GAUDY NIGHT

By Dorothy L. Sayers

Our review session leader, Sandy, for Dorothy Sayers GAUDY NIGHT revealed the background of this fascinating author from a past era. Born into a religious and academic environment she led an independent and fairly rebellious lifestyle for a woman of her time. Would that translate into one of her most famous Lord Peter Wimsey novels?

One thing we could all agree on; the size of the book made it nearly impossible to finish this book in the time allotted to it. Several got there but everyone had to cheat a little to get to the end. We could also agree that this book was written for, and in, a different time and world where, for people who read novels, there was less competition for their entertainment time. A couple of our readers, after examining the book and reading a few pages, set it aside.

But from that point on there were varying opinions about the book and consequently varying decisions on whether they would recommend it to others or read this author again. To many the book seemed to dwell on the inconsequential details of life in the academic world of a woman's college in Oxford just prior to the beginning of World War II. Ms. Sayers has an almost 'stream of consciousness' style of writing. She is prone to wander into different thoughts and observations as her plot floats along like a raft on a placid river.

To another one of our perceptive readers, the author was elitist, barely exposing women's issues of her time and passing rapidly over the servant and maid staff of the college. To her that rebellion did not show through in Harriet Vane's adventure. Another noted that Lord Peter Wimsey was sort of a wimp when it came to Harriet. And there was a question of Harriet's push/pull relationship with the man - how was it reasonable to reject the man who had saved her life (in a previous book) and yet be so taken with him? There was one or two that just admitted they were 'bored' with the process.

However there was another contingent who saw the steady progression of Harriet Vane's investigation into the threats received by the scholars and educators as a rich and fascinating visit to the cloistered life in an academic setting of Victorian England, walled off from outside turmoil. It was noted that Dorothy Sayers wrote with strong and confident prose, in no way condescending to being a female author at a time when such a profession was somewhat tainted. While perhaps not ready to take on reading this author's books on a regular basis, time permitting, there were those of us who will probably read the earlier books, especially those that bring Harriet and Lord Peter together.

While we are posting two and a half stars, to be fair our average was 2.75 but we post our stars to the lowest half-star so two and a half it is.