Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

3 reviews

lucyhargrave's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I’m glad I finally finished this but I can’t say I particularly enjoyed listening to it. Some of the stories where intriguing and they kept you guessing but I couldn’t get other the (I suppose) period typical racism, sexism and the use of eugenics to sold the crimes. The N word is used throughout, anyone who isn’t British is described with negative connotations and women are either insipid lovelorn creatures or devilish temptresses with magical power over man. By the end I was over Holmes superior attitude and dislike of everyone but Watson.

I’m glad I read it purely due to the legacy Sherlock Holmes has left on literature and culture BUT I really couldn’t recommend it.
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emmonsannae's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

An old favorite! Fun to have on hand to be able to read in small chunks. ACD is truly the unparallelled small mystery author. I love how eccentric and kind Sherlock is. My favorite novel is still The Hound of the Baskervilles. Some notes: ACD's language is really rough with regards to racism/colonialism. These were written at the height of Britain's colonial empire in India, so the colonialism/racism in stories that deal with those themes is to such an extent that it is hard to read them (The Sign of Four is particularly difficult). It is worth reading, in my opinion, for the good historical tension of seeing how ACD was actually ahead of his time in some ways (racial equality in particular) even though his language is appalling by our standards now. It's also worth reading because those attitudes were real and reading them helps us understand that better. All in all, I enjoy the stories and appreciate them as an accurate window into a historical time/place—but I would be thoughtful about who I would recommend them to, and I wouldn't recommend them without discussing these things. 
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studiomikarts's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

I'd read a good deal of the original Sherlock Holmes stories before starting this audiobook but it was here that I finally experienced them all. Stephen Fry was a phenomenal narrator! Excellent character voices, foreign accents, emotional delivery at all the right times--I suppose that's what you get when someone with true acting chops reads you some of the best stories ever written~ I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to anyone else narrate the Holmes canon. The inclusion at the beginning of each book of a foreword by Fry himself was an excellent move. Not only did I learn a ton about the stories and their author, I learned things about the narrator that tied him to the Holmes fandom and just made him more interesting than ever as a person. I'm sure this won't be the last time I listen to this audiobook!
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