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A Slight Trick of the Mind
Mitch Cullin is the author of six books, including the novel "Tideland" and the novel-in-verse "Branches." He lives in California's San Gabriel Valley, where in addition to writing fiction he collaborates on various projects with the artist Peter I. Chang. "From the Trade Paperback edition."
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First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Mitch Cullin
20 books70 followersMitch Cullin is an American writer. He is the author of seven novels, and one short story collection. He currently resides in Arcadia, California and Tokyo, Japan with his partner and frequent collaborator Peter I. Chang. His books have been translated into over 10 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 655 reviews
July 12, 2015
To start, this is not a mystery story. It is a character study of Holmes as a human not the figure/trope of Conan-Doyle. As an exploration into the inner monologue of an aging introspective celebrity, it's beautiful. I found it moving and incredibly sad...a slice of life, a peek behind the curtain.
February 15, 2015
I am truly at a loss as to how to describe this book. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle meets Akira Kurosawa is probably the best description. But even that really doesn't begin to touch it.
In "A Slight Trick of the Mind", Sherlock Holmes is 93 and his memory is failing.
The book doesn't so much have a plot as an obsession with death... and bees.
The narrative flits between Sherlock Holmes at home in Sussex, his recent trip to post- WWII Japan, and events of 1902 involving a married woman that he is mildly infatuated with.
Only Sherlock Holmes stands out. The other characters are vapid and shadowy, and at times I found myself wondering if any of them were real, or if they were all just figments of a demented old man's imagination.
There is no real mystery to be solved. The book is mostly just the meanderings of Holmes' mind in his twilight years.
I shut the book when I had finished and thought "What the hell have I just read?" Pretty sure that's the first time I have come away from a novel completely bewildered.
I do wonder how the hell they've managed to turn this novel into a script for the movie "Mr Holmes". There's nothing there to work with. It's all smoke and mirrors; mist and metaphors. I'm not sure I really want to find out.
In "A Slight Trick of the Mind", Sherlock Holmes is 93 and his memory is failing.
The book doesn't so much have a plot as an obsession with death... and bees.
The narrative flits between Sherlock Holmes at home in Sussex, his recent trip to post- WWII Japan, and events of 1902 involving a married woman that he is mildly infatuated with.
Only Sherlock Holmes stands out. The other characters are vapid and shadowy, and at times I found myself wondering if any of them were real, or if they were all just figments of a demented old man's imagination.
There is no real mystery to be solved. The book is mostly just the meanderings of Holmes' mind in his twilight years.
I shut the book when I had finished and thought "What the hell have I just read?" Pretty sure that's the first time I have come away from a novel completely bewildered.
I do wonder how the hell they've managed to turn this novel into a script for the movie "Mr Holmes". There's nothing there to work with. It's all smoke and mirrors; mist and metaphors. I'm not sure I really want to find out.
June 13, 2016
any book about Sherlock Holmes absolutely I'm gonna read it
October 7, 2012
This book is set after WWII. Sherlock Holmes is in his 90s and suffering from Alzheimers and frailty. He lives with his maid, her young son, and his large collection of bees.
When the story starts, he has just returned from his trip to Japan.
There are three layers to this tale:
1) The present, in which Sherlock is back in England with his maid, her son, and the bees.
2) The recent past, in which Sherlock and his Japanese companion wander around Japan in search of "prickly ash," some sort of plant that allegedly increases longevity.
3) The distant past, in which Sherlock in his prime solves the mystery of where his client's wife goes during the day.
The three mysteries (one per timeline) are introduced from furthest past to most current, and are addressed (I wouldn't necessarily say "resolved," in some cases) in reverse order, with the furthest past case closed last. Each story is tragic in its own way, and one actually got me watered up.
It's a well-written, interesting tale, starring the fabulous Sherlock, who has humbled and mellowed in his old age. We finally get to see his point of view, and the toll his life has taken on him. Recommended for Sherlock fans. And if you aren't thrilled with it, don't worry; the book is short.
When the story starts, he has just returned from his trip to Japan.
There are three layers to this tale:
1) The present, in which Sherlock is back in England with his maid, her son, and the bees.
2) The recent past, in which Sherlock and his Japanese companion wander around Japan in search of "prickly ash," some sort of plant that allegedly increases longevity.
3) The distant past, in which Sherlock in his prime solves the mystery of where his client's wife goes during the day.
The three mysteries (one per timeline) are introduced from furthest past to most current, and are addressed (I wouldn't necessarily say "resolved," in some cases) in reverse order, with the furthest past case closed last. Each story is tragic in its own way, and one actually got me watered up.
It's a well-written, interesting tale, starring the fabulous Sherlock, who has humbled and mellowed in his old age. We finally get to see his point of view, and the toll his life has taken on him. Recommended for Sherlock fans. And if you aren't thrilled with it, don't worry; the book is short.
December 24, 2015
Muchos son los autores que han recogido el testigo legado por Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, escribiendo aventuras sobre su eterno personaje como protagonista (unas con más acierto que otras, pero todas lejos del clásico). En 'Un sencillo truco mental', Mitch Cullin intenta ser más original y nos presenta a un Sherlock Holmes de 93 años, que lleva una vida tranquila en su hacienda de Sussex. Allí se dedica al cuidado de sus colmenas y a escribir, sobre las abejas, tratados de lógica y deducción, y antiguos casos. Su única compañía, aparte de las abejas, son su ama de llaves, joven viuda de guerra, y su hijo Roger, un chico de catorce años al que le apasiona el mundo de las abejas y que se convierte en una especie de discípulo de Holmes.
La historia transcurre en tres frentes distintos. Por una parte, está el Holmes del presente (1947), el que vive en su granja. A pesar de los años que han pasado, sigue siendo un personaje famoso, que recibe constantes cartas de admiradores y gente que solicita su ayuda. De vez en cuando, incluso es acosado en su propia vivienda. Resulta curioso porque la gente tiene una imagen de Holmes que no se corresponde con la verdad. El bueno del doctor Watson, cuando redactaba sus aventuras, era dado a rellenar los huecos y a fantasear en exceso.
Holmes acaba de regresar de un reciente viaje por extremo oriente. Este es el segundo frente de la novela. Holmes fue invitado a visitar Japón por un aficionado a la botánica con el que se lleva carteando desde hace tiempo. Ya en su casa, sigue teniendo frescos los recuerdos de este viaje y de las gentes que ha conocido; imágenes de un Japón que intenta sobrevivir a los desastres de la guerra, a las consecuencias de las Bombas.
El tercer frente del libro tiene que ver con un antiguo caso que Holmes está escribiendo, y recordando. Se trata de un caso que le dejó un huella muy profunda. A principios de siglo, un hombre solicita la ayuda del gran detective. Piensa que su mujer ha caído bajo el influjo de una malvada mujer, una profesora que le da clases de música.
