The Loved One

Rating:
Summary: I didn't like this book!
Review: I didn't like The Loved One at all. The reason why I didn't like it was because I didn't like the plot, the theme, or the characters. To show why I didn't like it, I'm going to compare it with a book that was really good and that I liked that is called The White Mountains. The plot of The White Mountains had action, excitement, and adventure. The story is about teenagers that traveled through Europe in search of a colony that would help the fight against aliens that had invaded earth. The plot of The Loved One is that Dennis Barlow falls in love with Aimee Thanatogenos, who is already in love with Mr. Joyboy. But then she falls in love with Dennis. At the end, she can't decide who she loves more, Dennis or Mr. Joyboy, so she kills herself. To me the theme of The Love One just seemed to be just dumb. The theme of The White Mountains is that teenagers can be responsible, and we could be the future leaders and the fate of the world could lay in our hands. Now,the theme of The Loved One is that adults can be silly and that they are only thinking about themselves and doing nothing to help our society. Last, the characters in The Loved One never seemed to be real. The characters in The White Mountains showed how strong they were by going across Europe to find the colony while the aliens were trying to kill them. The characters in The Loved One just fought over a woman who they both loved. But Aimee couldn't choose between Dennis and Mr. Joyboy, so she killed herslef. These were just some of the resons why I didn't like the book, The Loved One.

Rating:
Summary: Death is not funny!
Review: I have just recently finished reading the book, The Loved One. I thought it had some good points and some bad ones. Even so, I did not like it and would not recommend it. The good feature about the book was that it had good imagery. I could picture with my vivid imagination Whispering Glades. I could smell the grass and feel the mist from the morning dew. I could see the tombstones and visualize the different parts of the cemetery. I think that Evelyn Waugh is a good writer because he can describe the features and characters of the people and surroundings. However, I think that the book was not at all as recommended. I think the book was boring. It had no funny lines at all. It was so dry I wanted to get rid of it! Personally, if dealing with a cemetery, I would write about action. The worst part was when Mr. Joyboy took Miss Thanatogenos to see his mom. There was no action taken by the characters with the situation that was going on. My grandmother passed away not long ago. And I find that in dealing with death, you can't find comedy in it unless you're sick. That's why I say put action in there, and then you can add comedy.

Rating:
Summary: Not on my top ten list
Review: I liked certain parts of the book and disliked certain parts. It was very hard to understand at times because of the British humor.

I liked it when Mr. Barlow was asked to write about Sir Francis and the man didn't read it first and it was a joke instead of serious. Whispering Glades seemed like a very nice place. Otherwise, there was too much sadness. Like when Sir Francis hung himself, Mr. Joyboy being jealous that Miss Thanatogenos likes Mr. Barlow, and when Miss Thanatogenos kills herself. It is also weird that Mr. Barlow and Mr. Joyboy cremate her body and Mr. Barlow takes money from Mr. Joyboy and goes back to England.

Rating:
Summary: A complicated book
Review: The book "The Loved One" is a very complicated book to read. It starts in an awkward setting where you would not expect it. The beginning setting of the book takes place on the front porch of Sir Francis Hinsley, accompanied by Dennis Barlow; this setting continues for the first section of the book. When the first part of the book ends, the book's main purpose comes into focus. The death of Sir Francis Hinsley has brought on this topic of the book. It triggers Dennis Barlow to visit the Whispering Glades Mortuary to schedule the funeral. The continuing chapters of the book were on a similar note as this as they deal with a side of the topics that you would not suspect to be joined with problems in a mortuary. It took a clever mind to come up with these out of touch subjects and combine them to leave you with "The Loved One." Another out of place description in "The Loved One" is the way that they picture Hollywood. Usually, when you think of Hollywood, you think of movie stars, movies, nice Mercedes Benz cars and nice houses, but "The Loved One" describes a different part of Hollywood; a somewhat out of the ordinary description of the city. All in all, "The Loved One" is an excellent book because of the topics that you would not expect to revolve around the characters and the situations surrounding the characters. The setback to the book is that it starts off slow and in minor parts of the book it drags. Other than that is very well written.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant dark humor!
Review: Highly recommend this brilliant, witty slap-in-the-face to pretentious mannerisms and ignorant sanctity. Your dark side will snicker as your lighter side recoils in horror.

Rating:
Summary: This book is very well written and realistic in my opinion.
Review: This book is very well written for many reasons. First, it is very lifelike in that when you read it you feel like the characters are real and that these events really took place. The good thing about this book is that just because these specific people and events are fictional, this book still you let you know the harsh realities of life in Hollywood and that everyday these kinds of things happen. People come and go in that industry. When you are felt to have lost step you without every expecting it are kicked to the curb. This book is the kind that keeps you wanting to read more and more because of the continuous drama that leaves you at the edge of your seat.

