Reviews with content warning for Antisemitism - No Início, Eram Dez

Reviews tagging 'Antisemitism'

No Início, Eram Dez by Agatha Christie

118 reviews

hot_water's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

katyl94's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

At the start of this book, I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did. Reading it in 2021, it definitely has some dated language and a few instances of questionable remarks of minorities. You have to take into account the time it was written, but it is still uncomfortable and jarring to read a couple of the sentences thrown in. Once I adjusted to the way it was written, I had a hard time putting it down. I thought for sure on several instances I thought I knew who the killer was, and I was wrong every single time. It was super unpredictable and fun to read. If you like murder mysteries this is the book for you!

Content Warnings

libby_bebby's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

cordeliza2206's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bluejayreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Despite going through a phase in high school where I mainly read classics, this is the first Agatha Christie book I've read. My husband highly recommended Murder on the Orient Express, but that one had a waiting list at the library. And Then There Were None, however, was available. I discovered after finishing it that this is the world's best-selling mystery and sixth-best-selling book of all time (per Wikipedia). I am absolutely not surprised.

The story starts with eight different characters separately approaching Soldier Island. All have received requests or invitations on varying pretexts to visit the island on August 8, and so they are doing so. Upon arrival, the butler announces that their mysterious hosts have been held up but he has received instructions to go on as usual in the meantime. So the butler and his wife serve the eight guests dinner. After dinner, an unknown voice accuses all ten people - the butler and his wife as well as the eight guests - of murder. And then one of them is dead.

Isolated on tiny Soldier Island, plagued by a killer picking them off one by one, and haunted by a nursery rhyme about "Ten Little Soldier Boys" that the murderer seems to be using as a prescription for each death, the characters slowly begin to crack under the stress of repeated deaths. Whoever is doing this doesn't intend to let anyone leave the island alive. And with the lack of places to hide on the small, rocky bit of land, the only logical conclusion is that one of their number is the killer.

The plot was fairly straightforward - the nursery rhyme is repeated multiple times, and each death follows the rhyme in sequence as the ten characters die one by one - but the real interest came in the question of which of the ten is the murderer. You would have to be a lot more observant and better at guessing plots than me to figure out who it is, and it took me completely by surprise. I can't even say anything about the characters without giving too much away, and the less you know about this one going in, the better (don't read any of the plot or character information from the Wikipedia article I linked).

Agatha Christie is known for her twist endings, and this was absolutely a twist. It's a quick read (the audiobook is only six hours), a great workout for your plot-puzzling muscles (I promise you won't guess the answers to the mystery), and highly entertaining. I absolutely recommend it.

Content Warnings

cyntismiles's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I did not guess correctly! Very fast which was very fun for this type of book -- it makes it feel very chaotic and greatly heightens the situation. I very much enjoyed and would like to try some more Agatha Cristie novels.

Content Warnings

raeslibrary's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was a very compulsive read and I finished this book in one sitting. It’s fun to read one of the original murder mysteries and see where so many of the genre’s popular tropes originated. The story kept me guessing until the end and made the final reveal satisfying. Often times, I think mysteries can hide too much and leave the reader feeling cheated out of being able to guess the end but, the reveal in this book works when filing through the book in retrospect and you leave feeling satisfied.

The 3.5 stars comes for mainly two reasons. I personally did not love the rhyme gimmick because I think it made less suspenseful to guess who was going to be attacked and when. Also, there are moments in the book where some off hand anti-Semitic and racist comments were made that I disliked.

Content Warnings

melanyseescribecony's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

me fui a dormir cuando estaba por terminarlo y tuve un sueño sobre quien era el asesino. Me equivoqué, pero imaginate lo zarpado que fue el libro que hasta inconscientemente no podía parar de pensar en él.
Aviso: contiene muchos comentarios racistas y antisemitistas. Ya se que era el pasado y toda la cosa pero A LA MIERDA.

Content Warnings

nylahnb's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

mss718's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

More...