Hay que tener claro que esta no es una novela de aventuras y detectives. Es la historia de un hombre que sufre los achaques de la edad, la historia de una mente brillante cuyo filo se está quedando romo. Es capaz de recordar los detalles más nimios de una caso de hace 50 años, pero no sabe qué hace cierto objeto en su bolsillo. Es por tanto, una reflexión sobre el paso del tiempo y todo lo que conlleva. Cullin humaniza al personaje en una novela bien escrita y original.
La historia transcurre en tres frentes distintos. Por una parte, está el Holmes del presente (1947), el que vive en su granja. A pesar de los años que han pasado, sigue siendo un personaje famoso, que recibe constantes cartas de admiradores y gente que solicita su ayuda. De vez en cuando, incluso es acosado en su propia vivienda. Resulta curioso porque la gente tiene una imagen de Holmes que no se corresponde con la verdad. El bueno del doctor Watson, cuando redactaba sus aventuras, era dado a rellenar los huecos y a fantasear en exceso.
Holmes acaba de regresar de un reciente viaje por extremo oriente. Este es el segundo frente de la novela. Holmes fue invitado a visitar Japón por un aficionado a la botánica con el que se lleva carteando desde hace tiempo. Ya en su casa, sigue teniendo frescos los recuerdos de este viaje y de las gentes que ha conocido; imágenes de un Japón que intenta sobrevivir a los desastres de la guerra, a las consecuencias de las Bombas.
El tercer frente del libro tiene que ver con un antiguo caso que Holmes está escribiendo, y recordando. Se trata de un caso que le dejó un huella muy profunda. A principios de siglo, un hombre solicita la ayuda del gran detective. Piensa que su mujer ha caído bajo el influjo de una malvada mujer, una profesora que le da clases de música.
Hay que tener claro que esta no es una novela de aventuras y detectives. Es la historia de un hombre que sufre los achaques de la edad, la historia de una mente brillante cuyo filo se está quedando romo. Es capaz de recordar los detalles más nimios de una caso de hace 50 años, pero no sabe qué hace cierto objeto en su bolsillo. Es por tanto, una reflexión sobre el paso del tiempo y todo lo que conlleva. Cullin humaniza al personaje en una novela bien escrita y original.
September 13, 2013
My first impression, upon finishing "A Slight Trick of the Mind," was "good heavens, that was terrible." I came to review the novel, fully prepared to give it a sound thrashing and a measly one star rating.
While drafting my review, however, I realized that I made a mistake that colored my reading. I assumed that this Sherlock Holmes would be familiar to me. I've read all the stories, seen all the film and television adaptations. But this version of Holmes is not the detective I know - a brilliant man in his prime, solving mysteries and stunning us mere mortals with his flawless observation skills. This version of Holmes is well into his nineties, retired from crime-solving and the public eye. His mind is failing. The novel becomes more and more disjointed as it goes along - nothing feels right as the story progresses. The plot makes hardly any sense, and Holmes' characterization is strange and overly sentimental. I didn't like it - I still don't, but I think that's actually the intention. The story degrades in time with the degradation of Holmes' mind. It's not pleasant to read along as the once-luminous Sherlock Holmes succumbs to the mundane ailments of old age (hence the meager upgrade to two stars), but I think perhaps that was the writer's intention all along.
While drafting my review, however, I realized that I made a mistake that colored my reading. I assumed that this Sherlock Holmes would be familiar to me. I've read all the stories, seen all the film and television adaptations. But this version of Holmes is not the detective I know - a brilliant man in his prime, solving mysteries and stunning us mere mortals with his flawless observation skills. This version of Holmes is well into his nineties, retired from crime-solving and the public eye. His mind is failing. The novel becomes more and more disjointed as it goes along - nothing feels right as the story progresses. The plot makes hardly any sense, and Holmes' characterization is strange and overly sentimental. I didn't like it - I still don't, but I think that's actually the intention. The story degrades in time with the degradation of Holmes' mind. It's not pleasant to read along as the once-luminous Sherlock Holmes succumbs to the mundane ailments of old age (hence the meager upgrade to two stars), but I think perhaps that was the writer's intention all along.
December 30, 2014
I read this book for two reasons: I greatly enjoy Sherlock Holmes stories, and I heard that this story is going to be made into a movie starring Ian McKellen as Holmes.
This story is mainly set 1947, in a cottage on the Southern slope of the Sussex Downs. There are two other stories also presented, that take place in the form of flashbacks - one set in post-WWII Japan, and one titled ‘The Glass Armonicist’, that took place when Holmes was still in his prime. Aside from ‘The Glass Armonicist’, these stories really don’t have much in the way of plot. The focus is on Holmes himself, who is ninety-three, retired, and living in a cottage in Sussex. He is kept company by his housekeeper and her 14-year old son Roger, who Holmes has taken on as a sort-of beekeeping apprentice.
Holmes struggles with the emotions and grief brought on by the past. He is lonely, as Mrs Hudson, Watson and Mycroft have all passed away. He is also trying to come to terms with his failing mind and memory, as he struggles to remember and record the case of the ‘Glass Armonicist’.
I found the story to be beautifully written. The writing itself made me feel as though I was in a fog as I read, which, combined with the switching back and forth between various memories and timelines, really added to the mood of Holmes current state of mind.
I’m having trouble putting into words exactly how this book affected me, but it was certainly a very emotional experience, which involved at least two instances of tearing up. I am looking forward to seeing the screen adaptation!
This story is mainly set 1947, in a cottage on the Southern slope of the Sussex Downs. There are two other stories also presented, that take place in the form of flashbacks - one set in post-WWII Japan, and one titled ‘The Glass Armonicist’, that took place when Holmes was still in his prime. Aside from ‘The Glass Armonicist’, these stories really don’t have much in the way of plot. The focus is on Holmes himself, who is ninety-three, retired, and living in a cottage in Sussex. He is kept company by his housekeeper and her 14-year old son Roger, who Holmes has taken on as a sort-of beekeeping apprentice.
Holmes struggles with the emotions and grief brought on by the past. He is lonely, as Mrs Hudson, Watson and Mycroft have all passed away. He is also trying to come to terms with his failing mind and memory, as he struggles to remember and record the case of the ‘Glass Armonicist’.
I found the story to be beautifully written. The writing itself made me feel as though I was in a fog as I read, which, combined with the switching back and forth between various memories and timelines, really added to the mood of Holmes current state of mind.
I’m having trouble putting into words exactly how this book affected me, but it was certainly a very emotional experience, which involved at least two instances of tearing up. I am looking forward to seeing the screen adaptation!
February 10, 2021
#24 of 2021
I really really wanted to love this book and therefore give it a higher rating since Sherlock is a beloved literary favourite.
But I couldn't.
There were times when I struggled through, wishing I can just finish it.
Some passages were lovely and almost beautiful in a certain sense.
The writing is superb, definitely.
All in all, I liked it enough for 3 reluctant stars.
I really really wanted to love this book and therefore give it a higher rating since Sherlock is a beloved literary favourite.
But I couldn't.
There were times when I struggled through, wishing I can just finish it.
Some passages were lovely and almost beautiful in a certain sense.
