Snobs by Julian Fellowes

Since I hugely enjoyed many of the characters on Downton Abbey, I thought that a novel by its creator would be just what I want, but I was sadly mistaken. I only got through the first few chapters before I almost fell asleep from boredom. It's just bad writing. A great deal of it is an anatomy of upper-class manners and mores that is (presumably) supposed to be witty, but is actually just statements of the obvious. The narration is supremely bland, the descriptions flat. There is literally no stylistic flair at all, the style is completely featureless, attempting very feebly at wit and liveliness. The characters are really all rather revolting, when they're not stupefyingly dull. Except for the really rather amusing line 'Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them', I found nothing of interest in the little I read of this book.