Rating: Summary: Genteel Barbarians Review: This is a ghoulish, uncomfortable novel from an author otherwise wickedly funny. The Last's live in a Gothic, monstrous mansion, in dull but amiable decadence. At first, they are typical of Waugh's aristocrats, particularly in their shallow natures, remote and chilly emotions, particularly familial. There are some funny moments when the child, imitating his groom, calls his nanny, "a silly tart." His father then instructs him on the ways of the upper classes, which was a lesson on further shallowness, vanity and baseness.
The otherwise tolerable 'Last' marriage is put to the test by the entrance of a universally disliked, penniless and mother-dependent, Mr. Beaver. Brenda, whose maiden name was 'Rex,' becomes obsessed with the unscrupulous user and the story then swerves into weirdness. I will not give away the famous macabre ending, to which Waugh, under fan pressure, ultimately added an alternative. I will just say that the first ending was published later as a short story and titled, "The Man Who Loved Dickens." However, it is not the ending alone that gives shivers, there are some other twists in the plot that are more revolting than ironic. Handful of Dust is a story of human misery based largely on characters lacking basic humanity. Instead they are steeped in cursory gentility that masks barbarity. Too solemn for my liking, but it bears reading, for its notority, and for a glimpse into what I suspect was a more common mood in the reputedly unpleasant personality of the author.
Rating: Summary: "Studying Economics" - !?!? Review: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. When I finished the book I wasn't too impressed by the "Dickens" ending but two days later when I thought about it again I started to laugh hysterically. I have wanted to read Evelyn Waugh for a long time and finally got around to it. Am I glad!
Rating: Summary: "Studying Economics" - !?!? Review: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. When I finished the book I wasn't too impressed by the "Dickens" ending but two days later when I thought about it again I started to laugh hysterically. I have wanted to read Evelyn Waugh for a long time and finally got around to it. Am I glad!
Rating: Summary: Black comedy that hurts Review: This is the second of Waugh's books that I have read, but there will be more. This book was thouroughly enjoyable, to say the least. While the characters in this book weren't overly developed, they were just flat enough to be believable. The book is full of absurdity, satire, and irony, but at the same time put me through an emotional ringer. The book centers around the wealthy Last family, none of whom seemed worthy of my empathy, but all of whom ended up stealing my sympathy. Lord Tony Last is an emotionally disconected aristocrat whose wife has an affair with the most shallow mooch she could find, while leaving her husband at the family estate to deal with their ill-fated son. The absurd situations of the book, from a death in the family, to a bizarre divorce premise, to a twisted ending that is wholly unexpected, kept my attention, made me laugh out loud, and made me angry all at the same time. This is a satirical smack to the face of blue bloods everywhere. If you found other books by Waugh to be enjoyable, or if you are a fan of dark humor, you should like this one too.
Rating: Summary: Sparkling prose, surprising plot twists Review: This novel is not satirical, but dead-on accurate in its observations of a certain stratum of English society which is no longer shamed or shocked by its own actions. Brenda is put off by the "monstrous way" Tony has behaved -- namely, not allowing her to continue as the "victim" of the divorce proceeding. Her "friends" aid and abet her philanderings while gossiping behind her back, and allowing her to become penniless while they go off on holiday. Mrs. Beaver, whose son is the amoral, parasitic lover, is interested in the affair only by what can be gained monetarily from it. The astonishing twist in the story line, following Tony's harrowing adventures in the Amazon jungle, is perplexing to some readers, but in fact serves as an interesting comparison of the two totally different environments Tony has had to deal with, one of "civilized" society, and the other of the jungle. The more "civilized" people in the jungle (all the English-speaking characters) create just as many problems for Tony as the bats and mosquitoes. (Perhaps some of the previous reviewers could have thought a little more along these lines before writing a bad review.) Also, one has to think how Tony could have avoided his misfortunes. He is undone by his staidness, until it is too late. Perhaps Waugh is commenting on the English gentry in general(?) Waugh also pointedly observes how the upper-class children are brought up by nannies and stablehands, while the parents remain aloof to their daily activities. A great novel causes the reader to think on several levels, while also being an entertaining read. This novel accomplishes both goals. Every word and action has its significance in a great work such as this one!