The writing is superb, definitely.
All in all, I liked it enough for 3 reluctant stars.
August 18, 2015
Unless it's about James Bond, my husband and I rarely go to a movie. But when I learned of the recently released Mr. Holmes starring wonderful actor Ian McKellen, I put it on my must-see list immediately. Not long afterward, I discovered this book, which is the basis for the movie - and in my rarely broken rule of book before movie, I got my hands on a copy. Now that I've finished with it, I'm doubly determined to see the movie and Mr. McKellen's performance - what a plum role this must be!
Though relatively short at 272 pages, this isn't a book to be read quickly; there are simply too many details that would be missed by skimming. It begins in 1947 as Sherlock Holmes, now 93, is living at a farmhouse in Sussex, England, keeping bees and and claiming to "no longer crave" the bustle of London or Baker Street. He hasn't been in contact with his partner, Dr. John Watson, for a few years, and (as he does with most people), he keeps an emotional distance from his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro (played by Laura Linney in the movie). His does, however, take pleasure - more than he likes to admit - in teaching her son, Roger, to work with the bees.
In his journal writings, Holmes takes pains to dispel what he believes to be myths about himself (largely conceived, he says, in Watson's writings of their adventures). Never, he insists, did he really wear a deerstalker, nor did he ever smoke a big pipe or call his partner by anything except his first name ("...he was John, simply John").
Holmes recalls various cases and events from other times, trying hard to recall the details and pertinent facts (his greatest fear, he says, is the forgetfulness that has accompanied the aging process). The chapters skip around in time a bit, and it's a little hard to discern whether Holmes's musings are fact or fiction, real or dream - intentional, I'm guessing, so readers can share the character's uncertainty. In fact, almost from the beginning, I felt dogged by a feeling of sadness as Holmes struggles with the realization that his once-brilliant mind has lost some of its luster.
Excellent book, with or without the movie.
Though relatively short at 272 pages, this isn't a book to be read quickly; there are simply too many details that would be missed by skimming. It begins in 1947 as Sherlock Holmes, now 93, is living at a farmhouse in Sussex, England, keeping bees and and claiming to "no longer crave" the bustle of London or Baker Street. He hasn't been in contact with his partner, Dr. John Watson, for a few years, and (as he does with most people), he keeps an emotional distance from his housekeeper, Mrs. Munro (played by Laura Linney in the movie). His does, however, take pleasure - more than he likes to admit - in teaching her son, Roger, to work with the bees.
In his journal writings, Holmes takes pains to dispel what he believes to be myths about himself (largely conceived, he says, in Watson's writings of their adventures). Never, he insists, did he really wear a deerstalker, nor did he ever smoke a big pipe or call his partner by anything except his first name ("...he was John, simply John").
Holmes recalls various cases and events from other times, trying hard to recall the details and pertinent facts (his greatest fear, he says, is the forgetfulness that has accompanied the aging process). The chapters skip around in time a bit, and it's a little hard to discern whether Holmes's musings are fact or fiction, real or dream - intentional, I'm guessing, so readers can share the character's uncertainty. In fact, almost from the beginning, I felt dogged by a feeling of sadness as Holmes struggles with the realization that his once-brilliant mind has lost some of its luster.
Excellent book, with or without the movie.
July 25, 2015
A Slight Trick of the Mind is a slow, delicate story that offers a plausible glimpse into the twilight years of one of fiction's greatest detectives. This book is neither a fast mover nor filled with unceasing action. With that said, this story has many interesting elements.
There are actually three stories going on here: a present story, a memory, and a written account of a past investigation. All three stories are intertwined and bittersweet.
The unassuming homage to a famous work of fiction by a famous Russian author is unexpected and, I hope, intentional. Will anyone else notice, or am I simply being fanciful? This is the only clue I will give.
This story is enjoyable, melancholy, and thought provoking. Ah! the honeybees. They make up a society of hard workers and givers. We can all learn from their diligence and steadfastness. Their lives are purposeful and honey sweet, just as ours should be.
Hats off to you Mitch Cullin. You have given me a unique view of Holmes that makes me love him even more.
***
"Actually, it is amazing how much can be learned about people from the books they own."
There are actually three stories going on here: a present story, a memory, and a written account of a past investigation. All three stories are intertwined and bittersweet.
The unassuming homage to a famous work of fiction by a famous Russian author is unexpected and, I hope, intentional. Will anyone else notice, or am I simply being fanciful? This is the only clue I will give.
This story is enjoyable, melancholy, and thought provoking. Ah! the honeybees. They make up a society of hard workers and givers. We can all learn from their diligence and steadfastness. Their lives are purposeful and honey sweet, just as ours should be.
Hats off to you Mitch Cullin. You have given me a unique view of Holmes that makes me love him even more.
***
"Actually, it is amazing how much can be learned about people from the books they own."
March 29, 2016
En ésta historia podemos apreciar a un Sherlock Holmes diferente, éste ya no es un detective consultor cazando aventuras junto a su leal compañero el Doctor Watson. Éste es un Sherlock muy diferente. Es un Sherlock bastante anciano, retirado y dedicado a la apicultura.
Lejos del 221 B de Baker Street, Sherlock pasa sus días cuidando de sus abejas con la ayuda ocasional de Roger, el hijo de su ama de llaves. Y también revisando su pila interminable de correo, mayormente de admiradores de su trabajo que han leído todas las historias escritas por John Watson.
Durante la historia podremos ver tres situaciones diferentes. Un viaje significativo a Japón, su último caso y su vida diaria como apicultor. La que más me gustaba leer, era su vida diaria, y un poquito de su viaje a Japón.
Tengo sentimientos muy muy encontrados con respecto a la historia. Sherlock Holmes tiene más de 90 años, está obsesionado con alargar su salud y vida con la jalea real de las abejas, además de que teme perder sus facultades mentales, porque si para cualquier persona estar lúcido es importante, para una persona con el intelecto de Sherlock Holmes, debe ser toda una tragedia olvidar. Y podemos ver a un Holmes en decadencia, que olvida cosas, camina lento y se desorienta fácilmente. Eso me gustó, porque hasta el grandísimo Sherlock Holmes al final es humano.
También podemos ver ese lado humano en él que en su juventud carecía. Su verdadero apego hacia las personas y las emociones que éstas le hacen sentir. Y cómo las emociones que no está acostumbrado a sentir lo confunden.
Mi grave error fue que vi la película de Ian McKellen antes de leer el libro, y aunque como toda adaptación tiene diferencias, la idea general es la misma, así que perdí todo el efecto sorpresa en el libro. Me esperaba todo, aunque estuviera ligeramente diferente. Y me gustó y no (como un 50/50) leer sabiendo qué iba a ocurrir. Tal vez me hubiera emocionado más de haber leído primero el libro. Porque en la película Ian muestra un lado aún más humano en Sherlock que me conmovió hasta la médula, cosa que el libro no logró del todo. No me hizo sentir tantas cosas, y como la película fue un remolino de emociones para mí, pues me decepcionó un poco que el libro no lo fuera.
