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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
I really had to struggle to finish this one. The railway timetables, the schedules, the Scottish dialect! They do make for some painful reading. :( Even Wimsey didn't seem to be at his best...
Railway schedules, endless bicycles, elaborate deceptions, endless nattering, indistinguishable suspects, meticulous lithping, and Scottish dialect. Nearly unreadable.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
On this readthrough of the Wimsey novels, definitely my least favorite to date. Here's why:
1) The setting is Scotland, and Sayers writes much of the dialogue in dialect. And I HATE reading dialect. I can get used to it after a while, but the amount changes from chapter to chapter, and Sayers even throws in an Englishman with a lisp (rendered excruciatingly precisely).
2) This is a railroad timetable and map heavy mystery. I usually don't want to do that much work when I read a mystery, but there is passage after passage explaining why a sequence of movements is or is not possible by one of the suspects. I tried to get the gist, but more often accepted a sense of confusion.
3) We get one use of the n-word (as in "worked like a"). Took me right out of my reading.
4) The suspects are all Scottish painters who fish for recreation. There is some differentiation, but not enough for me to keep track easily of who was who.
5) The flavor I usually like in Sayers's book is missing. In previous books, I have admired the visits to bohemian culture, digressions on gender politics, or glimpses of titled life. There's very little here to leaven the details of the detection.
6) The denouement in no way bears the weight of all the work that preceded it.
I will say that Wimsey's reveal is top-notch and brings a sense of life to the book that was sorely lacking, but that wasn't enough for me. Recommended only for completists.
1) The setting is Scotland, and Sayers writes much of the dialogue in dialect. And I HATE reading dialect. I can get used to it after a while, but the amount changes from chapter to chapter, and Sayers even throws in an Englishman with a lisp (rendered excruciatingly precisely).
2) This is a railroad timetable and map heavy mystery. I usually don't want to do that much work when I read a mystery, but there is passage after passage explaining why a sequence of movements is or is not possible by one of the suspects. I tried to get the gist, but more often accepted a sense of confusion.
3) We get one use of the n-word (as in "worked like a"). Took me right out of my reading.
4) The suspects are all Scottish painters who fish for recreation. There is some differentiation, but not enough for me to keep track easily of who was who.
5) The flavor I usually like in Sayers's book is missing. In previous books, I have admired the visits to bohemian culture, digressions on gender politics, or glimpses of titled life. There's very little here to leaven the details of the detection.
6) The denouement in no way bears the weight of all the work that preceded it.
I will say that Wimsey's reveal is top-notch and brings a sense of life to the book that was sorely lacking, but that wasn't enough for me. Recommended only for completists.
Ooof. A mystery based on train timetables and mostly written in Scots dialect. Not for me right now.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Unfortunately the amount of suspects, policemen and train timetable information this book has, takes away a lot of the charm the other Wimsey books have.
I require rather more Bunter than this one provides.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes