From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie

Start date: June 1, 2025

Finish date: June 30, 2025

Discussion: CLASSICS READS

Why we're reading this: June 2025 - Bookshelf Catch-Up
Group Pick for July '19 - Bookshelf Catchup
Group Pick for Oct '17 - Classic…more
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Group Pick for July '19 - Bookshelf Catchup
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CLASSICS READS

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What Members Thought

Jul 20, 2022 Amber Lea rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature-and-classics, fiction

lol, that was some Dexter shit.

Alright, I loved this, but there are definitely uncomfortable moments reading Christie where you're like, "WOW, that was painfully bigoted." But then her characters will have moments where they mention or think about how stupid or useless women are, so it seems like she's reflecting the culture of the time through her characters more than she's sharing her personal thoughts. (I hope.) I have to say, it's shocking every time. Like wow, people really thought like thi lol, that was some Dexter shit.

Alright, I loved this, but there are definitely uncomfortable moments reading Christie where you're like, "WOW, that was painfully bigoted." But then her characters will have moments where they mention or think about how stupid or useless women are, so it seems like she's reflecting the culture of the time through her characters more than she's sharing her personal thoughts. (I hope.) I have to say, it's shocking every time. Like wow, people really thought like this? Obviously her characters are stereotypes to a sometimes painful degree, so you have to take it with a grain of salt but it's just crazy to think that people looked at other people and had thoughts like this.

I'm far from an expert on Christie or the history of this book, and the version I have is the modern day version, but I think the original title (or two) might have been intended to subvert racism because you have this racist nursery rhyme juxtaposed against a story about 10 white people being murdered in a similar fashion. To me it almost seems like Christie was going for, "Oh, you think it's just a cute little song, but it's not so cute when it's happening to you!" Like it's hard for me to imagine she had racist intent because her victims are white and mostly very well to do. It seems like she's making a point about the difference between our perception of the world and ourselves and who we really are if we're being honest. To me it feels like she's mocking the upper class for their faults.

But besides the occasional slap in the face that would make me stop reading and go holy shit, this story is fun to read. I really appreciate how short her stories are because they don't drag out and give you time to get bored. This one is just like bang, bang, bang. The plot is always moving forward and if you don't care about what's happening something else will be happening soon.

There's just something about Christie's writing that's so good and she uses gimmicks I rarely see which creates this odd feeling that her writing is fresh and new despite being 80 years old. Like I love when we go around the table and read everyone's thoughts like you would see in a movie. If another author tried to do that it would probably be a total groaner, but when Christie does it works. (Of course, I don't read a lot of mystery so maybe these things aren't as uncommon as I think.)

Obviously, the story itself has been done to death because this is the most famous murder mystery of all time and it's been copied hundreds of times, but despite the "been there, done that" feel of the plot itself I thought it was great because you still don't know what's going to happen despite an abundance of hints.

I'm a littttttle disappointed the murder wasn't the character I thought. She dropped a few subtle hints it was him and I fell for it, but it would have been so good! ...more

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Dec 04, 2016 Indira Giovany rated it liked it

I wonder if I had not read so many - too many - other books with poor attempt of copying this book's premise, will I enjoyed it more? ...more

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Feb 10, 2014 Paula S rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Classic Christie. I've read this a number of times, but I still enjoy following along as the story unfolds. I would hate to be stuck on that island though. ...more

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