Vaguely disagreeable olde England

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (Laurel Edition, 1944, 1945)

It's kind of fun to read old paperbacks. This one cost 75 cents when it was printed in 1965 (I think) and it is falling apart something pretty impressive. I think I'll be its final reader.

That sentiment is probably not true for the novel itself. (Obviously.) I am not crazy about Waugh, and it was a bit of a slog at the beginning. Lots of chummy gay college boys or something. Someone told me to not bother with the read and go straight to the movie, and I was sorely tempted. But I was glad to have stuck it through. Because after a spell it gets easier, and then suddenly, it gets much much easier. And without offering spoilers, I'm perhaps a little troubled by why I might find certain plots more agreeable than others.

That said, I still didn't have much affection or sympathy for any of the characters. It's been a week since I finished reading, and I had forgotten the narrator's name. He seems ... so distant, I suppose.

But! Onto the film adaptations!

Snarky

This week's surprisingly quick read was Vile Bodies, by Evelyn Waugh. First published in 1930, it details the mostly vapid lives of London's "Bright Young Things." Waugh has a sharp wit and is often very funny, but I was somewhat unsatisfied. He just seems so mean-spirited; I started feeling uncomfortable that no one had any particularly redeeming characteristics. I guess I prefer a slightly more tender bite.

But I'm willing to give Waugh another try - he was young when he wrote Vile Bodies, so I'll have to see if he softened a bit with age. Besides, how can you not love someone who writes this about the Prime Minister:

" '...You treat me like a child,' he said. It was all like one of those Cabinet meetings, when they all talked about something he didn't understand and paid no attention to him."

Who knew Bush was prime minister in the 20s?