Customer Reviews

Giant's Bread

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3 star:		(2)
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I love Christie's mysteries and stumbled on this in a used bookstore about 5 years ago. She only wrote like 5 or 6 romances, and this one's the best. It's one of my favorite books. Makes me cry every time. but it's so funny that the only versions published now say in huge letters "Agatha Christie writing under the name Mary Westmacott" Definitely a worthy read.

A different book from the queen of crime..Agatha Christie has proved that she is not just a crime writer.. A powerful story about a genius and his relationships with two women..In a way, the book is too frighteningly true! Not for the mushy romantic kind...

I agree that it is very good. A brilliant tale of how cruel priorities can be, and how some things - such as the death of a loved one - can make one forget about everything else. Especially the last page was devastating.

Agatha Christie wrote six romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. This is the fifth I have read and it is far different from anything else of hers I have been exposed to. Being familiar with all her more popular mysteries, I was prepared for the great character development and attention to detail she is noted for. However, with Giant's Bread she takes a marked turn to the dark side and explores the mind of a genius, Vernon Deyre, from his unhappy childhood to his difficult adulthood.

This is the story of a man who wants love and music and desires both passionately....but only after he has lost them. Vernon is the classic case of not wanting what you have until you've lost it. He is not a particularly likeable character, nor are Nell and Jane, the two women in his life. Also, I didn't feel Westmacott/Christie was really able to convey the nature of his genius or the music he was trying to compose. Therefore, this was the first Christie I have ever read that left me unsatisfied.

Haunting and eerily sad,this book is not for those who like a love story with a happy ever after ending.

I read this book years ago and fell in love with it. It seemed to capture so much truth about how strong personalities can consume the energy of those around them while they produce something amazing--like Ernest Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds, and other artists through out history. The people who love them give so much but also love them so deeply that they give willingly.It is both sad and beautiful.

I now know why Agatha Christie's romance novels weren't as popular as her detective fiction. People always like to read romance which has a happy ending i.e the 2 lovers marrying. But in Ac's novels, the 2 lovers invariably seperate. She dvelves deep into human nature, a produces a story.Giant's bread is a touching novel of a genius, Vernon Deyre. He is a genius in music, & thi leads him to break the hearts of the 2 womenen, Nell & Jane who love him. He is wildly infatuated with Nell, a childhood friend,whom he marries, but its only in the end that he realises that he isn't in love with anybody except Jane. He hurts Jane like hell & ina drowning ship, saves Nell instead of Jane, but only after she dies that he realises that he didn't love anybody except Jane. It is a very touching story, especially in the last few pages. But its not recomended for people who like happy endings.

This haunting epic is Agatha Christie's best work!