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oldpondnewfrog's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't really distinguish itself much. The humor was pretty well buried, sometimes I'd stub my toe on a bit of it but for the most part didn't find any.
Some occasional embers of tragedy blown on until they almost caught fire.
Apthorpe is a great creation though. He came alive with his chemical cabinet.
Some occasional embers of tragedy blown on until they almost caught fire.
Apthorpe is a great creation though. He came alive with his chemical cabinet.
bruceolivernewsome's review
4.0
I tend to like Waugh in the 1930s best. The Waugh of the 1920s started well and just grew more creative. His satire peaked in the 1930s. His wartime writings were mostly serious, sometimes classicly frivolous and characterful, but often searching for meaning and direction, sometimes close retellings of his own disappointing wartime experiences, until Brideshead Revisited brought everything together in one perfect fictional capture of the whole epoch from 1920s to 1940s, the decline of British civilization, of the upper classes particularly, the triumph of socialism, the end of optimism. Sword of Honour begins his thinking on the great themes of decline, beginning with the anti-meritocracy, as he experienced it, of the British Army: the false heroes, the bluffers, the slackers, the cowards, and even the murderers. The novel's hero is on a course of disappointment. The journey is compelling, as ever with Waugh, thanks to pace and depth. It relies heavily on real historical events or close parodies. Some of it is distinctly autobiographical, such as Waugh's experiences on Crete. This personal realism is both strength and weakness: it is close and authentic, but also sometimes tedious and as inconsequential as Waugh's own war. Yet, as ever, an imperfect Waugh is still a curiously gripping journey.
tenisonpurple's review
funny
relaxing
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Supposed to be comic. I found it gently amusing in places, bittersweet in others and was quite taken with the main character
catsofdeath's review
5.0
This book was better the second time around. It is very subtle and I had to re read lines thinking wow I missed that the first time and barley caught it the second time around...
asuph's review
4.0
There is something rather Wodehousian about it. Add Joseph Heller in the mix. Actually Heller would be Waugh on steroids. This one is too English to be American. The subtle sarcasm, lovely characterization, and in general very well written. Immensely enjoyable. Probably 3.5 out of 5, with customary half star added for the audiobook version which is excellently narrated by Christian Rodska.
lnatal's review
3.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Classical Serial:
Evelyn Waugh's satirical WW2 masterpiece:
1/2: Guy Crouchback is a man scarred by a broken marriage, searching for a purpose in a modern world, when war breaks out he feels he may have at last found a cause worth fighting for.
2/2: The Halbadiers are yet to see action so Guy spends his time aiding Apthorpe with the concealment of his Thunder box - a portable latrine. And Guy's ex-wife Virginia makes a reappearance in his life.
Directed by Sally Avens
Waugh's trilogy of WWII novels mark a high point in his literary career. Originally published as three volumes: Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender they were extensively revised by Waugh, and published as the one-volume Sword of Honour in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read. They are dramatised for the Classic Serial in seven episodes.
This is a story that continues to delight as we follow the comic and often bathetic adventures of Guy Crouchback. Witty and tragic, engaging and insightful, this work must be counted next to 'Brideshead Revisited' as Waugh's most enduring novel. Like Brideshead, Waugh drew heavily upon his own experiences during WWII. Sword of Honour effortlessly treads the line between the personal and the political - it is at once an indictment of the incompetence of the Allied war effort, and a moving study of one man's journey from isolation to self fulfilment. His adventures are peopled by colourful characters: the eccentric, Apthorpe, one-eyed, Ritchie-Hook, promiscuous, Virginia Troy. At the centre of the novel is Guy for whom we never lose our sympathy as he emerges from his adventures bowed but not broken. From Dakar to Egypt, the Isle of Mugg to the evacuation of Crete, tragedy is leavened by Waugh's acerbic and farcical comedy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bq0c2
3* Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
3* Decline and Fall
3* Scoop
3* Mr Loveday's Little Outing & Other Early Stories
3* Men at Arms
CR Officers and Gentlemen
CR Unconditional Surrender: The Conclusion of Men at Arms and Officers and Gentlemen
TR A Handful of Dust
TR Vile Bodies
TR Labels
TR Ninety Two Days: A Journey In Guiana And Brazil, 1932
Evelyn Waugh's satirical WW2 masterpiece:
1/2: Guy Crouchback is a man scarred by a broken marriage, searching for a purpose in a modern world, when war breaks out he feels he may have at last found a cause worth fighting for.
2/2: The Halbadiers are yet to see action so Guy spends his time aiding Apthorpe with the concealment of his Thunder box - a portable latrine. And Guy's ex-wife Virginia makes a reappearance in his life.
Directed by Sally Avens
Waugh's trilogy of WWII novels mark a high point in his literary career. Originally published as three volumes: Officers and Gentlemen, Men at Arms and Unconditional Surrender they were extensively revised by Waugh, and published as the one-volume Sword of Honour in 1965, in the form in which Waugh himself wished them to be read. They are dramatised for the Classic Serial in seven episodes.
This is a story that continues to delight as we follow the comic and often bathetic adventures of Guy Crouchback. Witty and tragic, engaging and insightful, this work must be counted next to 'Brideshead Revisited' as Waugh's most enduring novel. Like Brideshead, Waugh drew heavily upon his own experiences during WWII. Sword of Honour effortlessly treads the line between the personal and the political - it is at once an indictment of the incompetence of the Allied war effort, and a moving study of one man's journey from isolation to self fulfilment. His adventures are peopled by colourful characters: the eccentric, Apthorpe, one-eyed, Ritchie-Hook, promiscuous, Virginia Troy. At the centre of the novel is Guy for whom we never lose our sympathy as he emerges from his adventures bowed but not broken. From Dakar to Egypt, the Isle of Mugg to the evacuation of Crete, tragedy is leavened by Waugh's acerbic and farcical comedy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bq0c2
3* Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
3* Decline and Fall
3* Scoop
3* Mr Loveday's Little Outing & Other Early Stories
3* Men at Arms
CR Officers and Gentlemen
CR Unconditional Surrender: The Conclusion of Men at Arms and Officers and Gentlemen
TR A Handful of Dust
TR Vile Bodies
TR Labels
TR Ninety Two Days: A Journey In Guiana And Brazil, 1932
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