En fin, no es un libro de misterio donde veremos a un Sherlock Holmes como lo conocemos, no, es un libro mucho más lento, al final trata sobre un anciano apicultor, así que ya se imaginarán. Lo recomiendo porque me gustó leerlo, pero no podría recalcar nada particular que lo haga más especial que otros libros. Es una lectura agradable, pero hasta ahí. Si ya lo leyeron me encantaría saber sus opiniones.
March 5, 2015
I've had this sitting on the shelf since its release in 2005, but decided I'd best read it before the film opens. It's a beautifully written, ultimately sad and reflective piece of work that attempts to breathe a certain degree of depth into the character of a rather elderly Sherlock Holmes dealing with age and memory loss. It's certainly a very 'original' take on Holmes, fairly engaging, which is down to the lovely writing style more than the story, but on completion I found myself wondering about the point of it all. As a study of aging, loneliness, isolation and and memory loss, it's fascinating, but as a Holmes tale, well, I don't think I really 'get' why Holmes was needed as the protagonist. If the goal was to show the hidden side of Holmes, the human side, laced with all the attached foibles and intricacies of human relationships, I guess it achieves that, but I was still left wondering 'To what end?' In any event, it was a fine read, just to my mind, a vaguely pointless one. Can't begin to imagine how this work will translate to the screen. Guess I'll find out soon...
July 11, 2014
I wanted to like this book but it was difficult to force myself through it. Like so many others, I truly love Sherlock Holmes and have for almost my entire life. The current show with Cumberbatch has been so enjoyable because it's respectful & of great quality. This book, on the other hand, portrays him as practically a non-human who can't exist out of his hive. That's just too much for me to accept.
July 30, 2015
I just knew I would like this book and would have to read it before I saw the movie. It was a bit deeper than I expected but that was a pleasant gift. I love it when a book makes a connection with me and makes me think. Mich Cullin's take on Sherlock has done that.
Have you ever met someone or gotten to know them and wish that you had known them in their early life...They are so interesting and inspiring! Well, we all knew Sherlock Holmes when he was a young man. He has been created into many different images but basically we've seen him "develop". And now some writers are imagining Sherlock in his retirement and senior years. Collin allows him to still be the same awkward, observant, strange loner. No one ever really changes and so Holmes observations about his present state are especially fun to know about.
I really like the way Mich Cullin allows Sherlock to present his inner feellings and thoughts about changes that he notices in his physical and mental abilities. This Holmes is working on his third volume of 'The Whole Art of Detection' but can't seem to make any progress, "...this latest endeavor was hamptered by an inability to concentrate fully: He would sit down and promply fall asleep, pen in hand; he would sit down and find himself staring out the window instead, sometimes for waht seemed hours..." Oh, yes! It happens to the brightest and best of us. "Holmes believed he was capable of incorrectly revising past events, especially if the reality of those events were beyond his grasp. But, he wondered, what was revised and what was true?And what was known for certain anymore? More importantly, what exactly had been forgotten? He couldn't say." I am so glad that someone else feels this way!
Mitch Cullin has studied life and created a couple of characters that are trying to figure things out. Holmes says, "Over time, I have realized my mind no longer operates in such a fluid manner. The change has been by degrees, but I sense it fully now......Now I retain only that which is necessary. The minor details aren't essential - what appears in my mind these days are rudimentary impressions, not all the frivolous surroundings. And for that I'm grateful."
Mr. Umezaki peers into his sake glass and asks Homes. "So what is the truth? How do you arrive at it? How do you unravel the meaning of something that doesn't wish to be known?" But Homes was quiet, seemingly lost in thought, sorting through the vast index of his memory. Soon Mr. Umezaki felt certain Holmes was retrieving an invaluable amount of information "when almost imperceptibly, a faint snoring could then be heard. " Holmes is perplexed when his mind can't grasp its own ruminations. He admits "somethimes things occur beyond our own understanding and the unjust reality is that these events- being so illogical to us, devoid of whatever reason we might attach to them - are exactly what they are and, regrettably, nothing else."
Cullin created a very wise detective who has made some conclusions based on his own experiences. I hope I will not be disappointed by the movie.
Have you ever met someone or gotten to know them and wish that you had known them in their early life...They are so interesting and inspiring! Well, we all knew Sherlock Holmes when he was a young man. He has been created into many different images but basically we've seen him "develop". And now some writers are imagining Sherlock in his retirement and senior years. Collin allows him to still be the same awkward, observant, strange loner. No one ever really changes and so Holmes observations about his present state are especially fun to know about.
I really like the way Mich Cullin allows Sherlock to present his inner feellings and thoughts about changes that he notices in his physical and mental abilities. This Holmes is working on his third volume of 'The Whole Art of Detection' but can't seem to make any progress, "...this latest endeavor was hamptered by an inability to concentrate fully: He would sit down and promply fall asleep, pen in hand; he would sit down and find himself staring out the window instead, sometimes for waht seemed hours..." Oh, yes! It happens to the brightest and best of us. "Holmes believed he was capable of incorrectly revising past events, especially if the reality of those events were beyond his grasp. But, he wondered, what was revised and what was true?And what was known for certain anymore? More importantly, what exactly had been forgotten? He couldn't say." I am so glad that someone else feels this way!
Mitch Cullin has studied life and created a couple of characters that are trying to figure things out. Holmes says, "Over time, I have realized my mind no longer operates in such a fluid manner. The change has been by degrees, but I sense it fully now......Now I retain only that which is necessary. The minor details aren't essential - what appears in my mind these days are rudimentary impressions, not all the frivolous surroundings. And for that I'm grateful."
Mr. Umezaki peers into his sake glass and asks Homes. "So what is the truth? How do you arrive at it? How do you unravel the meaning of something that doesn't wish to be known?" But Homes was quiet, seemingly lost in thought, sorting through the vast index of his memory. Soon Mr. Umezaki felt certain Holmes was retrieving an invaluable amount of information "when almost imperceptibly, a faint snoring could then be heard. " Holmes is perplexed when his mind can't grasp its own ruminations. He admits "somethimes things occur beyond our own understanding and the unjust reality is that these events- being so illogical to us, devoid of whatever reason we might attach to them - are exactly what they are and, regrettably, nothing else."
Cullin created a very wise detective who has made some conclusions based on his own experiences. I hope I will not be disappointed by the movie.
January 12, 2014
I tracked this down when I read that Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) was going to film it with Sir Ian McKellen in the lead role. There are startling similarities between the two projects: Again, we have a curmudgeonly old man in his dotage, presided over by an irascible housekeeper, with a pretty blue-eyed teenage boy flitting about.
This is one of the more intriguing aspects of Mitch Cullin’s book, as he paints a very delicate picture of the affection (love?) that Sherlock Holmes has for Roger, the housekeeper’s son, whom he introduces to the science and wonder of beekeeping – with tragic results.
