The Loved One
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
The more startling for the economy of its prose and plot, this novel's story, set among the manicured lawns and euphemisms of Whispering Glades Memorial Park in Hollywood, satirizes the American way of death and offers Waugh's memento mori.
About the Author
Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) was born in London and educated at Oxford. He quickly established a reputation with such social satirical novels as DECLINE AND FALL, VILE BODIES and SCOOP. Waugh became a Catholic in 1930, and his later books display a more serious attitude, as seen in the religious theme of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, a nostalgic evocation of student days at Oxford. His diaries were published in 1976, and his letters in 1980.
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First Sentence
All day the heat had been barely supportable but at evening a breeze arose in the west, blowing from the heat of the setting sun and from the ocean, which lay unseen, unheard behind the scrubby foothills. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
All day the heat had been barely supportable but at evening a breeze arose in the west, blowing from the heat of the setting sun and from the ocean, which lay unseen, unheard behind the scrubby foothills. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One of Waugh's less well known works, The Loved One is a black romp through the strange world of California's Funerary parlours. A tragic love affair begins at Whispering Glades, where many of California's deceased elite are buried, preserved and even put on display and ends at the Happier Hunting Ground pet mortuary. Less riotous or slapstick than Waugh's other books, The Loved One is however extremely humorous with a truly tragic ending on a par with Shakespeare himself.
Characters ranging from a young englishman attempting to make his way forward in Hollywood, to Mr Joyboy the accomplished mortician, his mother and her parrot cannot fail to draw the reader in and entertain in a way that only Evelyn Waugh could.
This book is a must for anyone who has enjoyed the more popular 'Decline and Fall' or Brideshead revisited' and is an excellent introduction to the author for those who have not read any of his other works.
Characters ranging from a young englishman attempting to make his way forward in Hollywood, to Mr Joyboy the accomplished mortician, his mother and her parrot cannot fail to draw the reader in and entertain in a way that only Evelyn Waugh could.
This book is a must for anyone who has enjoyed the more popular 'Decline and Fall' or Brideshead revisited' and is an excellent introduction to the author for those who have not read any of his other works.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of Waugh's lesser known books, but should by no means be forgotten or ignored. His black humour is as prevalent as ever, and his characters are as well created as anyone in Brideshead or any or his more well known works.
Placing one of his upper class wasters in such a foreign world as LA is a stroke of genius and the culture clash is brilliantly exposed. Dennis Barlow is the perfect stoic anti-hero, instantly loveable and detestable at once.
If you've read any of Waugh's other long novels, you'll love every page, if not this is a perfect introduction to a master of storytelling.
Placing one of his upper class wasters in such a foreign world as LA is a stroke of genius and the culture clash is brilliantly exposed. Dennis Barlow is the perfect stoic anti-hero, instantly loveable and detestable at once.
If you've read any of Waugh's other long novels, you'll love every page, if not this is a perfect introduction to a master of storytelling.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is utterly wicked and in thoroughly bad taste. In short, I absolutely loved it. This work is not for the faint of heart nor for the easily offended. I'm surprised that Waugh was never sued for libel by Forest Lawn in Los Angeles. Having lived in LA for two years, I did visit Forest Lawn. It is everything that Waugh describes and more!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dark, Memorable and Atmospheric Novella
This novella can be read in only a few hours and yet stays with the reader for a lot longer than that as it has a very peculiar air about it, almost as if something is being unsaid... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lesley Tingle
An entertainting cross-atlantic satire
An easy read (a bit too quick for my liking), but full with imageries that would make you smile and even laugh. Read more
Published on 28 May 2010 by Say_what_I_think
Waugh in America
A wry, humorous and occasionally lacerating examination of southern California. This short novel is ostensibly a comparison of English and American cultures. Read more
Published on 21 April 2010 by Robert Cordner
Wickedly Entertaining
As `The Loved One' opened I wasn't sure that I was going to get on with it too well. It had a group of pompous British expatriates discussing many things banal in the material... Read more
Published on 12 April 2010 by Simon Savidge Reads
Excellent Read
Very good book, thoroughly enjoyed it, I think anyone who has ever lived in America will get a kick out of it.
Published on 12 April 2010 by Ms. Sarah Chapman
Hilarious after the first chapter
I always recommend this to people with the advice to keep struggling through the first chapter, which is a load of old bores at a cricket club talking about people you don't know... Read more
Published on 26 Mar 2010 by John Davison
Pure enjoyment with a frisson of horror
I know that far greater brains than mine have reviewed this book since 1948 when it was first published, but having read Brideshead Revisited several times I decided to try another... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Mrs. Katharine Kirby
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