Scan barcode
A review by grumpybookdragonfly
Shakespearean Whodunnits by Mike Ashley
1.0
For some reason, one of the things that came to mind as I slogged through this savage wasteland created by otherwise talented writers was a Tolkien quote:
“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” I am well-acquainted with the work of several writers in this collection, and Ashley has edited other things I’ve mostly enjoyed. But to call this a slog is an insult to mud. I don’t know half the writers as well as I should like, and I liked less than half the works in this as well as they deserved. Slavishly lavishing Shakespearean language onto excruciatingly contrived mysteries in a desperate attempt to relate stories to the plays? To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous prose...and I wish they hadn’t.
“I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” I am well-acquainted with the work of several writers in this collection, and Ashley has edited other things I’ve mostly enjoyed. But to call this a slog is an insult to mud. I don’t know half the writers as well as I should like, and I liked less than half the works in this as well as they deserved. Slavishly lavishing Shakespearean language onto excruciatingly contrived mysteries in a desperate attempt to relate stories to the plays? To be or not to be, that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous prose...and I wish they hadn’t.