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The Moonstone (Penguin Popular Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Wilkie Collins
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book
List Price: £2.00
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Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 49698
Media: Paperback
Edition: New edition
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0140620133
EAN: 9780140620139
ASIN: 0140620133
Publication Date: July 26, 2007
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 A tremendous book March 26, 2008
William Podmore (London United Kingdom)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I can't believe that this hasn't yet been made into a film - it makes Raiders of the Lost Ark - which I love - look tame. Exciting, vivid and exceptionally entertaining, it's a real thrill.
"Whatever happens in a house, robbery or murder, it doesn't matter, you must have your breakfast." January 30, 2008
Mary Whipple (New England)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
From the outset, Wilkie Collins's 1868 "sensation novel" keeps the reader entertained and engaged as a priceless yellow diamond, stolen from a Hindu religious statue of the Moon God in India in 1799, works its black magic and controls the action. Rachel Verinder, heir of Colonel John Herncastle, who murdered to obtain the jewel during the battle of Seringapatam, inherits this possibly cursed treasure on her eighteenth birthday in 1848, only to have it vanish before she can put it into the bank. Drawing on sensational details--three Indian "jugglers" who approach the house to perform a juggling act, the disappearance of the jewel from an Indian cabinet during the night and the certainty that the theft was an inside job, a housemaid with a criminal past, a paint smudge on night clothing--Collins creates a haunting atmosphere and builds suspense.
Telling the story is Gabriel Betteredge, the house steward, a man who has been asked to set down his recollections by Franklin Blake, who was present in the house at the time of the jewel's disappearance, and who is in love with Rachel Verinder. Betteredge is a delightful story-teller, providing details, humor, and suggestions about what happened with a conscientiousness that makes him a reliable narrator. As the story becomes more involved and the characters take on lives of their own, other narrators take up the story where Betteredge leaves off and provide new information.
The second narrator, Miss Drusilla Clack, Rachel Verinder's cousin, is a "poor relation" who is also a religious fanatic, and her commentary and her behavior provide some of the funniest moments in Victorian literature. Collins's use of humor, in fact, is one of the ways in which he surpasses his friend, Charles Dickens, in keeping an audience entertained. Franklin Blake, rejected by Rachel, provides additional commentary about the events, as do a doctor and his assistant, a local police sergeant and his investigator, the family lawyer, and a traveler to India. The use of multiple points of view is one of the great advances Collins makes in the history of the novel. The fact that this is widely regarded as the first of the great mystery novels (though not dependent on a single detective) is another plus.
Overall, the novel is surprisingly modern in its ability to appeal to a wide audience. Collins is adept at manipulating his readership and in keeping suspense high. His characters are often engaging and frequently humorous, and in its ability to deal with social issues of the day, the novel provides pertinent commentary about colonialism, religious fanaticism, and the class issues of the day. Collins never forgets, however, that he is writing to entertain, and in this he succeeds. n Mary Whipple
Packed full of dastardly adventures, hilarious characters and a mystery with a diamond at its heart December 28, 2007
Rivercassini (London)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
T S Eliot called The Moonstone "the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels". It's hard not to agree. The Moonstone, an enormous diamond of religious significance, is vilely plundered by a British soldier during the taking of Seringapatam in 1799. The Moonstone is brought back to England and, eventually, given to the prim, beautiful and wilful heiress, Rachel Verinder, on her birthday in 1848. And it goes missing the very same night. Rachel's family and friends are keen to recover the lost stone and to identify the thief and thus call upon the services of Sergeant Cuff, the most celebrated and successful detective that Scotland Yard can offer. Yet Rachel is strangely reluctant to assist in the investigation, and the professional sleuth is not the only one searching for the stone and for answers. Three juggling Indians accompanied by a clairvoyant young boy, a ruthless London money lender and an amiable philanthropist all seem to have their own interests in recovering the stone, while others including Rachel and a reformed thief turned servant girl, seem at least as anxious to conceal certain facts surrounding its disappearance. The stage is thus set for a gripping detective story full of twists and turns and unexpected developments, all centred on the Verinder's country house in Yorkshire.
Written in a semi- epistolary style, with several of the major characters telling the parts of the story with which they were most concerned from their own perspective, Collins' novel has strong gothic overtones and much in common with the `big-house' novels written earlier in the century and serves as a bridge with the swelter of English detective fiction which was to follow. It is long, but you hardly notice as Collins whisks his mystery from India to Yorkshire, to London, to Brighton and back to Yorkshire. Elegant prose reminiscent of yet lighter than Dickens encapsulates an enchanting mystery with magical, even fantastical overtones, and presents a series of warm, engaging, if somewhat stereotypical characters: who can forgot the admirable Gabriel Betteredge, with his mystic faith in the powers of Robinson Crusoe to provide answers to daily difficulties, or the misunderstood Erza Jennings, with his face so much older than his body and his two-tone hair?
A sheer delight to read, like some much detective fiction, it does not demand to be taken seriously, yet for the careful reader, there are on offer deeper strains of tension over class, over Empire, and over religious differences and good and evil, which one might more readily associate with the post-war literature of a cosmopolitan diaspora.
Deserves six stars October 11, 2007
Didier (Ghent, Belgium)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wilkie Collins is, sadly, a writer far less known than he deserves to be. "The Moonstone" (first published as long ago as 1868!) is as good as any present-day detective novel. A mysterious Indian diamond gone missing (once owned by the Tippoo of Seringapatam, remember him from "Sharpe's Tiger"?), a beautiful lady in distress, and Sergeant Cuff of Scotland Yard needs all his wits about him to solve this crime.
The writing's superb, the characters feel as alive as if they were sitting next to you, and the suspense is extremely well built up. Don't miss out on this novel, it may be old but it's still among the best detective novels ever written.
Excellent December 18, 2006
Mr. D. J. Read (Alnwick, Northumberland United Kingdom)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
People seem intent on castigating Collins for this novel. There is a reason it is a classic, and that is the fact that it is the first ever detective novel. The writing is very victorian, but he was deeply influenced by his good friend Charles Dickens, so we cannot blame him for that.
The characters are eminently fleshed out and each are appropriate for their roles. The plot could possibly have been condensed, but this book was very much experimental in that sense. The conclusion is actually quite a surprise (although looking back I probably should have spotted the culprit), and the setting and landscape are told with every degree of vivid colour that truly bring it to life.
In my opinion it is significantly better than 'The Woman In White', but I'm with the Agatha Christie school of crime writing. If you enjoy her novels you will enjoy this.
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