In one of the narrative strands, Holmes pays a visit to Mr Umezaki and Mr Hensuiro in Kobe, a discreet gay Japanese couple. Mr Umezaki, in fact, comments on Holmes’s cohabitation with another bachelor – Watson, of course – to which Holmes drily replies: “It was purely platonic.”
And then there is Holmes’s extraordinary chance meeting with the enigmatic Mrs Keller, while in disguise – a meeting that haunts him to the end of his days.
The cover of the version I read has a soft-focus portrait of the traditional profile of Holmes, with the hat and pipe. Cullin’s Holmes is quick to point out early on that these were merely marketing gimmicks, while his own detective prowess was much exaggerated (by Watson, no less).
The book finds him alone in a cottage in Sussex, presiding over his apiary and a fading store of memories, contemplating the meaning of existence. If this sounds grim, fear not. This is an extraordinary book, elegiac and melancholic, but uplifting in its own way.
What I particularly liked is how Cullin places Holmes in a historical context, at the beginning of “this uncertain age of atomic alchemy”. His visit to Japan and the ruins of Hiroshima, in particular, exposes him to the full irrationality of man, and the barbarity of so-called civilisation.
What role can reason and truth play in a world such as this? Holmes remarks: “I have dipped my toes into two centuries and now my race is run.”
There is so much bubbling beneath the surface of this short, delicate novel. It is understated and quietly mannered to the point where it could prove perplexing to many readers, especially as Cullin provides no irrefutable answers to the many issues he touches upon.
As is to be expected, there is not really any sense of an ending either, just a genteel segue into the fading darkness of regret and memory.
Hopefully when it does it get filmed, it will help to dispel the abominations that were the Richard Downey Jr. / Jude Law movie versions.
This is one of the more intriguing aspects of Mitch Cullin’s book, as he paints a very delicate picture of the affection (love?) that Sherlock Holmes has for Roger, the housekeeper’s son, whom he introduces to the science and wonder of beekeeping – with tragic results.
In one of the narrative strands, Holmes pays a visit to Mr Umezaki and Mr Hensuiro in Kobe, a discreet gay Japanese couple. Mr Umezaki, in fact, comments on Holmes’s cohabitation with another bachelor – Watson, of course – to which Holmes drily replies: “It was purely platonic.”
And then there is Holmes’s extraordinary chance meeting with the enigmatic Mrs Keller, while in disguise – a meeting that haunts him to the end of his days.
The cover of the version I read has a soft-focus portrait of the traditional profile of Holmes, with the hat and pipe. Cullin’s Holmes is quick to point out early on that these were merely marketing gimmicks, while his own detective prowess was much exaggerated (by Watson, no less).
The book finds him alone in a cottage in Sussex, presiding over his apiary and a fading store of memories, contemplating the meaning of existence. If this sounds grim, fear not. This is an extraordinary book, elegiac and melancholic, but uplifting in its own way.
What I particularly liked is how Cullin places Holmes in a historical context, at the beginning of “this uncertain age of atomic alchemy”. His visit to Japan and the ruins of Hiroshima, in particular, exposes him to the full irrationality of man, and the barbarity of so-called civilisation.
What role can reason and truth play in a world such as this? Holmes remarks: “I have dipped my toes into two centuries and now my race is run.”
There is so much bubbling beneath the surface of this short, delicate novel. It is understated and quietly mannered to the point where it could prove perplexing to many readers, especially as Cullin provides no irrefutable answers to the many issues he touches upon.
As is to be expected, there is not really any sense of an ending either, just a genteel segue into the fading darkness of regret and memory.
Hopefully when it does it get filmed, it will help to dispel the abominations that were the Richard Downey Jr. / Jude Law movie versions.
August 28, 2021
Vi la película basada en este libro ( maravillosamente protagonizada por Ian Mcakellen) y me encantó. El libro también me ha gustado mucho pero hay un suceso hacia el final del libro que se resuelve de manera distinta en la película y, aunque parezca raro porque normalmente me sucede lo contrario, me gusta más el desenlace de la película.
June 30, 2020
Kävipä kusisesti! Ehdin eilen kuunnella puoliväliin tätä kirjaa ja kun sitten aamulla avasin sovelluksen oli kirja poistunut valikoimista, nyyh! Katsoin kirjastostakin, ei ole muuta kuin DVD/Blu-Ray-versioina saatavilla, ei kirjaa, hämmentävää!? Pöh ja pah... Olisin mä mielelläni tän loppuunkin lukenut. Ehkä se joskus palaa vielä Storyteliin.
Kirjan alussa Sherlock Holmes on 93-vuotias ja elelee eläkkeellä pienellä tilallaan hoidellen mehiläisiä ja muistellen menneitä. Mutta menneet eivät oikein pysy mielessä, tai ainakin lähimuisti pätkii. Mihis se sikari tulikaan laitettua ja oho, nukahdinkin kesken kaiken. Noh, onneksi on reipas taloudenhoitaja ja tämän poika jotka jelppivät kun asiat eivät lutviudu. Kirja eteni hauskasti sekä nykyajassa että välillä vähän menneessäkin, käytiin läpi vanhoja keissejä ja hieman mietittiin muistelmien julkaisemista kun se Watsonkin meni kirjoittamaan omansa ennen häntä, pahus soikoon!
Kirjan alussa Sherlock Holmes on 93-vuotias ja elelee eläkkeellä pienellä tilallaan hoidellen mehiläisiä ja muistellen menneitä. Mutta menneet eivät oikein pysy mielessä, tai ainakin lähimuisti pätkii. Mihis se sikari tulikaan laitettua ja oho, nukahdinkin kesken kaiken. Noh, onneksi on reipas taloudenhoitaja ja tämän poika jotka jelppivät kun asiat eivät lutviudu. Kirja eteni hauskasti sekä nykyajassa että välillä vähän menneessäkin, käytiin läpi vanhoja keissejä ja hieman mietittiin muistelmien julkaisemista kun se Watsonkin meni kirjoittamaan omansa ennen häntä, pahus soikoon!
August 13, 2020
Много меланхолична и тъжна история за Шерлок Холмс на 93 години. Умът му вече не е същият и той се отдава повече на размишления за живота, за миналото му, за една жена, която му е вдъхнала обич към пчелите. Сега, на тази възраст Холмс има имение и кошери с пчели, Уотсън е починал, а също и други негови приятели и близки. Той завързва приятелство с едно малко момче и го учи как да отглежда пчели. Удивена съм , че на тази възраст предприема пътешествие в Япония с двата бастуна, които винаги са му подръка, в търсене на едно растение, което вирее само там.
Като цяло книгата ми беше разхвърляна. Случките с Холмс бяха три, но в един момент се объркваш и не знаеш какво четеш. Главите не бяха обозначени с нещо насочващо, което да указва къде се развива действието и минава време, докато се ориентираш. Имаше лек мистицизъм в книгата, но почти нищо, свързано с криминални елементи и случки. Затова и ми беше леко скучна на моменти.
