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subvino's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first story by Evelyn Waugh. I've had a few of his books sitting on my shelf for quite a while now and I liked this one enough to feel bad I never worked my way around to him sooner.
I'm nabbing the description from Amazon:
In Hollywood, at Whispering Glades, a full-service funeral home for departed greats, the mononymonous Mr. Joyboy and Aimee Thanatogenos fall in love...with each other and their work. He is chief embalmer, she a crematorium cosmetician. They spend their days contentedly prepping the loved ones for a final appearance.
Into this idyllic scene comes Dennis Barlow, aspiring poet and funerary colleague. But Dennis is downscale, his employer the Happier Hunting Ground, a pet cemetery. Dennis looks to Aimee for professional reconstruction, falls in love with her instead, and sets up a triangle that is literally more than Aimee can bear.
I'm a sucker for stories involving funeral homes and the like, and the whole attitude of this book was light and amusing. All of the characters were quite delightfully detestable, which made it all the more enjoyable (especially at the end). How hilarious is a pet cemetary called "The Happier Hunting Ground"? I've not read many satires nor have I ever thought myself a fan, but this one resounded well with me.
Overall, I couldn't put this book down and read it in a day (it helped that it rings in at a meager 164 pages). I liked it enough that I'm afraid I'll be let down by subsequent Waugh reads, which I will now likely put on higher priority.
I'm nabbing the description from Amazon:
In Hollywood, at Whispering Glades, a full-service funeral home for departed greats, the mononymonous Mr. Joyboy and Aimee Thanatogenos fall in love...with each other and their work. He is chief embalmer, she a crematorium cosmetician. They spend their days contentedly prepping the loved ones for a final appearance.
Into this idyllic scene comes Dennis Barlow, aspiring poet and funerary colleague. But Dennis is downscale, his employer the Happier Hunting Ground, a pet cemetery. Dennis looks to Aimee for professional reconstruction, falls in love with her instead, and sets up a triangle that is literally more than Aimee can bear.
I'm a sucker for stories involving funeral homes and the like, and the whole attitude of this book was light and amusing. All of the characters were quite delightfully detestable, which made it all the more enjoyable (especially at the end). How hilarious is a pet cemetary called "The Happier Hunting Ground"? I've not read many satires nor have I ever thought myself a fan, but this one resounded well with me.
Overall, I couldn't put this book down and read it in a day (it helped that it rings in at a meager 164 pages). I liked it enough that I'm afraid I'll be let down by subsequent Waugh reads, which I will now likely put on higher priority.
bethpaws's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
A beautifully and acerbically written short satirical book. The story centres around English poet Dennis Barlow who works at the pet cemetery Happier Hunting Grounds. While arranging a funeral at Whispering Glades he starts a relationship with Thanatogenos the cosmetician. She is torn between Dennis and the senior mortician Joyboy and seeks advice from a very un-bothered advice columist Guru Brahmin. The discovery that the poems Dennis is quoting to her are not his own, and learning where he works (facilitated by Joyboy) results in Thanatogenos seeking and taking more (rather awful) advice from Guru Brahim. Dennis and Joyboy find a grim solution and the English Dennis ends the story one up on the Americans.
So much more social commentary that I have missed as I am unaware of the social backgrounds to the other themes in the book of Hollywood and the death culture Waugh despised in America. But I read for pleasure not analysis.
So much more social commentary that I have missed as I am unaware of the social backgrounds to the other themes in the book of Hollywood and the death culture Waugh despised in America. But I read for pleasure not analysis.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Death, and Suicide
snowcat5's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
4.0
raquelssilva's review against another edition
4.0
Com os seus momentos afincados de comédia e os momentos que deveriam ser de verdadeira dor - para as outras personagens e para nós - mas que acabam por ser, como o resto, desprovidos de qualquer emoção (o que não nos deixa de emocionar pela capacidade do autor de nos fazer entrar no seu mundo sub-humano), 'O Ente Querido' é quase uma tragi-comédia, recheada de mortes, suicídios, desesperos e dores a que nossa personagem principal parece ser alheia.
http://leiturasmarginais.blogspot.pt/2017/01/o-ente-querido-evelyn-waugh.html
http://leiturasmarginais.blogspot.pt/2017/01/o-ente-querido-evelyn-waugh.html
leslielu67's review against another edition
5.0
I read this in high school English class called World Lit, taught by the basketball coach. Besides the hilarity of this book, the only other thing I remember from that class is that the boy who sat in front of me (alphabetically) asked me every day if he could borrow a pencil. And maybe some paper. Every day. It was an afternoon class.
The book is still hilarious - (Aimee Thanatagenos, enough said) - but EW is an anti-semite as is made clear in the EW's correspondence about the book's development included at the end.
The book is still hilarious - (Aimee Thanatagenos, enough said) - but EW is an anti-semite as is made clear in the EW's correspondence about the book's development included at the end.