Book review: "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle

As the first Sherlock Holmes book, "A Study in Scarlet" starts off pretty much as what you would expect. Then it gets weird.

Arthur Conan Doyle's 1887 book begins with Dr. John Watson meeting the mysterious Holmes, simply because they are both looking for a roommate. If you've seen the Benedict Cumberbatch-Martin Freeman TV series this will feel comfortably familiar.

Watson, as the narrator and eyes and ears of the reader, describes the curious ways of the Sherlock Holmes, a man both brilliant and arrogant. Soon there is a murder and the game is afoot. Watson tags along as Holmes tries to solve a set of crimes that are baffling police.

It's all very readable and satisfying, in a style similar to what you've seen in Sherlock Holmes movies or TV shows. Conan Doyle's plot moves briskly along. as smooth as a skate on ice. 

Then, just after the halfway mark in the book, Holmes abruptly solves the case and arrests the perpetretor. But he doesn't explain how he solved the case.

You might expect the explanation to immediately follow, but instead the book launches into something called "Part II: The Country of the Saints."

This is an entirely different story, about a man and girl who are rescued from near-death in the American desert by a band of Mormons and their subsequent life in the religious group. There is no Sherlock Holmes, no Watson.

This story is not a not just different in content but in tone as well. Whereas the Sherlock Holmes story was playful and whimiscal, "Country of the Saints" is dark, sad, and grim. 

I wasn't even sure that it could be by the same author and wondered if it had been tacked on to my digital copy of "A Study in Scarlet" by mistake. 

But slowly the two stories start to come together. The first tip-off are some character names shared between the two stories. Eventually, it all makes sense. 

For all its differences, the second half is every bit as readable as the first. It was written by Doyle, who again shows his skill in storytelling. I read the whole book in a swift day and a half.

As strange as the combination of the two stories seemed at first, it does work. Not only does the second story explain the motive for two murders, it provides an appropriate balance of seriousness to the lighter Sherlock Holmes' story. We are talking murder, after all. 

One of the curiosities of this book is Conan Doyle's harsh portrayal of the Mormons as an evil cult that featured forced marriage, and used kidnapping and murder as its tools. A real person, Brigham Young, is portrayed as the brutal leader. 

According to Smithsonian magazines, this image of Mormons was common in 19th century England, perhaps fed by the Latter Day Saints slaughter of 140 people in the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857. "At the time he wrote the story, Conan Doyle had never even been to America," said the magazine. 

The Salt Lake Tribune, in 1994, wrote: "From the LDS point of view, A Study in Scarlet was another in a long line of antagonistic Mormon-hating books that made for popular reading. Conan Doyle was not high on their list of favorite people."

Doyle tempered his views on Mormons latter in life and even came to Utah to speak.  

Book review: "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling

I was shocked — shocked! — by "The Jungle Book."

Almost everyone is familiar with the 1967 Disney animated film "The Jungle Book" that tells the story of Mowgli, the boy who was raised by wolves, and the friendly bear Baloo, the wise  panther Bagheera, and the evil tiger Shere Khan. It was a popular and fun movie.

So when I picked up "The Jungle Book" — the 1894 book by Rudyard Kipling — I expected to read Mowgli's story. And, at the start, at least, that's what I got. 

Then, about 40% of the way through the book, Mowgli's story ends. It's over. What? There are many pages left. What will fill them? 

More stories, it turns out. There are four more stories in "The Jungle Book." I didn't realize this. 

(To be clear, I was reading "The Jungle Book" on my phone, where you simply move ahead one page at a time. If I'd had a physical book, I suspect I would have known earlier that this is collection of stories.)

Somehow I got over my shock, and kept reading. I'm glad I did. In all, "The Jungle Book" is an enjoyable work, a whimsical set of stories with talking animals, moments of peril and drama, surprising twists, and even a few insights into the natural world.

Kipling writes clearly, with evocative descriptions, like when monkeys kidnap Mowgli and carry him, swinging branch to branch, through the trees:

"His escort would rush him up a tree till he felt the weak topmost branches crackle and bend under them, and, then, with a cough and a whoop, would fling themselves into the air outward and downward, and bring up hanging by their hands or their feet to the lower limbs of the next tree."

There's even a touch of Shakespearean dialogue, as when Mowgli says to Kaa the snake: "We be of one blood, ye and I."

Many of these stories would be good for reading to a child. 

Let me go through them one at a time:

Mowgli and Shere Khan

This is the longest of the stories and the most well-known, in part due to the Disney movie. It has the deepest and most complex story, covering Mowgli's adoption as a baby by wolves to his life as a young man. 

The story is well told in three chapters. I found it odd that the second chapter is a long flashback. Why not place it where would fall chronologically?

Still, it is a good, engaging read. 

The White Seal

First, it's a little weird to have a story not in the jungle in "The Jungle Book." That said, this an enjoyable story of a young seal searching the world's seas for an island where humans don't hunt seals. There's a message of conservation here.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

This is the story of a young mongoose, adapted by an Indian family, that valiantly defends the household from cobras. 

While Kipling portrays the snakes as evil, I had some sympathy for them. They lived in the garden of this house before the humans moved in and before Rikki the mongoose arrived. They were there first. And now they're the bad guys for trying to survive in their home?

Still, it's an interesting story worth reading.

Toomai of the Elephants

This the only one of the stories where the animals don't talk. It tells the story of young boy, Little Toomei, who is learning from his father the care and training of elephants. The story builds up to a night when the curious Little Toomei learns one of the elephants' greatest secrets.

You can even learn a little bit about about elephant handling and training in this story. For instance, as Kipling tells it, when wild elephants are captured in the jungle they are marched out between two tame elephants to control their behavior. 

Her Majesty's Servants

This is not so much a story, as a conversation among an army horse, a mule, a camel, an elephant and a dog. The animals compare their roles in the service of man, exhibiting a little a rivalry and a little jealously. It'a s clever, lightly funny story, but could use a little more action

In between each story in "The Jungle Book" there are some poems/songs, which connect loosely with the stories and can be fun to read aloud. 

For example: Here's a part of a sea shanty the accompanies the seal story:

The beaches of Lukannon–the winter-wheat so tall–
The dripping, crinkled lichens, and the sea-fog drenching all! 
The platforms of our playground, all shining smooth and worn! 
The beaches of Lukannon–the home where we were born!