Page Turners – February 2024 review
In February the Page Turners read ‘And Then There Were None‘ by Agatha Christie. This was published in 1939 and tells the mysterious story of ten people marooned on an island off the Devon coast and gradually dying one by one in accordance with the fates described in the text of the nursery rhyme hanging on their bedroom walls. It is Christie’s best-selling novel, with more than 100 million copies sold.Although some of us were familiar with the book and had even seen the stage play (with the alternative ending that Christie developed for the stage in 1943), others had not read anything by this author before and thoroughly enjoyed this new venture – although one was disappointed after waiting in vain for Poirot to appear!
Some of us found the opening of the book to be difficult as so many characters were introduced and we struggled to remember their names and back stories. However, others felt it was pacy and lucid and enjoyed the depictions of the people and location.
Christie said that she was pleased with the craftmanship of the book which she felt to be clear, straightforward, baffling, and yet had a perfectly reasonable explanation. Most of us enjoyed the epilogue which explained the story, with one even going back to re-read and search for clues in the light of that knowledge, but at least one would perhaps have preferred to be left wondering.
Our discussion was wide-ranging, encompassing subjects such as the way of life of these people at the time the book was set, the difference between murder and manslaughter, the nature of our judicial system and the concept of people sitting in judgement on each other. In addition, this book was originally published under a title including an offensive word and this led us to a discussion of this matter and in particular the recent re-classification of the film ‘Mary Poppins’ due to offensive language.
On the whole we were pleased to have read this book and recommend it to you if you are not already a fan of Agatha Christie. Some of us have bought a copy of the book so do get in touch if you would like to swap our page turner for one of your own.
Deborah Wallis, Convenor