And Then There Were None Book Club Questions
Welcome to the Buddy Book Club – we have a light-hearted comedic podcast that covers a variety of books. And Then There Were None is a classic whodunit book from the the ‘Queen of Mystery’ herself, Agatha Christie. Written in 1938, the book still hits home and many elements are copied in mystery novels to this day.
We did a full breakdown of And Then There Were None on our podcast episode. On the episode the Buddies reminisce about the good ol’ days when being a doctor was a lot easier, how spam mail could have saved lives, and why tongue is best served cold. So feel free to check it out.
Our book club questions try to be a little more outside the box/comedic than your typical book club questions – hopefully you enjoy them.
Book Club Questions – And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
-> Would you accept a mysterious invitation to a remote island from someone you’ve never met, or do you have better spam filter instincts than these people? How many Nigerian Prince emails have you responded to?
Now if the invite was hand written, in a expensive envelope, and UPS expressed to me, then my curiosity would be peaked.
-> Knowing what you know today, do you think you could be a doctor back in the 1930s?
Seems like all you need to do is 1) Tell patient it’s all mental, 2) Give them brandy, 3) Slap them in the face, 4) Leeches or lobotomy.
-> If you were at an expensive island in and offered cold tongue or ham for lunch, would you be on the next boat out?
We wrote a blog discussing this very questions – and how the cow tongue industry just needs to rebrand.
-> Did you think the soldier figurines were voodoo dolls? Just us? Would destroying the figurines have saved everyone, or just ruined the killer’s aesthetic?
I think you have to at least test this out, at least you’re annoying the killer. I’d also test throwing someone else’s figurine in the fire not mine, just to be safe.
-> Rogers’ wife dies and everyone immediately goes, “Hey Rogers, get these eggs out here”, did you think they were being a little bit insensitive about Roger’s grieving or just efficient British emotional repression?
Time to move on Roger, we’re in the 1930s, people are dying randomly every day.
-> Justice Wargrave criticizes everyone for relying on hearsay and demands evidence, but his entire murder spree is based on hearsay about these people’s crimes. Does the judge have any moral high ground, or is he just the world’s worst hypocrite?
Big time hypocrite, also it didn’t seem like some of these peoples crimes were worthy of death. Speaking of…
-> Emily Brent just fired a maid who had a baby out of wedlock (very 1930s), and the maid killed herself. This seems like fifth-degree murder at best. Did she deserve the island, or was Wargrave reaching for his final victim?
He definitely needed to round out the invites or had a late drop and had to add Emily. Tough break.
-> Anyone else think Philip Lombard was named Phillip Lombard because he murdered 20 people and slept easy at night… because he had good lumbar support?
I’ll see my way out.
-> Did this book (and escape rooms) make you feel stupid? When you can’t figure out who the killer is or the clue even as the names whittle down. Did you solve it before the epilogue?
Yeah this one made us feel very stupid, even after the ending was revealed I still wasn’t sure about who the killer was.
-> Agatha Christie changed the ending for the stage version so Vera and Lombard survive and turn out to be innocent. Which ending is better: everyone dies (book), or two survive (play)?
I’m a negative Nancy, so give me everyone dying.
-> What was your favorite death?
We liked Blore’s getting his head caved in by a marble bear clock.
->The original title of this book was… extremely racist and remained that way for decades, including a 1960s movie adaptation. Discuss how we’re supposed to appreciate classic literature when stuff like this happens.
Or don’t. Maybe just throw this question in the fire with the voodoo dolls.
-> Who would you cast in a new movie version of And Then There Were None?
Check out our other Make it a Movie blogs.
