Monday, July 19, 2010

BBC Top 100 Reads - Brideshead Revisited 86/100


I was a little too young to watch the epic TV show show in the eighties and I only managed to watch the remake film last year, which kind of went over my head some what. I'd heard so much about the story, so this book had a lot to live up to. It didn't disappoint. The tale of Charles Ryder who comes to Oxford to study and is immediately captivated by the outrageous and decadent Sebastian Flyte is completely intriguing. Charles then visits Sebastian's family home of Brideshead and willingly at first, becomes involved within their eccentric family life, until he becomes to recognise the spiritual and social distance from them.


Don't let the paltry 326 pages fool you. This is an epic of a novel, one that I feel you don't gain the full impact of such from the first read and one which I hope to read time and time again. The recent film certainly didn't do this book any justice and perhaps one day I'll watch the TV show to see if that bares a fairer reflection. Until then, another book crossed off and now onto The Lord Of The Rings!

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