A Samba for Sherlock

Rating:
Summary: Humorous and Thrilling
Review: As I was born in Brazil, I have the duty to say this book was one of the most wonderful I've read in my whole life. However, I do not recommend it to American readers or to people who do not have their IQ high enough (I am not saying Americans do not have high IQs, I am saying that it might be hard to understand some of the jokes). The jokes are intelligent, and you have to be clever to get them. For Brazilian people, it is by far easier, but for American, it may be not. Jo Soares is intelligent, funny, popular, and "A Samba for Sherlock" (the original title was "O Xangô de Baker Street", which means "The 'Xango' from Baker Street" - Xango is some sort of African spirit), as far as I know, was his first book ever. His expectations, I think, did not reach foreign customers, and as Holmes is not popular in Brazil, I highly doubt Soares's intentions were catching the readers' attention by using the name of Conan Doyle's character... the original title, as I said before, does not even have Sherlock Holmes's name. He is only a character, like every other. The book is not an "attempt to make Brazil known" either. As I said before, if it was, Jo Soares would not even have made up an untranslatable title as 'O Xango de Baker Street' is.
The American translator decided naming it "A Samba for Sherlock" as the French translator decided to name it after Sarah Bernhardt.
If you are so close minded that you cannot see your beloved Sherlock Holmes in a satire, this book is not for you. But if you do want to read something totally different from everything else you have read in your whole life, this is the book.
The only problem is that you will not have as much fun as a Brazilian would.

Rating:
Summary: Something diferent
Review: Do you remember how you always asked yourself "What if bad guys get away and they are not caught at the end?" well you've got it, this is a diferent story, a funny but solid story, really an interesting book, a unique one! Jo soares is probably one of the most inteligent persons over earth and he took his whole talent to write this amazing story he is gonna take you so much into it that you are gonna finish the book in some hours without even notice it!

Rating:
Summary: Jô Soares Vs. Dom Pedro II & History!
Review: For the ones who studied the life of the Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, this book is a mere joke. Not only it is a sickening story of a perverted mind, but it distorts the History of Brazil. Pedro II was respected by people like Pasteur, Victor Hugo, Graham Bell, Eça de Queiróz; spoke and wrote fluently in seven languages. He wrote a book in Hebrew and composed poetry in Provençal (French dialect). He exchanged ideas with mullahs in their language, and discussed the Torah with Rabbis in Hebrew. He was respected by medical doctors for his immense knowledge. He was known as a man of few words, who read every night, until 2 in the morning, and woke up at 6am to work. To think that this man would go alone to the Theater São Pedro to watch Sarah Bernhardt WITHOUT the Empress is out of the question. To imagine he would have confabulated with Sarah Bernhardt about an alleged personal matter, is absolutely ridiculous and shows very little knowledge of the matter. Pedro II did not consider women very highly so the probability he would have accepted Mme. Bernhardt's advice is non-existant.

I lived in Brazil until 8 years ago and I know Jô Soares from TV --his book's biography does not mention that Mr. Soares' "hugely successful career in television" is in the field of comedy... He seems to be part of a group that takes pleasure in throwing mud at the lives of the figures of our past. Perhaps this makes him fell better, but it is still a shame.

I wish I could give this book ZERO stars!

Rating:
Summary: Sherlock Homes? Where???
Review: I have reed the Americans' reviews. Now it's time for a portuguese one: you're absolutely right. More than a speaker of Soares's language, I'm also a great enthusiast of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's greates creation, and it sickens me to see how perverted and degraded Holmes and Watson were in this book.

They're seen as stupid, clumsy. Holmes never uses his skills, the clues always appear from nowhere. The killer is a Jack, the ripper wannabe. Poor Watson isn't Holmes confident, but rather a waitress for the detective. Most of the jokes have come from previous books, including the one about Holmes knowing nothing about astronomy. For someone who doesn't know that, he does know more about other "useless" subjects in the book. then he gets in love with a woman, something never seen before in a Doyle's book; He's cold and emotionless, not a dandy. and seeing that this is the XIXth century, when all the englishmen were ethnocentric and cared only about their England, Holmes fills Brazil with too many compliments, instead of treating it with the racism of a XIXth century gentleman.

Bottom line: this is no Sherlock Holmes book. I only found him in the Title, and that because the original was changed, I suppose to catch some of the fans of the detective. This book is just another one to place with all the others that try to cash with the fame of Conan Doyle. If you care for the original, don't buy this.

