One of the channels aired (or reran?) the new 2-part miniseries version a couple weeks ago and it is FANTASTIC. Fabulous, so well-done. The acting, the underlying air of superiority and class and old British values, the mounting paranoia, suspicion, feelings of guilt... And there was more than one moment where I was practically screaming at the screen, "Don't trust Tywin Lannister, YOU FOOL!"
Anyway.
I was compelled to use one of my Scribd credits before they switched over their membership structure, just in case, and could not resist getting this one. Could have borrowed it from the library for free, but the impulsive "want this NOW" was too strong. It's been years since I read the book itself, maybe I wasn't paying too close attention back then, but listening to it again recently, it was suddenly just very obvious to me how racist and classist the story is! Maybe it was the remarkable levels of utter disdain the narrator was able to convey, or maybe it was just my foreigner's perception of his British accent, haha..
I know of the controversy about the title of the book, and I will admit that I am not an Agatha Christie biographer or anything, but I doubt if the author herself had any unusually strong prejudices for her time. Rather, it is like reading anything from a different period of time when attitudes and cultural norms reflected a different set of values. Well, most people's values, anyway.
Such a good story, riding that edge between mystery and horror. I am tempted to listen again with only candles for ambient lighting. It would end quite nicely with the actual "and then there were none..." line, but the two epilogues - the logical aftermath involving the authorities and the explanatory ending revealing how everything happened behind-the-scenes so to speak - aren't horrible. I must give credit to the live-action version, however, which puts a lovely twist on the mastermind murderer U.N. Owen ending. :)
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