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The Loved One

Evelyn Waugh

Start date: October 1, 2023

Finish date: October 31, 2023

Discussion: Short Story/Novella Collection

Why we're reading this: October 2023 Short Story/Novella
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What Members Thought

Jan 24, 2008 Chloe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, modern, english-lit

While not my favorite book in the world, I have to say I enjoyed this macabre little satire. Perhaps the somewhat unusual humor appealed to me. I tend to find such things as funeral parlors and crematoriums amusing. I do not, however, find the story to be quite as condescending towards Americans as some people have said it was. The British characters were not especially intelligent, either. In fact, I would say that there are no attractive characters in the story. Which is part of the reason why ...more

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Apr 29, 2016 Alex rated it it was amazing

No one writes black humor like Waugh. Here he targets the funeral industry as exemplified by Los Angeles. His attacks are understated, oblique and brilliant. Expect no mercy.

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Sep 08, 2016 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: classic, fiction

I was still in high school when I read this, all I knew was it was by the guy who wrote Brideshead (I had watched the Masterpiece show religiously and crushed on Anthony Andrews), and it was supposed to be funny. I was so confused! I was too young and really didn't understand it yet. ...more

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Oct 18, 2023 Heather L rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, novella, 2023

Quite the unexpected ending.

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Feb 12, 2024 Julie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: fin-2024, 1940s-fiction, dana-bc

Two and a half stars. I can't quite get myself to say "I like it". I'm glad I read it but I wouldn't recommend to anyone. This is my second Waugh and probably my last. There are too many other authors out there to waste time on ones that don't speak to you. I read Brideshead Revisited a few years ago and the primary emotion I felt was irritation over Waugh's snobbery. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and try this satirical comedy. I was hoping the snob act was more Charles(the hero Two and a half stars. I can't quite get myself to say "I like it". I'm glad I read it but I wouldn't recommend to anyone. This is my second Waugh and probably my last. There are too many other authors out there to waste time on ones that don't speak to you. I read Brideshead Revisited a few years ago and the primary emotion I felt was irritation over Waugh's snobbery. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and try this satirical comedy. I was hoping the snob act was more Charles(the hero of BR) than Waugh but it turns out it's all Waugh.

I adore Catch 22and was all ready to adore The Loved One. Yes, there were funny bits concerning the funeral industry. It does give the reader an idea of what Jessica Mitford was reacting against in her classic book The American Way of Death. I've read several books about death practices and I agree with Waugh that the method that rose to prominence in America in the twentieth century is wrong wrong wrong. Ugh, embalming! What a scam! Everyone got duped into paying money for crap that isn't needed or wanted. Those were my favorite parts of the book, the sections concerning Whispering Glades.

Did the Loved One pass over with a rope?"
"Braces. What you call suspenders."
"That should be quite easy to deal with. Sometimes there is a permanent line left. We had a Loved One last month who passed over with electric cord. Even Mr. Joyboy could do nothing with that. We had to wind a scarf right up to the chin. But suspenders should come out quite satisfactorily."

And the face which inclined its blind eyes towards him - the face was entirely horrible; as ageless as a tortoise and as inhuman; a painted and smirking obscene travesty by comparison with which the devil-mask Dennis had found in the noose was a festive adornment, a thing an uncle might don at a Christmas party.

There is a something in individual technique - not everyone would notice it perhaps; but if I saw a pair that had been embalmed by different hands I should know at once and I should feel that the child did not properly belong to its mother; as though they had been estranged in death. Perhaps I seem whimsical?"
"You do love children, don't you, Mr. Joyboy?"

Have you brought any photo. graphs of your Loved One? They are the greatest help in recreating personality. Was he a very cheerful old gentleman?"
"No, rather the reverse."
"Shall I put him down as serene and philosophical or judicial and determined?'
"I think the former."

The brilliance of the cemetery and mortuary scenes couldn't make up for Waugh's disdain for everything American.Wow, what happened to him in Hollywood? Did some American girl break his heart? I got the vibe that Waugh secretly wanted to be accepted and a part of the LA scene but he was insecure so he decided to attack them before he could get rejected. Or it could just be that he is a true snob and thinks the only correct way to be is as one of the English landed gentry. Whatever the reason, his loathing drips off the page.

He had seen her before everywhere. American mothers, Dennis reflected, presumably knew their daughters apart, as the Chinese were said subtly to distinguish one from another of their seemingly uniform race, but to the European eye the mortuary hostess was one with all her sisters of the airliners and the reception desks.

She was the standard product. A man could leave such a girl in a deli in New York, fly three thousand miles and find her again at a cigar stall in San Francisco. She was convenient but Dennis came of an earlier civilizations with sharper needs.

He did not covet the spoils of this rich continent, the sprawling limbs of the swimming pool, the wide open painted eyes and mouth under the arc lamps.

One girl blew bubbles of gum like a rutting camel.

It might be thought that at this extremity of the New World unceremonious manners and frank speech occasioned no doubt; the universal good humour, no distress. But it was not so - etiquette, child-psychology, aesthetics and sex reared their questioning heads in this Eden too, and to all readers the Guru Brahmin offered solace and solution.

Brought up among dogs and horses. Daresay you were, too, so you won't misunderstand me when I say this is no place for them. Wonderful country of course, splendid lot of people, but no one who was really fond of dogs would bring one here."

Dennis sought to present Aimée with an irresistible picture not so much of her own merits or even of his, as of the enormous gratification he was offering. The films did it; the crooners did it; but not, it seemed, the English poets.

The slight love story between Dennis and Miss Thanatogenos slowed the story down. Same with the parts about the British expat community. I understand why they are there. Waugh wanted to also rail against the movie industry and against Americans. I'm all about being snarky but something about his tone or style rubs me the wrong way. I can't explain it, really. Just like how there are people in real life that you meet and are immediately turned off by, so it goes with authors. Sometimes that click isn't there.

The stars, the producers, the heads of departments would come next day for the interment.
That afternoon they were represented by underlings. It was like the party held on the eve of a wedding to view the presents, attended only by the intimate, the idle and the unimportant.

There's been a change of policy at the top. We are only making healthy films this year to please the Catholic League of Decency. So poor Juanita has to start at the beginning again as an Irish colleen. She's working ten hours a day learning the brogue and to make it harder for the poor girl they've pulled all her teeth out. She never had to smile before and her own set was good enough for a snarl. Now she'll have to laugh roguishly all the time. That means dentures.

What else did you take at College?"
"Just Psychology and Chinese. I didn't get on so well with Chinese. But, of course, they were secondary subjects, too; for Cultural background."
"Yes. And what was your main subject?"
"Beauticraft."
"Oh."
"You know - permanents, facials, wax - everything you get in a Beauty Parlour. Only, of course, we went in for history and theory too. I wrote my thesis on 'Hairstyling in the Orient.' That was why I took Chinese. I thought it would help, but it didn't. But I got my diploma with special mention for Psychology and Art." ...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Suvi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, cities_los-angeles, _north-america, _great-britain, 1940-1969

2.5 stars. I knew beforehand that apart from Brideshead Revisited, Waugh's novels are quite light and humorous, which was why I have been avoiding reading more of his stuff. This didn't make any exception in my aversion for reading humorous literature. I can still appreciate the sharpness that black humour gives to the story, but I still didn't care for the caricaturish characters. Then again, the personalities of the Los Angeles British community were quite good. ...more

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