The Fifth Heart

[lunabee34]

The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I wanted to like this so much. Dan Simmons is one of my favorite authors. Ilium and Olympos are among my favorite books ever. Hyperion is delightful. Drood is wonderful.

The Fifth Heart is okay.

I think maybe the problem is that I'm not a Sherlock Holmes nut and so much of the intricacy of the story is probably lost on me. I also don't know much about James or the other historical/literary figures in the text.

I was also a little disappointed that at no point was anything the characters in the novel think is funny actually funny to me. Mark Twain is funny. His writing makes me laugh. Mark Twain in this novel is not funny. I would think that's the point, that the funny man is not actually funny, except that the other characters all seem genuinely amused by his stories.

IDK

This one was not for me.

I did enjoy the ending, especially the epilogue, with James standing arm in arm with Holmes on the deck of the ship the way he's always wanted to stand with someone else.



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Comments

[kore]

....Sherlock Holmes nut you say? //goes looking

[lunabee34]

Very much Holmes. POV alternates between Henry James and Holmes.

And Holmes is very interested in the question of whether he's a real person or a fictional construct.

[kore]

Ooh I love Holmes! I love metafictional Holmes!

....although urrgh, Henry James I want to drown in a bucket. Although at least Henry James filtered through someone else's consciousness is less horrible than actual Henry James. (sorry if you are a Henry James fan)

[lunabee34]

LOL

I don't think I've actually read any James, so not a fan.

[kore]

So obviously we're in a Dan Simmons book because a semi-obscure (at least in 2015) late 19th-century author is one of the main characters.

Oh, goodreads, how I loathe thee. HENRY JAMES, THE OBSCURE WRITER.

(sorry if you like goodreads, I was on the site for years and then basically got bullied off it by guy reviewers)

There's no Watson? There's no Watson. Hmmmm. Watson is my boo, as the kids used to say. //eyes Simmons suspiciously

[executrix]

Sight unseen, I would say that that makes James (hmmmm....) the Watson. And Henry is sort of like Hamish...

Maybe the goodreads review meant "obscure" writer as in "WTF?" and not as in "nobody ever heard of this guy?"

[lunabee34]

James definitely is in the Watson role in this book. He's the reluctant sidekick.

[lunabee34]

Heeeeee.

I like using Goodreads to keep track of my own reading, but I don't read other people's reviews outside my friends.

I think the way the book treats Watson is very interesting. He never actually appears in the book, though. The Watson part was the one thing I know enough about Sherlock to appreciate.

[kore]

As long as he's not Jam Watson. http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=210

[lunabee34]

Ahahaahahahaahahaaa.

I'd never seen that before.

[kore]

It is SO ACCURATE. Particularly in that teeth-grinding Mary Russell series.