Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

17 reviews

emotional reflective 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: Yes

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reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a while now, but I’ve put it off. This, unfortunately, allowed too much time to build my expectations to a point where I left little room for anything but those expectations to be met. 
 
The book is a reflective look back on Charles Ryder’s friendship with Sebastian Flyte and his family in the decades leading up to World War II. Charles and Sebastian are students at Oxford, and despite Sebastian’s initial efforts to keep Charles’ friendship for himself, the more he spirals into alcoholism, the more Charles gets entangled with Sebastian’s family. Julia, Sebastian’s sister, also forms a friendship with Charles. Their friendship grows complicated as the years go on, faith, spouses, and family getting in the way. 
 
I enjoy the idea of this book. I enjoy the themes, particularly the spiritual ones, but the writing is so dry and on the surface. I felt absolutely no connection to the characters, and in turn, didn’t find myself caring what happened to them one way or another. I’ve read another book by Evelyn Waugh in the past and I remember having the same difficulty with the style. There is a lot of telling rather than showing. I’m disappointed, but I’m hoping as it’s memory fades, the essence will remain and I’ll think back with a fonder memory. 

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emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Beautiful descriptions but when it's slow it 's really slow but when it gets going it's great and engaging. It fluctuates between the two throughout. 

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emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A closely-nostalgic glimpse of a time-period and aspect of society which has since been widely portrayed on TV. However Waugh's closeness and clear personal feelings on the matter made for a reflective, if slow, read about the effect of the time period on people born into their station. To be honest, Waugh's appraisal of his own work in the introduction was what I found most interesting. The story was good enough that I would probably try to find an adaptation to watch if I wanted to revisit the time period though, so I am glad to have read it.

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mysterious reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Parts of this book were very difficult to follow. Long sentences just keep extending and sometimes lost my focus. The content and ideas were interesting, but the second half was much less engaging.

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reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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challenging reflective sad medium-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

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reflective relaxing 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: No

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evelyn waugh has famously said that he finds brideshead distasteful despite previously calling it his magnum opus and even though i did not write this book after a parachuting accident, i completely understand what he means in both those quotes lol

such a pleasure to read, though it drags on frightfully long in parts. poor, pitiful charles ryder and his penchant for siblings riddled with catholic guilt.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings