One of the world's most famous and successful writers is Agatha Christie. This is an amazing fact to me considering that she is a terrible hack with no real style or talent. I just finished reading And Then There Were None, supposedly the most successful mystery ever written. To my mind it didn't have a moment of tension, was full of plot errors, and had an absolutely ridiculous solution. Yet there it is, a major best seller, made into several movies, and oddly praised by many critics. Her output is astonishing, book after boring book, many ending with all the suspects sitting around in some parlor waiting to hear who killed whom. Then, of course, there is the utterly boring Hercule Poirot and the predictable predicaments of Jane Marple. No, I haven't read many of her books, but having seen dramatizations, one can assume each is as dull, poorly plotted, and lacking in character development as And Then There Were None. The recent film versions of Murder on the Orient Express, was a boring film with a superb cast. A friend suggests that Agatha Christie was an author who wrote for people who can barely read, much like the Dick and Jane primers. I don't disagree. This post is sure to offend readers who actually like the novels of Agatha Christie. Having finished And Then There Were None, I picked up another novel recommended during The Great American Read on PBS. The book was The Call of the Wild by Jack London, which was so brilliantly written is was like going to a sumptuous feast after having dried toast and weak tea.
Note: My guess on what will prove to be America's favorite novel on The Great American Read: Gone with the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye.
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