Now that we have finished reading And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and taken the time to let it all *sink in*, we’re going to share our final thoughts on the book as a whole. Our goal is not to review the book, per se, but we will be sharing what we liked and disliked.
Spoiler Free!!! This post is our general opinions about this book, not a professional review, and contains no spoilers for And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie.
Trigger Warnings!!!This book contains situations and subjects related to: racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, murder, death, and suicide.
Final Thoughts:
Jacilyn: This book was an interesting departure from the mystery books I’ve read before. I’ve never read any Agatha Christie before, and although I found the story to be compelling and the mystery incredibly well plotted, I found the characters to be a bit lacking. That being said, though, I do prefer stories that are more character-driven, so it’s not surprising that this doesn’t rank as high for me. I’m not sure that I would reach for another Christie novel for funsies in the future, but I totally understand why she is considered the queen of mystery.
The racist background and language in the book, which we address in our second discussion, was rather shocking as well. I don’t believe in censoring books in any way, and recognize that this story is a product of its time, but I think it’s important that this context is included in conversations surrounding this particular title (and I’m sure many of her other works as well).
Michaela: The mystery of this book is really captivating. The characters are all unlikeable in their own way which really helped throw suspicion around to everyone. I never truly knew who it was though I suspected a lot of characters. The story was gripping but the intensity of the writing wasn’t what I wanted, which I think is more based on the time period it was written or perhaps the author's writing style. Included in the issues with the time period it was written in, there is quite a bit of racism and sexism in this book. The edition of this book that I read censored a lot of the more outright racist things, I didn't even know about some of it until Jacilyn sent me snapshots of her edition to look at. So be aware that there are different censored editions floating around out there as well as the original text. As a whole I did enjoy the book, loved the mystery but the writing style wasn’t quite my thing but that wouldn't stop me from reading more mysteries by Agatha Christie.
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