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Evelyn Waugh

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A HANDFUL OF DUST Kindle Edition

by Evelyn Waugh (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 1,474 ratings

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A Handful of Dust is a novel by the British writer Evelyn Waugh. First published in 1934, it is often grouped with the author's early, satirical comic novels for which he became famous in the pre-World War II years. Commentators have, however, drawn attention to its serious undertones, and have regarded it as a transitional work pointing towards Waugh's Catholic postwar fiction. The protagonist is Tony Last, a contented but shallow English country squire, who, having been betrayed by his wife and seen his illusions shattered one by one, joins an expedition to the Brazilian jungle, only to find himself trapped in a remote outpost as the prisoner of a maniac. Waugh incorporated several autobiographical elements into the plot, including his own recent desertion by his wife. In 1933–34 he travelled into the South American interior, and a number of incidents from the voyage are incorporated into the novel. Tony's singular fate in the jungle was first used by Waugh as the subject of an independent short story, published in 1933 under the title "The Man Who Liked Dickens". The book's initial critical reception was modest, but it was popular with the public and has never been out of print. In the years since publication the book's reputation has grown; it is generally considered one of Waugh's best works, and has more than once figured on unofficial lists of the 20th century's best novels. Waugh had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1930, after which his satirical, secular writings drew hostility from some Catholic quarters. He did not introduce overtly religious themes into A Handful of Dust, but later explained that he intended the book to demonstrate the futility of humanist, as distinct from religious, especially Catholic, values. The book has been dramatised for radio, stage and screen.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09WYSHBY2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tingle Books (March 25, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 25, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 394 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 243 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,395,048 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,584 in Ancient & Classical Literature
- #43,074 in Classic Literature & Fiction
- #1,274,746 in Kindle eBooks

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4.1 1,474 ratings

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Evelyn Waugh

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Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (/ˈɑːrθər ˈiːvlɪn ˈsɪndʒən wɔː/; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966), known by his pen name Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, biographies and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and reviewer of books. His most famous works include the early satires Decline and Fall (1928) and A Handful of Dust (1934), the novel Brideshead Revisited (1945) and the Second World War trilogy Sword of Honour (1952–61).

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

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Great ye olde English fun

Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023

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The Waugh clan--over 5 generations or so--has produced a lot of literature. This one by the leader of the pack, Evelyn, is about as good as fiction gets. Great writing is a joy to read making this a joyful book.

If you haven't tried it yet, here's a very good place to start. Great fun!

Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2005

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Evelyn Waugh's powers of prose were never more on display than in this shameless, nasty, witty novel that reads like lightning and scorches like flame.

At one point near the end, our sort-of-hero, Tony Last, learns about native customs in the Amazon by a dicey explorer named Dr. Messinger: "They buried me up to the neck in mud and all the women of the tribe spat on my head. Then we ate a toad and a snake and a beetle and after that I was a blood-brother."

Not exactly enticing, but compared to the culture Tony has thus far been immersed in, London between the wars, it sounds too lovely to pass up. "A Handful Of Dust" is as dark a critique of civilized mores as one can imagine, and though it comes off at times as far-fetched, the view of life is even more disturbing, and blackly humorous, for being true.

A rural nobleman who only wants to live in his Gothic manor with his family, Tony finds himself the victim of his wife Brenda's sudden bout of unfaithfulness. She sets off, rather inexplicably, with a Mommy-coddled cheapskate named Beaver. For her, it's something to do. For her cosmopolitan circle, it's a cause not for concern but merry gossip. "You know, you're causing a great deal of trouble," her sister Marjorie confides. "You've taken London's only spare man."

If cruel social satire is your cup of tea, you won't go wrong with "A Handful Of Dust." Waugh is not working from the heart here, but from the spleen, but once you allow for the fact caring is out the window for the reader and the cast, what you get is a pretty thorough and, in its upside-down way, satisfying exposition on the petty viciousness of cheating hearts. If you've ever come across a real heartbreaker in life, and who hasn't, this book offers a perverse form of solace.

