2010 books

[peteryoung]

10) Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One, 1948
This was described by Anna Haycraft (better known as Alice Thomas Ellis) as "One of the funniest and most significant books of the century", and it also came highly recommended by my father who once had a complete collection of all Waugh's first editions, but what really piqued my interest was that this book was the inspiration behind the 1985 Doctor Who story 'Revelation of the Daleks'. The friction that drives it is the awkwardness of British cultural attitudes in post-war Los Angeles, set mostly in the Whispering Glades Memorial Park – a kind of Disneyland for the dead – and involving a young British poet who falls for a young American corpse beautician while he himself works secretly as a mortician at a pet cemetery. Waugh is funniest when he lets his characters' veneer of civility slip to reveal something far more feral underneath, and I can almost sense how he filled in some laugh-free zones with just that kind of unexpected viciousness to keep the humour levels up. Some mocking characterisation and a few very memorable turns of phrase make this a wickedly funny book.

I've also been reading Waugh's granddaughter Daisy's new column 'Waugh Zone' in The Times since December. Not bad, but I often struggle to find her point.

Comments

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

The Loved One is a delight although I still think Vile Bodies was his funniest book.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I bought Vile Bodies at the same time as The Loved One, so I expect I'll get round to it soon. Though the subject matter interests me less, everyone seems to think it's his best satire, which is actually why I read The Loved One first. If that makes sense.

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

Yes, it makes sense to me. You might enjoy Scoop as well. His hatchet job on the gentlemen of the Press.

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember The Loved One as being pretty damn good. I first saw the movie, though, on TV (in the '70s, probably). The movie did the book justice, which I later found to be somewhat surprising for the time (the early-ish '60s?). Or maybe I should've been surprised at the movie's success, or that it captured much of the bitingness and humor while not, y'know, sucking.