Life & Books

Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone: Second English Lit. Set Book

I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am to finally be done with Joseph Conrad! Writing my 2000 word assignment for that book was infuriating, to say the least. I found myself in a constant battle of ‘why is this guy and his book held in such high esteem!?’ to ‘well, literature like this forces the systemic oppressions present even today to not go unspoken of’. But that’s all behind me now and I get to think about some new novels and authors, namely The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Moonstone is seen as one of the very first detective novels in the classical sense of what a detective novel is; a crime, an excentric detective and several possible suspects in a small location. The particularly exciting aspect of the novel is the multi-narrative used to piece together the story.

Rachel Verinder inherits a diamond on her eighteenth birthday. The diamond had been looted from an Indian temple by her uncle and is said to be cursed. On the night Rachel receives her diamond from her cousin Franklin Blake, to whom it was entrusted, it goes missing .

Eventually a formal investigation by means of the proper authorities is undertaken. Franklin however–who is in love with Rachel and wants nothing more than to make her happy–decides after no real developments are made to take the investigation into his own hands and has a number of witnesses write their accounts. These statements are what form the basis of the novel.

The Multi-Narrative is What Makes it Fun

The fun part about hearing from so many different narrators through the progression of the story is how clearly they’re conflicting. Often one character will attest to their trustworthiness and refute the statements of the characters that they just don’t like. That and each of their quirks makes for a really fun read. You find yourself being pushed and pulled by the different accounts to the point of having no idea who is actually reliable anymore.

And if you do somehow manage to solve the mystery before the reveal then gold star to you–I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out!