Well, it’s Brideshead Revisited, of course, by Evelyn Waugh.
I’ve read about it all my life. I’ve seen the BBC series on television. I’ve read studies on this book in serious magazines, both secular and religious. I’ve owned the book, and it was time to read it for myself.
And – how strange – I couldn’t recognize the book I had always read about in the actual reading of the book.
This is definitely a book of great literary worth, written with skill and artistry; it is indeed a work of art. I enjoyed the unfolding of the scenes, the development of the narrative and of the characters , and which in turn necessarily pulled the reader along a kind of development of his own thoughts too as he experiences the world connected to Brideshead.
I can tell you about the plot and about the characters, but I can’t tell you the “meaning” of this book. For that, you’ll have to turn to all those studies of this book. And so will I, in order to find out what this book is about.
I hope it’s more than just another literary celebration of modern angst — as all the literary analysts seem to have discovered.
Great book. Recommended. But I’m so ready to leave the 20th century!
The Reading Shelf 