Reviews - Brideshead Revisited

2.82k reviews for:

Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh

3.87 AVERAGE

elainejohanson's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective medium-paced

rosabelle's review against another edition

3.5

emotional 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

alley_dotcat's review against another edition

Wasn’t invested in the story and had other more interesting books, definitely could revisit later

creeb's review against another edition

5.0

a reluctant point in catholicism's favor

cyates99's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

readsewknit's review against another edition

4.0

I set a goal for myself to prioritize reading from my owned titles in 2025, and my audiobook library is particularly benefitting from this attention. BRIDESHEAD REVISITED has been at my periphery for a time, although I knew little to nothing about it.

Places hold memories for us; events that we have long forgotten can rush to the forefront when we find ourselves back in that setting.

“I should like to bury something precious in every place where I've been happy and then, when I'm old and ugly and miserable, I could come back and dig it up and remember.”

We meet Charles Ryder, an officer thrust into reflecting about his past when he finds himself at Brideshead; even past its glory days, he can't tamp down the memories of his youth, when he found himself captivated by the Marchmain family. So begins a retrospective of his life, and I savored the reflective pace as I pieced everything together.

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Read-from-my-own-library challenge: 14/25

celeste57's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Brideshead Revisited is one of those novels that has stood the test of time for a reason. It has depths to discover, many of which I know that I barely touched during this first visit. The first part of the story reads almost like a brighter, Catholic predecessor to The Secret History. Our main character, Charles, meets Sebastian Flyte during his first term at university and quickly becomes caught up in his odd new friend. We see that obsession grow to encapsulate not only Sebastian, but Sebastian’s genteel, melodramatic, religious, internally tortured family. Much of the story takes place against the backdrop of Sebastian’s ancestral home, Brideshead. Even when not the setting of a particular portion of the novel, its imposing, undeniable presence is felt. As is the family’s Catholic faith. Seeing that faith through the eyes of an agnostic unbeliever was a fascinating experience.

“Sometimes…I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there’s no room for the present at all.”

This is not a happy book, nor does it end so. What made the largest, most lasting impact on me was seeing this family of broken, unhappy people coming back to a faith that wouldn’t let the go, no matter how they ran from it. There’s a particular diatribe on “living in sin,” found in chapter 3 of part 3, that had the ring of a horribly sad yet brilliant epiphany. Seeing all of this unfold through the eyes of a nonbeliever, one who viewed the faith with suspicion in the best of times and antagonism in the worst, was a unique experience. I can’t say this was an easy book, or even a very rewarding one. But I have a feeling that it’s not a story I’ll be forgetting anytime soon, and I definitely intend to revisit Brideshead myself someday.

Side note: I tandem read the physical edition with the audiobook, making my experience incredibly immersive. If you’re an audiobook consumer, please listen to this on audio. It’s narrated by Jeremy Irons, who also starred in the Masterpiece miniseries of the novel. Irons has one of the entrancing voices I’ve ever encountered, and his dulcet narration turned the already beautiful prose into sumptuous poetry. I would listen to him read a phonebook.