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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
funny
sad
tense
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
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In my quest to read great books this year, my friend Sarah helped by recommending this Evelyn Waugh novel. Described as Madame Bovary rewritten by Noel Coward, A Handful of Dust, provides a captivating story about society and adultery. The Dickenseque names (Tony Last, John Beaver, Jock, etc.) are fantastic and you know that the scathing pen of Waugh will come down hard when they bungle their privileged lives. Waugh's own defining marriage and divorce leave him with enough material and emotion to provide us with searing commentary. Because of copyright issues with publishers, Waugh at first had to write an alternate ending for the book since his intended ending (now considered The Ending) had been published as a short-story a few years earlier. The ending is creepy and a bit too metaphorical for my taste. The alternative is more realistic and quite frankly more tragic because Tony Last as his name implies will be the last to turn to adultery and Waugh ends it poignantly with his sin of omission to his wife as "the train sped through the darkness toward Hetton."
Unlike the other Waugh book I read ("The Loved One"), this book wasn't at all very funny. The satire (and he clearly is mocking British gentry) evokes a depressing and debauched reality. I tell you, I just found the whole thing, as well-written as it is, to be a downer. Waugh is vicious in his contempt for the British gentry, and makes them out to be pathetic beings not even worthy of any kind of empathy as fellow human beings. I found Brenda to be absolutely despicable. That she could treat Tony the way she did by cuckolding him, and then to try to impoverish him by essentially extorting his wealth -- all the while proclaiming a fondness for him -- was just gross. There's a sliver of empathy for Tony, but then his whole Brazilian escapade comes across as a pretty pathetic and ill-advised escape adventure that results in his essential captivity in the Amazon by a kooky character who demands that Tony perpetually read Dickens to him aloud. Not sure if this is a slight against Dickens, too; but Tony's fate is quite depressing. Anyway, I can't really say that I "enjoyed" this book, though I will admit to Waugh's talent as a writer. [Picked by Anna.]
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
medium-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
Stellar. Waugh's caustic wit and heartrending poignancy collide head-on to yield one of the most memorable, beautiful books ever written. If you didn't read this in your college lit classes, don't miss it now.
Evelyn Waugh'ın Paris Review ile yaptığı söyleşisi:
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4537/evelyn-waugh-the-art-of-fiction-no-30-evelyn-waugh
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4537/evelyn-waugh-the-art-of-fiction-no-30-evelyn-waugh
Oh men, I think this book was just stealing my time. I do not see the point of the book, at all. I do not know why I read it and did not did-not-finish it. Time waster.