★ Reviews for Osborne,

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Book reviews for "Osborne,_Charles" sorted by average review score:

Spider's Web

Published in Mass Market Paperback by St Martins Mass Market Paper (2001)

Authors: Agatha Christie and Charles Osborne

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Wouldn't catch a tired out blue bottle

This is the third example of Charles Osborne's mission to convert Agatha Christie's stage plays into novel format. For some strange reason, considering the excellent job he made of "Black Coffee", this time he has, most surprisingly, produced an absolute clunker.

First and foremost it lacks any effective characterisation. I got the feeling that I was reading a description of the play by someone who was very competent at remembering the dialogue, but who really wasn't very interested in either the characters or the play itself.

The story, such as it is, moves along in a jerky and very obviously contrived manner - the sort of thing you only notice in a live performance if the actors are second rate.

My second criticism concerns the plot itself, which might well have been sufficient for a two hour play, but is far too meagre to justify a full-length novelisation. It is, in fact, a combination of two ideas that appeared elsewhere as short stories - one as a Poirot tale first published in 1923, and one which was subsequently (1979) included in "Miss Marple's Final Cases" .

In short, though the original (1954) play was described as a "comedy thriller", the novel is entirely bereft of either humour or thrills. Definitely not worth any kind of recommendation.

Oh, What a tangled web we weave...

Originally written as a play by Agatha Christie in 1954, this book was successfully adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne in 2000. All of Christie's books are listed in the front of this book which is a nice touch for Christie fans. This is the typical English country house murder that Christie did so well. Clarissa, the main character of this book, has a vivid imagination and likes to play pranks on her friends. She is sometimes a stranger to the truth which adds to the plot. This is perfect reading for a cold winter's afternoon.

Oh, What A Wonderfully Tangled Web Agatha Did Weave

and Charles Osborne has transcribed it beautifully in his third novel adaptation of Christie's plays. Spider's Web is a light, easy, and fun read that encompasses all the elements of an English houseparty. The mansion complete with French doors for easy entrance by a murderer, the lovable hostess, the diverse houseguests, the professional detective, the required red herrings, the secret panel, and just for good measure, a sympathetic child---all combine for a delightful mystery.

Clarissa is the beloved mistress of the manor, and her self-proclaimed duty is to hide a body she finds in her parlor so that it won't interfere with her distinguished husband's entertaining a V.I.P. later in the evening. Into her web of lies and deceit she brings her three doting houseguests, a brusque female gardener, and the butler. Truth will out in the end, and whether you guess the culprit or not, you will enjoy this fast-paced, delightful evening with the British upper class.

Complete Operas of Richard Wagner

Published in Hardcover by Trafalgar Square (1992)

Author: Charles Osborne

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Adequate; mediocre. Ernest Newman does same thing better.

Osborne gives some background on the writing of each of the mature Wagner operas. Then a quick plot summary, with some of the key musical themes. Since a synopsis comes with every complete opera recording, I'm not sure how useful these synopses are. We get too much explanation of plot and not enough critical commentary, by my standards. And little in the commentary is new; Ernest Newman's book "Wagner Nights", though 50 or so years older, is still a better introduction, making the same points as Osborne, and more.

Not all the commentary is reliable; the chapter on "Parsifal" buys into some of the nonsense first talked by Robert Gutman about this opera (the Grail knights as homosexual SS order, and so on), which has been comprehensively and devastatingly demolished by Lucy Becket in her book "Parsifal".

I find Osborne's "even-handedness" a little irritating at times. "Tristan und Isolde", he says, is a masterpiece, though it's too long, of course. That reminds me of Mozart's reply to the Emperor who thought his "Il Seraglio" score had "too many notes": "Which notes do you think I should take out?" (I'm quoting the "Amadeus" movie there, and from memory, so that's not quite what was really said, but close enough.) Like Mozart, I find that a dumb comment, unless Osborne cares to tell us which parts of "Tristan" etc we should do away with to make it shorter. And I think the job of someone writing an introduction to any composer is to be critical, certainly, but also to communicate enthusiasm, not weariness.

So for new insights, Tanner, Magee, Millington are better, and for "sources, plot plot summary plus musical commentary" Newman is better. It's not actually bad, just mediocre. Also, unlike Newman Osborne covers the first three Wagner operas, "Die Feen", "Das Liebesverbot" and "Reinzi", so that's quite useful.

Laon

Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process

Published in Hardcover by Harvard Univ Pr (1981)

Authors: Charles J. Lumsden and Edward Osborne Wilson

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Brilliant ideas, flawed analysis

It is difficult to decide whether to praise this book for its (at the time) innovative and novel approach to gene-culture coevolution or criticize it for its endless slurry of ad hoc models with groundless or unspecified assumptions. One can do both. The idea they present, that there is a positive feedback mechanism between biological and cultural evolution, is by far the best working hypothesis for why human society "took off" after millenea of paleolithic stasis. The theory central to the book is that genetic constraints shape culture, which in turn becomes the cultural environment in which an individual's Darwinian fitness is determined, forming a positive feedback between cultural and evolutionary change. This posits a specific mechanism for the role of genetic change in cultural evolution, going far beyond the intellectually vacuous "resolution" of the nature-nurture debate by those who say "it's both." However, none of the models they present can be regarded as anything but mathematical playthings, in few cases are any of the variables or parameters quantities that can actually be measured or therefore tested. Often, it is not entirely clear what the dependent variables in the system correspond to in nature. Worse still, some of the models are completely ad hoc: first positing a dynamical behavior, then presenting an apparently arbitrary dynamical system which exhibits the property as "proof" of the theory. In essence, an uneven work, but one which I think will be at the foundation for further work in the area, at least as a basis for concepts and theory (provided the specifics are taken with a large grain of salt).

