Rating: 
Summary: Confusing murder in retrospect mystery
Review: Celia Ravenscroft is but a little girl when both her parents commit suicide. Never did she worry about the real reasons for that dramatic event, until today when she stands on the verge of getting married to Desmond Burton-Cox. Only one question suddenly seems of importance: Who killed whom, Celia's father or mother? Reason enough for Ariadne Oliver, Celia's godmother, to pay a visit to her old friend Hercule Poirot. The famous sleuth persuades Mrs. Oliver to delve -with his guidance, of course- into the past, to find the persons who are like elephants, the persons who will still remember the important details about this all-but-forgotten tragedy.Elephants Can Remember is Agatha Christie's next to last work of detection and the author shows clearly signs of age, which is understandable since she was eighty-two years old and in failing health. Elephants Can Remember is a "murder in retrospect" mystery. Although Christie has proven to fully master this format -see Sparkling Cyanide and Five Little Pigs- she now quickly looses touch with the story. She is forced to sow the narrative together with vague memories of a series of old spinsters and suddenly even events that should easily be remembered are covered by the veil of forgetfulness. No surprise that the plot is total confusion. It is less a mystery than a scrapbook of memories. Action is less important than atmosphere, which makes the story quite tedious and difficult to hang on to. Nevertheless, the experienced reader will figure out the solution to this not too mysterious mystery halfway through the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Christie books never disappoint. I haven't read one of her books in years, but I am reminded again why she is the gold standard against which all others are measured. In solving this puzzling mystery, Poirot must carefully pick through the often foggy memories of the "elephants" to get to the truth of the matter. Of course, he does, in his own fashion. I enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Cosy and nice.
Review: Great book
I bought this book on tape by John Moffatt (no! not BY him, but read by him). This book proves a theory though; there's a significant change in Mrs. Christies writing over the years; the nice young lady who writes well-puzzled, crafted, formula, to-the-point murder mystery; and the old lady who's slightly bitter to the modern world, but writes more real and cozy books, about peoples lives. More relaxed and less upthight books. This book falls into the latter category. That doesn't mean it' a bad book, no-no! It's good, but different from earlier works. The later books seem to be more relaxed, and more about looking back, and viewing things from a distance; about great characters telling(not acting)great stories! This book really has a realistic ring to it; it has good, funny characters. It's not as "British murder mystery" as some of her other work, but more real, somehow. PS. Those of you who didn't like the book, get a hold of John Moffatt's reading, he's great! Really makes the characters come alive!!
Rating:
Summary: Poirot ponders the clues
Review: Hercule Poirot's friend Mrs. Oliver has so many godchildren that she has lost track of them, and she has not thought of her god daughter Celia Ravenscroft for many years. She receives a visit from Mrs. Burton-Cox, a woman whose son wishes to marry Celia. She has a strange request--that Mrs. Oliver find out whether Celia's mother killed her father or vice versa. She does not reveal her reasons for wanting this information, but her request sends Mrs. Oliver right to Poirot who does much of the sleuthing for her. The two friends take separate paths in order to interview as many people as possible who can remember things from the Ravenscrofts' past. Mrs. Oliver dubs the witnesses as "elephants", people who will not forget important details which may help them solve the case. The mystery in this particular novel is not as difficult for the reader to unravel as it is in most of Christie's books, and that spoiled the fun for me a bit. Uncharacteristically the author reveals too many clues too early in the book, but it still is worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Good thing people can forget
Review: I am fan of Christie's work but this one is a huge disappointment. The story could have been told in 4 pages. There is no continuity to the plot, no idea why a dozen "elephants" had to be interviewed, and no clue how Poirot uncovered the "mystery". This is one mystery novel where I would recommend you read the last 5 pages and be spared the boredom of repetitive conversations.
Rating:
Summary: Waste Of Time
Review: I had to read a novel for English class and I picked this one out. I didn't really enjoy it because it was very boring and very predictable. It got old after they asked people the same questions and got the same answers, oh, for the 20th time. I do not recommend this book. Christie could have done better.
Rating:
Summary: If this had been a true-blue detective novel ...
