Brideshead Revisited

Evelyn Waugh was a convert to Catholicism, and his novel, Brideshead Revisited, is steeped in theology and Catholic practice. It is also an aristocratic love story, with many an unsavory character. Upon its completion in 1945, Waugh considered BH to be his magnum opus. Time apparently agreed, and listed it as one of its “All-Time 100 Novels”.

Re-reading the novel years later apparently soured the author on its content and merit. Waugh stated that“the book is infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language which now, with a full stomach, I find distasteful”. Sounds like the makings of a great romance film, no?

Finally: Forever

Sattie, I agree with you in that this is the first book I have really related to.  However, unlike you, I am not “freaked out” by my relation to this book.  And, in this post I will explain why I related to this book, and why it does not bother me that I relate more to teenage chick lit than adult chick lit.  

With all the other books we read I was frustrated by not relating to the book.  I blamed this on not identifying with the protagonist.  However, in Forever I do not necessarily identify with Katherine.  I identify with what she is experiencing at the time.  I realize now that my frustration in not relating to the main character was misplaced in all the other “chick-lit” books we read.  My frustration should properly be placed on not relating to the experiences of these characters.