Като цяло книгата ми беше разхвърляна. Случките с Холмс бяха три, но в един момент се объркваш и не знаеш какво четеш. Главите не бяха обозначени с нещо насочващо, което да указва къде се развива действието и минава време, докато се ориентираш. Имаше лек мистицизъм в книгата, но почти нищо, свързано с криминални елементи и случки. Затова и ми беше леко скучна на моменти.
May 30, 2010
In outline it sounds almost like a joke, or something deliberately bizarre: a ninety-three-year-old Sherlock Holmes travels to Japan. Instead, this is a very sad, wistful novel that examines at many angles and with emotional complexity the loneliness and alienation of Holmes' life and the guards he has constructed to keep himself from being consumed by them.
Mitch Cullin's prose is excellent and the novel is quietly structured quite exquisitely, with three storyline unraveling very comfortably next to one another, and in such a way that events in one show Holmes' growth in another. The Holmes of this book is a very rounded and complicated character -- and one that it's easy to imagine could have been the man transformed by Watson into the Holmes we know.
On the Sherlock Holmes myth associated with Victorian mysteries, Mitch Cullin has hung a reflective, often melancholy but also philosphic little novel of meaning and missed opportunities in our lives.
Mitch Cullin's prose is excellent and the novel is quietly structured quite exquisitely, with three storyline unraveling very comfortably next to one another, and in such a way that events in one show Holmes' growth in another. The Holmes of this book is a very rounded and complicated character -- and one that it's easy to imagine could have been the man transformed by Watson into the Holmes we know.
On the Sherlock Holmes myth associated with Victorian mysteries, Mitch Cullin has hung a reflective, often melancholy but also philosphic little novel of meaning and missed opportunities in our lives.
January 4, 2016
A great premise, poorly written and executed. The transitions between the three cases were clunky, and the cases themselves were uninteresting. The movie Mr. Holmes is much better.
January 5, 2016
Wow. I was not prepared to be swept away by this book. Yet after talks about the upcoming movie starring Ian McKellen, I decided to give it a try, still expecting nothing more than some Dumbledore-ish TED talks. At the very best, that is. (Worst case scenarios I’d made up involved someone like my late grandfather singing “I Did It My Way”, esp. after rumours that the new movie will address Holmes’s personal life, children, grandchildren, and other fai...achievements, that is.) Boy, was I prepared to scorn this book. As much as I scorned Holmes Hunts Paedophiles, or Holmes’s Young Wife Is Even Better Detective series, or Shameless Guy Ritchie Rip-Off TV series, or Watson Won't Kiss Sherlock TV series. How short-sighted of me.
Like many other reviewers, I too am fascinated by Sherlock Holmes. By the pure literary beauty this character emits, by the precision, the almost divine order that governs his literary universe. By the beauty that some of his movie and TV versions manage to approach. And like many, many other Holmes-enthusiasts, I am from time to time haunted by wistful need to get into his world, to actually encounter this mysterious figure capable of righting all wrongs and misfortunes in life.
This is in fact what good fanfiction does to you. It allows access to the alternate universe you have come to love. And it is way too easy to become hooked on the stuff. Sadly though, really good fanfiction is not that easy to come by.
But oh, this book. Did I get high on this book.
What I loved about it is its being a detective story without any actual crime-solving. The biggest mystery here is search for Holmes’s character. It presents us with Sherlock Holmes that never was– yet who is closer to any one of us than the “real one” (read: JeremyBrettRathboneCumberbatch). It shows you the person that Sherlock Holmes could have been, in a way better than any other pastiche, verbal or visual, ever did. (Well, any that I know of.) It is one of the best pieces of fanfiction I’ve ever read, as it cannot stand alone apart from the SH universe, and yet somehow manages to extend it.
Somehow I feel like I’ve always known such a book was waiting for me. It’s as if Virginia Woolf sat down “to write about death, only with life breaking in as usual”:
1. Storytelling
Many of the literary SH follow-ups have tried to copycat the narrative trick of the original stories: the voice of limited knowledge, the point-of-view of an accomplice who is just a bit more clueless than us readers, so that we are free to join him in awe and praise. Some say that Watson’s perspective is exactly why SH himself is as enticing figure as he, undoubtedly, is. Yet modern watsons sadly tend to lack either selfless admiration, or the lovable cluelessness, or simply the gift of “fictionalising the truth”, to simulate the pleasure that the original ACD stories provide. Mitch Cullin, though, has given us a Holmes devoid of any other (loving, loyal) presence besides. And is this a sight.
Most of the story is told in the third person, and there you are, Holmes, all thoughts on display but too scattered to put in that swift, aphoristic way that once came so easily:
Some parts of the book are told in the first person, by Holmes himself, and they are just what one can expect remembering “Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”: long worded and slow, though significantly less self-satisfied.
This Holmes does not deduce– or infer, for that matter. But this is Holmes seeing and observing life that is around him, and he is every bit as we always suspected him to be– slightly less articulate, much less agile and much quieter, but every bit as introspective and troubled. And yet even more immune to such petty things as emotions, excitement, fear, even regret, than we could have imagined.
Here it is, the great mystery of the Holmes’s mind, the one that we always tried to catch a glimpse of among John Watson’s “clever detail and hyperbole”. I still admire the JW version of Holmes, I even miss him as I would miss a distant relative, an offstandish but fascinating acquaintance who is long gone. Yet for Cullin’s Holmes, I feel genuine affection.
2. Plot
While a fantastic character study, this book will disappoint those looking for good old crime-solving. In the near 300 pages we have exactly zero of it. What we do have, is 3 plotlines with some mock-crime:
1) Story-within-a-story, in which Holmes describes an old case of a disappearing woman, which however turns out to be anything but,
2) Story of a 93-year-old old Holmes musing on life and doing some beekeeping, aided by his current housekeeper and her 14-year-old son Roger,
3) Memories of a very recent journey to Japan to see some Mr. Umezaki, with whose father Holmes ostensibly had business back in 1903. This plotline contains the sole mystery in the book, which is not a crime but Holmes trying to figure out how to create a story (“like Dr. Watson working out the plot of a story, he reasoned–the mixing of what was and what never had been into a single, undeniable creation”).
All of those storylines end up , which leaves you lost and bewildered. It contradicts much of what the original stories used to champion- reason, order, and life. This is a different world with a different Holmes, extracted by Cullin from the “always eighteen ninety-five” and actually crossing borders of (fictional) time and space.
But I have digressed. .
Like many other reviewers, I too am fascinated by Sherlock Holmes. By the pure literary beauty this character emits, by the precision, the almost divine order that governs his literary universe. By the beauty that some of his movie and TV versions manage to approach. And like many, many other Holmes-enthusiasts, I am from time to time haunted by wistful need to get into his world, to actually encounter this mysterious figure capable of righting all wrongs and misfortunes in life.
This is in fact what good fanfiction does to you. It allows access to the alternate universe you have come to love. And it is way too easy to become hooked on the stuff. Sadly though, really good fanfiction is not that easy to come by.
But oh, this book. Did I get high on this book.
