<p>Just received a Kindle on Monday,and appreciate these tips.</p>
<p>Memento is a great movie, excellent comparison Mary.
(My teenage son and I saw it together, at the end we looked at each other “huh”-had to watch it again, immediately)</p>
<p>The Sparknotes Ignatius referenced, mentions “addiction” as a theme.
I wonder why Collins was so bold to create a character addicted to opium, which would have reflected his own addiction, which must have been widely known at the time? </p>
<p>Do you think “opium” addiction was somewhat acceptable behavior in England at that time? Was it a legal substance?</p>
<p>My copy of The Moonstone: A Romance has a contents page:</p>
<p>C O N T E N T S</p>
<p>PROLOGUE</p>
<p>The Storming of Seringapatam (1779) Extracted from a Family Paper</p>
<p>THE STORY</p>
<p>FIRST PERIOD
The Loss of the Diamond (1848) The events related by Gabriel Beteredge, House-Steward in the service of Julia, Lady Verinder</p>
<p>SECOND PERIOD
The Discovery of the Truth (1848-49) The Events related in several Narratives</p>
<p>First Narrative Contributed by Miss Clack, Niece of the late Sir John Verinder</p>
<p>and so on</p>
<p>I remember thinking the Table of Contents looked interesting before I started the book. It mapped the book nicely, I thought.</p>
<p>I wonder how Kindles and such will change reading. My copy of The Moonstone was clothbound with an introduction, chronology, and a contents page. It even had the attached ribbon bookmark that my cat played with while I read. Positively Victorian compared to you guys. LOL (I LIKED that Contents page - though I guess I didn’t pay it enough attention to answer the narrator question correctly.)</p>
I really, really thought he was going to be a bad guy. I couldn’t figure out how he could have gotten the Moonstone, but thought he would be connected. Like Mary, I thought Jennigs had done something to Dr. Candy to keep him from speaking the truth. It took me a while to accept that he was a good guy.</p>
<p>It looks like you weren’t the only one who liked Cuff and his roses - and thought of Holmes. I stumbled across this blog (Books to the Ceiling - The Moonstone - Aug. 16, 2007):</p>
<p>^ Ignatius, I just put that blog “Books to the Ceiling” in my favorite lists, after finding it earlier today.
Others can find this retired librarian’s stunning blog, and enjoyable book discussion about “The Moonstone” here -</p>
<p>Ignatius, did you get the impression that Wilkie was stigmatized by his dependency on Laudanum? Certainly, he became renown for the immense quantity he used daily. “enough to kill many men” is quoted. </p>
<p>Also, did you know about the Opium Wars? Amazing …</p>
<p>"By the 1830’s, the English had become the major drug-trafficking criminal organization in the world; very few drug cartels of the twentieth century can even touch the England of the early nineteenth century in sheer size of criminality. Growing opium in India, the East India Company shipped tons of opium into Canton which it traded for Chinese manufactured goods and for tea.</p>
<p>This trade had produced, quite literally, a country filled with drug addicts, as opium parlors proliferated all throughout China in the early part of the nineteenth century. This trafficing, it should be stressed, was a criminal activity after 1836, but the British traders generously bribed Canton officials in order to keep the opium traffic flowing"</p>
<p>Ok, another surprise, if Wiki is to be believed:
’ The Romantic and Victorian eras were marked by the widespread use of laudanum in Europe and the United States. Mary Todd Lincoln, for example, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, was a laudanum addict '</p>
<p>Here’s another link that talks about Collins and his addiction. Very interesting. The discussion of Collins starts about half way down the page.</p>
<p>LOL…I live by the words of Henry David Thoreau: “That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.” Unfortunately, sometimes those pleasures come without a Table of Contents.</p>
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<p>psychmom, I thought of Lieutenant Columbo when Sergeant Cuff was doing his sleuthing, first when Betteredge said, “I began to think him rather a quicker man than he appeared to be at first sight,” and then especially at the part where Cuff politely detains Rachel: “I want to say one word to you, miss,” answered the Sergeant, “before you go.” It reminded me of Columbo’s “One more thing…”</p>
<p>It never occurred to me that Ezra Jennings might be drugging the poor doctor. I didn’t know what role he’d eventually play, but I never considered something evil.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Murthwaite … gotta say I’m still suspicious of him. What are the odds that he’d be at Rachel’s birthday party the night she gets the diamond and then in India for the return of the moonstone? He speaks to the Indians in the garden the night of Rachel’s party and then tells others what was said. He could have been discussing anything and no one would be the wiser. He makes sure that everyone knows the dangers owning the moonstone can bring (that Franklin lives only through sheer luck) - so instills fear and a readiness to get rid of the diamond. I’m thinking he’s one of the Indians’ spies and so good at it that not even Wilkie Collins guessed the truth. ;)</p>
<p>^^ Amusing conclusion! Guess Wilkie had to have someone narrate the Indian ceremony and bring closure. Who else to use? </p>
<p>Can someone explain why the three Indians had to part at the end. What was the significance of them going different directions for the rest of their lives?</p>
<p>As I understand it, the Indians had to part as a sort of “penance.” Although they had performed a great service for their people, in doing so they had broken caste and needed to be purified. As far as the significance of their three separate paths in the greater context of the novel, I can only venture a guess. The number three has always had powerful symbolic significance in literature, especially within a Christian context (the Trinity). Maybe Wilkie Collins, always a bit subversive, was turning the concept of the Holy Trinity on its head. </p>
<p>I was interested in The Moonstone given its importance to the genre—I read lots of mysteries/detective stories. Actually I mostly listen to audiobooks these days, and the library only had it on cassette, so I borrowed the movie. It’s the Masterpiece Theatre version which looks like the 1972 version cited in #58. Cheating, I know…and IMBD says the structure of the story in the movie differs from the book. But assuming the major elements are the same, it was really interesting to see the elements that are similar to today’s mysteries. In any case, I enjoyed the movie and so did DH!</p>
It even had the attached ribbon bookmark that my cat played with while I read. Positively Victorian compared to you guys. LOL (I LIKED that Contents page - though I guess I didn’t pay it enough attention to answer the narrator question correctly.)</p>