Book info

• Title Brideshead Revisited
• Author Evelyn Waugh
• Year 1945
• Genre Classic

The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.

Thoughts

My knowledge of this book was simply that I knew it had been made into a TV programme and possibly a film. One of those that is adapted for the screen, I thought, it can’t be too bad. When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be another Great Gatsby - an enigmatic individual, those around him desperate to be acknowledged, things go a bit awry, etc, etc.

It wasn’t like that at all though. The story was very slow to start, and although it picked up a little pace as the relationships started to weave their way together, it felt very drawn out. Part of the problem, to my mind, was that there didn’t seem to be any inflection to the narration. It felt like listening to a monotone for the entire time. Things kept on happening and there was very little emotion talked about - as though it was a bad thing to discuss, whether it was from Ryder or those around him.

It didn’t help me relate to the characters, and the subjects of religion and class didn’t help much either. I quite liked the story as it eventually wound towards a conclusion, but I can’t say that I felt particularly engaged in any of it. It was also a pretty depressing tale, with no one seemingly allowed a happy ending.

Rating: 2 / 5