What I loved about it is its being a detective story without any actual crime-solving. The biggest mystery here is search for Holmes’s character. It presents us with Sherlock Holmes that never was– yet who is closer to any one of us than the “real one” (read: JeremyBrettRathboneCumberbatch). It shows you the person that Sherlock Holmes could have been, in a way better than any other pastiche, verbal or visual, ever did. (Well, any that I know of.) It is one of the best pieces of fanfiction I’ve ever read, as it cannot stand alone apart from the SH universe, and yet somehow manages to extend it.
Somehow I feel like I’ve always known such a book was waiting for me. It’s as if Virginia Woolf sat down “to write about death, only with life breaking in as usual”:
Still, the waves broke, the cliffs loomed high, the breeze carried the smell of salt water, and the storm’s aftermath tempered the summer’s warmth. Proceeding down the trail, the desire to be a part of the original, natural order stirred inside him, the wish to escape the trappings of people and the meaningless clamor that heralded its self-importance; this need was set in him, surpassing everything he treasured or believed was true (his many writings and theories, his observations on a vast number of things).
And what did it matter if, eventually, everything was to be lost, vanquished, or if there existed no ultimate reason, or pattern, or logic to all which was done on the earth? For she was not there, and yet I remained. Never had I felt such incomprehensible emptiness within myself, and just then, as my body moved from the bench, did I begin to understand how utterly alone I was in the world. So with dusk’s fast approach, I would take nothing away from the garden, except that impossible vacancy, that absence inside which still had the weight of another person–a gap which formed the contour of a singular, curious woman who never once beheld my true self.
1. Storytelling
Many of the literary SH follow-ups have tried to copycat the narrative trick of the original stories: the voice of limited knowledge, the point-of-view of an accomplice who is just a bit more clueless than us readers, so that we are free to join him in awe and praise. Some say that Watson’s perspective is exactly why SH himself is as enticing figure as he, undoubtedly, is. Yet modern watsons sadly tend to lack either selfless admiration, or the lovable cluelessness, or simply the gift of “fictionalising the truth”, to simulate the pleasure that the original ACD stories provide. Mitch Cullin, though, has given us a Holmes devoid of any other (loving, loyal) presence besides. And is this a sight.
Most of the story is told in the third person, and there you are, Holmes, all thoughts on display but too scattered to put in that swift, aphoristic way that once came so easily:
If only it were that easy, he thought. If only every problem was guaranteed a solution. Then the perplexity that signified periods when his mind couldn’t grasp its own ruminations cast its shadow over him, but he managed to articulate himself as best as he could, solemnly saying, “It seems–or rather–it’s that sometimes–sometimes things occur beyond our own understanding, my dear, and the unjust reality is that these events–being so illogical to us, devoid of whatever reason we might attach to them–are exactly what they are and, regrettably, nothing else–and I believe–I truly believe that that is the hardest notion for any of us to live with.”
Some parts of the book are told in the first person, by Holmes himself, and they are just what one can expect remembering “Adventure of the Lion’s Mane”: long worded and slow, though significantly less self-satisfied.
No, I had finally concluded, she was never mad or ill, nor was she despairing to the point of insanity. She had, for reasons unknown, simply extracted herself from the human equation and ceased to be; doing so, perhaps, as some contrary means of survival. And even now I wonder if creation is both too beautiful and too horrible for a handful of perceptive souls, and if the realisation of this opposing duality can offer them few options but to take leave of their own accord. Beyond that, I can give no other explanation which may strike closer to the truth of the matter. Still, it has never been a conclusion I have wanted to live comfortably with.
This Holmes does not deduce– or infer, for that matter. But this is Holmes seeing and observing life that is around him, and he is every bit as we always suspected him to be– slightly less articulate, much less agile and much quieter, but every bit as introspective and troubled. And yet even more immune to such petty things as emotions, excitement, fear, even regret, than we could have imagined.
Here it is, the great mystery of the Holmes’s mind, the one that we always tried to catch a glimpse of among John Watson’s “clever detail and hyperbole”. I still admire the JW version of Holmes, I even miss him as I would miss a distant relative, an offstandish but fascinating acquaintance who is long gone. Yet for Cullin’s Holmes, I feel genuine affection.
2. Plot
While a fantastic character study, this book will disappoint those looking for good old crime-solving. In the near 300 pages we have exactly zero of it. What we do have, is 3 plotlines with some mock-crime:
1) Story-within-a-story, in which Holmes describes an old case of a disappearing woman, which however turns out to be anything but,
2) Story of a 93-year-old old Holmes musing on life and doing some beekeeping, aided by his current housekeeper and her 14-year-old son Roger,
3) Memories of a very recent journey to Japan to see some Mr. Umezaki, with whose father Holmes ostensibly had business back in 1903. This plotline contains the sole mystery in the book, which is not a crime but Holmes trying to figure out how to create a story (“like Dr. Watson working out the plot of a story, he reasoned–the mixing of what was and what never had been into a single, undeniable creation”).
All of those storylines end up , which leaves you lost and bewildered. It contradicts much of what the original stories used to champion- reason, order, and life. This is a different world with a different Holmes, extracted by Cullin from the “always eighteen ninety-five” and actually crossing borders of (fictional) time and space.
But I have digressed. .
September 17, 2019
Шерлок Холмс уже очень стар и вести расследования ему не так интересно, как следить за пчёлами. Но мистер Холмс не просто старик, иначе бы интересной книги не вышло. По сути, тут три сюжетные линии, две происходят в настоящем, одна в прошлом. Автору удалось крайне аккуратно воссоздать внутренний мир Холмса, который многие из нас любят. Постарев, Холмс заметно изменился, но старые привычки и "вредный" характер всё равно дают о себе знать.
Книга читается легко и быстро, однако в некоторых моментах каждая из линий проседает, но позже обязательно исправляется. Видимо, так автором и задумано, но раз уж в целом книга неплохая, то такой минус можно понять и простить.
Книга читается легко и быстро, однако в некоторых моментах каждая из линий проседает, но позже обязательно исправляется. Видимо, так автором и задумано, но раз уж в целом книга неплохая, то такой минус можно понять и простить.
February 26, 2021
Si bien supe de este libro gracias a la adaptación cinematográfica (que es bastante buena), debo reconocer que hay ciertos detalles que hacen del libro una experiencia superior. Con un Sherlock ya entrado en años, somos testigos de un viaje que involucra reflexiones sobre la vida, el amor y la necesidad; todo desde una perspectiva, aunque diferente a la propuesta por Conan Doyle, bastante cercana a la que se conoce del muy famoso detective.
July 1, 2023
I'd seen the film some time ago and had thought what an intelligent take on an aged Holmes, with thought-provoking characters and situations. The book was deeper and bleaker, with more time to dive into its different threads and go in darker directions than film adaptations can typically accommodate. A very satisfying if sad read.
November 21, 2018
A wonderfully imagined, brilliant tale
July 27, 2015
3.5 stars
The idea intrigued me - a fictional character returned to in old age. We've had Young Sherlock Holmes, a Disney mouse version, a modern BBC-adaptation Sherlock, and now we see the great man as a failing old man.
