I think I may have a job by January! There's a place in Seattle that's very interested in hiring me and are just waiting to figure out their budget for 2013 to let me know for sure. So I'm allowing myself to get a little bit excited for that. Other than that, not much personal going on in my life. I've been watching a lot of Food Network and old tv shows, and durdling around, mostly.
I have no excuse for taking so long with this book. I've been watching more television than I should and reading a lot less than I have been the past couple of months. I think I got through books that were quite a bit longer than this one in much less time, but I was savoring!
Today's review is: "Gaudy Night" by Dorothy L. Sayers.
I've been really taking this time with this book, because I really love Dorothy L. Sayers and I really wanted to relax into this book. It's actually my first read of it, though I've been listening to a dramatization of it for awhile. I was surprised to see how long the book was (at 469 pages, not really that long, but still!) considering that the dramatization lasted less than two hours. Before I read the book, I was really impressed with the dramatization and I loved it and thought it must be very in-depth accurate to the book, and it comes very, very close. But, I have to say, I don't think I'll ever enjoy it in quite the same way 'cause it left so many things out!
Anyways, on to the book itself!!
By the way, in case you aren't a historian or a Jeopardy contestant, a Gaudy Night is a kind of celebration held at colleges, like a class reunion; they usually include a formally attended feast and can also include lectures, concerts, chapel, etc.
Summary (excerpt from the inside cover): "Harriet Vane had gone back to Oxford University for the Gaudy Dinner, equipped with a suitable evening dress. She was welcomed back by her friends of college days and found that, with a very few exceptions, she was delighted with the reunions. Many of her acquaintances asked her about Lord Peter (Wimsey of Balliol, as he had been known in earlier days). 'Do tell us about him. He must be perfectly charming, if he's at all like his photographs.' 'I worked with him over one case,' Harriet said. She didn't want to keep discussing him. Then, one day at lunch, she found a piece of folded paper in the sleeve of her college gown. There was a message on the paper cut from bits of newsprint: YOU DIRTY MURDERESS, AREN'T YOU ASHAMED TO SHOW YOUR FACE..." This was the first of many poisoned pen letters sent not just to Harriet, but to the entire college. The Dean called her back to campus to ask for her assistance in apprehending the culprit of these notes before something serious takes place.
Upsides: I love Sayers' writing style so much; I don't think I'll ever quite get over her style. I like that the book takes place at a women's college in the early 1900s and that there's a lot of commentary on female academia. This could be simply a personal preference, but I dearly love books that give me a view of how things were during a different time. As a woman, I appreciated the difficulties the college went through in trying to keep a professional face on the university while hiding the fact that they were being tormented by a poison pen writer. So, I found that very interesting. The ending is fantastic, you will not be disappointed! It was nice, for a change (at least compared to the Sayers' novels I have read), to not know at all who the culprit is; in other novels I've read by Sayers', the culprit has been assumed and eventually apprehended, and I had no idea throughout the book, until the very, very end who the guilty party was, which I find to be a definite upside! Having read almost all the books where Harriet Vane and Peter Wimsey interact, I really enjoy watching their relationship deepen and develop even more and watching Harriet really consider whether or not she should marry Peter. I also enjoyed how many people were in play (i.e. under suspicion) at any given time--it made the novel very nicely complicated and added a lot of beautiful tension to the whole situation.
Downsides: I will say that the first few chapters are very slow; during this time Harriet returns for the Gaudy and reunites with a lot of her college friends and Sayers' reacquaints the reader with Harriet's past and establishes the roles of the various professors (aka dons) of the university, which is important, but not necessarily interesting. There are times throughout the novel where the pacing could be better, but while it is slow, it isn't at all dense, so you can get through those stagnant moments rather quickly and get back on the train. There are moments where things are written in French and even sometimes in Greek or Latin and they aren't translated at all! In the case of the French and Latin moments, Sayers gives you an idea of the context/meaning, but in the case of the Greek, the reader is given no indication, nor is it written in English letters, so you can't type it into a search engine so it's hard to look up as well, which frustrated me.
Note: I was reading a review of this book on Goodreads--which is my favorite site for keeping track of my books, reading progress, etc, and looking at what other people have to say about a book I've read or am thinking of reading--and he said he was disappointed in how Harriet "moped" after Wimsey the entire book and how annoying it was. I have to completely disagree! I wonder how much said reviewer took into account the context of the book--i.e. the time period. I don't think you'll find that Harriet is this annoying female character who mopes after a man the entire book. I think what you'll find is a woman who's in love with a man, but no so in love with the usual dynamics between man and wife, especially in the early 1900's; she's an independent woman afraid of compromising her values for marriage. You can make your own judgment when you read the book, but that's my take on it; I'll leave the ending a surprise!
Overall rating: 5/5 stars! I think this novel delivers everything a mystery novel should and more: there's a lot of intrigue, a lot of confusion, plenty of humor, a good dose of history, a few thriller moments, and a healthy dash of romance. What more could you want in a novel? I really enjoyed reading it and I think you will too! If you want the full experience, read through "Strong Poison" and "Have His Carcase" prior to devouring this novel; that will give you all the history between Harriet and Peter and really deepen your understanding of the chemistry between them.
So, I'm sorry to say that my next novel will be yet another Dorothy L. Sayers' book. I know I haven't worked on the Wishbone Project in a very long time, but I'm running low on funds and I'm just not feeling any of the books I own that "Wishbone" covered! Plus I've checked a lot of Sayers' books out of the library and I need to get them done before they're due back! I promise I'll get back to the Wishbone Project soon and I hope you enjoy what I give you in between now and then!
What is everybody reading during this holiday season? Do you have a favorite Christmas book? Share in the comments below!
Happy Reading!
AJ
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