Evil Under the Sun & Everything That Rises Must Converge

Just finished a short Agatha Christie novel Evil Under the Sun, seen in Lost. Sawyer was reading this book in the episode where they killed off Nikki and Pablo (two annoying characters the writers tried to introduce - the Lost audience hated them. ) In the novel Evil Under the Sun, the strangled body of a glamourous movie star is found on a beach of an intimate, private beach resort. It's up to the famous detective Hercule Poirot, conveniently vacationing there, to solve the mystery. It's an easy, fun read - the twist of plot is quite clever - and of course, the villian is the least suspect of all the island's guests. But I can't give any more away. Does this novel shed light on Lost's intricate plots? No, but was fun to read nonetheless.

Been working my way through the short story collection Everything That Rises Must Converge, by Flannery O'Connor. I was most intrigued by this book since it was being read by Jacob on the very last episode this season. I assumed that because Jacob was reading it, that it must be important to the plotting of Lost. The stories in the book have been extremely depressing though. The characters of these stories are morally ambiguous at best, and sorta grotesque. I don't recommend reading this book.

I've read three stories, including the title story "Everything That Rises Must Converge". Lostpedia writes "The collection's stories are generally in the style of O'Connor's Southern Gothic, portraying grotesque characters, problematised familial relationships, and examining the role of religion in the internal and interpersonal lives of her characters." I sincerely hope that the writers of Lost are not too strongly influenced by this book. I want to see Lost end on a very satisfactory note, even if it ends sadly. None of these stories by O'Conner end well - they all end rather ambiguously - just like the ambiguous characterizations portrayed in the stories.

Well, that's my reading for now...still working on The Third Policeman and am excited to think about it and blog about it - once I finish it.

Peace,
R.R.Orr