A Handful of Dust

This is my first Evelyn Waugh book and I did not expect the wildly modern twists or turns from a book published in 1934.

Tony and Brenda's relationship was so tedious at first--socialite babble--I almost quit. Then, the this crazy train really picked up speed.

By page 132, I already gaped and gasped a few times, but then a few pages later I had a dark laugh when Jenny Abdul Akbar said, "Little Jimmy."

Waugh's dark sense of humor and keen insight into Society life rivals Julian Fellowes. I'm a fan.

Pretty good classic. I've never read or even heard of Evelyn Waugh before this year and book and this was completely delightful.

A fling, then a flat
leaving poor Tony bereft
bound for the jungle.

מתישהו לקראת האמצע קראתי במקום אחר שמדובר בספר סטירי, שאמור ככל כנראה לצחוק על ז'אנר מסוים. ייתכן שכך .

בכל אופן, לא נהניתי ממנו במיוחד , אולי עד האמצע בערך כן. ואז הייתי עסוקה מדי בלצעוק על הדמויות “למה אתם הורסים לעצמכם את החיים”, משהו שלא בטוחה שזכור לי שקרה לי בחיי הבוגרים וזה לא כי הדמויות היו כה אהובות עליי אלא כי העלילה הייתה כה משונה בשלב הזה.

אחד הספרים הבודדים שסיימתי רק כדי לדעת לאילו עומקים של הגיון שלא מובן לי הגיעה העלילה.

Maybe my personal first impression was modified by reading the introduction by Robert Murray Davis about Waugh's development of this novel from his short story “The Man Who Liked Dickens,” but after Tony leaves for his trip, the novel, to me, fell apart. The story was humming along very nicely before that happened. I was reminded more than anything of Willa Cather's The Professor's House, but this was by far more poorly executed. It did get interesting when Tony became sick, and I was intrigued by the endnote about the allusions in the name Todd. The similarities drawn between the “savages” of London and the “savages” of the Amazon were, I'm sure, perfectly acceptable around the time of publication, but I am not so comfortable with it. It kind of turned my stomach in the way the tribal sequence in the 2005 King Kong does. The alternate ending of the novel (used in the serialized version) was appalling but at least more in keeping with the novel as a whole.

Enjoyed this better the second time around, though still not one of my favorite Waughs. I remembered broad strokes, but not much else. Some comedic moments and some dark moments. Good characters, too.