And Then There Were None Book

Before I begin I would like to apologise for my use of the N word in this review.
It is necessary, I promise.

This book was originally published in UK under a charming title of "Ten Little Niggers". When it came to the US version in the 40's someone decided that 'Ten Little Niggers' is not the most marketable title for a book so they changed it to 'Ten Little Indians' (still a highly questionable choice).

Only years after someone decided that neither 'Niggers', nor 'Indians' is a fortunate choice of words for the title so it was changed to 'And Then There Were None' - the last line of the nursery rhyme which in this new version was called 'Ten Boy Soldiers'.

I'm glad this is version we get to read now as it would make for an uncomfortable reading otherwise' - Christie originally made the setting to be the 'N* Island' (how did Christie want to pull this off? 'N* Island' off the Devon coast? Really? How?). Unlike, say Mark Twain, Christie's use of the word is completely gratuitous and unnecessary.

The premise, I am sure you know, is this: ten people end up cut off from the world on a tiny island. One of them is a murderer and people keep dying as in the nursery rhyme. Every person on the island has a secret and is guilty of a murder. It's the kind of murder where law is helpless. Nothing can be proven. This is why they found themselves on that island, at the mercy of a prototype 'Jigsaw' madman who decided justice must be done.

The premise requires the structure of the novel to be very organised and clean cut. I felt that it was only right for me to approach the reading of it in an equally disciplined way. I took five sheets of papers and divide each in half, thus ending up with ten cards, one for each character.

And I continued to diligently fill them out with all the details I learnt about the characters until about halfway through the book when I became too engrossed, frightened and nervous. I already had an inkling as to who the murderer was and was petrified I would be murdered in my sleep as well. The situation was very serious and I had to invite all my teddy bears back to my bed, so they could protect me.

I grew to like two of the characters - the sentiment, I think, I shared with Christie as she liked them so, she killed them last.

This was my second Christie, and the first proper one. The first one I read was a bit of a mishap spy novel, so Christie's brilliance wasn't as apparent as it was in 'And Then There Were None'.

UPDATE: Now that I've read a couple more Christie's books I realise that random casual racism and antisemitism was very much her trademark. It's almost amazing she could sneak racism into books that have no black characters at all. Really off-putting and uncomfortable.

UPDATE 2: Only now, did I realise that there were 3 pages of comments under this review, discussing my use of the N word. Many times as this review was getting more and more votes I considered changing it because with every vote it felt like I was saying it again. Some people suggested I used this as an excuse to say the word, as if I was sitting repeating it with some glee. I can't recall any other times in my life I've used this word, and I suppose I would've found some other reason if it was in fact bringing me as much joy as some commenters are implying.
Deleting this review or drastically changing it now would be disingenuous, though I appreciate it might make for an uncomfortable reading. (though I have changed most of the instances in this review).

Now as for Christie, as I said her casual racism and antisemitism is obvious in almost every book of hers, so I think I will just not read anymore.

4.5 stars

PS> Thanks to karen I have just found this page - betterbooktitles

And here is their take on Ms Christie: