You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
karen_unabridged 's review for:
Busman's Honeymoon
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Read again in March 2022 because I just watched the series of 3 Lord Peter / Harriet Vane mysteries adapted in the 1980s. Strong Poison / Have His Carcase / Gaudy Night are three of the four Wimsey-Vane novels written by Dorothy Sayers. (The BBC was apparently unable to get rights to "Busman's Honeymoon" which is a real shame because they did a great job with the other three.)
So, anyway, I wanted to "finish" the storyline so to speak and therefore re-read this old favorite. (And incidentally, discovered I didn't actually own a copy. That oversight has now been rectified.)
Why I think I like the Wimsey-Vane pairing: because it describes two intelligent, independent people stumbling toward something that is Greater than the sum of their individual selves.
Without being graphic, Sayers writes a swoon worthy payoff to the previous books in the series. But you will have to have your brain engaged (or at least, Google translate). One of my favorite lines comes when Harriet wakes up first the morning after they are married. Eventually she asks her new husband, "Sais-tu enfin qui je suis?"
And I think that's a pretty succinct way to sum up what many of us want in marriage: "Do you know who I am? Do you really know me? And, knowing me, do you still want me and love me?"
See? Swoon.
One star subtracted only because the book is over-longish (a few spots could have been more tightly edited. As in "Gaudy Night", Sayers does get carried away a few times) and the ending is just heart-breakingly abrupt. Because once you know and love Lord and Lady Peter, you will always want more of their adventures and insight.
(P.S. Yes, I've read Jill Paton Walsh's continuation of Sayers' characters in a new series. Paton Walsh is a skilled author on her own but she's not Sayers. It's just not the same.)
So, anyway, I wanted to "finish" the storyline so to speak and therefore re-read this old favorite. (And incidentally, discovered I didn't actually own a copy. That oversight has now been rectified.)
Why I think I like the Wimsey-Vane pairing: because it describes two intelligent, independent people stumbling toward something that is Greater than the sum of their individual selves.
Without being graphic, Sayers writes a swoon worthy payoff to the previous books in the series. But you will have to have your brain engaged (or at least, Google translate). One of my favorite lines comes when Harriet wakes up first the morning after they are married. Eventually she asks her new husband, "Sais-tu enfin qui je suis?"
And I think that's a pretty succinct way to sum up what many of us want in marriage: "Do you know who I am? Do you really know me? And, knowing me, do you still want me and love me?"
See? Swoon.
One star subtracted only because the book is over-longish (a few spots could have been more tightly edited. As in "Gaudy Night", Sayers does get carried away a few times) and the ending is just heart-breakingly abrupt. Because once you know and love Lord and Lady Peter, you will always want more of their adventures and insight.
(P.S. Yes, I've read Jill Paton Walsh's continuation of Sayers' characters in a new series. Paton Walsh is a skilled author on her own but she's not Sayers. It's just not the same.)