Tuesday, September 27, 2016

The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

This book was a random find at the library. I was looking for another book when the spine caught my eye and of course, it makes reference to Sherlock Holmes, so I had to read it!

The Sherlockian is two different stories wrapped into one. One story is about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle during the end of 1901, the period of time just before he decided to resurrect Sherlock Holmes from the grave. Conan Doyle kept diaries throughout his life but the diary covering this period of time went missing after his death, and with it, explanations as to why he resurrected Sherlock. 

The other story is about literary researcher Harry White who after being inducted into The Baker Street Irregulars (the Sherlock Holmes enthusiast society) during the present day must solve a murder of a fellow member who claims to have found the missing diary that has been missing all these years. 

The author alternates between each story as the book progresses, but I feel like this way the stories got condensed too much. I wanted more from them. I think that each story could have been so much more on its own. I kind of found myself getting bored in parts because one story was progressing a lot slower than the other. 

The whole thing left me with so many questions. I wanted more. 

The other issue I had with this book was that I feel like it didn't ring true. There was so much going on that just fell flat for me. I know this book was a work of fiction, and although there were little bits and pieces of fact in the stories, most of it was just pure fiction. Still, actions some of the characters took, their attitudes, how things progressed, I don't know. It just didn't ring true. 

Recommendation: This one is way down on the list for me. I would say it's a miss, but if you enjoy stories about Sherlock Holmes and his wonderful creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, then perhaps you may still want to read this. 

No comments:

Post a Comment