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2.83k reviews for:
Brideshead Revisited: The sacred & profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Evelyn Waugh
3.87 AVERAGE
2.83k reviews for:
Brideshead Revisited: The sacred & profane memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Evelyn Waugh
3.87 AVERAGE
Why can't the entire thing be like this:
Why does it have to be deep and dark and philosophical? Why can't someone write A HAPPY ENDING FOR ONCE???
So here's my headcanon happy ending for Sebastian, ageing happily, ever soft and fluffy...
Why does it have to be deep and dark and philosophical? Why can't someone write A HAPPY ENDING FOR ONCE???
So here's my headcanon happy ending for Sebastian, ageing happily, ever soft and fluffy...
lighthearted
reflective
sad
This is an abridged and dramatised version and without having read the full book, I found it difficult to follow in parts.
Look, it did its job, but I didn’t fall in love with it. Feels like the kind of tale that provides great fodder for reinterpretations of different characters. The Oggsford stuff was awfully pretty, and I actually enjoyed the seamless back-and-forth in time in the narrative structure. It just… was a good story with some ripper lines.
“His mind seemed full of such suppositions: ‘If I was Archbishop of Westminster,’ ‘If I was Head of the Great Western Railway,’ ‘If I was an actress,’ as though it were a mere trick of fate that he was none of these things, and he might awake any morning to find the matter adjusted.”
“His mind seemed full of such suppositions: ‘If I was Archbishop of Westminster,’ ‘If I was Head of the Great Western Railway,’ ‘If I was an actress,’ as though it were a mere trick of fate that he was none of these things, and he might awake any morning to find the matter adjusted.”
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In general, I'm fairly used to dry British classics. This one was pretty dry. Redeemed by interesting characters and a few witty parts that made me laugh. Love mid-century works already nostalgic for the "better times" of the early 1900s. Writing def saved this
When you can’t get with your alcoholic gay situationship so you spend years flirting with his sister… or something…
"you loved him didn't you?" "oh yes, he was the forerunner"
I'm not sure how anyone could read this and not pick up on the homosexual undertones (or, really, overtones because it is THAT obvious) between Charles and Sebastian; which is why it's so surprising this was published in 1945 - when homosexuality was still criminalized in England - and universally praised.
I'm not sure how anyone could read this and not pick up on the homosexual undertones (or, really, overtones because it is THAT obvious) between Charles and Sebastian; which is why it's so surprising this was published in 1945 - when homosexuality was still criminalized in England - and universally praised.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I honestly don't know how to rate this one. I did not enjoy most of it, despite the fact that it is beautifully written and beautifully narrated by Jeremy Irons. I think I was constantly frustrated by the characters, who almost all came across as unbearably nihilistic and seem to have no character arc or experience no change. I think I need my tragedy with a small thread of hope or humor, or even absurdity, and there's very little of either in this book. That being said, I have to imagine this books is considered groundbreaking, having been published in the 1940's and to present a story of a tortured gay man whose struggle has less to do with his sexuality and more to do with his family, faith, and the way that those both converge to make him feel like a moral failure.
I read up a little about Evelyn Waugh while reading this, and I find it super interesting that he was a devout Catholic, but there's so much about this book that comes across as highly critical of Catholicism. In the book a lot of that criticism perhaps reflects some of Waugh's frustration with how it impacted his own marriage, because the issue of divorce becomes a significant part of the story later on. But I also see it extending into how Sebastian's alcoholism is viewed by his family and Charles' frustration with the Flytes' halfhearted attempts to help Sebastian before they wash their hands of him.
I read up a little about Evelyn Waugh while reading this, and I find it super interesting that he was a devout Catholic, but there's so much about this book that comes across as highly critical of Catholicism. In the book a lot of that criticism perhaps reflects some of Waugh's frustration with how it impacted his own marriage, because the issue of divorce becomes a significant part of the story later on. But I also see it extending into how Sebastian's alcoholism is viewed by his family and Charles' frustration with the Flytes' halfhearted attempts to help Sebastian before they wash their hands of him.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes