioned and marginalised characters whom she will further develop in later books

Marc_Anton 23 Mar 09 at 12:43 p.m. GMT

DrDavid, nice to find you here again. I wasn’t so impressed with They Do It With Mirrors myself, though I can understand that the reading by Joan Hickson is enjoyable. I have A Murder is Announced read by Hickson and somehow she makes everything she read sound ‘important’.

My problem with TDIWM is that the ‘trick’ is fairly obvious and that the character of Carrie Louise is a bit vague, considering that Miss Marple considered Carrie Louise as the key to the solution. Christie used the ‘conjuring trick’ much better in some of her other novels. Here it was a bit put on (‘what you heared and what you saw is not what actually happened’) but that is my own opinion.

The book is important in the way it gives Miss Marple more biography, information about the years before she became, well,  Miss Marple. We see more of the Jane before the Miss.

You must give it to Christie that, even in middle age, she didn’t look down on a new generation. Her elder characters are as much flawed as the younger generation she describes, but at least the younger men and women see their future in a more positive light, while the older ones are too disillusioned or corrupt to change

drdavid 23 Mar 09 at 10:03 p.m. GMT

good to hear from you too, Marc. I have to confess that I find both Joan Hickson and David Suchet rather strained on their audio books of the Christie novels, though that is not going to stop me listening to them. It is Hugh Fraser I enjoy the most and he even does a better Poirot than Suchet at times. TDIWM is a classic example of Agatha's puzzle books. The adapatations of the novel, the J. Hickson and the macabre Helen Hayes/Bette Davis one did not do the book justice maybe because it is such a book story best taken at ease in an armchair than the break neck speed of a tv movie.

Marc_Anton 24 Mar 09 at 7:26 a.m. GMT

I can understand you enjoy the book DrDavid, it is a typical example of an 'armchair detective'. For me it is too much on the cozy side. Other Marples have stronger plots and more colourful characters. The mechanism of the plot was fairly obvious to me, even as a 13 year old (and that was looooooooooooong ago!). My copy of the book came with a map of the house which gave even more of the plot away.  

I agree on the adaptations though.The story is one of the few Christies that comes closest to an overlong episode of 'Murder, she wrote'. Miss Marple comes to visit and people start to drop off like flies. The one with Bette Davis is too painful to watch and the rest of the cast is rather bland, even with names as John Mills and Dorothy Tutin. And these are the older actors, the younger cast is even more forgetable.

The version with Joan Hickson was slightly better in my view, the pace was slower. I most enjoyed the scenes with Miss Marple at the Savoy Hotel, with a very stylish actress who played Ruth van Rydock. And it took me some time to get that the actress who played the very drab Mildred was such an imposing Emily Inglethorp in Mysterious Affair at Styles (Gillian Barge).  

About the audio books: the voice of Suchet as Poirot can get on your nerves when you don't have the picture before you at the same time. Hugh Fraser reads Poirot much more subdued and understated. Also, Suchet has trouble doing female characters, it sounds..well.. weird. The conversation between the two nurses in Suchet's audio reading of Sad Cypress sounds like high camp comedy. Since bad health forces me to take more time to rest, I have grown to enjoy audio books enormously the last months.Are you familiar with the BBC dramatisations of Christie (also Dorothy Sayers and Raymond Chandler) novels?

drdavid 24 Mar 09 at 8:45 p.m. GMT

sorry to hear you are experiencing ill health, Marc but glad you have the companionship of audiobooks and this site, among others, to keep you going. I too first read TDIWM when I was a teenager ( also in the ancient past) and loved it as I did every Agatha I could get hold of. My first "new" one was The Clocks in the 1960s and it is still a favourite of mine.

I so agree with you about Suchet and the women's voices. I thought it was me! When I listened to his Evil Under The Sun I was almost embarassed each time he did the American woman.

I have a couple of the Dorothy Sayers and I also have enjoyed George Baker reading some of the Wexford Rendells. George B now lives in the tiny Wltshire village I grew up and where my very ancient dad still lives and was also the place where I first discovered Dead Man's Folly on my mum's bookshelf.

I am reading Laura Thompson's Agatha biography at the moment do you know it? It is very knowledgeable but the character of Agatha still remains as elusive as ever. Hope this finds you well...

Marc_Anton 25 Mar 09 at 11:56 a.m. GMT

The Clocks was also one of my first Christies and I always have been surprised that this book is so unpopular with Christie fans (on this site and elsewhere). OK, the plot is a bit farfetched but not illogical and all the loose ends come together nicely in the last chapter. Perhaps because it is all investigation and not enough real mystery and Poirot is not really the main character. Christie makes a nice pastiche of several themes she used before: clocks, false identities, several comments on crime fiction and crime writers. There is a wise guy child, a cat and even a romantic angle! Or maybe readers don't like it because it mixes domestic crime with a (vague) espionage plot. I think it is one of Christie’s better books from the 1960s.

Thank you DrDavid, I am quite well. It is one of those things you don't want for yourself but happen anyway. You just have to live with it and continue. But reading (active and passive by listening to audio books) still gives me a lot of pleasure and distraction.  

I did not know George Baker recorded Ruth Rendell audio books, I will look into that. I am more enthusiastic about Rendell than about Christie. I guess they did not continue the TV-adaptations of the Wexford books because of Baker's age (a policeman long due for retirement) but for audio books this does not make a difference. I did not read the Thompson biography yet, it is on my list. I will order it.   

squatty 25 Mar 09 at 2:37 p.m. GMT

I agree with Marc - the "trick with mirrors" is very obvious, especially if you have read several AC's before this one. I also found the family relationships un-necessarily complicated. I know Carrie-Louise and Ruth had about 8 marriages between them but it was hard to keep up with all the various family connections.

drdavid 25 Mar 09 at 8:46 p.m. GMT

Although we are probably forbidden to talk about other authors in this section of the site it is the only place I know I can find you, Marc. The site feels to have become quite unwieldy and I often get lost. I too am a great Rendell fan from the beginning of her writing career and was amused to discover that she had morphed her original Wexford into George Baker after the tv series became so popular

Marc_Anton 26 Mar 09 at 6:10 a.m. GMT

Yes, this is probably not the place to discuss other authors, we have to accept that. I am already waiting impatiently for The Library where we can discuss books and writing (plotting) techniques in great detail, without having to worry we will spoil it for others. But I guess we have to wait a little more and until then contribute to the other different threads. Perhaps we can open a new folder for The Clocks. It will be nice to discuss the novels that do not get so much attention elsewhere on the Forum.

And yo are right Dr.David, subjects tend to get lost. I was in a discussion on Christie's reputation as a bestselling author and I can't find the folder anymore. How are you getting on with the Christie biography? I read reviews on various websites and they were not all positive. But I like to find out for myself. Did anyone else read this biography (Laura Thompson) and is interested in a SERIOUS discussion? We could start a new subject on this also.  

lava 27 Mar 09 at 4:29 a.m. GMT

i liked do it with mirrors. the end was suprising.

sapphire_arisa 28 Mar 09 at 5:42 a.m. GMT

Thank you very much for your reply, everyone!