Customer Reviews

A Samba for Sherlock: A Novel

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

I have read this book in Portuguese. After reading all the reviews posted here, I decided to write my own, from a Brazilian perspective. I fully understand the opinions of the Sherlock aficionados that hated the book, but there are some observations I must make: 1) This book is not about a Sherlock Holmes that goes to a tropical country (Brazil), but it is about a "Brazil" that welcomes a Sherlock Holmes. In other words, the main character is not Holmes, but the 19th century Rio de Janeiro society. 2) Soares is a comediant, so for anyone who knows him, it is not a surprise that he would make fun of Holmes and everything else. (Note how he depicts the Brazilian society; it is a lot worse than what he does to Holmes!!!). 3) Brazil has a society that tends to "Brazilianize" all the foreign elements (and immigrants) that arrive in the country. I think that's what Soares tried to do with Sherlock Holmes. By the way, from a Brazilian point of view, Holmes attitudes were very praisable, while Watson seemed to be too closed to new cultural experiences. As a last comment, I would like to say that the American publisher should have tried to give a better idea of the book on its cover and back cover text. This way, the traditional Sherlock aficionados could avoid the book or understand it better.

I've read the other reviews on this book, and i'm sad to see that 90% of the North American readers (myself included) bought this book expecting a traditional Holmes adventure. I have to admit that as soon as i got into this reading i noticed this could not be serious...so, i decided to read it as a joke, and guess what: it was not bad at all, in fact, it was a very entertaining book, full of humor and extremely light reading... I'm a big Holmes fan, but the people who rated this book as being the worst ever writen with the character of Sherlock Holmes are idiots who treat a ficcional character as a religion! Folks, Sherlock Holmes never existed, ok? The reviews i read about this book are the type of reviews you can expect from a bunch of Catholic priests reading Carl Sagan...sorry i had to read those, the book is awesome!

This book is an entertaining satire of a supposed Sherlock Holmes case in Brazil. The author does a good job of adding components of Brazilian culture to the case, poking fun at the concept of a know-it-all investigator while the story unfolds in pretty random fashion.

It should be read as what it really is, a satire. This book is not for those seeking the brilliant problem solving of Sherlock Holmes, it is definitely not here.

It's unusual for a light novel such as this to succeed on so many counts.

The humour is less compressed and explosive than Dave Barry's but with something of the same glee in odd combinations; extended over episodes or even chapters, the effect reminds me of Stephen Leacock's gentler cleverness.

The drama is well-timed, keeping one off guard. Just as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" took viewers by surprise-we were all expecting the funeral to come at the end-so the sequence of murders here is paced to avoid predictability. In the one or two scenes were action is called for, Soares is up to the task, with lighting and other atmospheric effects bringing out a suitably evocative, even lurid, tableau. By and large, though, this is not a "thriller", rather a witty period piece that challenges the reader with a murder mystery.

The descriptions of Brazil at the end of the empire (the story takes place in Rio in 1886) are finely done and, apparently, based on extensive research. It actually helps, though, for the reader not to know too much about the period, since if one recognises a character as being historical one can rule him or her out as a suspect; ignorance of Brazil's rich literary history is, in this case, an advantage.

Those who know Brazil, however, will enjoy Soares' entertaining references to cultural standbys such as capoeira, the caipirinha and so on, yet the effect will not be lost on those "outside the loop"; for example, Holmes' first exposure to Brazilian food is hilarious even if you haven't actually tasted dishes cooked with dendê.

The translation (by Clifford Landers) is probably the best I've ever met of a Brazilian novel in English, fluent and energetic with never a foot wrong.

Yes, I did guess the murderer's identity about two thirds of the way through the book-but then I couldn't be sure I'd got it right, and I was kept reading closely until the very end by plot developments which it would be unfair to divulge.

This is a splendid book, and I only hope that Landers will soon translate Soares' next novel. In the meantime, "A Samba for Sherlock" is highly recommended for a general readership.

First, in interests of full disclosure, I am not totally impartial: I translated the book. Having said that, I can affirm that of the more than a dozen Brazilian novels that I have translated, A Samba for Sherlock was far and away the most fun. When Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart colleague Dr. Watson are summoned to Rio de Janeiro by Brazil's Emperor Dom Pedro II, it's with the understanding that Holmes will help locate a Stradivarius violin stolen from a beautiful baroness, one of the emperor's numerous paramours. But before the Englishmen arrive, a series of horrifying murders breaks out to disrupt this placid tropical paradise. A maniac is killing and mutilating young women, most of them prostitutes, and secreting on the body of each victim a string from a violin... Sherlock coins the term "serial killer" (now we know where it originated) to describe the assassin, and there begins a hunt that takes the reader on an rollercoaster of emotions ranging from guffaws to sheer terror and back again. Jo Soares has seamlessly blended historical figures (Sarah Bernhardt, then on her triumphant first South American tour, is a major character) with those borrowed from Conan Doyle and others created from his own fertile, original mind. The result is a page-turner that once started is impossible to put down. The novel is currently being made into the most expensive movie ever in Brazil. --Reviewed by Clifford E. Landers

I like to think of Soares as a comedic Gore Vidal. The basic tension in this book comes from throwing a famous, eccentric, British aristocrat into a world where characters don't act like they do in England, like a comedic version of the Holmes story which takes place in Utah. For what it is, entertainment, it's fine, but hardly 5 star literature.

I have to agree that for foreigners the book lose a bit of its humour as there are a lot of national jokes that are hard to understand. But for me it is a brilliant book. The way Jo twisted the well known Sherlock's character is the funny part of the book. Worth buying by anyone, Brazilian or not.

I read this book in French. (It's called "Elementaire ma chere Sarah") -- Definitely the funniest book I've read in a long time. It is also an excellent introduction to Brazilian history and culture.

Do you remember how you always asked yourself "What if bad guys get away and they are not caught at the end?" well you've got it, this is a diferent story, a funny but solid story, really an interesting book, a unique one! Jo soares is probably one of the most inteligent persons over earth and he took his whole talent to write this amazing story he is gonna take you so much into it that you are gonna finish the book in some hours without even notice it!

This is definitely one of the most entertaining, enjoyable, and well-written books I've read in a very long time. While it might not be filled with the poetic lyricism that bogs down so many more "literary" novels and its irreverence towards Sherlock Holmes may fluster the feathers of his most loving aficionados, Soares's story, writing, and conclusion is nothing short of fantastic. While comments on the site have been mixed, this book is definitely not one of the worst books ever written (it may well be one of the best of its genre- literary thriller) and is certainly enjoyable to people who are not Brazilian. The evocation of the city of Rio and the long-forgotten Brazilian empire firmly immortalizes both city and era. A truly wonderful, fast, and smooth read.