rynne | (no subject) (Reply)

I am in a very good mood today. Last night I was feeling off, but then

heart_of_man and I went for coffee (well, so to speak, since she didn't actually get anything and neither of us drink coffee) and we talked for a couple hours. That was great, and I felt much better at the end.

Tomorrow I have two fairly biggish assignments due, and I did those today, and I think they're fairly good. I'm pleased with them, at least. :)

But mostly I am still full of COMPLETE GLEE because today I read Busman's Honeymoon, one of Dorothy L. Sayers's Peter Wimsey/Harriet Vane books, and I just ADORED it. It's almost exactly what I want to read in a story. :D

I'm sure I've mentioned before that my favorite genre is basically plot-with-romance. I'm not particular about what kind of plot--I just want there to be something interesting going on. I don't actually typically read mysteries, but then I started to read the Lord Peter Wimsey books, and I've enjoyed all the ones I've read (even those that are just Lord Peter, with no Harriet and no romance, so I am not solely attracted to romance *g*), but this one was definitely my favorite.

The romance was the kind of thing I love to read. Very sweet, very genuine, very true to the characters and very good for them. I thought Peter especially very adorable. I mean, I've always had a weakness for pairings that take a long time to get together (Peter/Harriet is five years, Mulder/Scully seven, Josh/Donna nine, and Luke/Mara (Star Wars EU) ten--Doctor/Rose also took four, but the delay of the last two wasn't really their fault), mostly for how they are once they do get together--that is, adorably disbelieving at their good fortune, that kind of thing. Also, Peter's habit of quoting poetry and things makes me full of glee because it feels romantic without being saccharine, and he can eloquently express how much he loves her while still being IC. I love it when characters can do that. XD

Much as I love happiness in romance, I am also a firm believer that struggle is necessary for that happiness to mean something, and this doesn't disappoint there--both in the struggle, and in the making it mean something, which is where I think a lot of angst-writers fail. But there was a particular clash in this book that absolutely struck me--and it ends when Peter says he'll let the mystery alone for Harriet's sake, and Harriet is horrified at the idea because she doesn't want to diminish him. They bring up the thing about how much power people can have over each other (in this case, Harriet's power over Peter), including power to make the other person be someone they're not, but Harriet is just horrified at the idea of using that power. So this argument ends up drawing them closer and making them stronger and is really just full of yay.

Also, the ending. It's not an especially happy ending, because Sayers is awesome enough to follow all the way through here to the trial and execution of the murderer--and more, on what that does to Peter, who has that on his conscience. Combined with Peter's PTSD from World War I, which recurs in these circumstances, he's not in a good state, and all Harriet can do is hope that he comes to her. He does at the end, and there's hope. He'll likely never be rid of the PTSD and always have his issues that Harriet will just have to watch, but the end of the book leaves us with the hope that while, okay, he'll never be cured, at least he has her to be with him and love him and do what she can to help with his demons, as he's done with her.

The plot was...interesting, I suppose. It wasn't a bad plot, but I am definitely a character person rather than a plot person, so I am always most interested in plots because of what they can do to characters, and in that sense, this plot was a complete success. It was fairly typical as a mystery plot, I think--or at least, it didn't stand out in that way, but it definitely served to really illuminate characters and relationships while still being interesting in itself, which is what I want in a plot.

My only grievance with the novel is that there's too much untranslated French. XD

So yes. I loved that book enough that I really need to buy it now. And also find fanfic, of course. XD