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The Quiet Man
"Do you just carry on talking when I'm away?"
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson fanfiction.
Set post-Reichenbach. John deals with Sherlock's suicide.
Words: 157369 complete
Sherlock Holmes/John Watson fanfiction.
Set post-Reichenbach. John deals with Sherlock's suicide.
Words: 157369 complete
394 pages, ebook
First published July 29, 2012
3 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 24, 2018
August 24 2018: reread complete
Funnier than I recalled. Some very absurd dream sequences that help lift the heavy nature of it, Terry Gilliamesque.
Quote this time:
Everything’s a little more dangerous with you, isn’t it. That’s the price of admission, as well as part of the attraction.
Ever wanted to live inside John Watson's head?
I love the intensity of this. Post-Reichenbach stories that handle that messy mix of guilt, anger, despair as John teeters on the edge of sanity pull me in; it's one of my favorite themes to read about in Johnlock. Here, it's a wild ride of of free association as John's mind drifts recalling things: things that were, things he wished, and things that never were. It's all present tense and you get that incredible feeling of being tumbled over and over in a giant wave. There's no up, no down, you're justing being tossed. It really minds me of a Dali film because that mixture of fantasy and reality create this surrealistic experience that John is both caught in and trying to pull away from-- just not too hard.
There are probably a thousand questions asked, and no answers. BUT... John plays through events over and over again - being a survivor is heartbreakingly, beautifully done - it is an ode to grief.
Funnier than I recalled. Some very absurd dream sequences that help lift the heavy nature of it, Terry Gilliamesque.
Quote this time:
Everything’s a little more dangerous with you, isn’t it. That’s the price of admission, as well as part of the attraction.
Ever wanted to live inside John Watson's head?
You were the centre of my existence. You were everything good in my whole world. You’re the most important thing. What did you imagine I was going to do, shrug and move on?
I love the intensity of this. Post-Reichenbach stories that handle that messy mix of guilt, anger, despair as John teeters on the edge of sanity pull me in; it's one of my favorite themes to read about in Johnlock. Here, it's a wild ride of of free association as John's mind drifts recalling things: things that were, things he wished, and things that never were. It's all present tense and you get that incredible feeling of being tumbled over and over in a giant wave. There's no up, no down, you're justing being tossed. It really minds me of a Dali film because that mixture of fantasy and reality create this surrealistic experience that John is both caught in and trying to pull away from-- just not too hard.
There are probably a thousand questions asked, and no answers. BUT... John plays through events over and over again - being a survivor is heartbreakingly, beautifully done - it is an ode to grief.
There is an incredible loneliness in keeping secrets. I always thought loneliness was being alone too much, but it’s not. It’s really not. It’s knowing there’s no one left in the world who will understand, even as you share a bed with someone you love. Love isn’t understanding, in the end.
October 29, 2012
This one is not for everybody. Not for most people, actually. It's first person POV, present tense, stream of consciousness. And it's looooooong. That's a WHOLE lot of stream of consciousness, my friend. Also: you need to have watched both season 1 and 2 of the TV series. After contemplating DNF-ing around 20% in ('OMG! I'm only at 20%, how long is this thing?!?'), it got strangely compelling. Little weaker towards the end, as usual with fanfic, but not sorry I stuck this one out at all.
August 29, 2012
Very odd. I prefer Sherlock's POV.
And John's dreams are hilarious.
And John's dreams are hilarious.
March 2, 2013
I swear, I live for reading these things.
I loved the writing style, smooth and poetic, the choice of words and the metaphors. Stream of consciousness was most welcomed. I love writings where nothing much happens, but it's even better when no plot alternates with yes plot and tons of inner monologue; this fic was the case. The psychological analysis was fascinating. John's dreams were the best dream scenes I've ever read, they probably were my favourite part of this. There were also occasional phrases for the quote book, I loved those, too. What I didn't quite like is the excess of sentiment and the overcomplication of things in John's mind, especially in the mourning-Sherlock part. There were some thoughts that I really don't believe John would ever have (questioning their friendship, believing Sherlock is using him), things are pretty simple between them. But I suppose these were necessary for the story. The end was open and kind of frustrating, really, but in a good way, I think. I loved this.
I loved the writing style, smooth and poetic, the choice of words and the metaphors. Stream of consciousness was most welcomed. I love writings where nothing much happens, but it's even better when no plot alternates with yes plot and tons of inner monologue; this fic was the case. The psychological analysis was fascinating. John's dreams were the best dream scenes I've ever read, they probably were my favourite part of this. There were also occasional phrases for the quote book, I loved those, too. What I didn't quite like is the excess of sentiment and the overcomplication of things in John's mind, especially in the mourning-Sherlock part. There were some thoughts that I really don't believe John would ever have (questioning their friendship, believing Sherlock is using him), things are pretty simple between them. But I suppose these were necessary for the story. The end was open and kind of frustrating, really, but in a good way, I think. I loved this.
February 21, 2013
Could use some editorial tightening but the language is good, feelings are right and the heart of the story is there.
February 13, 2013
This Sherlock slash fiction was from Watson's POV. I liked it a little less than The Progress of Sherlock Holmes, which I found awesome.
Here it is a very loooong time before Sherlock even re-appears (it starts post-Reichenbach) and the first 50% are kind of maudlin. But still a very good read and fully satisfying for everybody with a SH BBC series addiction like me :-)
Here it is a very loooong time before Sherlock even re-appears (it starts post-Reichenbach) and the first 50% are kind of maudlin. But still a very good read and fully satisfying for everybody with a SH BBC series addiction like me :-)
November 4, 2019
my thoughts after i finished: i just read a book that should have replaced s3 and s4
May 11, 2015
This one definitely deserves some words, but I'm not sure which ones.