Black Coffee

Published in Audio Cassette by Soundelux Audio Pub (1998)

Authors: Charles Osborne, Agatha Christie, and Alexandra Thomas

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Review of "Black Coffee" by : Agatha Christie

This book failed in many areas. There was no plot, no suprise ending, no engaging characters. But to explain subsquent terms, the book lacks developement. Personally, I like a book that is straightfowrd, simple and doesn't waste time, and I like suprise ending's and such. Although this book was simple and straightfoward and only took me a day to read, perhaps it was TOO simple and straightfoward. Like I said no suprise ending, no plot or great characters. If you don' believe me read it for yourself.

I give it 3 stars, and still feel I'm too generous.

Well, let's be brief. This novel was first written as a play, and even though Mr. Osborne, I'm sure, did his best to make it look like a novel, it still has the basic characteristics of a play. There is very little description and too much dialogue. The sets are limited to a single room, just as in a play. My impression is that Mr. Osborne tried to remain as close as possible to Agatha Christie's original play. Yet he could have been a little more imaginative, and I'm sure it only could have made the book more interesting to read.

As for the plot (without giving it away), let's just say that the mystery was easy to solve. To say the least, part of the solution had already been used by Agatha Christie in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles." Therefore, the publication of "Black Coffee" as a novel cannot be really justified, since this second-rate Christie material, for the most part, had already been used before in other Christie novels. Making a novel out of "Black Coffee" is useless. It's just the same as if someone wanted to write a novel version of Christie's play "Alibi," when the latter is already based on her novel "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd".

Read this book!

I found this book very intriguing! I was first hooked on Agatha Christie books last year when we read And Then There Were None in my language arts class. The latter still remains my favorite Agatha Christie mystery, but I found Black Coffee up there with the best (along with Murder on the Orient Express and Cat Among the Pigeons). The only fault that I have discovered in mostly all of Christie's novels is the fact that most of them have a rather slow beginning (except, for the most part, And Then There Were None, although this too was a bit slow). Yet Black Coffee held my interest from the very start. I did not find the murderer very obvious, since I kept changing my opinion of who the murderer was. Although Charles Osborne did a very wonderful job of writing the novel and keeping as close to the script of the play, it was not a true work of Agatha Christie. Therefore, I could not award this book a five. (Yet I thoroughly enjoyed the overuse of dialogue.) I still remain a major fan of Hercule Poirot mysteries, and Black Coffee was one of the best. Hercule is brilliant, and it certainly showed in this particular novel.

p.s. - After blabbing on and on about the wonderful Agatha Christie mysteries to my twelve-year-old cousin (whom I'm very close in relationship to), I've managed to get her hooked on the Agatha Christie novels. Hurray for me! Now I have a close friend to converse over with these wonderful books! We also exchange our Agatha Christie books with each other now, and recommend ones that we've borrowed from the library or another friend. I strongly recommended Black Coffee to her. She, too, has not read any Miss Marple mysteries yet, and is thoroughly interested in Hercule Poirot's cases. Ms. Christie has quite a brilliant mind, and we praise her for that.

Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellin

Published in Paperback by Timber Pr (2003)

Author: Charles Osborne

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Somewhat useful Lists

This work contains a complete listing of the operas of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. They are presented in chronological order by composer, unnumbered to make reference to the discography more difficult. The latter is fairly useless. In most cases, only one version is listed, often one no longer available, with absolutely no discussion of the merits of the recording, either in absolute terms or relative to others. The text is very long on trivia connected with the first production with no analysis of what effect any of this had on the composition, and virtually no discussion of subsequent revisions and changes. In the case of the more obsure opera, there may be some trivia about performances in the twentieth century as well. Analysis where it occurs at all is usually superficial. One gets no idea of the composer's development, or the development of bel canto writing. Most of the few connections drawn among the various composers comes through rather snide comments that one piece or another reminds the author of someone else.

Comprehensive but superficial

In this book, Osborne covers the entire operatic oeuvres of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini -- both the well-known standards and the rarely performed works. For each opera, the author provides a brief history of its composition, a bare-bones plot summary, and a very short (usually just a paragraph) critical evaluation. The entries are somewhat longer for the standard repertory pieces. For the rarities, Osborne also lists significant performances through 1992. There's a recommended discography, helpful though by now somewhat dated.

If you're looking for in-depth musical analysis, this will disappoint you. It's more of a Kobbe's for bel canto.