Book Review: ‘Brideshead Revisited’ by Evelyn Waugh

There are some books that come with so much renown and esteem that they end up on your TBR for years. Intimidated? A little, maybe. Worried it won’t live up to the hype? Absolutely. For me, ‘Brideshead Revisited’ has been on my shelf for so long that I can’t even remember when I first became aware of it.

‘Brideshead Revisited’ was Waugh’s seventh published novel, releasing in the year 1945, at the end of the Second World War. It captures the oddness of the “between wars” period as well as the social and cultural instability caused by a fast development in ideals and technology, creating a conflict between tradition and modernity.

“The most nostalgic and reflective of Evelyn Waugh's novels, Brideshead Revisited looks back to the golden age before the Second World War. It tells the story of Charles Ryder's infatuation with the Marchmains and the rapidly-disappearing world of privilege they inhabit. Enchanted first by Sebastian at Oxford, then by his doomed Catholic family, in particular his remote sister, Julia, Charles comes finally to recognize only his spiritual and social distance from them.”

I can’t hold it in any longer… I did not enjoy my reading experience much at all. It could be that listening to it on Audible didn’t do it justice (although I have no complaints of the narration by Jeremy Irons, even if I could not remove the image of Scar from ‘The Lion King’ from my head the entire time).

We featured ‘Brideshead Revisited’ as our Dark Academia “Adjacent” title in season 5 of the podcast.

It’s a reflective and meadering novel that for me lacked any real kind of direction. I could appreciate the reminiscent and poignancy that looking back in that way created, but I found Charles a dull character, illuminated only briefly by his companion Sebastian.

I will try not to drop any spoilers (although there isn’t a massive amount of action to spoil) but you do feel Sebastian’s abscence in the latter parts of the novel.

Thematically I did enjoy ‘Brideshead’. I think it takes on some big thinker topics, and both Sophie and I felt that it was the kind of book that would benefit greatly from being studied rather than experienced as the casual reader. There are certain historical touchpoints and contexts that I felt that I was missing, and despite my best efforts to dig around into them, I needed a lecutre and a seminar group to hand to start pulling it apart, you know?

Despite Sebastian being a missing player in the later parts of the novel, it was actually here that I felt myself becoming actively engaged in the story. I think because we experience more “action” and the earlier set-up of characters and circumstance start revealing their hands, and ultimately the consequences of earlier decisions.

Overall, I was disappointed with my reading experience. I felt like ‘Brideshead’ should have been everything I’m into with older fiction, however I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the colonial attitudes, the casual racism and the continually awful treatment of the women within the book.

It’s fine. And I can appreciate it from a studious perspective, but as a regular reader I really struggled with it.

I gave it 2 stars on Goodreads.

Written by Sarah