Re-reads
Decline and Fall – Evelyn
Waugh
Welcome to the Wonderful
World of Waugh! He stated that he intended this first novel to be funny –
nothing more. It’s a humor based on absurdity in characters and events. But
it’s not silly or even far-fetched; it’s an intelligent humor. Our “hero” is Paul
Pennyfeather, a name which pretty much defines his personality. He goes from a
student at Oxford (he’s expelled for “indecent behavior”), to a master at a disreputable
private school for boys in Wales, where one of the students, Peter
Beste-Chetwynde, takes the hapless Paul under his wing and guides him on how to
act and what to do (which is as little as possible). From there he progresses
to the country estate of Peter’s widowed mother, the beautiful and fabulously
rich Margot. She and Paul get engaged to be married, but that plan goes bust
when Paul is arrested for human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution,
and he’s sent to prison for eight years. There’s a happy ending, of sorts. In
none of these events is Paul guilty of any misdoing; he’s simply a bystander
for more dynamic personalities. One character describes Life as big spinning
wheel. Most people on the wheel flounder around under its momentum; some seek
the center, where all is calm; others, like Margot, go to the very edge of the
wheel, where the momentum is greatest, and hang on. Paul sits on the sidelines
and watches. Nothing fazes him, not even prison (“. . . anyone who has been to
an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison.”) That
quote is my only attempt to replicate Waugh’s unique humor. Anyway, read this
one, it’s a lark, a sparkling gem, and is written with a lovely simplicity. 5
The Way West – A. B. Guthrie
I have a reference guide to
American literature, and I looked up Guthrie, only to find he wasn’t included.
They had Zane Grey, but not Guthrie. I’m also aware that few people today have
any interest in a novel about a trip by wagon train to Oregon in the 1840s. I
consider both of these facts to be regrettable. It was an epic and important event
in our country’s history, and a novelist who could so vividly recreate it
should not be forgotten. Guthrie gives us the mechanics of how the trip works,
the hardships endured, and – most important – the people who did the enduring.
These people are a varied lot, and run the gamut of human nature. We get to
know them, some more intimately than others, and when tragedies happen they
have real emotional clout. I was impressed by the courage and grit and
resourcefulness on display, by women as much as men. And I wondered if people
today could endure and prevail such a physically and emotionally taxing
journey. Someone from a prior novel by Guthrie – the equally excellent The
Big Sky – plays a major role. Dick Summers is persuaded to leave his home
in Springfield to lead the train. This former Mountain Man, now fifty, is
impressive not only in his knowledge, but in his character. The book received
the Pulitzer Prize in 1949, but people were different back then, mainly in
their values. 5
A Good Man in Africa –
William Boyd
For quite a long stretch I
found this book to be entertaining. It tells of the misadventures of Morgan
Leafy, a British official stationed in the West African county of Kinjanja.
Boyd uses the third person, but we’re always in Morgan’s mind. It’s quite a
messy mind. Much of the humor – it’s a comic (or, rather, farcical) novel –
derives from the difference between how Morgan feels (which is often rage,
exasperation, dislike, etc.) and how he speaks and acts (in a proper,
acceptable manner). He gets immersed in predicaments romantic/sexual and
political (involving a corrupt African vying for power in an upcoming
election). This was Boyd’s first novel, and its authenticity of place derives
from the fact that he grew up in West Africa. This adds to the book’s virtues.
So I’m enjoying myself when, at the halfway point, annoyances began to set in.
One involves the sex; all the attention to the needs of Morgan’s penis seemed imposed
for cheap laughs. And the plot got so complicated that it became unwieldy; by
the last third the book’s structure was tottering under the weight. Then totter
some more as Boyd simply piled on more complications. Eventually I got to the
point where I didn’t want to continue reading. Well, I did, to the unsatisfying
and ridiculously chaotic end (in which nothing is resolved). How can I
evaluate a novel for which I had initial admiration that soured so completely? Since
my negativity was far greater than my pleasure, I have to relegate it to a
Delete.