N or M《N or M?》

最近才知道中文叫“桑苏西来客”。这是汤米和杜彭斯冒险系列我读过的第一本。印象非常好，可能最好的，就因为他们是一对儿。我在上海的地铁上晃晃荡荡地读完全书，以下是当日的书评。

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There seems to exist but two countermeasures which might offset the ruinously unbearable effect imposed by some frightfully out-stretched commute hours after a nonsensical relocation of one's office. The first quit the job and search for something neat and at hand; the second stay cowardly but try to make the better of the worst by for example having a funny companion cramped with self in a matinal metro compartment. Well I am not brave enough so I chose the second. Tommy and Tuppence my new friends are.

Actually at Hongqiao Airport I had shared their N or M adventure for a while but stopped around the fiftieth page. Inside that apparantly innocent hotel Sans Souci and its surroudings I had been too impatient to expect any breath-taking episodes. That is why I left the fiction aside. Yet they did come. At the moment of re-picking up I felt the world fairly altered which helped isolate me from the noisy outwards. And my friends are just so so interesting.

During my discussion with a French years ago my partner remarked:'...alors c'est vrai que Hercule Poirot était génial mais......cette vieille demoiselle Marple elle était impossible'. Without confident references to the latter I decided to keep silent wisely and changed the topic. But as I finished 4:50 From Paddington I uttered "Nonsense!!!" for the first time agaist my hostess Agatha Christie not without a bit of pain. Nevertheless it is JUST IMPOSSIBLE to track a criminal down by knitting casually and listening smugly to second-handed accounts or tourner en rond for several brisk minutes on the site. On the other hand I admire Hercule Poirot always. However the problem with Poirot lies that he is too professional and too perfect as what he claims: Hercule Poirot could never be wrong! Chances did not stand automatically on his side it just seems that he was powerful enough to manipulate the fate in stead.

Neither Tommy nor Tuppence fits in Poirot's case. They were not laymen yet ***ish enough to almost have given themselves away completely during risks. Their adventure in Sans Souci proved this quite all right where everyone else wore a mask and neither of them suspected the real enemy agents who had penetrated in but bumped into them through entirely impetuous innovation in brain moreover they let it out utterly disclosed the counterparts' identity without knowing which in turn took themselves in deadly peril. It is very dangerous very maladroit. But Tommy and Tuppence are ordinary people who tend to make mistakes. It is precisely through their particular ways that readers shared their crude yet naturally derived and barely acceptable judgements dashed down by fate and waited for the same Her to turn them up. Incertitude is ascertained in life. That is why Tommy and Tuppence are not far away which added delicate flavour to reading.

Another touching point is that Tommy and Tuppence were a couple devoted to each other. There showed up endless lines that impressed me such as "...Only as the train drew out of the station and Tommy saw the forlorn little figure walking away down the platform did he feel a lump in his own throat...". Or at least the two of them vivified dialogues which could have been monotonous and arbitrary even though their sum-up could not be up equal to a single Hercule Poirot.

Well I enjoyed the moments with Tommy and Tuppence from this Monday to Thursday Thus that as I began la Deuxième Partie de Bonjour Tristesse in metro this morning I could not help but feel tired and dizzy.

Therefore my direct action was to dial Chaterhouse to reserve three more of Tommy and Tuppence's. And I am so much grateful to Agatha Christie! More than ever......