42. And Then There Were None

42. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (1/4/2011 - 1/11/2011)

This is a classic murder mystery by Agatha Christie.  I've read it before and read it this time because I'm teaching it to my English III class during my student teacher.  This is actually one of the most popular murder mysteries of all time -- and it is virtually unsolvable without the epilogue at the end.

Ten individuals are drawn to Indian Island through a series of complicated ruses. Once there, an unseen host accuses each of being a murderer; each crime is one that is basically not punishable by law because they can't be proven, such as governess who eggs the child in her care to swim out too far into the ocean.  The child drowns, but the governess almost dies trying to 'save' him, so she is absolved from punishment. The other murders are equally unsolvable and unpunished.  The individuals on the island gradually begin dying off until, at last, all of them are dead.

Christie has done something amazing with this book -- it is unsolvable without inside information or the epilogue, yet she never has her characters lie in their own thoughts.  The story is extremely entertaining because it is so suspenseful -- when the characters start dying, the reader is just as confused as every other character. As characters make accusations and try to solve the mystery, I as the reader am doing the same thing.  I am hoping that my students will be just as involved in the story as we keep reading -- we're only around Ch 4 right now, so we still have some work!

Update 2/10: My students just finished this book, and they HATED it. I actually can't believe how much they hated it.  Of course, they all looked up who the killer was on the Internet as soon as we started reading, and frankly in a book like this, if you remove that suspense, it probably would be ruined. But still. I'm frustrated that this will probably turn them off both Agatha Christie (who has many, many great mystery novels) and possibly mystery novels themselves.
I truly do worry about the future of the American education system. And the future of the American public, frankly.