Coming back to Evelyn Waugh after an absence is always rewarding. This short novel about the death industry in the United States sprouted from a visit Waugh made to Hollywood. It offers sharp insights into American culture that still stand up. For example, a British expatriate observes about Americans: "They are a very decent, generous lot of people out here and they don't expect you to listen. Always remember that, dear boy. It's the secret of social ease in this country. They talk entirely for their own pleasure. Nothing they say is designed to be heard."
There was a film made of the book shortly before Waugh's death, directed by Tony Richardson. It is appropriately weird, but the author was said to have hated it. By 1965, however, Waugh was in an advanced state of decrepitude (despite being only in his early 60s), so his judgment is not necessarily to be trusted.
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