It was so much better than the book/graphic novel! I was completely impressed with the script, the acting, the special effects, and the story. The more I think about the film, the more I like it. And I don’t even like Claire Danes all that much . . .

It’s a pity that few people save for Neil Gaiman fans are going to see this film. I’ve been actively recruiting friends for a second viewing.

I really could not digest Perry’s writing style as I read this WWI mystery. She seemed to get a bit carried away with focusing on the characters’ feelings and shying away from action of any sort. One of the main themes of the book is the willful ignorance people have about their family, friends, colleagues, and lives in general. Perry attempts to connect this to the willful refusal of the British to recognize the dangerous implications of rushing into the war with Germany. I don’t feel that she succeeds very well. Her style and execution overall are indulgently sloppy, though she does have a beautiful turn of phrase every now and then.

I absolutely loathed the phonetic spelling of the dialog spoken by the Cambridge townies. Perhaps Perry was trying for third person limited from Joseph Reavley’s point of view, and having him notice the accents was a way of distancing his Cambridge professor character from the barmaid and the police investigator, but it struck me as unnecessary.

I’m willing to give the second book (of five) in this series a go to read how Perry handles the war and to see if she develops her characters beyond the barely fleshed-out people she introduced. I was expecting Matthew Reavley, the intelligence officer, to have a bit more to him than what Perry gave me, and the lack of characterization of Harry Beecher did not let me care about the man. Perhaps once the Reavley family gets to France the story will gain momentum.

This seems to be the most accessible of Reichl’s memoirs, even though I preferred Tender at the Bone and Comfort with Me with Apples.