Nemesis Reading #8

The woman who was injured, Mrs. Temple has asked to see Jane Marple at the hospital when she returns to conciousness. Proffessor Wanstead tells Jane more about the accident that had occured several days before. Joanna Crawford and Emlyn Price, two young people also on the tour, told the Proffesor that they had seen the silhouette of a person on a hill above Mrs. Temple that pushed the boulder to roll on top of her. Joanna said she could not identify if it was a man of a woman, but she did identify what they were wearing for clothing. I don't understand why they would come out and tell people days after the accident occured; it seems rather odd and suspicious to me.

Nemesis Reading #7

Jane Marple tells Professor Wanstead that she just realized that she had met one of the members of the tour, Mrs. Cooke, long before the tour started. However, Jane Marple feels something fishy is going on and that Mrs. Cooke may not be who she says she is. Her hair was dyed a different color than when Jane last saw her outside of her house in St. Mary Mead. Jane had only slightly recognized her when they first met, and she realized a few days after who she was. When they first met outside of St. Mary Mead, "Mrs. Cooke" introduced herself as Miss Bartlett. This was only weeks before the tour started. Mrs. Marple said she had asked Mrs. Cooke if she was in St. Mary Mead, and she lied. She may have had something to do with the accident with Miss Temple. One thing that always keeps me reading Agatha Christie's books is that she always links unexpected characters throughout the story. The reader has to be alert whenever reading her books, because even a character or section of the story that may seem insignificant may come back to play a large role in the mystery.

Nemesis Reading #6

In the last reading, Jane Marple finds out the crime she is supposed to investigate from Professor Wanstead, one of the other members of the tour. He pulls her aside, and she tries to act as though she doesn't know what he is talking about at first, then as she gains trust in him, she shares that Mr. Rafiel has set her out on a journey to solve this specific crime. Ms. Marple is very careful about giving out too much information. In this way, she is a wonderful detective, especially for this case. The case Ms. Marple is investigating is the murder of a girl whom was once engaged to Mr. Rafiel's son, Michael. Michael was a troubled child, always getting into trouble. However, Professor Wanstead had interviewed Michael, and said that Michael did not seem like a murderer. Jane Marple's job is to find out whether or not Michael Rafiel is innocent or guilty of murdering his ex-fiance. I thought that it was rather odd that the case Mr. Rafiel wanted solved was about his son. Agatha Christie probably did this to add suspense to the story. I am very interested to see what will happen next.

Nemesis Reading #5

In this reading, Jane Marple discovers that there was a girl that was murdered years before, and it sounds like maybe this is the murder Mr. Rafiel wanted her to solve. However, further on in the reading, she finds out that one of the other tour members was injured, possibly with fatal results. Agatha Christie always has a way of keeping her readers guessing. The fact that there are several possible outcomes makes the reading more interesting.

NemesisReading #4

Jane Marple is continuing her home and garden tour, and it gets a little more interesting as the tour guide talks about a murder that took place in one of the homes. Jane Marple continues to take notes on her fellow travelers and their actions, as well as this murder. Mrs. Temple, one of Miss Marple's fellow travelers, tells her about another death, not connected to the house and garden tour. She said that Mr. Rafiel's son was once engaged to a girl, but they broke it off for an unknown reason. The girl he was once engaged to died. Miss Marple asks Mrs. Temple why she died and Mrs. Temple exclaimed, "Love!"..."One of the most frightening words there is in the world." She pauses, and she repeats the word love again, the very last word of the chapter. The chapter title is "Love." I think that Agatha Christie purposely did this because I am guessing that the murder Jane Marple will be solving has something to do with love. This could be a very important clue in Jane Marple's mystery quest.

Nemesis Reading #3

In this section that I read, Jane Marple receives a letter from Mr. Rafiel that was written before his death. In the letter, he explained that he had paid in advance for her to go on a house and garden tour with sixteen other people. Miss Marple believed that this was the start on her search for clues. She began keeping a notebook in which she wrote things such as descriptions of the people on the tour. The way she describes people is very interesting.When describing a man named Professor Wanstead, she said, "[He looked as though] he had been carelessly  assembled by an ambitious child out of chunky bricks. His face looked as though nature had planned it to be round but the face had rebelled at this and decided to achieve a square effect by developing a square jaw..." She describes many of the other characters in this manner as well. I think the point of these creative sort of descriptions is to develop a better image in the reader's mind. Also, the reader has to take into account that Miss Marple is solving an unknown mystery, so she must write down all information possible, especially since there must have been a reason why Mr. Rafiel must have put her on this trip for a reason. Miss Marple must comment on not only the people on the trip, but also the places she visits, since she was given such vague detail on the crime she's supposed to be solving.

Nemesis Reading #2

One part of the reading that I thought was interesting was in another one of Miss Marple's tangents. She was knitting a baby sweater, and began thinking about Mr. Rafiel's death. "...Pink wool. Now wait a minute-where did that fit in? Yes-yes-it fitted in with the name she'd just read in the paper. Pink wool. A blue sea. A Caribbean sea. A sandy beach. Sunshine. Herself knitting and-why, of course Mr. Rafiel. That trip she had made to the Caribbean..." This is just one example of one of Matple's tangents. She is talking about a trip to the Caribbean in which she met Mr. Rafiel. I thought that the purpose of this quote within the context of the reading was to show how sparatic Miss Marple's thoughts are and how her mind works.