Maybe I am the one at fault here. I came into The Hollow with a bias and its coloring my reaction. At the same time the social tension in the work and how these men are oblivious to all the effort these women engage in for their comfort is so EXHAUSTING
The novel starts with such a strong comedic chapter about a highly intelligent woman plotting the weekend too
I do believe the unsubstantiated rumors that The Hollow was meant to be a Westmacott novel. It reads more like a Westmacott. But it is interesting for a novel published in 1946 to see Christie pointing out how these successful powerful men are supported and defined by all the women in their life and how they cant admit that and have to denigrate the work of women around them
I just want to shout at this woman who entered the narrative "girl, read the room"
Yeah as this book continues it really is haphazard in many ways and to a degree it feels like a mean tragedy and well... Poirot is not the right detective for this story of story. The enitre work feels tonally jarring.
@pendragon yeah, but its very clear Christie has a lot of contempt for the guy and is very critical of his behavior. His mistress, who is pointedly noted for being extremely smart, even says he makes too many assumptions
@pendragon she could be. I have a lot of thoughts there. Much like wheel of time I might write an insipid essay
Then it gets bogged down in how this very intelligent and successful man is oblivious to the feelings and motives of people and he seems to not interrogate his own behavior