Helpful Score: 4
Another fabulous tale crafted by Evelyn Waugh. This novel is engaging, comedic, and tragic--all at the same time. While the prose flows and the vocabulary is not difficult, many adult themes occur within the novel. Waugh examines class, sexuality, and--again--the decline of "true Englishness" in England.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, and in the end, you'll be glad you picked this book up. I highly recommend it.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, and in the end, you'll be glad you picked this book up. I highly recommend it.
Helpful Score: 3
The peripheral characters in this novel are, to me, very sad. There is a fervent search for grace on the part of Julia's and Sebastian's mother that eventually cripples both of them. Charles is the catalyst for a deeper understanding, which comes and goes in often confusing interactions. I think the novel is reflective of Waugh's own conflict about religion.
Helpful Score: 2
Probably his best-remembered work due to the PBS television series, it is also one of his more serious, although it has its moments of jocularity. The story, narrated by the friend of an upper-class dipsomaniac, begins and ends just before D-Day. Put another way it might be subtitled How to be a fall-down drunkard with or without money. On second thought, I dont believe that he actually falls down. It is a novel of the disintegration of a once elite family. For the narrator, Brideshead, like a bad pence, constantly returns, forcing its way onto his beaten path. Nevertheless, it remains as one of his best novels for its development of characters: both principal and supporting.
Helpful Score: 1
It has a rather sad quality to it, more so than the PBS Television series. It happens between the wars, not after WWII
Helpful Score: 1
Beautifully written story regarding a young man's fascination with a British, aristocratic family from the 1920s whose widely different regards to religion pull them apart.
