221B Recs

Title: Seeds
Author: thesardine on AO3
Pairing: Gen (Sherlock and John friendship)
Length: 5,493 words
Rating: Teen and Up
Warnings: None
Verse: Sherlock BBC
Author's summary: In a fit of boredom Sherlock plants some seeds, may or may not eat one cracker, and definitely waxes dramatic on the sofa for a while.

Reccer's comments: I've already recced this on my journal, and may repeat a few things from there. Mainly, this fic belongs with today's theme because it relates Sherlock's experience with his ups and downs not as description, but as lived experience. The effect is that Sherlock is an unreliable narrator who inspires, from me at least, profound sympathy. The author has an admirably light touch--nothing dramatic; the focus is on the mundane and how Sherlock experiences his life between adventures. There's no melodrama or bathos here, which I want to stress because the lack of those things lends the story power. Clearly, the story contains some psychological insights that moved me, but also, Sherlock's interactions with John make this also a story about friendship, the kind that persists even in the face of strange behavior and anti-sociality. (I think I made that word up.) It's not often that I reread a story, but this one stands among the proud few. I hope some of you guys will read it too and leave the author some comments. :)

Seeds