A wonderful 12-hour listening experience

I already loved the book - so much beautiful language - and equally loved the listening experience. 16-and-some hours of pure pleasure. Even after all those hours I was sorry to get to the end. There is the odd occasion, especially as characters are exchanging quick comment without the writer telling you who is speaking, when the narrator appears to forget which one she's voicing. But given there are umpteen Oxford accents to manage, that didn't startle me unduly and I was able to make the transition mentally without much distraction. And who among us could be Harriet, Miss de Vine, Miss Lydgate, Dr. Baring, Miss Hillyard, Miss Martin, Miss Burrows, and on and on, without getting a bit lost from time to time in the individuals' vocal timbre? Plus the narrator has such a lovely voice herself, perfect for the setting. Five stars.

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2 people found this helpful

my favourite

Sayers is immensely cerebral and for someone who struggles with my desire to be cerebral, her books are a hard slog. I don't know how I would have gotten through them in the days without internet, to look up literary references and obscure Oxonion slang. I find the quotes before each chapter tedious, but recognise there was a time I would have lapped them up. But I love the struggle for love between Harriet and Peter. The inner change is like Pride And Prejudice turned up to 11. I want more romance but it's still good, hard fought and well won. I do like the less whimsical Wimsey now, rather than from the earlier books. He came across then as what I would think was a "gadfly", and it wasn't until you see him go through the real pain of a PTSD attack that you think he has unseen depths. Still, this is my favourite and I love it.

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not for me

TL;DR: Classic though it may be, I found this to be tiresome and a bit irritating.
I don't know, guys. I read this because it us on a list of 50 Essential Mysteries that I am trying to read through. The author of said list was really, really stoked to suggest this one (and anything by Sayers). Like, she really praised it up. So it had a lot to live up to.
Clearly, this style of mystery is just not for me. Objectively, yes, I can see why this is a classic beloved by many, but... it kind of annoyed me a little, to be honest. But that's on me, not the book. It is very posh, upper class English, and I am very working class and not English. Lords and ladies grind my proverbial gears, and the hallowed halls of academia make me roll my eyes (and brings back memories, haha, both as a grad student and as a pupil at an all girls school. The flashbacks...). The writing of female characters made me tense up. I know that it is accurate to the time, but good grief, it is unpleasant. The worst, though, is our heroine. Yeah, she is a smart, independent woman, and that's great, but she is absolutely the grandmama of "I'm not like other girls." At the time, I'm sure it was novel and a big deal, and that's great and I appreciate it, but... nah.
The story itself is bloated and long winded and honestly, there isn't much to it. Poison pen letters terrorize a women's college. The solution to the crime, such as it is, is both obvious and kind of frustrating (refer back to my point on female characters).
Yeah. I just didn't really enjoy it. Even the iconic line about the "constancy of ducks."
It has been interesting reading someone else's idea of the 50 essential mystery novels, but this one is what has really hammered home to me that "essential" is subjective. I need a bit of a break, I think, and make my next read something that I know is to my taste.

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