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Comments (20)

What did you think about this title?
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Feb 16, 2024Spillie rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
For a modern reader this book is achingly slow. The story could have been told in less than half the number of pages. Not the worst classic I’ve read but not the best either. With long run-on sentences, no sense of time or perspective, the…
Nov 16, 2023pozrob rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
Published in 1945, long before Downton Abbey captivated us commoners with a privy into British Edwardian splendor, there was Brideshead. About a recusant (Roman Catholic) aristocratic family and their trials and tribulations. Yawn. This is…
Jan 26, 2023arkvans rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Loved it. I’m amazed to read in the comments and actual book reviews (!) that Julia marries Charles! It did not happen, and was the plot device on which the entire novel turned.
Aug 21, 2022rclane rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
No reflection on the quality of the writing or subject matter - I just didn't find it gripping. There was a scene of passion on a ship that was exceptionally noteworthy.
Jul 02, 2022luketenhage rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
This book is the equivalent of listening to a very charming, very old man, ramble for hours. Sometimes he loses his train of thought, but he always comes back. There's many paragraph-long metaphors. This is the type of book I would have…
Dec 01, 2021mehania rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh is a beautiful book--- beautiful, here, is the key word. The prose is delicate and indulgent; It holds a multitude of descriptors and drawn-out sentences (to be expected for the time of publishing, I…
Oct 09, 2021EBirdy rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I did not find this book held up well - his writing is certainly high brow, but the life and type of family he laments losing is so far removed that I don't think many people will relate to his loss. The most enjoyable bits were between…
Jul 02, 2018harrissusanc rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Charles Ryder returns to a war torn estate and reminisces in heartbreak and satire about his days at Oxford, while the gilded age declines. The author, who wrote the novel when he was stationed in Croatia during WWII, apologizes for the…
Feb 23, 2018dennismmiller rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
As a young student at Oxford, Charles Ryder chances into a love affair with the eccentric, captivating Sebastian Flyte, younger son of Lord and Lady Marchmain. In time, Ryder is introduced to the rest of the family, and to a world of…
Nov 30, 2016ba_library rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I saw the miniseries and thought I need to read the book! The book is beautifully written, but didn't really provide many answers for me. Evelyn Waugh (a man) was married, converted to Roman Catholicism, divorced, remarried, traveled the…
Oct 04, 2016becker rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The story is touching and the writing is fabulous. It is worth reading for the prose alone.
Sarah1984
May 06, 2016Sarah1984 rated this title 2.5 out of 5 stars
28/12 - I have heard that an artist is never completely happy with their work - despite that I was surprised by what Waugh said about his own book in the preface in this Penguin edition. He was quite dismissive of it, commenting that he…
jackseney
Aug 16, 2015
Evelyn Waugh wrote in a "to the manor born" style not much distinguishable from that of old classic or Victorian British fiction. His books from the 1940s seem like throwbacks to pre-modernist days. By the time "Brideshead Revisited" was…
Mar 08, 2015macierules rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I had put off reading this because I had seen both the movie and the TV adaptation. The book is fabulous, definitely a new favourite.
Oct 03, 2013
Not 'Anglo-Catholic' (that's an entirely different thing), but 'English Catholic'. The American poet, T. S. Eliot was an Anglo-Catholic, and not a Catholic or really English.
lorna2511
Sep 12, 2013lorna2511 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Rich language, engaging story and characters - a true feast. I am sorry I waited so long in life to read this book. One of my best reads of all time. Thought-provoking themes of religion, class and sexuality follow all of the characters…
Mar 28, 2013bkilfoy rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Waugh's novel is rich in textures with truly brilliant turns of phrase suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Given that a substantial portion of the novel takes part in the 1920s, comparisons with [The Great Gatsby] are inevitable. However,…
Jul 19, 2012Stagfoot rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Waugh wrote this after becoming a Roman Catholic. hence I think the protagonist's off page conversion near the end. However, though the thread of RC duty (and guilt) is woven though the whole story, one doesn't acquire the impression that…
Mar 24, 2012
Doomed and Decadent. With a capital D.
Aug 17, 2010mhuynh rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I wish I had enjoyed this classic. But sadly, I did not. Waugh's prose is too verbose for my personal taste.