Helpful Score: 4
This novel is such a wonderful read and Waugh's prose is simply elegant. The novel, which is both a tragedy and comedy, examines the slow decline of high society England. Roles of women, marriage, and religion are fully explored, making this text one of Waugh's defining achievements.
I highly recommend this novel to any ambitious reader looking for a story with depth, character, and emotion. In terms of vocabulary it is an easy read, but the characters and their lives will have you thinking of them for days after the story ends.
I highly recommend this novel to any ambitious reader looking for a story with depth, character, and emotion. In terms of vocabulary it is an easy read, but the characters and their lives will have you thinking of them for days after the story ends.
Helpful Score: 3
Once again, Waugh has at it with the uppity gentry of English society. His participants all appear to have inherited riches, no real occupation, dubious morals, and less character. What they do exhibit is a strong sense of ennui and complacency. In this little gem of satirical exposition, our âJaneâ has become disenamoured with âDickâ and their country coexistence and is drawn gradually into the urban realm of gigolos and perpetual parties. A family tragedy brings the situation to a head and divorce ensues. True to form, this is botched from the start and the principals are left in limbo until our âDickâ disappears of an archeological jaunt into the depths of the Amazon. By the time he is declared legally dead, âJaneâ has been jilted by her no-count paramour and has to seek asylum with another of her consorts. Makes one wonder why the author wasn't spurned by his own compatriots; but, maybe he was.
Helpful Score: 1
I love this book. Great English humor.
Helpful Score: 1
A satire of English life, London gentry and society pre-WWII
Helpful Score: 1
The funniest and most bitter of Waugh's satirical novels (before he got religion).
