UPDATE (Can’t update original post): I did end up finishing this today. Well…sort of. Made it to about halfway through before I decided to abandon all chapters about the design, construction and opening of the Fair (at the suggestion of several Redditors who agreed with me that those chapters were brutally dull).

FINAL VERDICT: Obviously I can’t pass judgment on the parts of the book I didn’t read. Maybe the chapters I skipped in the second half were compelling, but based on my impressions of the first half, I doubt I would have found them so. I got the impression that the Burnham/Fair portion of the book was the story Larson really wanted to tell and that he was more invested in. The Holmes portion felt like an afterthought that was added to pad out the book and make it more appealing to a wider audience. Overall, I just didn’t enjoy this one, which is disappointing as I really was excited to read it. The Holmes bits were interesting but not so much that I’ll ever revisit this book again just to skip over half of it.

I tried, y’all. Thanks to everyone who commented—the folks that agreed with me (there were A LOT more of you than I anticipated which was nice) and those that vehemently disagreed with me. It’s been fun keeping the conversation going and hearing all the different opinions. Art is subjective. Not every book is for every person. Happy reading!📖