Vile Bodies
by Evelyn Waugh
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1062)
Read in September, 2007
As my Waugh-coach John observed, this book speaks truths as apropos now as they were between the two World Wars. I think that high-waisted jeans may be the "black suede shoes" of today. As for "green bowler hats", may I suggest, well, green bowler hats? Kate Moss is a fan, I hear. Waugh is such fun because his snark is surreal, not ironic, though I didn't really get the Ms. Melrose Ape storyline.
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The finest Waugh. The funniest 20th century novel, in my opinion. Too many people buy Brideshead and fall asleep in it. Skip that and read this. Read Decline and Fall first though. Waugh at his brisk, bright, unsentimental best.
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Read in March, 2008
Vile Bodies is no Brideshead Revisited, but then, if you read my (much) earlier post on Brideshead, you'll know that even Brideshead itself didn't quite live up to it's own first 100 pages for me. What I'd really like to do is just read the beginnings of Evelyn Waugh novels from now on. From the first pages of Vile Bodies I was filled with the delicious anticipation of forthcoming satirical wit, but just as I experienced with Brideshead, Handful of Ashes, and even Decline and Fall, the rest of t...more
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This is Waugh’s second novel. It’s a very funny, very brutal satire of British society “between the wars.” It’s filled with drunks, frauds, tabloid journalists, offended sensibilities, harried inn keepers, and put-upon servants. Everyone seems to be living a Zelda & Scottie lifestyle filled with drinking, witty quips, and the occasional car crash. The plot is as heedless as the lives of its characters; it defies summary. It’s mostly a look at a glittering, hard drinking group of ...more
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Savage and surgical. Vile Bodies documents a zombie-world where humanity (in the sense of sympathy for other humans) is a waif, cowering in a sewer pipe, trying to avoid having its brain eaten. A bit scrappy in parts - apparently Waugh's wife left him during its composition - this novel redeems all with its stunning ending.
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Read in January, 2006
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in July, 2008
I had fond memories of reading A Handful of Dust in a college course on British Literature and thought I would give Waugh another chance. This is a sharp critique of the upper classes with none of the humor that P.G. Wodehouse uses to soften the blows. I think that anyone who enjoys British period pieces will still enjoy the descriptions of British society during this time. For a reader looking for more than a period piece, the real surprise is the extent that the criticisms of modern society...more
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Read in November, 2007
Half my family is obsessed with Evelyn Waugh, so I figured it was high time I read one of his novels. About the English uppper-class in the 1920s or so; lots of good quips, and then it turns dark and about the war at the end. Still liked it, still good.
"Shall I lock the door?" asked Lord Metroland.
"No," said the Jesuit. "A lock does not prevent a spy from hearing; but it does hinder us, inside, from catching the spy."
"Well, I should never have thought of that," said Mr. Outrage in frank admiration. ...more
"Shall I lock the door?" asked Lord Metroland.
"No," said the Jesuit. "A lock does not prevent a spy from hearing; but it does hinder us, inside, from catching the spy."
"Well, I should never have thought of that," said Mr. Outrage in frank admiration. ...more
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Read in January, 2008
I finally get to post something.
Took a long time to get through this book, and I'm still not entirely sure why. Part of it, I believe, is me, not Mr. Waugh. A good book really is the right match between the author's words and the reader's willingness to succumb to it, and I haven't been lately.
But the end of this lighthearted farce came with a little more of a bittersweet ending than I expected. It takes a look at a decadent class of people as they flitter through situation after situati...more
Took a long time to get through this book, and I'm still not entirely sure why. Part of it, I believe, is me, not Mr. Waugh. A good book really is the right match between the author's words and the reader's willingness to succumb to it, and I haven't been lately.
But the end of this lighthearted farce came with a little more of a bittersweet ending than I expected. It takes a look at a decadent class of people as they flitter through situation after situati...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
homos and 1920s buffs
You sure can put lots of secret gay references in 288 pages. This is a good book to read before a wild party, but not after, because it makes you feel like your life will never be interesting enough. It's actually not a very well-written book and seems to have hopes to be a lot wittier than it actually is. I think the Stephen Fry television adaptation of this is far better than the novel, which is pretty shame-making (as Abigail Runcible would say). I'm still curious to read more of Waugh's work...more
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Read in March, 2005
I've got Bright Young Things in my DVD queue even though I'd read unfavorable reviews comparing it to its source. Vile Bodies is a swirl of parties full of the bright young people who don't really know what to do with themselves. The central characters are Adam and Nina who are sometimes obscured by the swirl. It's often funny, with satires of evangelism, journalism and the stock car racing scene of the day. It's also a little depressing - even in 1930, the author knew that war was immanent. The...more
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Read in March, 2008
Kind of like Gatsby taken to another level.
Reading this novel I kind of realised that they'd pretty much figured satire out eighty years ago. Maybe earlier. There is nothing massively different in the sense of humour here to what has been written in the last 10 years. It's pretty much Ross O'Carroll-Kelly. Except maybe funnier.
I'm not giving out about this. I'm not saying that the basic approach to satire should have changed or developed in the last century. I'm just saying... props to Evely...more
Reading this novel I kind of realised that they'd pretty much figured satire out eighty years ago. Maybe earlier. There is nothing massively different in the sense of humour here to what has been written in the last 10 years. It's pretty much Ross O'Carroll-Kelly. Except maybe funnier.
I'm not giving out about this. I'm not saying that the basic approach to satire should have changed or developed in the last century. I'm just saying... props to Evely...more
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Read in November, 2007
What is this book even about? It seemed like a best-of British one-liners from the interwar era. After putting down the book in a kind of daze, we happened to pick up Bright Young Things on TiVO. I wondered what they could possibly put in a film. But it was line-by-line accurate, and to my surprise, beautiful, evocative, and sort of touching. Not only was it better as a film, but my post-partum brain actually needed the film to show me what was in the book. "How shaming."
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