Der Monddiamant (1868)

One of the first procedural criminal novels written, the prose seems stilted for today, but probably normal for its time. The story is interesting--about how a women's fiancee could have possibly stolen the Moonstone, when he was sound asleep. The Moonstone had been stolen years ago from a site in India and had a death curse attached to its owners. ( )

Now I might have to read Robinson Crusoe! ( )

I never expected to have so much fun with this book as I had. Great fun! It deserves a better review than just a note, and I might still write it when I have more time and inspiration. For now I just wanted to mention that the character Gabriel Betteredge will have his name on my personal pantheon of memorable characters. I am looking forward to reading more Wilkie Collins, I think [b:The Woman in White|5890|The Woman in White|Wilkie Collins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1295661017s/5890.jpg|1303710] will be next. ( )

The Moonstone follows the eponymous gem's troubled history from its original home in a Hindu temple in India, through a series of thefts, and focuses on a final robbery after it resurfaces as a birthday present to a wealthy young British heiress. Touted as possibly the first British detective novel, it's overall a fun ride, although a few things about it keep me from giving it an A. The characters are nicely drawn, but a few of them are more irritating than I'd like to have to endure, and this is made worse by the narrative structure of the book: Collins breaks up the story into several sections, each narrated by a different member of the plot, and a couple of these characters are nearly unbearable to me. It's an impressive exercise in creative flawed characters and I recognize that the reader is meant to see them as comical in those flaws, but I have no patience with the kinds of flaws they're given (members of older generations thinking they're better/wiser than people younger than them just because they've lived longer, with a healthy dash of salt-of-the-earth folks are better than anyone else, and religious fanaticism; both are frustrating and not amusing to me). My other complaint is that the original theft of the moonstone is a clear act of colonialist hubris, and although I suspect that Collins is trying craft the story at least in a way as a commentary on such a thing, the Indian characters who strive to retrieve the gem are cast as wholly unsympathetic people - exotically evil - and I take a heaping pile of issue with that. Honestly, I would *love* someone to write a companion novel from the viewpoint of the Indians, who are frustrated at nearly every turn in trying to regain what's rightfully theirs by ridiculous and privileged white men, who are so desperately trying to hold on to what they've stolen. I would read the *heck* out of that novel. ( )

Excellent in many ways. A well crafted story, characters have well developed personalities, relationships show polite and actual behaviors in language and action, demonstrates acts of racism and inclusion by white English nobility. Also include are class distinctions and behaviors within those classes. The challenges and difficulties created when one crosses over the class boundaries or moral/ethical boundaries is demonstrated by several characters. ( )