Quote:
Originally Posted by fantasyfan
Speaking more generally, I find the writing variable in quality. Often Smith is wickedly funny but just as often the humour is laboured--even tiresome. He reminds me most of Oscar Wilde though never quite matching the consistent brilliance of the latter.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel
I confess, I'm having trouble with this one. I've started it several times, and managed to get about 5 chapters into it. But I keep putting it down for something else. I strongly suspect I'd enjoy this far more as an audio book (much as I prefer PG Wodehouse as a well read audio book,
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I've seen several comparisons of Thorne Smith to P.G. Wodehouse and that's just not on.
I was initially charmed by this. I love interwar jeux d'esprit and the crackling dialogue and social commentary delighted me. But I'm with both of you; it was uneven at its best. The MacGuffin of turning animate objects to stone and reversing it got old, very, very quickly. I see its necessity, if the gods were to live, but really? Very early on, my credulity was strained beyond entertainment. I like comedies of manners, but whimsy can't be sustained with interest, for me.