A review by covergirlbooks
Arthur & George by Julian Barnes
2.0
I initially had high hopes for this novel... a story about the author of Sherlock Holmes involved in solving a real life mystery? But while the problem was intriguing, how do I put this... I was nearly 2/3 through the book by the time the game was truly afoot.
Barnes spends so much time introducing us to the origins of the two protagonists, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji, with the minutiae of their life's work and interests, things that could have been dispensed of in pat sentences were multiple chapters.
One particularly overdone exposition was the nature of Doyle's fascination with psychical practices. Very creepy the theological theories he held to, and the dangerous stuff he was playing with.
There was far too much build up and biographical trivia to keep the momentum of the story. This pedantic pace combined with Barnes' tendency to get caught up in description of every meal, every costume...
Sorry to have wasted my time on this one. I committed to finishing it to find out the ending. It felt like slogging through quicksand, honestly. Ultimately found myself doing some extreme skimming on the last quarter of the book.
If you want a well-crafted novel which imagines Doyle in a sleuthing adventure, I recommend you pick up The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.
Barnes spends so much time introducing us to the origins of the two protagonists, Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji, with the minutiae of their life's work and interests, things that could have been dispensed of in pat sentences were multiple chapters.
One particularly overdone exposition was the nature of Doyle's fascination with psychical practices. Very creepy the theological theories he held to, and the dangerous stuff he was playing with.
There was far too much build up and biographical trivia to keep the momentum of the story. This pedantic pace combined with Barnes' tendency to get caught up in description of every meal, every costume...
Sorry to have wasted my time on this one. I committed to finishing it to find out the ending. It felt like slogging through quicksand, honestly. Ultimately found myself doing some extreme skimming on the last quarter of the book.
If you want a well-crafted novel which imagines Doyle in a sleuthing adventure, I recommend you pick up The Sherlockian by Graham Moore.