Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder
Book Review: average novel seduces critics
Summary: 2 Stars
The story has been summarized before: from an army camp, Charles Ryder reminisces about his youthful passion for a young aristocrat, Lord Flyte, and his subsequent passion for Lord's Flyte's sister, who has much in her of the young man - meaning she looks a lot like him.
Let me dispel a few misconceptions. First, that this is a masterpiece of style:
it ain't. the style is pedestrian, efficient in a workaday manner. There are no arresting phrases, no memorable scenes. When the emotional temper of the story rises, the author piles on a lot of qualifiers, but it all seems rather contrived, as if he was trying to get himself pumped up.
Second: that it is a brilliant portrayal of a declining aristocracy: yes, there is some of that. It is done, however, in passing, with rushed asides. There is no sustained exploration. In fact, the novel is laughably thin on framing a sense of the age in which it lives. Contemporary references are done by piling on lines of dialogue, mainly lines from Rex's oafish friends. That is cheap theatrical technique, done by someone who is merely trying to imply profundities, and not go into the trouble of actually writing them.
Third: that it is a deep exploration of religious faith, or the loss thereof. Phew. I have a question for those who say that: have you read Dostoevsky or even Graham Greene? Read Greene if you want a much deeper understanding of Catholicism in our world. The brief remarks on religion in this book are laughably simplistic: again, allusions, hints at a greater meaning, paths sketched but not followed through. What is the meaning of Julia's hysterical crisis? Can you read that and wonder where it came from?
About Sebastian. Of course he was gay. Why was he caring for the German? Just out of friendship? We don't know if Ryder was, but the narrator calls Sebastian the forerunner of his love for Julia. What does that mean?
As a novel, this is rather boring. Nothing much happens. There are a lot of re-tellings of events. Narration consists of a number of dialogues. It seems to be mainly about upper class and upper middle class young men who wanted to have sex with each other, but didn't. Classic.
Book Review: excellent reading
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is an excellent choice to relax with reading. The author's style is very entertaing and the book itself is great. A must read for those who like romance.Book Review: honest look at religion
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviewers have commented on the elements of the plot so I won't do so here.
What a great cast of characters! Each profoundly deep and profoundly real. In modern literature and pop cultural depictions, religious characters are usually one dimensional and lack empathy. It's either the 'spiritual' character who is tolerant and affirming of all or the more commonly represented by a close-minded, dogmatic individual. The depictions in Brideshead Revisited are deeper and nuanced. I would say that this book is almost a case study in Cognitive Dissonance - a concept not dwelt on nearly enough by most people. Despite their foibles and sins, the religious characters of the book maintain some semblance of faith and some desire for righteousness. We live in a time where Hypocrisy is the greatest of sins; the prescription being if you can't act out what you believe, change your beliefs. This book puts forward just the opposite solution (though the book is not preachy in the least) - maintain the faith and keep on keeping on.
Book Review: left me pondering
Summary: 4 Stars
This was a very different reading experience and still making me ponder about it. Very complex book for sure, characters and events are described without much explaining and yet they speak clearly of the incongruous, ambiguous and often absurd lives of the British elite/wealthy family in between the wars. Also there is serious lamentation over the fragility of beauty and youth. "He was magically beautiful, with that epicene quality which is extreme youth sings aloud for love and withers at the first cold wind." Writing is very sharp, and its humor painfully dark and analytical, particularly about the weight and irony of religious practice that seems to be right in the center of this story.Book Review: over-rated
Summary: 1 Stars
I'd first of all like to know how many of the people who gave this book positive reviews are catholics or episcopalians. I'll bet the percentage is very high. I hate stories that try to push a religious (or any other) agenda; i.e., stories with a "message." The first writer who discovers the meaning of life will be qualified to write a message novel. Until then, I wish all others would desist.
Aside from that, the writing is coy and pretentious--a sort of snob's "Rebecca," though the house, the characters and the plot in DuMaurier's novel were much more interesting. Waugh should have stuck to humor and should not have tried to create great literature, which this definitely is not; what a bore he became in his old age.