A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh
1934
Around 310 pages
Evelyn and I haven't always been on the best terms, mostly because he can be a dull writer and I think it's weird he married somebody also named Evelyn. But I have to give credit where credit is due, this novel did not go in the direction I thought it would.
Tony Last is happy living in his ugly ancestral home with his son John Andrew, but his wife Brenda is pretty miserable. Brenda starts an affair with somebody not that great, I suppose she wants a story for herself. Tony is ridiculously ignorant of the affair until it is spelled out for him, and he eventually takes a mid-life crisis trip to South America. Then things take a pretty wild turn.
Like Fitzgerald, Waugh really is capable of acute self reflection, which is probably why he was so unhappy. The characters weren't necessarily realistic; I think Brenda was demonized and Tony was martyred, which is probably due in large part to it being from He-Evelyn's perspective.
I did enjoy the deliciously dark ending that satisfied the horror fan in me.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
Adapted to the radio, stage, and film.
Based on Waugh's own experience traveling to South America.
UP NEXT: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Another Henry, and a very crude one at that.
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