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A review by pinoncoffee
Subversive: Christ, Culture, and the Shocking Dorothy L. Sayers by Crystal Downing
3.0
Sayers was one of my formative authors; I was so excited to read this book, but Downing made me grumpy. To be fair: she did research her subject and put it in historical context (which is good!) and there were interesting connections.
This book would have benefited from a good editor to help clear out repetition, poorly considered comparisons, and, just, unhelpful contemporary add-ons, including politically charged ideas that hurt her point more than it helped it. They didn’t serve Downing’s work. Downing tended to fall in love with a phrase and use it until it fell over (“both/and”).
There are gems in here, but most of them are Sayers herself, rather than what Downing made of her. Just go read Sayers.
This book would have benefited from a good editor to help clear out repetition, poorly considered comparisons, and, just, unhelpful contemporary add-ons, including politically charged ideas that hurt her point more than it helped it. They didn’t serve Downing’s work. Downing tended to fall in love with a phrase and use it until it fell over (“both/and”).
There are gems in here, but most of them are Sayers herself, rather than what Downing made of her. Just go read Sayers.