Why do i give one star? as horrible as the story was, the historical details are brilliant, though it overshadows the plotless "plot"

Rating:
Summary: a good light read
Review: I like to think of Soares as a comedic Gore Vidal. The basic tension in this book comes from throwing a famous, eccentric, British aristocrat into a world where characters don't act like they do in England, like a comedic version of the Holmes story which takes place in Utah. For what it is, entertainment, it's fine, but hardly 5 star literature.

Rating:
Summary: funny and clever
Review: If you are a boring person, stupid and blind purist of Sherlock's "square old style", please, stay away of this book... go to the grave... and rest in peace.

Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a First Novel
Review: Jo Soares is a well-known Brazilian entertainer with a talk show and a newspaper column. "A Samba for Sherlock" is his first novel, and it reads like it. It's not a bad book, just a bit overwritten in that hyper-enthusiastic way of first novelists. Soares has done his research on Sarah Bernhardt, Sherlock Holmes, and the emperor's court in 1886 Rio de Janeiro. He's crafted a reasonably well-structured novel and thought through the different pieces of the plot so that they fit together at the edges. The problems, of course, are with the greatest challenges for fiction writers: character and dialogue, and "Sherlock" fails at both. The characters are all buffoons, every one of them. This makes for some lighthearted humor at the characters' own expense, but it also means that in the end none of them have any depth or nuance. They are just cardboard caricatures that the author has set up in order to knock them down, mere plot devices. Similarly, the dialogue is cute and sometimes clever, but never really deep or revealing of subtlety. Finally, the research itself sometimes gets in the way as the author fills pages of text with details culled from history books that do not drive the story forward but only distract a reader's attention and break the spell of the story. "Sherlock" is a fair novel, a good first attempt. I may pick up another Jo Soares novel in the future, but I won't run breathlessly to the bookstore to find it.

Rating:
Summary: Reads Like a First Novel
Review: Jo Soares is a well-known Brazilian entertainer with a talk show and a newspaper column. "A Samba for Sherlock" is his first novel, and it reads like it. It's not a bad book, just a bit overwritten in that hyper-enthusiastic way of first novelists. Soares has done his research on Sarah Bernhardt, Sherlock Holmes, and the emperor's court in 1886 Rio de Janeiro. He's crafted a reasonably well-structured novel and thought through the different pieces of the plot so that they fit together at the edges. The problems, of course, are with the greatest challenges for fiction writers: character and dialogue, and "Sherlock" fails at both. The characters are all buffoons, every one of them. This makes for some lighthearted humor at the characters' own expense, but it also means that in the end none of them have any depth or nuance. They are just cardboard caricatures that the author has set up in order to knock them down, mere plot devices. Similarly, the dialogue is cute and sometimes clever, but never really deep or revealing of subtlety. Finally, the research itself sometimes gets in the way as the author fills pages of text with details culled from history books that do not drive the story forward but only distract a reader's attention and break the spell of the story. "Sherlock" is a fair novel, a good first attempt. I may pick up another Jo Soares novel in the future, but I won't run breathlessly to the bookstore to find it.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining satire
Review: This book is an entertaining satire of a supposed Sherlock Holmes case in Brazil. The author does a good job of adding components of Brazilian culture to the case, poking fun at the concept of a know-it-all investigator while the story unfolds in pretty random fashion.

It should be read as what it really is, a satire. This book is not for those seeking the brilliant problem solving of Sherlock Holmes, it is definitely not here.

Rating:
Summary: go for it
Review: What many people do not understand here is that you must go beyond the Sherlock Holmes story and try to understand the Brazilian culture and how, in this book, were Holmes and Watson important to Brazil and its history. Holmes's fans, please do not be upset. I would really like to meet the person who invented the "caipirinha", and on this book Watson did as you might recall. However, if you are narrow minded and can only see in Holmes a tough detective who knows everything about decyphering a crime, I am sorry, this is not a book for you. Jo Soares is a very intelligent man, and I agree he has had his ups and downs. "Xango de Baker Street" is definitely one of his highlights. You foreign readers should visit Brazil before making conclusions on how stupid or not stupid Jo Soares is. In my opinion this is an enjoyable book, and it is possible to have some laughs as well, but again, you must first break that ice barrier some of you might have in regards to foreign cultures. After this book I see Sherlock Holmes as a better all around private eye. The dude is cool and sometimes I wish the "real" Sherlock had some of the characteristics Jo gave to him. Sherlock, you should become a Brazilian citizen!! We love you!! Take care, and keep charging in life!

-BORACEIA-BLACK's-EU E RODSNEY