Scan barcode
A review by erishti
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
adventurous
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
3.0
I won this book on a Storygraph giveaway and Im so glad I had a chance to finish it. Daisy was an amazing guide to have along to story and I really appreciated her insights into the book; it really deepened the story for me and made me think about it more. I'm actually an exmormon, born and raised in Utah and even named after one of Brigham Young's Danites. Im even related to Brigham Young quite closely, haha. I just wanted to share some thoughts about the book I had, particurlary in regard to Mormomism.
In my opinion Doyle's portrayal of the early Mormon faith was incredibly fair and accurate (although a little askew) for a man from Great Britain. It makes me a little upset that he was asked by someone in the faith to apologize for his portrayal of Mormons. There were so many times where he even praised them for their tenacity and industry. It's too bad that he didn't apologize for his comments on Native Americans, calling them "unemotional" and the like. It's no secret among those of us who research the history of the church that it actively keeps the dark parts of its history away from active members. Most who still attend regularly aren't even aware of polygamy, especially the fact that Brigham Young himself had over 100 wives.
Overall I had such a good time reading this book. I loved Doyle's description of Utah, and as someone who grew up in it, it made me laugh to hear about it talked in such a distasteful way, haha. Sherlock and Watson were amazing characters and I loved being able to hear the original story where the beloved characters who influenced society so grearly come from. The plot of the mystery itself felt unfair to read, like we didn't have all the information because it just wasn't given to us. It framed Sherlock as the mastermind purely because it didn't allow us a hand in the game to think about the murder that takes place. Thank you to Audrey for making this book available!
In my opinion Doyle's portrayal of the early Mormon faith was incredibly fair and accurate (although a little askew) for a man from Great Britain. It makes me a little upset that he was asked by someone in the faith to apologize for his portrayal of Mormons. There were so many times where he even praised them for their tenacity and industry. It's too bad that he didn't apologize for his comments on Native Americans, calling them "unemotional" and the like. It's no secret among those of us who research the history of the church that it actively keeps the dark parts of its history away from active members. Most who still attend regularly aren't even aware of polygamy, especially the fact that Brigham Young himself had over 100 wives.
Overall I had such a good time reading this book. I loved Doyle's description of Utah, and as someone who grew up in it, it made me laugh to hear about it talked in such a distasteful way, haha. Sherlock and Watson were amazing characters and I loved being able to hear the original story where the beloved characters who influenced society so grearly come from. The plot of the mystery itself felt unfair to read, like we didn't have all the information because it just wasn't given to us. It framed Sherlock as the mastermind purely because it didn't allow us a hand in the game to think about the murder that takes place. Thank you to Audrey for making this book available!