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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The right sort of pastiche, March 29, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)
There are two sorts of Sherlock Holmes pastiche. The first is written by people who like the original stories and wish there were more of them; so they try to duplicate them, to surreptitiously insert an extra bit of short fiction into the canon. If a writer does this and no more the result will almost certainly be a failure. (This is contingent. It would be nice if there were more Sherolock Holmes stories, and it would be nice if someone could practice direct mimickry; but no-one can.) Conan Doyle himself was reduced to doing this sort of thing by the 1920s, and the results were pallid.But there is another way. The original stories, as we all know, are peppered with oddities, allusions to untold events, and, more than anything else, flat contradictions. A good pastiche will make a meal of the oddities, fill out the allusions, and, in this case, explain away the contradictions. A good pastiche does not merely augment, but also extends, what has gone before. So consider "The Final Problem" and "The Valley of Fear". In the former story Holmes mentions - for the first time - the criminal mastermind of all London, Professor Moriarty, who in the end dies. In "The Valley of Fear" Holmes mentions Moriarty as still living, and Watson and Lestrade speak as if Holmes talks about Moriarty all the time. A contradiction right away. Moreover, one would think that "The Napoleon of Crime" would feature more prominently in Watson's tales about London's greatest detective. Moreover still, a penetrating analysis by a good friend of mine reveals the the apparently solid "The Final Problem" to be one of the most ludicrous Holmes stories in existence. Meyer solves all this by supposing Holmes's cocaine addiction (mentioned in "The Sign of Four") generated paranoid delusions about the perfectly harmless Moriarty; which, of course, necessitates a meeting with Dr. Sigmund Freud. (I have no doubt that Freud in this novel is totally unlike the real Freud, but criticims based on this fact are misguided. Meyer's Freud is exactly the sort of man who inhabits the Sherlock Holmes universe.) Meyer's solution to Moriarty ought to be made official. The novel suffers from a lack of real meat when Holmes gets around to detecting again, and the kind of climax which looks ahead to the film version rather than behind to the nineteenth century. But all in all, THE pastiche to read.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good book..., March 28, 2000
This review is from: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)
First, the review from "henry@coombs.anu.edu.au" contains several mistakes. Lestrade does not appear in "The Valley Of Fear", and that story is a prequel to "The Adventure Of The Final Problem". Second, it is probable that Watson altered events in FP in order that it would appear as though it was his first look at Moriarty, since it was the reader's as well. By "Valley Of Fear", readers know who it is, so it is unnecessary to do the same thing. Watson has plainly stated that he altered facts to make stories suitable for the reading public. Third, there is no "official" Holmes continuity. You accept what you, the reader, wish to accept. Nothing more. I disagree with his thoughts on the later Doyle stories, but that is a matter of opinion.That said, this is a great book which does what Doyle never bothered to do; make the narrative an intense character study where we find out some of the deepest corners of Holmes' mind. This is Sherlock Holmes at it's best, filled with splendid characterization and a cunning mystery. The drama is this story is incredible; Holmes' confrontation with Sigmund Freud is heartstopping, and his moments of weakness are heartbreaking. There are also many nice touches that warm a reader's heart, like examining Watson and his wife, Mary Morstan, and her references to "brandy and soda" and calling him "Jack". The mystery is also quite good, and appears halfway through the book (but does not forget to deal with Holmes' addiction). There are moments of high drama and action which are integrated nicely and paced swiftly. Holmes' deductions are excellent and well thought out. If you have ever felt that Doyle's stories lacked emotional investment for the reader, then this is the book to read. Doyle was an excellent writer, but he did not truly understand what a wonderful character he had created in Sherlock Holmes. He saw him as merely a calculating machine, perhaps never noticing the hidden passion that he placed within the character; the kindness and heart within Holmes. But Nicholas Meyer did. And he displayed it in a novel that was a bestseller, that led to a feature film, and revitalized Holmes in the late twentieth century. With creators like these, with people that care so deeply about him, Sherlock Holmes will survive for another hundred years. Final notes. Meyer is the director of several movies, including the movie adaptation of this novel, and a few Star Trek movies. This book does have it's mistakes, and one is that if Moriarty is what he is in this novel, then "Final Problem", "Empty House" and "Valley Of Fear" are lies that slander an innocent, if annoying man.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Meyer's Holmes: the best of the best., July 31, 2000
This review is from: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. (Norton Paperback) (Paperback)
Brilliantly done. I've been reading Doyle's Holmes stories for nearly thirty years; I read Meyer's _Seven Per Cent Solution_ when it was new and I still have my original copy. I've also read some of the other attempts to bring Holmes to life again in full-length novels, and in my own view Meyer is the only one who nails it.Indeed he even improves on the original tales in some respects. His account of what _really_ happened between "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" has the ring of plausibility, and it does far greater credit to Watson than many of Doyle's stories do. Especially in the later stories, Doyle tended to treat Watson as an inept dunderhead, a practice unfortunately followed by some of his blinder imitators. Meyer's take is that Watson employed artistic license in order to bring out the brilliance of his companion, but that the real Watson couldn't have been such an incompetent idiot if he was both a trained medical man and the valued companion of the world's first consulting detective. So in this "rediscovered" manuscript, Meyer does both of these Victorian gentlemen proud. The novel -- which is both an adventure and a warmly humane tale of Holmes's and Watson's friendship -- is sprinkled with touching scenes of genuine affection between the two lifelong friends; the good Watson finally gets his due as a companion and as a human being, and the not-so-bloodless-after-all Holmes comes vividly to life as well. One of the most moving moments (there are many) comes in Holmes's remark to Watson: "Never let them say you were merely my Boswell, Watson. Never let them say that." I won't tell you where and when that remark occurs, and in general I won't spoil the novel for anyone who hasn't read it yet. But it's the sort of Holmes pastiche that reviewers like to describe as a "corking good read," and in this case they're right. Moreover, Meyer relies on the very best Holmesian scholarship (notably William S. Baring-Gould) on matters of chronology and other detail, though I'm sure some of the Baker Street Irregulars will be able to pick nits. If you enjoyed Doyle's stories, you'll love this one -- and _The West End Horror_, too. (I was less impressed by _The Canary Trainer_.) [P.S. Most of you probably already know this, but just in case somebody doesn't: Yes, this is the very same Nicholas Meyer who directed the best of the _Star Trek_ movies. You'll find a bit of Holmes homage in _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country_, which Meyer helped to script. Spock even quotes Holmes's dictum that "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" -- attributing it to one of his "ancestors." Meyer also scripted and directed the film version of _The Seven Per Cent Solution_ -- which isn't as good as the book, I think, but the cast is terrific, especially Robert Duvall and Alan Arkin.]
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