Agatha Christie's best
So "And There Were None" has been voted the best Christie mystery in a poll conducted by BBC. I knew it! It has been my favourite ever since I devoured it a few years back.
It is easily one of the most intriguing, riveting story ever written, by a crime writer or otherwise. Along with a finely detailed plot, it boasts of some interesting character sketches as well. And it harks back to the eternal theme of crime and punishment, of sin and retribution.
Somewhere, the story strikes a chord in all of us, as none of us are beyond sinning. Only we thank our stars that we have not sinned as heavily as the characters in the novel, so as to face such terrible annihilation. Also we feel glad to have some iota of guilt in our hearts along with regret, unlike the characters in "And There Were None". Throughout the novel, there is a tussle in our minds: we want the characters to be safe, but we cannot resist the delicious twists and turns. So much so we start expecting the next death to come with all its unexpectedness. And the guessing game continues till the very end.
Agatha Christie's triumph is in her telling of the story, so mystifying that unless the denouement was given in the end, the reader could not decipher it at all. Her genius is also in coordinating the manner of the deaths with the rhyme "Ten little niggers". She pulls out her ultimate trump card with this one, and challenges the reader to jog their "little grey cells". Without a detective to probe things out, we are literally at sea, and would have been stumped had she not explained things at the end.
So in a manner, she has outfoxed all of us!! Hats off!!
It is easily one of the most intriguing, riveting story ever written, by a crime writer or otherwise. Along with a finely detailed plot, it boasts of some interesting character sketches as well. And it harks back to the eternal theme of crime and punishment, of sin and retribution.
Somewhere, the story strikes a chord in all of us, as none of us are beyond sinning. Only we thank our stars that we have not sinned as heavily as the characters in the novel, so as to face such terrible annihilation. Also we feel glad to have some iota of guilt in our hearts along with regret, unlike the characters in "And There Were None". Throughout the novel, there is a tussle in our minds: we want the characters to be safe, but we cannot resist the delicious twists and turns. So much so we start expecting the next death to come with all its unexpectedness. And the guessing game continues till the very end.
Agatha Christie's triumph is in her telling of the story, so mystifying that unless the denouement was given in the end, the reader could not decipher it at all. Her genius is also in coordinating the manner of the deaths with the rhyme "Ten little niggers". She pulls out her ultimate trump card with this one, and challenges the reader to jog their "little grey cells". Without a detective to probe things out, we are literally at sea, and would have been stumped had she not explained things at the end.
So in a manner, she has outfoxed all of us!! Hats off!!
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