Saying that, he's still got it... But just not all of the time. This tells several stories at once (which didn't work brilliantly well for me on audiobook, though I loved the narrator), of the required 'how did they do that?' case, his home life as an old man and a little mystery there with his bees, a storyline about a Japanese man Holmes may or may not have met with decades before, and the one I was interested in - the story of an old man, dealing with the fame of his younger incarnation and trying to come to terms with aging and seeing those around him dying.
This I found very moving and sad, as all the names we know from Holmes stories are no longer with him, how he is a relic and a piece of history already for autograph-hunters in a new era.
I would have liked the book to focus on this to the exclusion of the other elements, which I didn't find particularly interesting to listen to.
A new genre I think I like though, fictional heroes in old age. Some excellent insights and thought has gone into Sherlock's later life and how his friends aged around him.
But one I wouldn't reecommend on audiobook, I think it would be easier to follow on paper/e-book.
The idea intrigued me - a fictional character returned to in old age. We've had Young Sherlock Holmes, a Disney mouse version, a modern BBC-adaptation Sherlock, and now we see the great man as a failing old man.
Saying that, he's still got it... But just not all of the time. This tells several stories at once (which didn't work brilliantly well for me on audiobook, though I loved the narrator), of the required 'how did they do that?' case, his home life as an old man and a little mystery there with his bees, a storyline about a Japanese man Holmes may or may not have met with decades before, and the one I was interested in - the story of an old man, dealing with the fame of his younger incarnation and trying to come to terms with aging and seeing those around him dying.
This I found very moving and sad, as all the names we know from Holmes stories are no longer with him, how he is a relic and a piece of history already for autograph-hunters in a new era.
I would have liked the book to focus on this to the exclusion of the other elements, which I didn't find particularly interesting to listen to.
A new genre I think I like though, fictional heroes in old age. Some excellent insights and thought has gone into Sherlock's later life and how his friends aged around him.
But one I wouldn't reecommend on audiobook, I think it would be easier to follow on paper/e-book.
June 9, 2016
Para los que amamos al personaje de Holmes hace muchos años, este libro puede ser un poco duro.
Imaginarnos a Holmes decrépito, con sus facultades mentales disminuidas, sentándose a llorar a la señora Hudson, a Mycroft y a John que han muerto años antes (y además, que John y Sherlock estuvieron distanciados en su vejez) no es para nada lo que queremos.
Un fan de Holmes se lo imagina siempre activo, con la mente despierta, un poco distante; la idea de que no sea eterno nos es desagradable; lo mismo, que John ya no esté; que la muerte le sea un poco indiferente después de tantos casos policiales es sin duda triste.
El "caso" o "casos" policiales que ocurren en el libro no son muy interesantes, o eso parece a través de la lupa de la mente en decadencia de Holmes. Sí puedo imaginármelo con sus amadas abejas, ya que es un obsesivo de los detalles y los insectos son algo que le provoca fascinación (como interesada en los insectos sociales puedo entender que los encuentre tan atractivos).
Si bien las partes que transcurren en Japón, parecen un poco de relleno, y no sucede nada tan importante en ellas (y además son bastantes considerando que el libro no es muy largo) el libro es bello y emocionante para aquellos que amamos al personaje. El autor es evidentemente un conocedor del canon, pues inserta muchas referencias a lo largo del libro.
Imaginarnos a Holmes decrépito, con sus facultades mentales disminuidas, sentándose a llorar a la señora Hudson, a Mycroft y a John que han muerto años antes (y además, que John y Sherlock estuvieron distanciados en su vejez) no es para nada lo que queremos.
Un fan de Holmes se lo imagina siempre activo, con la mente despierta, un poco distante; la idea de que no sea eterno nos es desagradable; lo mismo, que John ya no esté; que la muerte le sea un poco indiferente después de tantos casos policiales es sin duda triste.
El "caso" o "casos" policiales que ocurren en el libro no son muy interesantes, o eso parece a través de la lupa de la mente en decadencia de Holmes. Sí puedo imaginármelo con sus amadas abejas, ya que es un obsesivo de los detalles y los insectos son algo que le provoca fascinación (como interesada en los insectos sociales puedo entender que los encuentre tan atractivos).
Si bien las partes que transcurren en Japón, parecen un poco de relleno, y no sucede nada tan importante en ellas (y además son bastantes considerando que el libro no es muy largo) el libro es bello y emocionante para aquellos que amamos al personaje. El autor es evidentemente un conocedor del canon, pues inserta muchas referencias a lo largo del libro.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2015
This is, in a way, a homage to the Sherlock Holmes books the way Tilting at Windmills was an homage to Don Quixote. But this one goes further beyond the character's original portrayal while still remaining recognizably the same one. Holmes is, in 1947, 92 years old, caring for his bees, as he is cared for by his housekeeper & admired by her son, who has, almost against Holmes's will, become something of a beekeeping apprentice for whom Holmes has come to care deeply. Holmes has also recently returned from a visit to a correspondent in Japan and sees there the devastation caused by the war. He is repeatedly asked to answer why deeply troubling things happen & to come to grips with the realization that the meaning of human tragedy is much more elusive, much more difficult to solve than the mystery solving that made him famous. I'm sure this book was asking me as a reader to make far more connections than I was able to make, but I never felt that it was pretentious or that my failure as a reader diminished my appreciation for the author's ability to plumb the depths of a human soul who by his nature tended to resist such probing questions.
January 16, 2008
Menguak sisi sherlock yang lebih manusiawi, tentang kehidupan di masa tuanya.. tentang perasaannya terhadap wanita.. Dibuat dengan alur yang melompat-lompat (membuat kita sering membalik-balikkan ke halaman sebelumnya), namun tetap menyuguhkan cerita yang sangat dalam. Sebuah karya lain dari sherlock yang dibuat oleh selain penulis aslinya ini patut dibaca..
Namun tak dapat di pungkiri bahwa banyak pembaca yg kecewa karena kasus yang disajikan tidak terasa kedahsyatannya, penulis terlalu mengekspos sisi2 di luar kasus.. Mungkin mitch cullin adalah pengarang roman yang baik, tapi bukan pengarang detektif yang jempolan..
Namun tak dapat di pungkiri bahwa banyak pembaca yg kecewa karena kasus yang disajikan tidak terasa kedahsyatannya, penulis terlalu mengekspos sisi2 di luar kasus.. Mungkin mitch cullin adalah pengarang roman yang baik, tapi bukan pengarang detektif yang jempolan..
December 28, 2014
This book is well-written and will undoubtedly appeal to some people. It hasn't anything to do with Sherlock Holmes, though, so don't let that 'trick' you into reading it. There is no mystery, no actual plot and even if towards the end the ideas which the author wants to convey fall into some sort of place, still - any character could have been at the centre of this book - like, an original character, maybe? Holmes is used out of his element in this book, which is of course to his disadvantage, and clearly the author's intention. Overall impression: Meh. 2/5.
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