accepting the claim that Guibert has no concern for pleasing anyone
else:

Some of my friends have often asked me why I do not sign this little
work with my own name; until now I have refused, out of fear of
sullying pious history with the name of a hateful person. However,
thinking that the story, splendid in itself, might become even more
splendid if attached to the name of a famous man, I have decided to
attach it to you. Thus I have placed most pleasing lamp in front of
the work of an obscure author. For, since your ancient lineage is
accompanied by a knowledge of literature, an unusual serenity and
moral probity, one may justly believe that God in his foresight
wanted the dignity of the bishop's office to honor the gift of such
reverence. By embracing your name, the little work that follows may
flourish: crude in itself, it may be made agreeable by the love of
the one to whom it is written, and made stronger by the authority of
the office by which you stand above others.

We do not know whether Lysiard shared Guibert's fascination with what
is difficult, but the failure of any other medieval writer to mention
Guibert implies a negative reception in general for the Gesta Dei.

Not every modern reader, however, has been alienated by Guibert's
posture. Labande expresses some enthusiasm for "la virtuosite du
styliste,"[14] and declares that Guibert's various uses of literary
devices "meriteraient une etude attentive." Acknowledging the fact
that Guibert's language is somewhat "alambique" and "tarbiscote,"
Labande had argued in an earlier article, although only on the basis
of the historical material in the Monodiae, that Guibert deserved to
be appreciated as an historian, with some "modern" qualities.[15]