Reading the 20th Century discussion

This is a spoiler thread for our buddy read of Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. Feel free to post spoilers and later plot twists here.

This time, I knew THE plot twist was coming. I think I guessed it the first time I read it though, but not straight away.

Well done for guessing it! I hadn't done, and kept rereading that bit to understand it.

Must say I found it quite unconvincing, though - I felt as if there were quite a few inconsistencies in the story when I looked back.

Yes, possibly. The conceit works best first time around. I enjoyed the characters and the setting of St Oswald's enough that the story worked for me though.

I'm guessing second time around it must be quite a different experience, as you watch for clues of what is coming? Must confess, I hadn't actually noticed one of these clues, the fact that we hadn't been told the character's real first name!

As I've just mentioned in the main thread, I'd noticed that I much preferred the Roy Straitley sections - I think that's partly because I often don't find it so enjoyable to see through the eyes of a character I really dislike.

But also I don't think Julian/Julia is very fully realised as a character, whereas Roy definitely is - maybe this is because the author was having to hold back a lot of information about the character.

The more I think about this book, the more I wish Harris had focused more on Roy - I think he is a great character, not particularly likeable, but very real, with all the contradictions in his personality.

I'd have liked to see more of his conflicts with the other/younger/modernising colleagues, and less of the (to my mind) weak crime plot. Susan, do you know if the sequels are also crime stories?

Having said that, I do think the whole final section around the fireworks is exciting and quite cinematic - I can almost see it.
I wonder if there has ever been a thought of filming this book, as I think it could work well as a TV or cinema thriller.

Just found an interesting interview with Joanne Harris about G&P - I don't think it's all that spoilerish, but will put it in this thread to be on the safe side:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_int...

The second reading was a different experience, but I then had the next two in the series to read. They were quite similar in style - employing two narrators, with one being Straitley. I loved Roy Straitley as a character and think he worked so well. She also set the scene for the character so well - the familiar chair and mug in the staff room, the old fashioned desk, the gown... I agree that he did work well than the other character. The sequels are all crime novels, although the one more loosely based on the books - Blueyedboy is different, apparently, with mixed reviews. I haven't got to it yet, so can't comment.

Thank you, Susan - I may try the second one since I also enjoyed Straitley as a character. It would be good to have more focus on the staff rivalries, which I think are the best bits of this novel.

Something that puzzled me about this book is the sexual encounter on the roof between Julian and Leon - I wasn't sure whether Leon discovers the full truth about the disguise at this point or not. It seems as if Julian is possibly more worried about the revelation that John Snyde is "my dad".