Reviews - The Complete Sherlock Holmes

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The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

954 reviews for:

Again, the great Stephen Fry adds a little bit of historical background to all things Sherlock!

I didn't realize how groundbreaking Sherlock and Watson must have been at the time when the stories first appeared (1887 very Victorian timeframe), the long break between novels, and the overall cleverness of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - even the discrepancies with his writing vs his real-life drama! Whodathunk!!

Highly recommend this audiobook - Stephen Fry is a master narrator!

spauffwrites's review against another edition

3.0

An excellent reading of classic Holmes. Stephen Fry gives a masterful performance of all the characters—man, woman, British, American, Italian and many others besides. He also wrote the forewords for each section, and these are packed with interesting trivia about Conan Doyle and the history of Sherlock Holmes. Don’t skip them.

This is the whole Sherlock Holmes collection, so it’s very long (70+) but would be great for a road trip or if you have to drive a lot for work.

jennywedde's review against another edition

4.0

Having enjoyed 72 hours of Stephen Fry's unbeatable voice interpretations and accent mastery of these classics, I must say I absolutely get why this was revolutionary writing at the time, and ended up setting the scene for the future of crime writing. My personal favorites are definitely colored by BBC's series adaptation (Top 5: A Scandal in Bohemia - The Final Problem - The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton - The Hound of the Baskervilles - The Adventure of the Three Garridebs), and it also seems fairly straight forward to understand why a lot of the stories did not make the cut for adaptations in general as there is a lot of what feels like repeated plot lines (hence the 4/5 for me for the total collection).

That being said, I think what stayed with me the most after reading these works is not necessarily the plot lines and the protagonists (however delightful I find Watson and Holmes' bromance), but how the writing clearly reflects the established attitudes of that day and age towards people of different sexes, genders, colors and capabilities in such an infuriating way, seen with spectacles of today. More than once I ejaculated (if you know, you know) out loud: "THAT IS SO NOT OKAY TO SAY" at ACD's descriptions, and that kind of engagement with a text is exactly what makes this a really memorable "reading" experience for me.

Excellent and Elementary

twistingtalesandtastytea's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

awestaway's review against another edition

5.0

At long last I have finished this anthology. It's fair to say that I am now a fully ensconced fan of Holmes and Watson. Their various adventures, both short and long are still as engrossing today as the day they were written. I find it amazing that Conan Doyle had so much animosity towards the character he gave life to, although I suppose I can kind of understand. Holmes is an enigma, one that you try to unravel, just as you try to unravel the mystery along with him. Readers are enchanted by his bohemian charisma, but I can understand how it would become tiresome to create riddles interesting enough for him to solve as the years went by. This anthology took me more than a year to get through, but was fully worth the time and effort it took to read.

cassandrasoley's review against another edition

4.0

Love me some Sherlock holmes, this book is VERY large. Which is why it took so long to read. I would usually pull it out to read a story now and then.

Great anthology