Waugh on war.
The back cover of this copy, that predates my existence by several years- you can see that just from the price (I was born in the age of decimal currency)- states that this books and its sequels are the only piece of fiction about the 39-45 War which is certain to survive...
I'm not so sure about that.
I know all about not judging old books by today's standards, but this has not aged well IMHO.
Guy Crouchback is a middle aged man from a semi aristocratic background. At the outbreak of WWII, he is desperate to enlist but finds he's not wanted by most regiments. After a meeting in a hotel with a high up from the Halberdiers regiment, he finally gets his wish.
The Halbadiers are a strange lot, made up of the upper middle classes and above, living and doing their officer training in absolute luxury for most of the book.
Whereas something like Spike Milligan's war diaries take on the war from the front, showing exactly how dirty and nasty it is, at the same time as being hysterically funny, this is a satirical snook at the ruling classes who become officers regardless of ability.
In this book at least, the reality of war barely affects any of the characters. They crouch back in their luxury barracks, and wander off to the local hotels for drinks every evening. I don't know if the war actually makes an impact in the second two books in the trilogy, but it certainly seems to be mostly absent here, and I suppose that's the point of much of the satire.
I struggled with Waugh's writing style. I needed several pages to tune in every time I picked the book up. I really don't think I cared about anyone in the book. Some sequences were high farce but I struggled to raise a smile- I suppose if I'd known a thunder box was some type of portable latrine, that segment might have been funnier than I found it.
Overall I was pretty disappointed by my first foray into Evelyn Waugh. I'm not 100% I'll bother with another.
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