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A review by soniek
The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
3.0
Kudos to the author for churning out such a vast number of stories with consistency. Despite the verbosity, many stories were quite good. It's tough to pick one favourite, but I especially loved the initial long stories like: A Study in Scarlet, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear & The Sign of Four. The short stories are good too, but some seem similar to others. I especially found His Last Bow, and stories after Holmes' return to be quite feeble in plot as well as mystery.
All stories felt unnecessarily verbose & long. An advice from experience: it's better to read/ listen to this book with short breaks & other books in between, unless you're a truly avid fan of this writing style. Else, it could get monotonous due to the sheer volume of the book.
Verbosity aside, there are a few other qualms I have about SH. It may be due to the times & situations he lived in, but the author is always demeaning & dismissive towards India & other countries. Not only does he repulsively reek of a colonist's supremacy, but he's also ignorant about certain topics which he nevertheless includes in his stories. These factors put a bit of a dampener in the reading experience. But anyway, that's just my personal opinion!
Also, Doyle went to town with Edgar Allen Poe's model of ratiocination. He wasn't merely influenced, but went ahead to use Poe's model to churn such a huge quantity of stories, all strictly following Poe's style of logical deduction. So in a way, kudos to Poe for inspiring such large quantities of Sherlock Holmes stories!
Finally, do pick up the audiobook! I listened to one narrated by Charlton Griffin, instead of the more popular Stephen Fry, and Griffin doesn't disappoint. He has as much accuracy in reproducing the British accents, as much as the wide range of tones & modulations to represent multiple characters. He brought to life the iconic Sherlock Homes played by Jeremy Brett, and the rest of old London.
Overall, a pretty good classic to read or better still, to listen to.
All stories felt unnecessarily verbose & long. An advice from experience: it's better to read/ listen to this book with short breaks & other books in between, unless you're a truly avid fan of this writing style. Else, it could get monotonous due to the sheer volume of the book.
Verbosity aside, there are a few other qualms I have about SH. It may be due to the times & situations he lived in, but the author is always demeaning & dismissive towards India & other countries. Not only does he repulsively reek of a colonist's supremacy, but he's also ignorant about certain topics which he nevertheless includes in his stories. These factors put a bit of a dampener in the reading experience. But anyway, that's just my personal opinion!
Also, Doyle went to town with Edgar Allen Poe's model of ratiocination. He wasn't merely influenced, but went ahead to use Poe's model to churn such a huge quantity of stories, all strictly following Poe's style of logical deduction. So in a way, kudos to Poe for inspiring such large quantities of Sherlock Holmes stories!
Finally, do pick up the audiobook! I listened to one narrated by Charlton Griffin, instead of the more popular Stephen Fry, and Griffin doesn't disappoint. He has as much accuracy in reproducing the British accents, as much as the wide range of tones & modulations to represent multiple characters. He brought to life the iconic Sherlock Homes played by Jeremy Brett, and the rest of old London.
Overall, a pretty good classic to read or better still, to listen to.