Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Brideshead Revisited

This was a thought-provoking book for me. On one hand, I could hardly put it down - I think it's great. On the other hand, I want to violently reject everything resembling a message or theme I can detect in it.

The romantic nostalgia over the aristocracy would be tolerable (it's not like Waugh is the only one) if not paired with open scorn for people less privileged. Oh, does Hooper have unflattering glasses? Dentures, and an inadequate handshake? Clearly that's enough excuse to justify an entire exploitative class system. I mean, we wouldn't want things to be, god forbid, inelegant.

Is this supposed to be a pro-religion book, I wonder? I suspect we're meant to think that Julia makes the right choice at the end, for example. And be happy that at least the flame is burning in the chapel again?

It's pretty difficult, when we've already seen Christianity make her brother's life miserable. Presumably it's the reason Sebastian can't stand his family.

Spoiler

Because he has to stay closeted. Otherwise there's a fine out and proud role model in Anthony... not that he's not persecuted, but he's also not drinking himself to death.

Apparently there are critics who favor a platonic interpretation of BR. Having not read them, I hope they just mean that they think Charles is straight. Not that Sebastian is.

Anyway, can't blame religion for everything; Charles manages to screw up his life without its help, with a choice of life partner as lukewarm as his drink order (whiskey with tepid water).

Spoiler

Celia is like a warm up spouse, marrying the sister of the friend he didn't care about (Boy), instead of the sister of the friend he maybe cared about too much. It's almost like even marrying Julia sounded too dangerous or too close to real passion.

I sound rather cranky in this review, but I also read BR twice in January, though I'm not a big re-reader as a rule. I don't know how, but Waugh gets me invested in these people, even when they are annoying, and even when I dislike what he's using them to convey.

Still, I can hardly stop turning pages.

Content Warnings

rpg_gf's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

chalkletters's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Like Moab is My Washpot, Brideshead Revisited seemed wonderfully romantic to me when I read it at 23, having bought it because a boy I liked was reading it. Over ten years later, I remembered the relationship between Charles and Julia, but had forgotten that they were both married to other people, and that they don’t even get a happy ending. While I’d like to think this second reading was more objective, the truth is that it’s probably just as subjective, but in a different way.

While I found all the characters in Brideshead Revisited interesting, none of them struck me as particularly true to life. The whole book has the dreamy, unreal tone of a Neverland — where the characters never grow up, or at least where Charles’ perspective of them and his worldview never really changes. He’s always looking back on history through a particular lens, and the story ends where it began, so that each scene has the same kind of feeling.

Even with very little understanding of Catholicism, I found the theological discussions interesting. Like everything else, there’s a lot that goes unspoken, and I probably missed a great deal of context which would’ve helped me understand what the characters were struggling with. On the other hand, Charles is also an outsider to the Marchmains’ religion, and to some extent their social class, so maybe feeling a distance from it all is the intended effect.

Although I didn’t love the romance, or the characters, this time around, I still appreciated the prose, and found plot interesting, if rather sad.

Content Warnings

zoepargoff's review against another edition

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challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

the_endless_void's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

readerinthedale's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Unlikeable characters but in the painful way where they just point out all of your own personal flaws and then don't grow from them at all. Made me sad and not in the way I want to be sad.

Content Warnings

cheekybritlit's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

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