Review: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (aka I love me some Sherlock Holmes)

I've always had a thing for Sherlock Holmes.  I chalk it up to Basil Rathbone and his dreamy good looks and awesome acting.  A Study in Scarlet was my first ever attempt at reading a Sherlock Holmes story, because up until I read it, I'd only seen movies!  (the best are with Rathbone, but I was surprised by how much I adored the newish Holmes movie that came out a few years ago with Robert Downy Jr.)

A Study in Scarlet is the first Holmes mystery, and it's actually the story where Holmes and Watson first met.  I loved reading about their introduction and their first few weeks as roommates, and about how fascinated Watson was by Holmes' capability of deduction.  Holmes is asked by the police to help them solve a murder.  The body seems to be unmarked, and is in a vacant building with a word written on a wall in blood.  Holmes is happy to help, though he's sure Scotland Yard will take all the credit when he solves the case.  Holmes invites Watson to come along, and here we have their case together!  After a second body is found, the police are a bit flustered, but Holmes presses on in his search for the murderer.

I loved A Study in Scarlet!  The story was great, and while it did have its flaws, it was very entertaining.  I was surprised by how similar Holmes and Watson were in this book compared to movies I've seen.  It's nice to see that the films portrayed them so accurately.  Sherlock Holmes is definitely a brooder.  He is always sitting alone, lost in his thoughts.  He's also very smart and notices the tiniest of details, which I'm sure came in handy back before forensic science was around to help solve crimes.  Watson is shocked when they are first introduced and Holmes knows right away that he fought in Afghanistan.  A little later in the book, Holmes explains:

Page 18: "You appeared to be surprised when I told you, on our first meeting, that you had come from Afghanistan."
"You were told, no doubt."
"Nothing of the sort.  I knew you came from Afghanistan..........The train of reasoning ran, 'Here is a gentleman of a medical type, but with the air of a military man.  Clearly an army doctor then.  He has just come from the tropics, for his face is dark, and that is not the natural tint of his skin, for his wrists are fair.  He has undergone hardship and sickness, as his haggard face says clearly.  His left arm has been injured.  He holds it in a stiff and unnatural manner.  Where in the tropics could an English doctor have seen much hardship and got his arm wounded?  Clearly, in Afghanistan.'"

Part 2 of the story was slow and boring at first.  It totally leaves Holmes, Watson, and England, and you are suddenly in Utah.  I was confused until I realized that this part was explaining everything that led up to the murders.  After the scene was set and things got rolling, that part became really interesting, and I couldn't wait to find out how this all came to be.

As I mentioned above, Sherlock Holmes has a knack for details.  It helped him solve these murders when the police detectives were too busy jumping to conclusions.  What I also really enjoyed about this is how Holmes, upon making a discovery, would keep it to himself.  Sometimes he remarked to the police or to Watson about a small clue he'd found, but he always waited to explain himself.  In the end, Holmes new how everything had happened long before the police.

I liked the author's writing style because it went well with Holmes' personality.  There were a few factual errors, which were pointed out in footnotes by the editor, but they didn't interfere with the story or its entertainment value.  I read parts of the intro, which in my Barnes and Noble Classics edition is by Kyle Freeman.  It has a lot of interesting details about people in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's life that he may have based his characters off of.  Watson, many believe, is Doyle himself, while Holmes may be a mixture of people, including one of the author's former teachers.

If you love mysteries or are a fan of the Sherlock Holmes movies, I think you'll love this story.

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Date of Publication: 1887 original, my Barnes and Noble Classics edition is from 2003
Number of Pages: 96
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy

Review: Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

Death in Venice is a novella by German author Thomas Mann.  I read the translation by H.T. Lowe-Porter, which I liked, though I'd love to eventually read this in its native tongue because there were some parts that seemed awkward.  It could just be Mann's own style, but it might be the translation.  My teacher also did mention that there are parts that the translator changed up a bit.  I'm pretty sure that Lowe-Porter's translations of Mann's works are the most widely read and accepted.

Death in Venice follows Gustave von Aschenbach from Munich, Germany to Venice, Italy.  He is a famous writer who is known for his hard work ethic and beautiful prose.  One day he is out walking near his home and sees a foreign-looking man.  Aschenbach, about 50 years old, suddenly has a yearning to travel, and so he eventually ends up in Venice.  He stays for quite a while in a hotel, where he becomes obsessed with a tennage boy named Tadzio.  Aschenbach can't take his eyes off of the god-like yet sickly young man.  Even rumors of a cholera outbreak can't diminish his obsession and love for the boy.

I really liked Death in Venice, though the beginning was super slow for me and it took me some time to get into.  Aschenbach ponders a lot about his profession as a writer and what it means to be an artist.  Which was fascinating the first time and then got a little old.  The story picks up once he gets to Venice, and it's interesting as you read to notice how he slowly loses parts of himself and becomes more and more obsessed with Tadzio.  There are also hints throughout about him slowly becoming ill.  I pitied Aschenbach a lot until I realized he was happy in Venice.  He could leave and go back to his old life, but after a certain point, it's too late and you realize taht Aschenbach is never going back (and let's face it, I didn't give anything away, since the title states that this story is about a death in Venice).

The imagery in Death in Venice is beautiful.  I've never been to Venice, but I could easily picture parts of the city as I read.  This is a very quick read, but it's a great one once you get past the slower parts.  I thought it was very profound in that Aschenbach has this brilliant and successful career, yet he doesn't seem to want to go back to it.  I think it just wants to be at piece and not toil with his perfect writing any longer.  At any rate, the passages about being an "artist" I think are super important, especially if you are going to read more Mann because it seems to be a recurring theme in his writing, even though it gets old after you've read the same thing already.

Some favorite quotes:
Page 18: Wrapped in his cloak, a book in his lap, our traveller rested; the hours slipped by unawares.  It stopped raining, the canvas was taken down.  The horizon was visible right round; beneath the sombre dome of the sky stretched the vast plain of empty sea.  But immeasurable unarticulated space weakens our power to measure time as well: the time-sense falters a grows dim.
Page 45: Thought that can merge wholly into feeling, feeling that can merge wholly into thought-these are the artist's highest joy.

Title: Death in Venice
Author: Thomas Mann
Date of Publication: Originally in 1911, my copy is from 1989
Number of Pages: 73
Genre: Fiction
Source: Personal Copy