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hannah_cook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
calliemcgehee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
vanessa_reads_a_lot's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Racial slurs
annabelle42688's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
While I was fermilur with the set up/premise, I somehow managed to not have the ending of this book spoiled dispite it being published over 80 years ago. The version I listened to had been updated and did not have the original title nor the original form if the nursery rhyme, but did still contain plenty of racist, sexist, classiest and other insensitive dialog that was commonly used in the 1930's. That being said the mystery itself was quite interesting and I enjoyed listening to how it played out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Racial slurs
bellebooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I must preface this spiel with this: I am a certified ELA teacher who also tutors many students. I have used this for tutoring.
Moving on.
What more is there to say? I think knowing the landscape of England in the time of 1900s pre-WWII helps tremendously, as the novel is more nuanced and intricate that way, making this novel act as a judge and jury of the culture at the time. (I would recommend looking into social classes relations regarding gender, race, wealth, and orientation at the time, most notably post-WWI.) However, that information is not necessary to appreciate quite possibly the greatest mystery novel of all time, at least in the literary canon.
As far as the quality of writing, Christie herself wanted to write a murder that was nearly impossible to solve. (Personally, I deduced the murderer quite easy to solve, but that's beside the point.) Her use of an omniscient narrator works well, as many times, the narrator focuses on one character at a time, expressing their thoughts, feelings, fears, and motives as if a first person narrator. The regression of the characters from a space of superiority, as part of urban society, to one of survival instincts (I hate using the terms "civilized" to "uncivilized") is quite intriguing, as it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of not just all classes of English society but also English (and to a similar degree, American) culture as a whole.
Out of their own mouths, my kids love this book: They admitted that it was slow in the beginning, (and they don't like how it took 3-4 chapters to set everything up), but once things started rolling, they were hooked. They have argued, debated, researched information to try and lock down who the killer is and motives; this is includes literally having a cork-board with pictures and string, mapping out the characters and their arcs.
We have looked at the 1945 and 2015 adaptations of this book. They talked about their favorite/least favorite characters, (Vera was the hands down favorite,) how the adaptations have changed what they've read, why they felt the book was better, etc. (Mind you, I had to do very little prompting. I merely would ask who their favorite/least favorite character was, what they thought of XYZ and why, and to pick a character and look up these two topics surrounding them. They went the distance.)
So yes. This is one of my favorite novels of all time. I may have a lot of opinions of the literary canon, but this novel is by far the first one I would argue to keep in its pedestal.
Moving on.
What more is there to say? I think knowing the landscape of England in the time of 1900s pre-WWII helps tremendously, as the novel is more nuanced and intricate that way, making this novel act as a judge and jury of the culture at the time. (I would recommend looking into social classes relations regarding gender, race, wealth, and orientation at the time, most notably post-WWI.) However, that information is not necessary to appreciate quite possibly the greatest mystery novel of all time, at least in the literary canon.
As far as the quality of writing, Christie herself wanted to write a murder that was nearly impossible to solve. (Personally, I deduced the murderer quite easy to solve, but that's beside the point.) Her use of an omniscient narrator works well, as many times, the narrator focuses on one character at a time, expressing their thoughts, feelings, fears, and motives as if a first person narrator. The regression of the characters from a space of superiority, as part of urban society, to one of survival instincts (I hate using the terms "civilized" to "uncivilized") is quite intriguing, as it highlights the strengths and weaknesses of not just all classes of English society but also English (and to a similar degree, American) culture as a whole.
Out of their own mouths, my kids love this book: They admitted that it was slow in the beginning, (and they don't like how it took 3-4 chapters to set everything up), but once things started rolling, they were hooked. They have argued, debated, researched information to try and lock down who the killer is and motives; this is includes literally having a cork-board with pictures and string, mapping out the characters and their arcs.
We have looked at the 1945 and 2015 adaptations of this book. They talked about their favorite/least favorite characters, (Vera was the hands down favorite,) how the adaptations have changed what they've read, why they felt the book was better, etc. (Mind you, I had to do very little prompting. I merely would ask who their favorite/least favorite character was, what they thought of XYZ and why, and to pick a character and look up these two topics surrounding them. They went the distance.)
So yes. This is one of my favorite novels of all time. I may have a lot of opinions of the literary canon, but this novel is by far the first one I would argue to keep in its pedestal.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Child death, Stalking, and Torture
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Homophobia, War, Toxic friendship, Racism, and Abandonment
Minor: Alcohol, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness
mme_carton's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Antisemitism, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Minor: Infidelity, War, and Pregnancy
libraryofcam's review against another edition
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
One of my favorite books of all time. Agatha Christie never disappoints
I couldn’t have guessed it was Wargrave all along, the end was so surprising and smart. Loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, and Terminal illness
Minor: Terminal illness
pollyflorence's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
Graphic: Antisemitism, Child death, Death, Murder, Racial slurs, and Suicide
kitkats's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Antisemitism, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, and Medical trauma
bethsbookshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
I think I’m in the minority with this book. I enjoyed the reading experience, for sure, but I was disappointed in a lot of areas. I can’t really fault the plot and the scene-setting. It was exciting and mysterious and none of my three theories were correct. It kept me guessing and it was a really easy read. However, i hated all the characters. Mostly because they all felt very 2 dimensional; we didn’t know much about them. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the stoic and short writing. It could have been beautiful but it wasn’t all that descriptive. I also disliked not knowing much of the backstory. I think this book would have benefited from another 50-100 pages but i understand that wasn’t really the style of the time. The ending also felt flat to me. I didn’t like the monologue style reveal after we got to live with the characters throughout. I’ll definitely read more Christie though! She is clever and i liked some of the symbolism at the end and throughout.
My biggest issue though was with how racist this book was. I had a 1990 edition so the island was not named after soldiers but instead the n-word, which was really awful to read on every page! So that dropped my rating a lot.
My biggest issue though was with how racist this book was. I had a 1990 edition so the island was not named after soldiers but instead the n-word, which was really awful to read on every page! So that dropped my rating a lot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Murder