Reviews

L'affaire du chien des Baskerville by Pierre Bayard

ordinaryroyalty's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

4.0

A beautiful piece of detective work. 

doxxiot's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

2.5

Personally I believe the book needs to market itself differently. Though it does recap and talk about Baskerville, I believe the book is more more of an overall reflection of Sherlock and much less about his specific rongsoings in Baskerville.

liketheday's review against another edition

2.0

I don't remember where I heard about this book, but it was promised to be a re-examination of The Hound of the Baskervilles that gave proof of a different killer. And... it was, sort of. I guess.
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idyllisera's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.0

didn't see that one coming

ecolegarber's review against another edition

4.0

An interesting take on The Hound of the Baskervilles and what really happened.

cradlow's review against another edition

informative reflective

4.25

mellanclear's review against another edition

informative mysterious slow-paced

3.25

reasie's review against another edition

3.0

It's a slender volume with lots of padding - blank pages, lists of characters, a bit of fanciful prose to start off - so don't expect a lot of detail.

I got a bit annoyed with the author in a few places for his obvious attempts to build suspense by not revealing who he thought was the 'real' killer, even when this required some grammatical acrobatics as he discussed his analysis. The bulk of the book is a justification for this sort of literary criticism, resting on the idea that characters become independent entities in the imaginations of readers and writers alike. Heh, which is not to say I didn't enjoy the book, and I agree that his take on the story makes more sense.

eserafina42's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 stars. His "solution" is no more believable than it was the first time around, but he does make some interesting points.

walmartbayard's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

Although not as great as his  reinvestigation of the murder of Roger Ackroyd, Pierre Bayard confirms his status as one of the most exciting literary theorists through this book. On a theoretical level, his claim that literary characters have autonomy and can even commit murder unbeknownst to the author opens many possibilities, it is his reinterpretation of the story which glows most brilliantly. In his typical manner, Bayard manages both to propose an alternative solution which fills all the gaps and to add a certain poetic quality to his own solution.