Rating: 
Summary: A Timeless, Beatiful Novel
Review: Brideshead Revisited is not for everyone. Evely Waugh focuses on what he thinks is important, and he doesn't particularly care if the reader doesn't agree with him. He is also utterly unapologetic about involving things like sin, morality, and God that are looked down upon by modern critics. That is what makes him great as an author.
The true key to this novel is the quote from G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries that is mentioned. The one where Father Brown talks about bringing someone back by a twitch upon the thread. An invisible thread long enough to let someone go to the ends of the world, and still bring him back. That, of course, is what God does in this novel. As Evelyn Waugh said, this novel is about the operation of Divine Grace upon a disparate group of individuals. And so the alcoholic Sebastian, the self-indulgent Julia, and the agnostic Charles are all brought back to God in the end.
It is the effects of time that make this novel so profoundly moving for me. Charles goes for so many years without even thinking of his time at Brideshead, and then one brief meeting with Julia brings it all back to him. And he realizes that nothing he has done in his life since then has been of any real value compared to it. That seems very like life to me, where things you barely noticed or didn't understand later become your most important memories.
It is true that Waugh tends to be overly snobbish about the aristocracy in England. We really must wonder if their passing away was such a bad thing. But he still paints a profound picture of England before World War II, as well as giving us unforgettable characters. This is truly a book worth reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting for some.
Review: Brideshead Revisited was a great book in my mind, however I doubt a lot of people I know would get past the third page without falling asleep. The writing style is unique for Waugh and is more about the characters composition than the events. Each character is no doubt distinctive and at times despicable. It's not filled with dialogue which I view as a positive thing. This book sets the theme for post WW2 British culture. Surprisingly making charming appearances as well as ones that are straight out nihilistic. The reason that I think my peers wouldn't appreciate this book is because it's quite uneventful at times, but Waugh obviously wasn't going for a murder mystery feeling while writing this. His desire was to make a statement about wealthy English society at this time, which he does with flying colors. One of the least prevalent factors of Waugh's collection of writings is a bit of unhappy endings or "dead ends". In this book that is present most of the time (Charles' friendship with Sebastian, his relationship with Julia,Sebastian's alcoholism). The BEST part of this book was the realism, this book wasn't about life, it was life, the fact that Charles couldn't resist the deadly charm of the Flytes and whether he wanted to evade pain or end his connections with them, he couldn't resist their siren calls. I find that unbearably human. Charles wasn't however as interesting as Sebastian. He lacked that take the lead sort of mentality. Some of the people in this book, you couldn't help but detest, in my case it was really Lady Marchmain, she was in my opinion the source of her son's unsatisfaction and sadness! Sebastian was indisputably one of my most favorite book characters ever. This book also persisted in making subtle observations on the Catholic Church which were pretty amusing. I recomment this, if you are willing to bear through some boring spells and get the reward of a brilliant story.
Rating:
Summary: The Memories That Make Us
Review: This is the first Evelyn Waugh book I have read, on recommendation. 'Brideshead Revisited' is an extremely well-written book that thoroughly tells the story of Charles Ryder, an English officer who is forced to recall the happiest and saddest moments of his life. Through his memories, we learn of the wealthy and eccentric Marchmain family and the formative role they played in the narrator's life.
Charles Ryder begins his memoirs when, as a soldier in WWII, he finds himself requisitioning the old manor home of the Marchmain family. He immediately recalls his first encounters with the family - the mysterious and ultra-stylish Sebastian, whom he encounters while at Oxford, a pretentious young man who carries around a stuffed bear and has a propensity to drink. Sebastian is hesitant to introduce Charles to his family, for fear they will charm him so much that he will lose him as a friend for himself. But Charles does meet, and is charmed by, the Marchmain family, ingratiating himself into every aspect of their life. He quickly becomes a mainstay with the family and is called upon in times of great stress - when Sebastian's propensity to drink gets him expelled and causes him to escape his demons by running away. Despite losing his friend, through the years, Charles remains connected with the Marchmains in varying degrees of intimacy.
'Brideshead Revisited' is a stylish and well-written saga of one man's journey to discover himself; he seeks out what he desires in others, and at the end of his journey is brought to tears by his remembrances of everything he has lost. The novel is not only a family saga, but also raises deep questions of faith, especially pertaining to Catholicism. As an agnostic, Charles ridicules the Marchmain's devout adherence to a faith system he finds mystical; and in the end, he must lose the Marchmain family because he cannot reconcile himself to their system of beliefs. Charles would rather find his own system of beliefs, exactly what he's been searching for throughout the entire novel, seeking it through school, painting, and relationships, but to no avail.
Rating: 
Summary: What am I missing?
Review: Typically when I finish a book, my wife jumps at the chance to read it next after having seen my excitement. When I finished Brideshead Revisited, she declined the offer. She said it was a boring title with a boring cover, and that I hadn't said anything at all to make her think it was a good read. Yet Brideshead Revisited is extremely well written. When it came time for me to write a review of my own performance at work, I tried to find inspiration from Waugh's style; I showed the review to my wife, who was blown away by how well it was written. So where is the disconnect?Perhaps it stems from the fact that there is no real story line. What is Brideshead Revisited about? I can tell you that it touches on religion and war and homosexuality and class and family, but I am hard pressed to provide a synopsis. (I finally concluded that it is a family portrait, which is what adorns the cover of my edition.) More likely my dissatisfaction is a result of the dispassionate voice of the main character/narrator that gives the story a dream-like quality similar to L'Etranger by Camus. If the narrator himself is dispassionate, that makes it tough for me to get wrapped up in the novel. I fear that criticizing a modern classic speaks more to my own unsophisticated tastes than to the strengths or weaknesses of the novel, so it is it is with some trepidation that I give Brideshead Revisited only three stars. The book sat on my shelf for over a decade before I finally picked it up. What took me so long? Perhaps it's as simple as it being a boring title with a boring cover. All I can say is that it wasn't worth the wait.
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