Rating: Summary: A note about those two endings... Review: This odd, clever, scathingly bitter satire seems a patchwork of various pieces of fiction--and, as its history attests, it is. A little over halfway through the novel, "A Handful of Dust" veers, rather unexpectedly, from a bitter reflection on an unfaithful wife and her upper-crust coconspirators to a Conradian parody of explorers in the Brazilian wilderness. To explain this incongruity, The Everyman's Library edition of this fascinating work features a must-read introduction by William Boyd, but (as such introductions often do), it contains so many "spoilers" that readers are warned to wait until afterwards to peruse it. Boyd's essay does, however, summarize two salient aspects of the novel that are prerequisite to understanding (and perhaps enjoying) it. Waugh's first marriage to Evelyn Gardner ended acrimoniously in 1929; four years later (and the year before he wrote "A Handful of Dust") his heart was broken a second time when Teresa Jungman turned down his proposal of marriage. Knowing this, it's hard not to read the fictional account of Tony and Brenda's marriage, as Boyd does, as "Waugh's own exploration of betrayal and sexual humiliation and . . . a form of revenge against the damage inflicted on his psyche by Evelyn Gardner. . . . It is an unyieldingly cruel and vicious portrait of a worthless woman. . . . The novel is full of hate and scorn, not just for Brenda, but also for the society in which she moves." There is no denying that the novel reads like an act of vengeance, and this contempt takes many forms: Brenda, at first charming and innocent, quickly and inexplicably devolves into vapidity and selfishness; Tony's closest friends hide from him their knowledge that Brenda is having an affair; and--at the book's most memorable, pivotal, venomous moment--Brenda shows more concern for her lover than for her only son. Waugh published two entirely different endings, both of which are included in many editions. (Make sure you get a copy that has both versions.) Boyd explains: after writing "the first two-thirds of this novel at great speed," Waugh was unsure how to end it, knowing only that he wanted "a sad end." For the British edition, he appended, with minor alterations, an earlier short story, "The Man Who Liked Dickens," about an aristocrat trapped by a madman in Brazil. Yet he had to write a second ending for the serial publication for Harper's Bazaar in the United States, because he had previously published the "Dickens" story in a competing magazine. While the British ending is satisfying (and devious) on its own, it nevertheless seems out of place; readers who feel that they have suddenly picked up another story about a different character in the opposite hemisphere will feel some vindication learning that, in a sense, they have done exactly that. I agree with Boyd that the American version, while simpler, is "truer to the novel's potent undercurrents than the short story Waugh recycled to finish off his sombre, disturbing tale of adultery." Other readers, obviously, disagree, and find the alternate ending too pat, too cynical, top predictable. (I, personally, enjoyed both endings for different reasons, but found both a little unsatisfying, each belying the book's claim to cohesiveness.) Yet the fact that Waugh could write two endings over which future readers and critics would war only attests to his brilliance.
Rating: Summary: Remember to laugh Review: This one could be a wrist-slitter, if you took it too seriously. Waugh's indictment of marriage in his day and class is not quite gentle enough to be called funny, I think. That said, the worst Waugh is still genius. But if you are starting out, read "Decline and Fall" first, for sheer entertainment; then "Brideshead Revisited," which actually approaches some of the same issues as this book, with the benefit of a few more years' experience.
Rating: Summary: A brilliant book, witty and poignant Review: Truly one of the finest novels by one of the finest 20th century authors. At it's heart, it is the story of how trivial events and an attempt to do the right thing can doom an ordinary man to a far from ordinary fate. I first came across this book when an extract from it "The Man who loved Dickens" was printed in a short story anthology. This was just a taste of the bizarre, yet believable, events recounted. This is a very different novel than Waugh's others that I have read. As darkly funny as "Decline and Fall" or "Scoop" but with more humanity. As poignant as "Brideshead Revisited" but far more fanciful and with more humour. This is a short but spectacular read which will leave the reader in awe.
Rating: Summary: Ho-hum.. Review: Very odd book that turned into a very boring book with a very strange ending, to say the least. While the prose was witty, entertaining and lyrically delightful, the plot was just too odd for me.
Rating: Summary: brilliant satire, a masterpiece of black humor Review: Waugh was a Catholic, a conservative and a snob, which might
make him an unlikely candidate to write some of the books he
did, the most brilliant satires of the 20th century. Though
he is best known for Brideshead Revisited, Handful of Dust
is, in my opinion, his best, closely followed by Vile Bodies,
Decline and Fall, Scoop, etc. These books are a slice to the
very bone of his society (and ours, in many ways), and he was
a genius of style; economical, precise, always on target and
hilariously and horribly funny. Handful of Dust has an unusual
and haunting ending.
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