The Beekeeper's Apprentice (post 3)

Chapter 1 (cont.)

Despite age getting the best of Holmes, he is still considered "A Legend." Russell considers Holmes a legend and the stories from Watson have immortalized Holmes as one. But the funny thing is that Russell isn't amazed by the "legend" so far. His manners are terrible and he seems to lack the intuition that he was once so famous for.

Though, Russell is just like Holmes. Because of this, this makes the book very interesting to read. She views the world almost the same as Holmes too. She has the same opinion of bees as does Holmes. They both believe that bees are like humans. The females do all the work while the males do nothing and all the bees ever do is gather honey. Honey that is only to be stolen and used by humans.

Furthermore, the author zooms into the relationship between Holmes and Mrs. Hudson who is his housekeeper. Now, the previous books didn't reveal much about her, but Holmes doesn't really appreciate Mrs. Hudson. Holmes is not fond of the amount of food that Mrs. Hudson makes for Holmes. She manages his diet and was glad that Holmes actually ate when Russell was over.

So Holmes wants to learn more about Russell, but she challenges him to a contest. They will try to figure out each other's past using Holmes's deductive reasoning. Holmes goes first and believes that his mind is rusty. But it isn't and he is spot on. He figured out everything about Russell from just looking at her. However, not everyone is fond of Holmes's ability. Watson was astonished by it, but Russell feels that his ability is like witchcraft. She claims that he would have been burned 200 years ago. Then Russell begins to try and figure out Holmes's past. She fails at first because she guesses the wrong age. Apparently Holmes hates guessing. He believes it is "a weakness brought on by indolence and should never be confused with intuition," (21). Russell tries harder and seems to get it right. While she was doing this, it revealed a lot about Holmes's past. He has a shaky relationship with his parents and it seems that he's distanced himself from his family. But he still keeps a formal photograph of his family on the shelf close to his chair. He doesn't mount it on the wall and it seems that he still wants to remember them somehow. Russell believes his past relationship with his family has prevented him from trusting women. She even discovers that he used to be a spy and was supposed to spy on the Kaiser of Germany. She had noticed that he had an area of pale skin on his chin where a goatee used to be. After she finished Holmes could do nothing but stare with amusement.

Finally, Holmes seems to find much pleasure in this new relationship. He's found someone who shares the same gift that he has. It will be interesting to find out more about the clash between a feminist and a woman-hater.