BOOK REVIEW                  

 

               ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

 

INTRODUCTION

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. 

Originally published: October 14, 1892

Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

Preceded by: Black Beauty

Page count: 307

Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Professor Moriarty, Irene Adler, Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, Sebastian Moran

Genres: Short story, Noir fiction, Detective fiction

This book follows Sherlock Holmes through a series of his investigations with Watson is really engaging. Most of them always start with some form of peculiar  detail and then turns around to change around just from the little details that he observes.  That is the charm of Sherlock Holmes and it keeps us wondering what his next step is and how each case will end.  Its a very enjoyable read.

 AUTHOR

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.

He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels.

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle KStJ, DL was a British writer and physician, most noted for his fictional stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, which are generally considered milestones in the field of crime fiction.

Born: May 22, 1859, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Died: July 7, 1930, Crowborough, United Kingdom

Influenced by: Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne,Joseph Bell

Short stories: The Adventure of the Speckled Band.

Born	Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle 22 May 1859 Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	7 July 1930 (aged 71) Crowborough, Sussex, En
Occupation	·        Novelist ·        short story writer ·        poet, physician
Nationality	Scottish
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Genre	·        Detective fiction ·        fantasy ·        science fiction ·        historical novels ·        non-fiction

Anyone who attempts to write about the creator of Sherlock Holmes faces two challenges. The first is that Conan Doyle’s life has already been picked over by so many critics that the evidence has become grubby with their fingerprints. The second is Holmes himself, who is a hard act to follow when it comes to piecing together biographical clues.

ABOUT THE BOOK

 This is a book with 12 investigations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Dr. Watson, his trusted companion, is the narrator of each of these stories.  He documents each one through his eyes and his experience.  When Holmes exits the picture or when certain characters involved in the case leave his field of vision, we jump forward to when he witnesses some more.  This allows us a lot of mystery as we read.  We know that its the most accurate version from Watson`s mouth and this is also what pulls us in.  He puts in his initial assessment and then his discussion with Holmes who clarifies his route of action most of the time after the fact.

I never thought about this but the image of Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle is compelling because of this missing detail and because its the opinion formed by Watson himself.  The missing parts of where Holmes investigates on his own is where we wonder when he comes back what crazy approach he is going to use next to track down or capture the unknown culprit red handed.  It leaves the readers wondering and often times I found myself trying to figure out what the next move was or who the next culprit was.  There was maybe 3-4 times that I figured out who was the culprit but I usually would get the twist and details of the actual story wrong.

This is also what makes Sherlock Holmes a very attractive character.  He inspects and sees the little details that we normally would not associate with how he gathers his information.  It takes a lot of general knowledge (I guess, or extensive) to be able to pull those links together from the people he observes or the evidence that he finds and inspects.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I really did find this a very fun novel to read.  I loved the character of Sherlock Holmes and will probably seek out his other novels.  I always like a good mystery and makes me guess throughout reading it.  It allows me to be involved throughout the story and that makes it very recommendable and a great Classic to me!