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coleridgegirl 's review for:
Ten
by Gretchen McNeil
This isn’t “inspired by” And Then There Were None; it’s a modern retelling. It’s to Christie what She’s the Man was to Shakespeare: taking a classic story and introducing new readers to it by placing teens front and center in the plot. I tend to be a fan of this because I think if you can compel someone not generally interested in classics to read the same storyline, they’re way more likely to read the classic/original later on as they evolve into their reading habits. Also, And Then Were None is awesome and I’ll take every version.
I read this in the midst of what can only be described as a complete nervous breakdown. So I don’t think the mental health portrayal was offensive. Mental illness isn’t one giant entity and my experience may differ, but I note this as someone who’s basically had to pull themselves up from rock bottom several times due to mental health issues. I thought it was fine. I’ve seen it used way more often and way worse as a plot device; from what I remember of this, it was more of an obstacle and factored into confusion vs being another “the villain is the villain because they’re mentally ill.” Again, just one perspective but sometimes I feel like there’s a lot of concern from people who once talked to someone who said they were sad vs actual insights from people with real mental health conditions.
There may also have been terms that we’ve stopped using but it was 12 years ago and I’m not remotely interested in “updating” books for whatever the language of today is. (Maybe read some Bradbury, huh?)
Anyway, I thought this was a rare YA thriller that was cheesy but still held up well. Usually they go so far off the rails and all plausibility is thrown out the window; this one didn’t stretch the boundaries as much and I had fun reading it.
I read this in the midst of what can only be described as a complete nervous breakdown. So I don’t think the mental health portrayal was offensive. Mental illness isn’t one giant entity and my experience may differ, but I note this as someone who’s basically had to pull themselves up from rock bottom several times due to mental health issues. I thought it was fine. I’ve seen it used way more often and way worse as a plot device; from what I remember of this, it was more of an obstacle and factored into confusion vs being another “the villain is the villain because they’re mentally ill.” Again, just one perspective but sometimes I feel like there’s a lot of concern from people who once talked to someone who said they were sad vs actual insights from people with real mental health conditions.
There may also have been terms that we’ve stopped using but it was 12 years ago and I’m not remotely interested in “updating” books for whatever the language of today is. (Maybe read some Bradbury, huh?)
Anyway, I thought this was a rare YA thriller that was cheesy but still held up well. Usually they go so far off the rails and all plausibility is thrown out the window; this one didn’t stretch the boundaries as much and I had fun reading it.