Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh – Reviewed by Guy Portman
Author Adam plans to marry his fiancé Nina Blount, but he does not have enough money to convince his disinterested, aristocratic beau to tie the knot. Every time Adam feels certain that his financial position is poised to change, disaster strikes and he is back to square one. The various shenanigans entail a cocktail party, a car race and more besides. Adam and Nina are joined by a host of parodied characters, who include the amoral Drunken Major, the absent-minded Colonel Blount and the ever-offensive Miss Malpractice.
Published in 1930, Vile Bodies is a satirical novel with only a faint whiff of a plot; its primary purpose being satirising decadent 1920s London society. The party-frequenting ‘bright young things’ that populate it are presented as vapid, materialistic, intellectual and prone to excess. The book’s whimsical tone progressively gives way to a bleaker, more darkly humorous narrative. Perhaps the shift reflects the breakdown of the author’s marriage during this period.
This reader found Vile Bodies curious, mildly amusing and unmemorable.
