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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
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
A book I feel like I need to reread immediately after finishing it.
EDIT: On doing just that, even more excellent than before. Wonderful prose, wonderful story, wonderful core.
EDIT: On doing just that, even more excellent than before. Wonderful prose, wonderful story, wonderful core.
If you asked me now who I am, the only answer I could give with any certainty would be my name: Charles Ryder. For the rest: my loves, my hates, down even to my deepest desires, I can no longer say whether these emotions are my own or stolen from those I once so desperately wished to be. On second thought, one emotion remains my own; Alone among the borrowed and the second-hand, as pure as that faith from which I am still in flight: Guilt.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
An incredibly unconvincing novel - much too fast paced, causing me to have no attachment to any of the characters or relationships. In fact, had it spent a little more time developing what was supposed to be such a strong bond between Charles and Sebastian, in turn making Charles' fascination with Sebastian's family even more traitorous, I would've found the rest of the book, which focused a lot on the nostalgia Charles felt about Brideshead, much more compelling.
But it didn't do any of that, and so I didn't care about any events, any characters, or any relationships. Disappointing, especially considering its potential.
But it didn't do any of that, and so I didn't care about any events, any characters, or any relationships. Disappointing, especially considering its potential.
I listened to an abridged version of this a few years ago and didn't like it because it had no build up... Yeah, I'm an idiot. ANYWAY. Very pleased I decided to use this in my MA thesis because I definitely enjoyed this reading experience much more.
Brideshead Revisited is the story of Charles Ryder and his connection to the very Catholic Flyte family. Starting off with his strong friendship with the troubled Sebastian when he's at Oxford, we get to see Charles get all the more tangled up in the family, whether he wishes to or not. Waugh touches upon the privileges that seem so obvious to the characters and that they are denied as the War approaches, this is a satirical story about class, religion, family and youth.
The more I think about it the more I appreciate all the various stages of this story, even though I, being me, enjoyed the university buddies turned sensual summer companions the most. I found myself aching to leave the characters when I turned the last page, but I also felt disappointed that we never got to reconnect with certain characters (you know who I mean). But in a way I really like how Waugh painted a picture of someone being pulled into a whole family and not just the one person. He was the forerunner, he was youth. She symbolized another stage of life. And who knows, maybe Charles will fidn his way back to them after the War. It certainly doesn't seem impossible.
Brideshead Revisited is the story of Charles Ryder and his connection to the very Catholic Flyte family. Starting off with his strong friendship with the troubled Sebastian when he's at Oxford, we get to see Charles get all the more tangled up in the family, whether he wishes to or not. Waugh touches upon the privileges that seem so obvious to the characters and that they are denied as the War approaches, this is a satirical story about class, religion, family and youth.
The more I think about it the more I appreciate all the various stages of this story, even though I, being me, enjoyed the university buddies turned sensual summer companions the most. I found myself aching to leave the characters when I turned the last page, but I also felt disappointed that we never got to reconnect with certain characters (you know who I mean). But in a way I really like how Waugh painted a picture of someone being pulled into a whole family and not just the one person. He was the forerunner, he was youth. She symbolized another stage of life. And who knows, maybe Charles will fidn his way back to them after the War. It certainly doesn't seem impossible.
A slow start but a good finish. I found myself distracted very frequently which indicates my overall lack of engagement. Charles and Sebastian were good characters. The novel displays highly dysfunctional middle-class and aristocratic elites. Introduce catholicism and we have guilty egos on top of dysfunction.
3.5 Stars.
I feel so conflicted about this book, in one sense I feel like I should of rated it much higher but in the other I feel that I cannot. I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters till the last third of the book, before then it felt like the story jumped around too much for me to get any proper impression of Charles, Sebastian, Julia etc.
I feel so conflicted about this book, in one sense I feel like I should of rated it much higher but in the other I feel that I cannot. I didn’t feel any connection to any of the characters till the last third of the book, before then it felt like the story jumped around too much for me to get any proper impression of Charles, Sebastian, Julia etc.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I shouldn’t quite speak, at least not yet so quickly, after reading a book like this, but I yield so I may remember my first impressions - the ending comes to me as a sort of Catholic Great Gatsby… only strangely able to end with silent cheer, in spite of everything. A Comedy, then, instead of a Fitzgensian Tragedy, with a small flame at the alter proving to outlast the green light that’s been extinguished at the other end of the bay. So we beat on, somehow, stumbling, hopefully into the future.