While Brenda's heartlessness is milked in depth, it's really the enabling connivance of her kinfolk and friends that Waugh sends up so masterfully. It's what makes his novel a treat. Tony, we understand, is a stick and a bore, but he not only cares for his wife but trusts her blindly, which makes her adultery and her circle's abetting of it particularly cruel. No doubt to point up the amoral nature of secular London's high society, the Catholic Waugh gives us dialogue that ricochets back heavily on the speakers, as they wonder why Tony doesn't just accept his losses, sell his manor to satisfy Brenda's exorbitant alimony demands, and not be such a bore about it.

The drawback in this book, as other reviewers here note, is in the ending, not because it is sour but so out of left field. Even though there's a nice juxtaposition of the Amazon and London, Tony's strange expedition, and its resolution, don't add to the proceedings so much as push them in another direction that seems to add Waugh himself to Last's already-thick stable of tormentors. It's not a bad ending, but it doesn't maintain the drama or the subtlety of what passed before.

But there's plenty to enjoy here, like the dialogue, the odd mix of characters, and sublime moments of balmy nonsense, like the vicar who recycles ill-fitting sermons from a long-ago India sojourn. Waugh writes about Tony's manor with a zest that makes architecture seem witty, while even the harshest moments have a cold, brave beauty about them. This is a book difficult to put down, and impossible to forget.

25 people found this helpful

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Garbarino Family

A Satirical Look at the British Upperclass

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2015

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A Handful of Dust is a devastatingly funny book that gives a glimpse into British society between the wars. The book is about a man whose life falls apart. The hero of this novel is Tony Last who is a country gentleman, and things begin to go wrong for poor Tony when his wife decides that she really doesn't want live the life of a country gentleman's wife.

Evelyn Waugh published the book in 1934, and it seems to have been inspired in some way by his own divorce which happened a few years before. When his marriage fell apart, Waugh was in the process of joining the Roman Catholic Church, and both of these events seem to haunt the book. Waugh skewers the upper crust of British society for the shallow and pointless way in which they live. Religious imagery sort of lingers in the background, but none of his characters seem aware of any transcendence. Even the hero, who is the only character to regularly attend church, can't understand why religion might be of any real use.

The book takes an unexpected turn about halfway through, and many readers don't care for it. I think the first half of the book is far superior to the second half, but Waugh actually wrote the second half first. It was originally a short story, and then he wrote the rest of the novel in order to figure out how a man could fall into such a sad state of affairs. Understanding why he wrote the novel like he did helped me come to terms with the book's unexpected twist.

Waugh's prose sparkles in its spare and witty perfection, but don't expect a happy ending in A Handful of Dust.

18 people found this helpful

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Susie Rigsby

My first read for Waugh

Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2006

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... and I have The Loved One which I wish now I'd read first. I'm the type to give any book a chance, but this book was just so far-fetched that the plot couldn't hold my attention. I'd pick it up and read for a while, then I'd think of something better to do and lay the book back down. If I'm into a story this doesn't usually happen. So why, if I felt that way, did I give it a 3-star, or average? Well, I guess because I thought the writing was good, it flowed well, it was just so ho-hum. If this is supposed to be satire at it's best, then I guess I've missed the boat somewhere along the way. I'll give The Loved One my next Waugh effort and hope the reading improves. At least that book is a short read if it doesn't.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer

Excellent

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2023

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Waugh's best for me. Beautifully written. And mixes humour and tragedy superbly. Very evocative of its time, but still fresh and worth reading.

One person found this helpful

Peter J Strachan

Visit Waugh

Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2018

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One of the best novels written in the last century or so. Its pace is gentle but purposeful, and just beneath the surface there builds a sense of impending gloom.

Andrew Critchley

"Distributed Proofreaders Canada" version is embarrassingly poor

Reviewed in Spain on May 13, 2020

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Buyers should be aware that the "Distributed Proofreaders Canada" ebook edition (ASIN: B08739TLMP) is pathetically bad in terms of its document formatting. In my opinion it is effectively unreadable, with broken paragraph lines from the first page onward. No book, classic or otherwise, deserves this class-free treatment, and I am requesting a refund as soon as this review is posted.

Sumant Barooah

Three Stars

Reviewed in India on February 24, 2015

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Dissapointing