I spent Thanksgiving break in Los Angeles, California this year. On the flight to L.A., I began reading Waugh's novel Handful of Dust. I was pretty amazed at how quickly I read this book. One three hour flight and a couple hours later, I had finished it.
It was certainly humorous...in a way that reminds me of Jonathon Swift's A Modest Proposal. I'd venture to say that this was Waugh's attempt at satirizing the institution of marriage. Brenda and Tony's marriage seems pretty decent initially. Nothing to write home about, for sure, but they have a sort of routinized, comfortable life together, planning their diets and such. It was pretty amazing to me how quickly their marriage evaporated. Okay. I take it back. I'm not.
What was absolutely hilarious to me about this novel was Waugh's use of irony to illustrate the hypocrisy and manipulation of Tony and Brenda's social reality. For instance, Brenda initiates the divorce because she is having an affair with Beavers, but by the end she has convinced everyone, including herself, that Tony had been in the wrong and was the cause for the divorce. It was his drinking, of course.
I genuinely liked this novel. I'm starting to open up a bit more to this Brit. Lit. business. :)
5 comments:
I'm reading it right now...hilarious.
I'm a big fan of Waughs.
Waugh is one of those authors I've yet to crack. Thanks for the review, it's certainly encouraged me to check my local library.
Greetings from London.
Hey E.F. Have you ever read anything else by Waugh? Any recommendations?
Also, are you a student or just a fan of British authors? :)
Hi "Cuban in London"! Greetings from the U.S. I'm glad my review was helpful.
I was a student of the British Empire in the 19th century and a read a lot more history than anything else, but Waugh writes about the end...or the transitional generation...of the era I loved so much.
I have a rubberneckers fascination with it...kinda like the First Worl War, modern art, and existentialism. Plus Waugh just really funny...and insightful too.
You might try Decline and Fall...antoher quick read...and Vile Bodies. I think his short are well worth it...Portrait of a Young Man with Career is maybe my favorite three or four pages of writing.
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