Meandering Em's

Passion is books, photography, running and traveling. Also passionate about environmental issues.

Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh I read this book in 1980 and loved it. I was eager to reread it. However, I was disappointed. I don't remember the book being so boring in parts. As before, I loved the first part of the book where Charles and Sebastian meet and become friends. Sebastian carries around a stuff animal and seems funny, but immature. Sebastian does not try to introduce Charles to his family because he fears it will ruin his friendship with Charles. Indeed, everything surrounding Sebastian starts to fall apart as Charles develops a friendship with rest of the family. Sebastian becomes an alcoholic. Is it because he is trapped by Catholic rituals? Is it because he is a homosexual? Is it because his mother is aloof or because his father left his mother a few years before? Does he live a dissolute life because of the political uncertainty in Europe between the two great wars? Or perhaps he is just addicted. Who knows? Very soon I didn't care because Sebastian goes offstage and is only seen briefly in the last 2/3's of the book. Charles marries but is cold to his wife and indifferent to his children. Since he is the narrator, it was hard to sympathize with him. He falls in love with Sebastian's sister, Julia. Was he really in love with her or did he substitute her for his love of Sebastian? So many questions, but very little answers. I'm not sure what the author was trying to say and about halfway through no longer cared enough to analyze what clues, if any, were given to the reader.I gave 3 stars to the book. I really thought of giving 2, but I did love the book many years before and had given it a 5 rating. Averaging out the two ratings, I came up with 3 stars.

Currently reading

The Waiting Years
Fumiko Enchi
Progress: 94/208 pages
Project Puffin: The Improbable Quest to Bring a Beloved Seabird Back to Egg Rock
Derrick Z. Jackson, Stephen W. Kress
Progress: 33/376 pages