Side note: One of the characters briefly carries around a teddy bear named Aloysius. Probably one of my favorite parts of the book.
Synopsis:
Told mostly in flashback, Charles relives his friendship
with the Marchmain family when he discovers that his army unit is camping out
at the family’s estate.
He meets Sebastian, the charismatic second son, during his freshman
year at Oxford. They become best friends, and Charles is slowly introduced to
the quirky family. After Sebastian begins his descent into serious alcoholism Charles
doesn’t see the family for 10 years. In that time Charles becomes a successful
painter. On his return trans-Atlantic sea journey from a painting trip in South
America Charles meets up with Sebastian’s younger sister Julia.
When Charles first met her, Julia seemed young and somewhat
brittle. Meeting again, both married, the pair fall in love during a terrible
storm that renders most of the ship’s passengers (including Charles’s wife) bed
ridden. They begin a serious affair that leads to both of them seeking a
divorce.
Just as Charles’s divorce is being completed and Julia’s is
beginning, Julia’s father returns from self-imposed exile overseas. He is
terminally ill and the family gathers (excepting Sebastian) to be with him
during his final weeks. They learn that Sebastian is serving as a lay person in
a monastery in Northern Africa. The father’s death reignites Julia’s religious
feelings, and because she is Catholic, she ends her relationship with Charles.
(No divorce in the Catholic Church, etc.)
The novel ends with Charles in the present visiting the chapel
at the family estate, Brideshead. He sees the lamp glowing and it brings him a
sense of peace.
Other Thoughts:
- First off, I had been reading the book for a few days at
least before I realized that Evelyn Waugh is a man. The English sometimes do
have a penchant for giving boys typical girls’ names.
- I sort of wished I had a primer on life at Oxford before I
read the book. The beginning is very much steeped in Oxford culture and a lot
of it didn’t quite make sense to me. It didn’t seem like there were classes per
se or that anyone went to them, for example. In that way, it’s a very English
novel. Clearly, that observation shouldn’t be surprising as it was written by
an Englishman smack dab in the middle of World War II.
- When I got to the end of the novel, I felt a bit like I did
at the end of Crime and Punishment. I
had read this whole narrative and then on practically the last page, the author
announces that it was never really about the story, it was about God. Don’t get
me wrong. I’m totally fine with the novel being about God, but in both cases,
it seemed out of left field. When you are reading the book for example, you
keep expecting Charles and Sebastian to reconcile or somehow see each other
again and they don’t. Sebastian just disappears into a haze of smoke in a North
African bazaar. The love affair with Julia is sudden and passionate, but then
dissolves seemingly in an instant. There were lots of conversations concerning
God in the novel. The character of Charles is an agnostic, so there’s lots of
trying to explain the Catholic faith to the heathen conversations. Honestly, those
conversations seemed like window dressing when I was reading it. It wasn’t
until I finished the whole thing that it was obvious that they were trying to
set Charles up to feel a religious epiphany when he finds himself unexpectedly
at Brideshead again.
- It’s not at all a bad read, but I’m not sure I’d recommend
it to you if you were wondering what to pick up next. I think the best word to
describe my reaction would be “bemused.”
Next on the docket: The
Grapes of Wrath. I’m starting the second quarter of the list!
