4.5/5
This was a very good, singular book. Now, I've seen many reviews that were disappointed with the ending. I believe that it was a decent one, given the circumstances and the persisting mystery of it all. The author's note helped clear things up, so one would be advised to read that if the conclusion was unsatisfying. As for the whole of the work. It was a fantastic cross section of English life at the time, detailing the lives of two very different men with very different views of the world, which came clearest during their collisions and views of each other. It was fascinating to get a taste of the background of the author of Sherlock Holmes, to see how greatly the character affected the author in reputation as well as in mannerisms. Not to mention the whole mystery of the book, which crept up in a slow unrelenting fashion until the reader's mind was consumed; never realizing the shift from daily life observations and meandering thoughts to detective work and rampant cross-firing of rival opinions. The strings of logic and reasoning were laid out in a smooth and steady manner, and never hindered nor unreasonably sped up the general pace of the story. I would have to say, if people choose not to read this book because they read the reviews detailing the unsatisfactory ending, they are definitely missing out on a most unique mystery, interwoven with life and patterns of thought and a current of analysis that starts with a body and ends with a spirit.