2.83k reviews for:

Brideshead Revisited: The sacred & profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder

Evelyn Waugh

3.87 AVERAGE

ezrataylor's review against another edition

3.0

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Going into this, I was really willing to get invested into the story and characters, and expected quite a lot from what I had heard. However, I found my attention drifting as the novel developed. I appreciate there are elements of satire in this narrative, and that Waugh evidently had a good sense of understanding about the context in which he was writing, but I didn't really get along with it very well as more and more characters were introduced, and the parts of the story I was initially compelled by were concluded in a rather dull manner. A bit of a shame, but maybe I'll try rereading it another time.

jonske's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

abigaillew's review against another edition

4.25

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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One of the modernist novels, and it has it all: history, memory, religion, politics, identity, war, and a shaky sense of dislocation from all of it. Spatiotemporally one of the most interesting novels I've ever read, with with visiting and revisiting of Brideshead (physically and otherwise) pulling you through and around the story. Julia surely one of the most memorable and complex modernist women characters. Indeed I was struck by the unromantic yet unapologetic nature of Waugh's depiction of both gendered and sexed deviance in this novel. This also made me think really differently (or understand something newly) about this particular period in British/European history. Of course, Brideshead's descendants in Ripley and Saltburn are at the forefront of cultural imagination today. Modernism Revisited?

delendaest's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

erintraveller's review against another edition

4.25

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

whatever_andra's review against another edition

3.75

funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

ed_moore's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“These memories, which are my life - for we possess nothing certainly except the past - were always with me. Like the pigeons of St Mark’s, they were everywhere” 

After over a month I have finally concluded ‘Brideshead Revisited’. I think I read it at the wrong time and thats why it took me so long, it was slow-paced with a lot to digest (not ideal for assessment season) but once out of that period I finished the book quite swiftly. ‘Brideshead Revisited’ is a very nostalgic tale. I found it similar to the beautiful first half of McEwan’s ‘Atonement’ in style, with relationships I see similarities to in ‘The Secret History’ but also somewhat Austenian in its prose and feel, hence it came to be a very family read. 

‘Brideshead Revisited’ focusses on how Charles Ryder becomes infatuated and intertwined in the lives of the Marchaim family, first with their alcoholic son Sebastian and later his sister Julia. He places himself in the centre of the lives of a decaying aristocratic class during the interwar years. I did very much enjoy the scenes taking place abroad in Venice, and the general setting and feel was gorgeous. Waugh’s prose is also commendable, though will note for far too long the heir of Brideshead Castle being named Brideshead or ‘Bridey’ was quite confusing. 

la_faerie's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective

christinec's review against another edition

5.0

reflective sad

pbraue13's review against another edition

3.5

emotional lighthearted reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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“I should like to bury something precious in every place where I have been happy and then, when I am old and ugly and miserable, come back and dig it up and remember.”

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

I came to this lured by the lingering, decadent atmosphere of "Saltburn". Given that the film was loosely inspired by this novel, I expected something similarly twisted, seductive, and—let's be honest—fruity. I wanted homoerotic tension thick enough to cut with a knife, or at the very least a champagne-soaked Oxford affair that teetered on the edge of romantic obsession. What I got instead was a deeply nostalgic and Catholic meditation on memory, aristocracy, and lost youth—with only the faintest whisper of the queer undertones I was craving. 

To be fair, the subtext is there if you're squinting. Charles and Sebastian’s early relationship carries a certain intimacy, a kind of longing that suggests more without ever committing. But if you’re reading "Brideshead" during Pride month, hoping for open queerness or even palpable tension, you might find yourself just a bit disappointed. This book flirts with themes of decadence and forbidden love, but retreats quickly into reflection, faith, and the decline of the English upper class. 

That said, Waugh’s prose is undeniably beautiful. The novel’s strength lies in its elegiac tone and its lush, melancholic evocation of a bygone world. It’s a classic for a reason. Even if it didn’t deliver what I was hoping for, I can’t write it off completely. The writing is sharp, often witty, and emotionally complex—qualities that have ensured its place in the literary canon. 

Still, this wasn’t quite the Pride read I had envisioned. I came looking for queerness in all its glittering excess, and instead found a man recalling his youth and contemplating God. Lovely? Sure. But not exactly "Saltburn".