Review: It could have been solved in half the time. But it is not, and to appreciate or understand this novel, readers must place it in the proper context. The problem was at first vague; Ariadne Oliver was asked by a stranger if the mother of Ariadne's goddaughter killed the father, or was it vice-versa. The deaths were actually some twenty years or more before. As the stranger was the mother to a man who was contemplating marriage to Ariadne's goddaughter, she could be partially forgiven for her apparent concern. Of course one of the things Ariadne did was to call on Hercule Poirot, and together they embarked on elephant-chase to pry for secrets from the past. "Elephants can remember" was published in 1972, that is 52 years after the first Poirot novel "The Mysterious Affairs at Styles". Many people did not even live that long. Agatha Christie aged her characters along with the years, and therefore there were cases that were different from bodies being found all over the place. Other similar novels before this whereby Christie's detectives investigate deaths long in the past included Dumb Witness, Five Little Pigs, Mrs McGinty's Dead, Ordeal By Innocence, and Nemesis. The common theme among them was that the investigator(s) had to depend on memories of various people who might not even be present; but from their recollections, clues were found to provide either the definitive picture of the culprits or the definitive picture of the crime. What a lot of impatient readers would find irritating was having to sift through the useful information from the useless. Elephants is such another tale. Mystery veterans would probably have been able to jump to the solution before Poirot's grand finale, but would they have been able to unravel the threads in the manner necessary? Proofs have to be gathered, and evidence, motivation, etc were all the necessary persuasions for Elephants before they would give up their secrets. The meat and drink of this novel is more than solving the mystery of who killed who, but to recapture the atmosphere, the mood, the aura of that time in the past, and to be able to put events in their proper perspectives. Also no less important was Poirot's being able to relate the past (in its correct perspective) and its impact on the present in order for persuade the elephants to give up their secrets.
Rating:
Summary: Sad inability to escape the past
Review: Poignant story contains more dialogue than action but does have one of Christie's best twist endings, which is also a real heartbreaker. Poirot and Adriane Oliver try to discover who killed who in a murder suicide and find out that the tragedy never really went away. A really good story for readers who like to listen to characters speak and recall their history. Plot seeking others might want to delve into Agatha's more exciting yarns for suspense. This one is mostly about the power of memory. I found it touching and quite involving.
Rating: 
Summary: Old Sins Cast Long Shadows
Review: This novel written in the twilight of Dame Agatha's long and illustrious career (1972) would have been better left on the cutting room floor. It was especially painful for me to read because I not long ago re-read her vibrant, lively and completely mystifying "Murder at the Vicarage" which was written in 1927. The comparison was depressing. Hercule Poirot is teamed with Mrs. Oliver, a crime novelist, to find the truth of a 15-20 year old murder/suicide. Mrs. Oliver's goddaughter, Celia is the daughter of the couple who supposedly entered this pact. For the first one-half of the book, we are not advanced an inch in any direction. Many people are interviewed (the "elephants" of the title) and most have vague memories of the couple, as does Mrs. Oliver herself. Mrs. O's dithering is not artlessly charming, for we are as confused as she. Saddest cut of all, the red herrings are not "herrings" at all. They are giant signposts. Rather than Poirot gracefully unraveling the mystery on the last page, the reader has left him in the dust 50 pages ago. The prose has a distinctly purplish hue. According to the publisher, "Elephants Can Remember" was originally published as "Five Little Pigs." I do not recommend this book, because it does not do Dame Agatha justice. There are 75 titles to choose that will far better reflect her abilities and why she earned the title "Queen of Crime."
Rating:
Summary: Poirot Relies on "Elephants" to Solve Long-Ago Mystery
Review: Twenty years before this novel opens, a tragic double-death has occurred. Alistair Ravenscroft and his wife Margaret were found shot to death near their home. The deaths were declared suicides at the time. Now, years later, their daughter Celia is engaged to be married. Her future mother-in-law wants to know more about the cirumstances of the death and if the wife killed the husband or the husband killed the wife. She does not want some inherited proclivity to murder to affect her son. Celia turns to her godmother, Ariadne Oliver, who once again enlists the help of her old friend Hercule Poirot. Together they track down a list of "elephants," people with long memories who never forget past events. The officer who had been in charge of the case, a wig stylist, two French governesses, and a family friend each remember some piece of information that Poirot can collect and assemble as he uncovers secrets long buried and brings the truth to light. This is Mrs. Oliver's final appearance in a Christie novel and also the last Poirot book Agatha Christie wrote, although readers will see him again in "Curtain" which she wrote during the 1940's but was not published until 1975.
| 
