Gaudy Night - chapters 1-2

[shinyopals]

Chapters 1-2: in which we meet a whole host of complicated characters talking about complicated things.

Brief synopsis:
Our story begins with our intrepid heroine, who clearly feels she hasn’t had enough to angst about the last few years so has decided to attend her High School reunion college’s Gaudy. It turns out she was BFFs with one of the

Comments

[nineveh_uk]

I got absolutely hooked on GN from the very first page. So I love the first chapters, even if though it was my first Sayers I was a bit confused about Harriet's backstory. I love all the bitchiness about the students, because it is so real. Disadvantages of not knowing quite what was going on and why this book was about Harriet Vane when I thought it was supposed to be about Peter Wimsey, it plunged me straight in wonderfully, to the extent I actually remember a 60 minute wait at Peterborough station with pleasure

[read2day]

It does look rather like Ceiling Cat is about to appear ... but I'll forgive them because it's Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, who have the distinction of being the only actors who actually fitted my mental image of the characters perfectly.

The 1987 BBC dramatisation of Gaudy Night was *awful*, particularly because Strong Poison and Have His Carcase were reasonably good within the confines of television, but the script for GN was written by an idiot who apparently hated Sayers (or so it feels). Petherbridge is particularly scathing on the topic (I heard him at the National Film Theatre when they screened the television series there a few years ago) and it appears he and Harriet Walter did what they could to salvage it, including flatly refusing to do the end scene as he'd originally written it - they wrote what was filmed in a hurry when the director got fed up and told them to rewrite it if they hated it so much.

I still watch it once a year or so, nevertheless.

[colonial_abroad]

I was so disappointed in the film adaptation that I've never been able to rewatch it... despite loving both Strong Poison and Have His Carcase. So it's interesting to hear the backstory!

[kalichan]

Here's a link to Petheridge's comments on the matter which you may find gratifying!

[read2day]

Thank you - although my mind is beyond boggling at one point in the comments: "a bit of obscure trivia - that there had once be[en] a Wimsey/Vane musical proposed, to star Elton John and Olivia Newton John".

{cough}{splutter}{choke}

I hate the lack of edit function on replies ...

[read2day]

I mean the comments below Petherbridge's comments, not that this was in his comments directly.

[littlered2]

Oh god, my brain is broken.

[mrv3000]

I'm really glad I watched the dramatizations before I read the books - I didn't know what I was missing. Since then I've obviously read the book (and saw what Petherbridge had to say on the matter), and it's really disappointing. The book and the show are pretty much different stories. But I still like the TV Gaudy night for what it is, probably mainly due to Petherbridge and Walter.

[antisoppist]

Petherbridge is particularly scathing on the topic (I heard him at the National Film Theatre when they screened the television series there a few years ago)

I was at that too. I think it was quite a few years ago as it was before they brought them out on DVD. My taped off the telly videos were still being posted around the world. I love the fact that Walter and Petherbridge went on strike refused to Put The Proposal In The Punt Scene (WTF) and have them solve the rest of the mystery hand in hand, as originally proposed.

Re. the blurb, when the TV version was shown in Sweden (I happened to be there at the time) a newspaper advertised it with an article headlined "At last she says yes".

[brandy_painter]

GN was my first Sayers too and, like you, I was hooked from the first page. These first couple of chapters really helped me get to know Harriet.