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How the Sayers is going
Aug. 23rd, 2022 11:34 pmIt's very mixed!
I finished Have His Carcase and was entertained, though I generally found the mystery plot overly convoluted and hard to believe in. I particularly didn't believe that the police would be working that hard to solve a crime that ( spoilers for a 90-year-old book )
Murder Must Advertise, on the other hand, I loved wholeheartedly from start to finish. The advertising stuff is dead on, the murder/mystery plot really makes sense and feels believable as a thing people *would* actually do, I loved all the side characters and how all of them kinda had their own thing going on, parts of it are just spectacularly funny, and undercover!Peter is completely adorable and I love him. ♥
A brief but highly spoilery comment on the murder mystery: ( With spoilers for whodunnit )
So basically I really loved that one and I was like "okay, FINE, I see why you all like Wimsey now, because he's a total darling and I want to pet him." And then I decided to read Strong Poison to see Harriet's introduction, and as of about the 25% mark in this book, I have figured out that what I'm bouncing off, specifically, is Peter with Harriet. (The two previous books that I disliked, btw, were Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, which I think I bounced off so hard I didn't finish it. In retrospect Gaudy Night was probably a terrible one to start with - I read that one as my introduction to Sayers about 15 years ago because I had osmosed that it's everyone's favorite, but I think you do probably need the character background to appreciate it, and I'm tempted to try again if I end up liking this one well enough.)
But the difference in my reactions to Peter alone and Peter with Harriet is really interesting!
( More on this, with spoilers up to about the 1/4 mark )
I know a lot of people love these, and I do actually feel kind of bad about not liking them more! I absolutely loved everything about MMA, though, Peter very much included.
I finished Have His Carcase and was entertained, though I generally found the mystery plot overly convoluted and hard to believe in. I particularly didn't believe that the police would be working that hard to solve a crime that ( spoilers for a 90-year-old book )
Murder Must Advertise, on the other hand, I loved wholeheartedly from start to finish. The advertising stuff is dead on, the murder/mystery plot really makes sense and feels believable as a thing people *would* actually do, I loved all the side characters and how all of them kinda had their own thing going on, parts of it are just spectacularly funny, and undercover!Peter is completely adorable and I love him. ♥
A brief but highly spoilery comment on the murder mystery: ( With spoilers for whodunnit )
So basically I really loved that one and I was like "okay, FINE, I see why you all like Wimsey now, because he's a total darling and I want to pet him." And then I decided to read Strong Poison to see Harriet's introduction, and as of about the 25% mark in this book, I have figured out that what I'm bouncing off, specifically, is Peter with Harriet. (The two previous books that I disliked, btw, were Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon, which I think I bounced off so hard I didn't finish it. In retrospect Gaudy Night was probably a terrible one to start with - I read that one as my introduction to Sayers about 15 years ago because I had osmosed that it's everyone's favorite, but I think you do probably need the character background to appreciate it, and I'm tempted to try again if I end up liking this one well enough.)
But the difference in my reactions to Peter alone and Peter with Harriet is really interesting!
( More on this, with spoilers up to about the 1/4 mark )
I know a lot of people love these, and I do actually feel kind of bad about not liking them more! I absolutely loved everything about MMA, though, Peter very much included.