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@overcomer Oh, I know. 😉 And yet, I find that quite a bit (not always…he’s wrong sometimes) the most likely thing is really the thing to have happened does happen. But there’s plenty of other stuff he does which is very clever. I love how he gets people to tell him things…though that’s later in the book. 😉
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
@Overcomer yes! And you get to see Sherlock through Watson’s eyes. For the most part he sees him as an incredible man but I love how Watson gets irritated and frustrated at his companion. The author did a great job in making them human without being boring.
HC
@Overcomer haha I can’t wait to read that. I’m actually surprised it’s taken me this long to read the books since I’ve always loved the shows/movies.
HC
- Rank: Eccentric Mentor
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I don’t really have a lot to say, (You guys all have good points so I don’t need to say much 🙂 ) other than I think it’s really interesting when an author writes not from the POV of the main character but of a side character. And I noticed that Doyle doesn’t describe the appearances of Watson or Sherlock much (unless I missed it) and I didn’t really mind the lack of description.
@christi-eaton @gretald @hope @spradlin @hannah-c @sarah-h @overcomer @wordfitlyspoken @dbhgodreigns @zoe-wingfeather @hannah-olsen @writefury @anna-brie @hannah-krynicki @hislittlerose @vanna @jadamae @ingridrd @the-happy-bookaholic
Ok, so by now hopefully you’ve read chapters three and four. If so, it’s time to pick them apart.
I’ll start by raising two questions.
1. What do you think of Miss Morton’s demeanor? Do you think it makes the story deeper or more confusing? Why?
2. Do you think this story does well at building emotion? Why or why not?🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢
Miss Morton is really the model client. She has small things she can present, even though they don’t make any sense to her. She’s kept notes and letters… And she’s calm. Probably calmer than Watson with his jumbled phrases and mixed up medications. 😉 She has a steadying influence on the story. One fairly calm figure amide the other extremes of emotion (or lack thereof).
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
@hope That is very true and in some ways a benefit to the story, but I still have some things against her. Her calmness seems at times to be almost absurd. The calmness makes her seem less human to me, which is of course too bad. What makes it even worse is that when she hears how her father died, she gets all pale, which (although well and good) fails to stand out because I had a hard time imagining her showing emotion. The lesson I draw from this is that characters need to be both vulnerable as well as smart and determined. All are necessary qualities.
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I don’t think she lacks vulnerability, @daeus . You can see her sensitiveness in chapter two. She seems pretty vulnerable to me then, ‘though she doesn’t complain or whine to them about how she feels or what she’s been through. That would be none of their business since she doesn’t really know them yet.
She’s very British and level-headed. The British are (in general) better at hiding what they feel and keeping those feelings to themselves. (That is, to my limited knowledge of them.)
She prefers to “keep calm and carry on” rather than freak out about things she can’t control. She’s used to looking after herself. She’s used to being strong, but you can tell that only practice has made her so.
Her calmness surprises and impresses Watson because he can tell she has a more sensitive nature and that’s why he mentions it so much.
To me, it actually makes her more human. I can tell that she has struggled on her own and that learning to be independent wasn’t easy but necessary to her inner sense of honor and propriety,
I look forward to seeing how her character develops in the following chapters.
Since we are seeing Miss Morton through Watson’s eyes, even if she did have some small weakness he (and therefore, we) would probably be blind to it since he’s in love with her.
hmm @sarah-h, that’s a good point, but if so, I think the author could have made that clearer.
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@Daeus — Okay, never mind then. I was tired last night. 🙂
@christi-eaton @gretald @hope @spradlin @hannah-c @sarah-h @overcomer @wordfitlyspoken @dbhgodreigns @zoe-wingfeather @hannah-olsen @writefury @anna-brie @hannah-krynicki @hislittlerose @vanna @jadamae @ingridrd @the-happy-bookaholic
Sorry everybody, I forgot about this this week. So yes, we are on chapters 5 and 6. If I remember correctly, there will be some good stuff to discuss, especially about setting I think.
I’ll need today to get caught up, buy you can all go ahead without me. I’ll be back tomorrow.
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So I’ve been thinking, both about Sherlock Holmes and writing in general. I think part of our reaction to styles comes with what we are expected. For example, when I read Sherlock Holmes, I expect a mystery. If the emotions are a bit dramatic, or there is quite a bit of telling verses showing, I don’t mind. Because it flows and it reflects the time period when it was written and I don’t expect in depth characters. Again, when I read Dickens, I expect lots of description, lots of interweaving plots and subplots. But if emotion is a bit dramatic, I don’t mind.
When I read a modern fiction book, however, I expect it to be realistic and I expect the emotions to ring true and to be shown. If a modern story dealt with characters and emotions the way Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle did, I’d not get very far before putting the book down. But I still like the Sherlock stories because I get what I expect. Thoughts?
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
@hope That’s a good point. I do have different expectations for a modern as opposed to a classic book. Of course, good writing is always good writing, but each age has its own trends. For Sherlock Holmes, I really wish the villains showed more emotion and incorporation when they were caught and I thought there could have been more emotion, characterization, and intensity throughout, but I still really liked it. I suppose this is because these were the type of mistakes I could have expected. Brittish books seem to prefer emotionally cool characters even to the point of being unrealistic. Also, Holmes’ scientific approach made the somewhat dryness of some portions seem almost like consistency in a way. There are things that could have been done better, but because of my expectations, it still succeeded.
Sorry I wasn’t able to get to this recently. I got a bit caught up in other things. Is everybody still reading the book? @christi-eaton @gretald @hope @spradlin @hannah-c @sarah-h @overcomer @wordfitlyspoken @dbhgodreigns @zoe-wingfeather @hannah-olsen @writefury @anna-brie @hannah-krynicki @hislittlerose @vanna @jadamae @ingridrd @the-happy-bookaholic
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