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jdcorley's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Chabon understands both what a lot of Holmes fan-writers don't understand, and what a lot of literary giants slumming in genre spaces don't understand, which is that even if the emotional reality of our pulp (or in this case, our classic) heroes are simplistic, they are genuine, they are sincerely felt. If anyone is cynical you need to make it skin deep. And here, in the English countryside of 1944, the old beekeeper and the young Jewish refugee tend to the Old Hive of 1926, and you won't forget it, not ever. When he switches to the point of view of the parrot, Chabon is teasing us, but he told us not thirty pages ago that animals have capacities beyond the obvious, and so, when the parrot decides what to do, we both laugh, and feel the simple reality of it. It's a marvel. It's better than the worst four Conan Doyle Holmes stories, that's for sure.
Content Warnings
Minor: War and Racism
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