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bonnybonnybooks 's review for:
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
One of my goals this year was to read more classics. Somehow I managed to read three classics in chronological order by male, gay British authors centered on wealthy Britons: [b:Howards End|38374795|Howards End|E.M. Forster|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1518837828l/38374795._SX50_.jpg|1902726] (1910), [b:The Painted Veil|99664|The Painted Veil|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320421719l/99664._SY75_.jpg|1069201] (1925), and now [b:Brideshead Revisited|30933|Brideshead Revisited|Evelyn Waugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1438579340l/30933._SY75_.jpg|2952196] (1945). Brideshead, of course, has the most in common with Howard's End, with their examination of class and the books being love letters to the bucolic beauty and peacefulness of an English estate. Brideshead also relates to the Painted Veil with their unlikeable protagonists, although I would take Veil's Kitty over Brideshead's Charles Ryder any day.
I have heard that Waugh is an excellent humorist, and that his more comedic novels (i.e., [b:Scoop|30919|Scoop|Evelyn Waugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1416017359l/30919._SY75_.jpg|1001166]) are entertaining. His sly wit does come through in this novel - particularly by Charles Ryder's scene-stealing father, who launches a polite but persistent campaign to drive his only son out of the house when he feels he has overstayed his welcome during summer vacation. But most of the book was bogged down by Charles' mopey, self-centered pursuit of the two most magnetic Marchmain siblings.
Charles Ryder is a wealthy (but not aristocratic), directionless young man reading history at Oxford in the 1920s. He meets the reckless, alcoholic Lord Sebastian Flyte, when Sebastian vomits into his window after a drunken night out and then apologizes elegantly the next day. Their relationship continues as it began. Charles becomes obsessed with both Sebastian and his entire family and especially the family estate at Brideshead. Sebastian is the youngest son of the separated Lord and Lady Marchmain, and despises his mother for reasons I could never truly decipher (I would love a good analysis or lecture on this book). Sebastian descends deeper into alcoholism, and Charles enables him. They also may or may not be romantically involved, but since this was published in 1945 it is left open to interpretation instead of being explicit.
The first half of the novel is quite interesting, buoyed by fascinating supporting characters such as the openly gay and hedonistic Anthony Blanche, the mischievous but insightful youngest Marchmain, Cordelia, and the stuffy and stiff heir, Brideshead (Bridey). Although the trailer for the 2008 movie promised a bitter love triangle between Sebastian, Charles, and Sebastian's flippantly cool sister, Julia, this is entirely absent from the first half. Julia has absolutely no interest in a spindly, needy schoolboy like Charles.
The second half of the book is where this all fell apart for me. Charles was flawed in the first half, but he becomes absolutely despicable in the second half. It is about a decade later, and Charles has married and fathered two children. It is not his abhorrent behavior to his wife that is at issue- he can barely stand her, and openly begins an affair with Julia when they meet again while taking a passenger line across the Atlantic. It is his cold indifference to his own children that made me want to shove him into the ocean. He has never met his youngest child, who was born while he was taking a solo trip around Latin America for two years. He does not even remember her name. When he finally arrives back in England, he refuses to see his children so that he can continue to sleep with Julia. His wife begs him to see the children:
"You haven't seen Caroline."
"Will she change much in a week or two?"
"Darling, she changes every day."
"Then what's the point of seeing her now?"
Stone. Cold. Charles has never been able to see beyond his own desires and pursuit of "Beauty," whatever form that takes.
It was at this time I stopped caring about the book entirely. I did not care about Charles or Julia or their affair. Julia was also a far less interesting character than Sebastian, and the supporting characters I preferred mainly only made cameo appearances. I thought that the Prologue, where during World War II Charles is a melancholy, disillusioned loner, portended tragedy. It turns out that Charles absolutely deserves every sad ending he gets, and I was bolstered by the knowledge that his life would turn out poorly.
I have heard that Waugh is an excellent humorist, and that his more comedic novels (i.e., [b:Scoop|30919|Scoop|Evelyn Waugh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1416017359l/30919._SY75_.jpg|1001166]) are entertaining. His sly wit does come through in this novel - particularly by Charles Ryder's scene-stealing father, who launches a polite but persistent campaign to drive his only son out of the house when he feels he has overstayed his welcome during summer vacation. But most of the book was bogged down by Charles' mopey, self-centered pursuit of the two most magnetic Marchmain siblings.
Charles Ryder is a wealthy (but not aristocratic), directionless young man reading history at Oxford in the 1920s. He meets the reckless, alcoholic Lord Sebastian Flyte, when Sebastian vomits into his window after a drunken night out and then apologizes elegantly the next day. Their relationship continues as it began. Charles becomes obsessed with both Sebastian and his entire family and especially the family estate at Brideshead. Sebastian is the youngest son of the separated Lord and Lady Marchmain, and despises his mother for reasons I could never truly decipher (I would love a good analysis or lecture on this book). Sebastian descends deeper into alcoholism, and Charles enables him. They also may or may not be romantically involved, but since this was published in 1945 it is left open to interpretation instead of being explicit.
The first half of the novel is quite interesting, buoyed by fascinating supporting characters such as the openly gay and hedonistic Anthony Blanche, the mischievous but insightful youngest Marchmain, Cordelia, and the stuffy and stiff heir, Brideshead (Bridey). Although the trailer for the 2008 movie promised a bitter love triangle between Sebastian, Charles, and Sebastian's flippantly cool sister, Julia, this is entirely absent from the first half. Julia has absolutely no interest in a spindly, needy schoolboy like Charles.
The second half of the book is where this all fell apart for me. Charles was flawed in the first half, but he becomes absolutely despicable in the second half. It is about a decade later, and Charles has married and fathered two children. It is not his abhorrent behavior to his wife that is at issue- he can barely stand her, and openly begins an affair with Julia when they meet again while taking a passenger line across the Atlantic. It is his cold indifference to his own children that made me want to shove him into the ocean. He has never met his youngest child, who was born while he was taking a solo trip around Latin America for two years. He does not even remember her name. When he finally arrives back in England, he refuses to see his children so that he can continue to sleep with Julia. His wife begs him to see the children:
"You haven't seen Caroline."
"Will she change much in a week or two?"
"Darling, she changes every day."
"Then what's the point of seeing her now?"
Stone. Cold. Charles has never been able to see beyond his own desires and pursuit of "Beauty," whatever form that takes.
It was at this time I stopped caring about the book entirely. I did not care about Charles or Julia or their affair. Julia was also a far less interesting character than Sebastian, and the supporting characters I preferred mainly only made cameo appearances. I thought that the Prologue, where during World War II Charles is a melancholy, disillusioned loner, portended tragedy. It turns out that Charles absolutely deserves every sad ending he gets, and I was bolstered by the knowledge that his life would turn out poorly.