The book group met at Caroline's last night where we discussed many things (as ever) including our views on Evelyn Waugh's novel Scoop. In a lively exchange of views we all realised that it seemed funnier and more absurd in the retelling than it did in the reading, and that was without trying to read aloud some of the hilarious telegrams that Boot received from his Fleet Street masters during his time in Ishmaelia. We agreed that it felt very dated, that we had all taken a little while to become enthusiastic about it (to a greater or lesser extent) and that we found some of the colonial undertones patronising and the non PC language quite shocking and jarring. However, there was a consensus that it was sharply well observed and throughly entertaining. A classic, perhaps, and although it feels very much of its time, its satire on journalism is enduring and as apposite today as in 1938 when it was written.
Some high level research (sounds good, but of course I refer to Wikipedia) reveals that Waugh based the novel on his experiences in Abyssinia for the Daily Mail. Boot was supposedly modelled on the young William Deedes who apparently arrived in Abyssinia with "a quarter of a ton of baggage" just as Boot arrived with his cleft sticks, canoe, Christmas lunch with all the trimmings etc. As Sally J remarked with feeling, "typical man..... all the gear, no idea!"
We meet again on 2nd May and in the meantime we will all read You Deserve Nothing by Alexander Maksik, a novel set in Paris which has been recommended by Isla in the Kew Bookshop; the reviews suggest that it provokes a range of opinions and so it should give rise to a spirited discussion after Easter.
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