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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful rich language that is a pleasure to read. The characters in the book are fascinating and as remote from real life as an isolated people in the Amazon. It struck me reading the book that the 1981 TV version was impeccably cast. I really enjoyed it.
I’ve had this feeling for as long as I knew this book existed (monseigneur Mark Langham (RIP), midway through Fresher’s year) that it would be one of my favourites ever. I like to be right, much like I like, sometimes, and for sometimes unclear reasons, to be a Catholic.
The same as today then
My cousin Jasper... he was in his fourth year and, the term before, had come within appreciable distance of getting his rowing blue; he was secretary of the Canning and president of the JCR; a considerable person in college. He called on me formally during my first week and stayed to tea; he ate a very heavy meal of honey-buns, anchovy toast, and Fuller's walnut cake, then he lit his pipe and, lying back in the basket chair, laid down the rules of conduct which I should follow... "You're reading History? A perfectly respectable school. The very worst is English Literature and the next worst is Modern Greats. You want either a first or a fourth. There is no value in anything between. TIme spent on a good second is time thrown away. You should go to the best lectures - Arkwright on Demostenes for instance - irrespective of whether they are in your school or not... Clothes. Dress as you do in a country house. Never wear a tweed coat and flannel trousers - always a suit. And go to a London tailer; you get better cut and longer credit... Clubs. Join the Carlton now and the Grid at the beginning of your second year. If you want to run for the Union - and it's not a bad thing to do - make your reputation outside first, at the Canning or the Chatham, and begin by speaking on the paper... Keep clear of Boar's hill... Don't treat dons like schoolmsters; treat them as you would your vicar at home... You'll find you spend half your second year shaking off the undesirable friends you made in your first... Beware of the Anglo-Catholics - they're all sodomites with unpleasant accents. In fact, steer clear of all the religious groups; they do nothing but harm..."
As it seemed to her, the thing was a dead loss. If she apostased now, having been brought up in the Church, she would go to hell, while the protestant girls of her acquaintance, schooled in happy ignorance, could marry eldest sons, live at peace with their world, and get to heaven before her. There could be no eldest son for her, and younger sons were indelicate things, necessary, but not to be much spoken of. Younger sons had none of the privileges of obscurity; it was their plain duty to remain hidden until some disaster perchance promoted them to their brothers' places, and, since this was their function, it was desirable that they should keep themselves wholly suitable for succession. Perhaps in a family of three or four boys, a Catholic might get the youngest without opposition. There were, of course, the Catholic themselves, but these seldom came into the world had made herself; those who did her mother's kinsmen, who, to her, seemed grim and eccentric. Of the dozen or so rich Catholic families, none at that time had an heir of the right age. Foreigners - there were many among her mothers family - were tricky about money, odd in their ways, and a sure mark of failure in the English girl who wed them. What was there left?
This was Julia's problem after her weeks of triumph for London. She knew it was not insurmountable, There must, she thought, be a number of people outside her own world who are well qualified to be drawn into it; the shame was that she must seek them. Not for her the cruel, delicate luxury of choice, the-cat-and-mouse pasttimes of the hearth-rug. No Penelope she; she must hunt in the forest.
The same as today then
I learned about Julia bit by bit…
„…You seldom go to see the cricket?”
„Never,” I said, and he looked at me with the expression I have seen since in the religious, of innocent wonder that those who expose themselves to the dangers of the world should avail themselves so little of its varied solace.
“I wish I liked Catholics more”
“They seem just like other people”
“My dear Charles, that’s exactly what they’re not - particularly in this country, where they’re so few. It’s not just that they’re a clique - as a matter of fact, they’re at least four cliques all blackguarding each fiend half the time - but they’ve got an entirely different outlook on life; everything they think important is different from other people. They try and hide it as much as they can, but it comes out all the time. It’s quite natural, really, that they should.”
„Look at me. I have done my share. I am beautiful. It is something quite out of the ordinary, this beauty of mine. I am made for delight. But what do I get out of it? Where is my reward?”
„Toast!” Said my wife, as though this was something beyond the dreams of gluttony. „Do you hear that Charles? Toast.”
The run had sunk now to the line of woodland beyond the valley; all the opposing slope was already in twilight, but the lakes below us were aflame; the light grew in strength and splendour as it neared death, drawing long shadows across the pasture, falling full on the rich stone spaces of the house, firing the panes in the windows, glowing on cornices and colonnade and done, spreading out all the stacked merchandise of colour and scent from earth and stone and leaf, glorifying the head and golden shoulders of the woman beside me.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
‘He is dying of a long word.’
One line tonally sums up the entire style the book is written in - quietly witty and heartbreaking, every character is a slight parody of themselves at times, yet it remains grounded and moving at the same time. Still not sure how this was achieved, another testament to this book’s excellence. You can’t see the joins.
One line tonally sums up the entire style the book is written in - quietly witty and heartbreaking, every character is a slight parody of themselves at times, yet it remains grounded and moving at the same time. Still not sure how this was achieved, another testament to this book’s excellence. You can’t see the joins.
challenging
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Perhaps I was meant to be left stewing over a deep question of faith and religion in modern society, but what made a deeper impression on me was how vapid nearly everyone and every conflict was. Yes, that may be partly the point, that respectable "old money" families were fading and becoming a thing of the past, but there's no commentary or criticism. There's only a protagonist who floats through life, tossed by the whims of his lovers and friends. All that said, the beautiful writing is what kept me engaged, even if self-pitying rich boy protagonists don't.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
The only thing more stunning beautiful than reading Evelyn Waugh’s words is listening to Jeremy Irons narrate it.
emotional
reflective
sad
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
Oh my goodness I absolutely adored this book. It's just so enchanting, every character is so engaging, and the descriptions are so beautifully detailed, filled with absolutely stunning language. One of my favourite books of all time.
Really loved it right up until the very end, and then the last page or so gave me the ick for some reason. Still excellent though
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes