Sherlock Holmes reread: The Cardboard Box
Dec. 11th, 2024 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vivdunstanOnto the next in my reread, and a story that has rather a complicated publication history, which means I could read it in a couple of different places in the reading order. But have opted for it now. Mainly to get it out of the way! It is not one of my favourites.
It's rather a sordid tale, with a very slight mystery at the heart, bookended by some extremely gruesome elements involving ears in a cardboard box. I don't think this kind of sensationalism really helps in a Sherlock Holmes story, and it's rather amusing that it's dismissed at the start as a questionable approach. But I think the bigger problem with the story is that the underlying mystery isn't interesting enough itself. There is some complication, with the names and initials of the three sisters, which adds some intrigue. But otherwise it's far too obvious, and especially evident what happened when the reader realises Holmes recognises the shape of the ear in the woman he is visiting. But ultimately it's a tale of a very evil man, and a gruesome ending, some confusion in a postal package, and a rather sensationalist and horrific set of images.
Incidentally it's unclear if Doyle vetoed its inclusion in the first British edition of Memoirs and the second American edition of the same book because of the adultery element or the gore or both. Adultery is not that unusual in Holmes stories. Nor is gore, though this one is arguably the worst example of all, though it's a close call with "The Engineer's Thumb".
It's rather a sordid tale, with a very slight mystery at the heart, bookended by some extremely gruesome elements involving ears in a cardboard box. I don't think this kind of sensationalism really helps in a Sherlock Holmes story, and it's rather amusing that it's dismissed at the start as a questionable approach. But I think the bigger problem with the story is that the underlying mystery isn't interesting enough itself. There is some complication, with the names and initials of the three sisters, which adds some intrigue. But otherwise it's far too obvious, and especially evident what happened when the reader realises Holmes recognises the shape of the ear in the woman he is visiting. But ultimately it's a tale of a very evil man, and a gruesome ending, some confusion in a postal package, and a rather sensationalist and horrific set of images.
Incidentally it's unclear if Doyle vetoed its inclusion in the first British edition of Memoirs and the second American edition of the same book because of the adultery element or the gore or both. Adultery is not that unusual in Holmes stories. Nor is gore, though this one is arguably the worst example of all, though it's a close call with "The Engineer's Thumb".