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Review: "The Corinthian"
I used to think I liked Heyer, and in a limited way, that is true. She is a very good craftswoman. Her prose is generally highly competent, though sometimes it could usefully be edited to reduce repetition. Her attention to the social and material mechanics of setting produces a richly-textured story-world. At times her (rather static) secondary characters have very funny, theatrical dialogue scenes. But in truth, I generally find Heyer's main characters distractingly unappealing.
By design, they are mostly Super Rich: that is the fantasy. They are also mostly incredibly boring on account of this. They have few real problems, so dramatic interest must arise from something else. What, then, do these people use all their resources to do? (Resources which, we can't help knowing while reading, are of necessity the hard-won gains of their social inferiors' toil.) What ambitions or passions do Heyer's characters, with all their liberty to pursue goals, possess? I find it hard to think of any. Very few of them are even keen on managing their estates or meaningfully aggrandising their houses.
The title character of this book is sexy because he's soooo disaffected, which IRL is only hot for an hour before it becomes extremely tiresome. We're told--and this is more than some Heyer male leads get--that our guy's interested in dandyism, in driving good and in punching good. Okay? Two of those aren't properly hobbies, they're like, admin.
Could you have any conversation with this man, as a woman? Or even as another man? In any circumstance? When this man is with his best friends in the world, what do they talk about? I cannot really guess this, and after reading a whole book I should be able to. What strong, real emotional ties do Heyer's cool, distant characters ever have? Even when they fall in love, Heyer often, as here, frantically shuffles the POV so that she can tell you that happened rather than subjecting you to any first-hand feelings. She gives women a bit more leeway in this respect, but only a very little bit. They may enjoy the company of one sensible family member and credit their own sentiments with moderate heft, as a treat.
At one point this male lead says the special thing about his gal is that she's like a boy. But she wouldn't be cool if she actually was a boy, because then she'd just be regular. Such commendation. Wow. Also--just fuck men, if you're not! into! women!!? It absolutely happened in 1810. A 'man of the world' must know that. And who wants a guy who wants them against his judgement? Sounds like a pain in the ass.
To give Heyer her due, she can give good banter between her leads. These interactions illustrate the leads' characters, which involves more than some list of interests. But this, too, is conducted at something of a surface level, and uneven. I have a far better sense of and greater affection for Pen, this book's female lead, than its male lead (who's much older, and should thus be commensurately more developed as a person).
The novel finishes with a dramatic coach chase that occurs exclusively because Heyer wanted to wrap up the novel about now, and on a suitable scale. The previous suggestion the leads were entertaining was that the man (29) would come and court the girl (17, and acts it) over time, to convince her that he was For Real Real and not just asking for her hand to prevent a scandal/out of social obligation. This courtship could honestly be more romantic than Heyer's big kiss, but Heyer is bored now and doesn't want to handle the content, so it's 'omg he's like, soooooo good with ponies' for us. Sure.
Also apparently the Corinthian!! (said like a job title, to occlude the fact that this man, for capitalism or otherwise, does nothing and has little actual identity) is going to immerse his new, cross-dressing and adventurous young bride into the world of high fashion, which she has shown no evidence of giving a shit about hither to (in fact, she has shown many contra-indications). Good luck with that, I guess. Adventure!!
The sheer thinness of this novel made it very suitable to listen to while doing data entry. Jan Morris on Hong Kong was far harder going, and did not cut the work-related mustard.
By design, they are mostly Super Rich: that is the fantasy. They are also mostly incredibly boring on account of this. They have few real problems, so dramatic interest must arise from something else. What, then, do these people use all their resources to do? (Resources which, we can't help knowing while reading, are of necessity the hard-won gains of their social inferiors' toil.) What ambitions or passions do Heyer's characters, with all their liberty to pursue goals, possess? I find it hard to think of any. Very few of them are even keen on managing their estates or meaningfully aggrandising their houses.
The title character of this book is sexy because he's soooo disaffected, which IRL is only hot for an hour before it becomes extremely tiresome. We're told--and this is more than some Heyer male leads get--that our guy's interested in dandyism, in driving good and in punching good. Okay? Two of those aren't properly hobbies, they're like, admin.
Could you have any conversation with this man, as a woman? Or even as another man? In any circumstance? When this man is with his best friends in the world, what do they talk about? I cannot really guess this, and after reading a whole book I should be able to. What strong, real emotional ties do Heyer's cool, distant characters ever have? Even when they fall in love, Heyer often, as here, frantically shuffles the POV so that she can tell you that happened rather than subjecting you to any first-hand feelings. She gives women a bit more leeway in this respect, but only a very little bit. They may enjoy the company of one sensible family member and credit their own sentiments with moderate heft, as a treat.
At one point this male lead says the special thing about his gal is that she's like a boy. But she wouldn't be cool if she actually was a boy, because then she'd just be regular. Such commendation. Wow. Also--just fuck men, if you're not! into! women!!? It absolutely happened in 1810. A 'man of the world' must know that. And who wants a guy who wants them against his judgement? Sounds like a pain in the ass.
To give Heyer her due, she can give good banter between her leads. These interactions illustrate the leads' characters, which involves more than some list of interests. But this, too, is conducted at something of a surface level, and uneven. I have a far better sense of and greater affection for Pen, this book's female lead, than its male lead (who's much older, and should thus be commensurately more developed as a person).
The novel finishes with a dramatic coach chase that occurs exclusively because Heyer wanted to wrap up the novel about now, and on a suitable scale. The previous suggestion the leads were entertaining was that the man (29) would come and court the girl (17, and acts it) over time, to convince her that he was For Real Real and not just asking for her hand to prevent a scandal/out of social obligation. This courtship could honestly be more romantic than Heyer's big kiss, but Heyer is bored now and doesn't want to handle the content, so it's 'omg he's like, soooooo good with ponies' for us. Sure.
Also apparently the Corinthian!! (said like a job title, to occlude the fact that this man, for capitalism or otherwise, does nothing and has little actual identity) is going to immerse his new, cross-dressing and adventurous young bride into the world of high fashion, which she has shown no evidence of giving a shit about hither to (in fact, she has shown many contra-indications). Good luck with that, I guess. Adventure!!
The sheer thinness of this novel made it very suitable to listen to while doing data entry. Jan Morris on Hong Kong was far harder going, and did not cut the work-related mustard.