I wasn't going to read the whole thing. I'd read in the comments about it and knew myself well enough that I wouldn't get through 200 pages of John grieving in a drawn-out jumble of thoughts and senses before Sherlock even showed up. So I skimmed about 1/4 in and got sucked into the story despite myself.
I thought that John's thoughts were just a bit too too drawn-out and all over the place for my tastes, and that I would've liked a tiny bit more description of what was physically going on, instead of relying on John's reactions to figure it out. I'm not saying that I didn't like the way it was, but I think just a few of the thought-jumps here and there could've been cut out to make it more balanced. When you're making out with someone, you don't think half a page worth in between kisses on something not entirely related to the current situation. Sometimes he went off on a tangeant and when he returned to the situation at hand, I'd completely forgotten what was going on outside of his head.
I also definitely thought that it ended too early, I would've liked some more "just John and Sherlock"-time to get a better sense of the development of their relationship outside of a life-and-death-cooped-up-in-apartment-situation.
But overall I thought it was good. It was like every sentence was a brush stroke from the author and the whole thing made out a coherent picture of John. I thought her description of his sorrow and John's reaction to Sherlock's reappearance were quite arresting.
I wasn't going to read the whole thing. I'd read in the comments about it and knew myself well enough that I wouldn't get through 200 pages of John grieving in a drawn-out jumble of thoughts and senses before Sherlock even showed up. So I skimmed about 1/4 in and got sucked into the story despite myself.
I thought that John's thoughts were just a bit too too drawn-out and all over the place for my tastes, and that I would've liked a tiny bit more description of what was physically going on, instead of relying on John's reactions to figure it out. I'm not saying that I didn't like the way it was, but I think just a few of the thought-jumps here and there could've been cut out to make it more balanced. When you're making out with someone, you don't think half a page worth in between kisses on something not entirely related to the current situation. Sometimes he went off on a tangeant and when he returned to the situation at hand, I'd completely forgotten what was going on outside of his head.
I also definitely thought that it ended too early, I would've liked some more "just John and Sherlock"-time to get a better sense of the development of their relationship outside of a life-and-death-cooped-up-in-apartment-situation.
But overall I thought it was good. It was like every sentence was a brush stroke from the author and the whole thing made out a coherent picture of John. I thought her description of his sorrow and John's reaction to Sherlock's reappearance were quite arresting.
October 6, 2013
I have been a fan of the Doyle stories since I was a child. I have always wondered, and spent many hours day dreaming about what happened to John Watson during the three years he was alone.
This book is a study of that time period.
Ivy Blossom makes excellent work of John Watson bringing to him a depth of character not often seen. The writing is thoughtful and thorough. It is easy to understand how John is feeling and commiserate with his situation.
There are several beautiful, unforgettable scenes that anchor this story firmly as a classic in this genre.
This book is a study of that time period.
Ivy Blossom makes excellent work of John Watson bringing to him a depth of character not often seen. The writing is thoughtful and thorough. It is easy to understand how John is feeling and commiserate with his situation.
There are several beautiful, unforgettable scenes that anchor this story firmly as a classic in this genre.
June 26, 2014
Ah, here we go. This is the definition of angst. Geez, if prone to be depressed easily, you should avoid this.
But that said, I really appreciate Ivy Blossom's writing. Every word in the story rings true and in character.
This is from John's POV, so you'd think its easier to follow than Sherlock's, but the amount of pain infused to every sentence make it much harder to read than "The Progress of Sherlock Holmes".
And this is long. Seriously, this took me ages to finish. But if you can stick until the end, this is a brilliant piece of literature, let alone fanfiction.
But that said, I really appreciate Ivy Blossom's writing. Every word in the story rings true and in character.
This is from John's POV, so you'd think its easier to follow than Sherlock's, but the amount of pain infused to every sentence make it much harder to read than "The Progress of Sherlock Holmes".
And this is long. Seriously, this took me ages to finish. But if you can stick until the end, this is a brilliant piece of literature, let alone fanfiction.
October 7, 2016
As far as fan fiction goes, this is an A+. Taken out of that genre this story still holds up, in my opinion. I enjoy the creative use of imagery- particularly when the author describes a bony person in bed as "construction equipment". I've never read a story that was written in second-person stream of consciousness but the intimacy of that perspective was absolutely riveting. This was one of those that kept me up until well past two in the morning because I was incapable of putting it down. If you haven't read everything that Ivy Blossom has ever written, you should probably go do that.
November 23, 2013
The first third of this book is a strange spacey trip through a greafstricken wasteland of wibbly wobbly timely wimey stuff, with angst and fluff. Then the story becomes somewhat more coherent, the plot thickens and you can finally trust most of the action to be happening outside of johns head...
I had a lot of fun reading this slippery poetic book. I gave it 3 stars initially and changed it to 4 when I enjoyed it even more on the second reading.
I had a lot of fun reading this slippery poetic book. I gave it 3 stars initially and changed it to 4 when I enjoyed it even more on the second reading.
May 8, 2015
I felt strangely compelled to finish it, and it without a doubt stayed true to the John Watson from the show. Kudos to Ivy Blossom, it's very hard to replicate the same feels from a TV show in a fanfic but you did it and you did it really well.
But it was so long and not particularly interesting, the long-term angst and stream of consciousness couldn't hold my attention.
But it was so long and not particularly interesting, the long-term angst and stream of consciousness couldn't hold my attention.
July 12, 2013
Actual Rating: 3.5
Want to read
January 24, 2014Not sure about the first POV and the length...
August 25, 2015
Another beautiful work of art. I think I cried the first half of this one. But so well done.
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