Review: Inventive and Imaginative Merging of Two Classics
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as Retold by Sherlock Holmes” is a merging of what may seem like two disparate pieces of classic literature—“Huck Finn” and “Sherlock Holmes.”With a little flex of the imagination, this book works and works well—Sherlock Holmes met Huck while at university, at which time Huck relayed his childhood adventures to the young man who would go on to become one of the world’s most famous detectives. Now, in this story, Sherlock is relaying the story of Huck to his good friend Dr. Watson, who is of course captivated by the tale of the young man and the runaway slave on the river.While the original “Huck Finn” is contained almost in its entirety, the best part of this re-imagined novel is the discussions between Dr. Watson and Sherlock about Huck’s journey and what he learns along the way. It’s light literary criticism that’s both fun and inventive, and it takes time to explain Huck’s coming-of-age story for those who are interested in going a little deeper into thought about the novel while still being entertained. It's also amusing to imagine Sherlock trying to capture the very particular, slang-y dialect of Huck in the antebellum South.Recommended to fans of both Huck and Sherlock, as readers who love either character will find something to enjoy.