Decided I fancied a nice big classic to get my teeth into and at over 400 pages this fit the bill. This is the tale of a mysterious and apparently cursed diamond, the Moonstone, which is given to Rachel Verinder for her birthday. But the diamond disappears as quickly as it appears and the rest of the book is spent trying to discover what happened to it.
The book is compiled of different characters' points of view as they each pick up the story and add what they know. This means that you get a variety of voices while also getting to follow the story of the diamond as it travels around the country. It's a really clever technique and keeps the intrigue going as well as breaking up quite a long story.
With each voice comes a different view on the world from Betteredge, the butler who believes in the gospel of Robinson Crusoe, to Miss Clack, the busy body who hides behind the Bible, to Ezra Jennings, the disgraced doctor's assistant. Collins uses each of the characters not only to move the story on but also as a caricature of certain types of people. The use of Miss Clack as a satire of single-minded and occasionally hypocritical Christianity is funny while also being really clever. I really loved this element of the novel and at points was more interested in the satire than the diamond.
But eventually you do find out what happened to the diamond and the novel closes with a level of satisfaction and closure that I find many lack. I did manage to guess the culprit earlier on but it didn't hamper my enjoyment at all because I had all the little subplots and the satire to keep me busy. Good read if you have the time for it.
The book is compiled of different characters' points of view as they each pick up the story and add what they know. This means that you get a variety of voices while also getting to follow the story of the diamond as it travels around the country. It's a really clever technique and keeps the intrigue going as well as breaking up quite a long story.
With each voice comes a different view on the world from Betteredge, the butler who believes in the gospel of Robinson Crusoe, to Miss Clack, the busy body who hides behind the Bible, to Ezra Jennings, the disgraced doctor's assistant. Collins uses each of the characters not only to move the story on but also as a caricature of certain types of people. The use of Miss Clack as a satire of single-minded and occasionally hypocritical Christianity is funny while also being really clever. I really loved this element of the novel and at points was more interested in the satire than the diamond.
But eventually you do find out what happened to the diamond and the novel closes with a level of satisfaction and closure that I find many lack. I did manage to guess the culprit earlier on but it didn't hamper my enjoyment at all because I had all the little subplots and the satire to keep me busy. Good read if you have the time for it.
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