Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

38 reviews

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

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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

ran_sophia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

An absolutely brilliant book that I had trouble putting off and doing something else. At first I thought it would be nothing interesting, but after further reading it turned out the exact opposite. I have to say that if I hadn't read the letter from the killer at the end of the book, I would't even know who the killer was. I definitely recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death

Minor: Religious bigotry and War

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.

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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

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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

ilariasroom's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Agatha Christie really does live up to the hype. It’s true, I did not see that coming. Also, using an old nursery rhyme to dictate the nature of multiple murders… that’s peak literature I must say. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, Racism, Religious bigotry, and War

egurgens's review against another edition

challenging dark informative 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

4.5

I honestly had no idea who the killer was until the very end of the epilogue. Ten people are invited to this mysterious island by a U.N. Owens, for different reasons. The doctor was to attend to the owner's wife's health. One was hired for a job. The one thing all of the characters have in common is that they are all guilty of murder, but cannot be convicted by the law. Following the pattern of deaths laid out by a children's poem, one chokes to death, one never wakes up, one went crazy, one was cut by an axe, one was stung, one was in trouble with the law, one fell for a red herring, a bear killed one, another freaked out and was killed, and the last went mad and killed themselves. There were only 10 people on the island, and all of them are dead by the end. However, the last person kicked over a chair to kill themselves, and the detectives found the chair upright, standing orderly by the wall. So who could have killed everyone? There was no place to hide from the inhabitants, and no one was left alive on the unreachable island when the detectives showed up. So who could have killed them? The only person who was truly innocent of the supposed murder they committed and wanted to take justice into their own hands. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicide, and Violence

rieviolet'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Antisemitism, Colonisation, War, Car accident, and Alcoholism

kimmysanders's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a pleasant surprise. I've never been into the classic mysteries, but checked this out on a whim because I just like Dan Stevens. 

I think this is likely one of those books I'd never be able to finish in print, but with the right narrator it just clicks. Stevens does all the voices, and inhabits every character so well that you really feel like you can see them. The story just flew by and I was honestly surprised by the end, which I didn't think could be possible with a book this old. 

Obviously not going to comment much on the plot, as it's a mystery. Content warnings ahoy, although the later editions have at least altered the glaringly racist title. Basically if you've never read Agatha Christie and want to give it a try, you could do a lot worse than letting Dan chaperone you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Murder, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Antisemitism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Blood

Minor: Abortion, Bullying, and Racism