This book also has its down points. Some of those are that the book is somewhat gruesome in the way it depicts death and in the way it commercializes death itself. Those who are weak at heart would find it hard to read this book.

This book in some ways is comical. The way the dead loved ones are used as a way to show love and that the way a cosmetician uses the dead loved ones as a type of art. The book is also a good love story. It does not portray love the way most people would like to think of it. The fact of the matter is that most people don't just fall in love and get married and live happily ever after. In a relationship there is deception, anger, and sometimes like in the novel confusion as to what you really wants. Also, this book is really good because relationships can drive people over the edge like some of the characters in the novel. Also, when in relationships you always in one way or another feel a lust for someone else.

* In conclusion, I feel this book was very well written and very realistic. *

Rating:
Summary: Very Good. Waugh is one of the greats.
Review: This novel is truly one of the best books ever written. It is one of the few books that I have read and actually like in a long time.I enjoyed the way Waugh delivers everything you ever wanted in a novel, or at least the ones I like to read and enjoy. He delivers a sense of dry wit and bitter irony that no one else has, or for I have read for that matter. Most of the authors you read today don't write like this anymore and they also don't have the same dry wit and bitter irony that Waugh produces. This novel is truly a timeless masterpiece among all generations. My favorite part of the book was when Mr. Barlow asks Miss Thanatogenos if she's gonna work on him after he dies and she said sure. In the end, Mr. Barlow ends up throwing her in the pet's crematorium. I found it kind of sad how she was always preparing loved ones for their graves and she never got a decent one herself. To me, I find that to be sad. One thing I found disturbing, besides Miss Thanatogenos injecting herself with poison and dying in the mortuary, was the way Sir Francis Hinsley passed away. Just because they fired him at his job for working all that time, he went and hung himself. I don't see why he did that, though, it's not like its the end of the world or anything like that. This novel was truly one that wouldn't let you put it down. My favorite character would have to be Mr. Barlow, he was heroic and very mellowed out. I looked up to him because he could talk to Miss Thanatogenos and look like a stud if he accidently said something wrong or insulting. I would recommend this book to anyone that could handle a good book, with plenty of feeling and emotion. Tis book led me through lots of surprises and twists and that's also what kept me reading. I found the books settings to be quite disturbing, though, because I don't find Whispering Glades (a movie star cemetery) and Happy Hunting Ground (a pet cemetery) to be ideal settings. So overall I recommend this book to a meture audience and I hope all you readers out there find as entertaining as I did.

Rating:
Summary: A great book about two men who love one woman
Review: This is an excellent novel about two men loving one woman. The two men are named Mr. Joyboy and Mr. Barlow and the woman they love is named Miss. Thanotogenos. This novel is suspensful because the reader does not know if Miss. Thanatogenos is going to pick Mr. Joyboy or Mr. Barlow to be her boyfriend. This is also a great novel because there are many surprises that await the reader throughout the whole story. Another thing i liked about the novel is how Mr. Joyboy and Mr. Barlow try to win Miss. Thanotogenos. The only thing that i think was missing from the novel is a little more conflict between Mr. Barlow and Mr. Joyboy. Other than that everything else in the novel was great.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best I have read in a long time
Review: This book was one of the best books I have ever read. It was the best book because i couldn't put it down. It was the feeling of what they do to the Loved Ones ( the ones that passed away ) to make them presentable to the people in the funeral. Just thinking of when I die these people like Mr.Joyboy, and Miss. Thanatogenos are going to make me look like new and happy when I die. I do feel sad that some of the people died like Sir Francis, and Miss. Thanatogenos had died. This book is a little satire because they did things that were not right to do like hide the disappearence of Miss. Thanatogenos. This book wasn't a nightmare that scared me it was a nightmare that made me think of what the people are going to do to me when i die. And it was a sad book that made me feel for the people because they had to die. I liked this book and hope other people liked the book as well as I did. And this is a good book of evelyn Waugh and I hope her other book will be the same.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS NOT AN OUTRAGEOUSLY COMIC NOVEL
Review: BEFORE I READ THE LOVED ONE I TOOK TIME TO READ THE REVIEW ON THE BACK OF THE BOOK AND IT SEEMED INTERESTING, BUT LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT THE STORY INSIDE WAS FAR FROM THAT. THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK WERE BORING BUT THE REST OF THE CHAPTERS WERE NOT AS BAD.I DO NOT THINK I WILL WANT TO READ ANOTHER BOOK WRITTEN BY EVELYN WAUGH.I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYBODY WHO DOES NOT HAVE TO READ IT.