Read Scoop Evelyn Waugh 9782264037886 Books

Product details Mass Market Paperback Publisher Julliard (2003) Language French ISBN-10 2264037881

Scoop Evelyn Waugh 9782264037886 Books Reviews

• I am embarrassed to admit that at my late age I came across this literary gem instead of decades ago. It is a masterful satire of that bombastic, self-congratulatory, self-glorified profession of journalism.
  
  In the novel, a mediocre writer is mistakenly contracted to go cover an upcoming war in an African country (Abyssinia 1935). The natives are stupid and corrupt and apathetic, but they are to be the good guys in the forthcoming war. The capital is crawling with foreign reporters who have no idea what is going on, but keep charging expenses to their newspapers and are constantly bickering with one another, spying on each other, and elbowing each other for the legendary scoop, to the point of writing fictional stories, while the native government easily manipulates them. In the end, the amateur scoops them without trying, even though throughout his experience hehas felt adrift at sea.
• There can't be much of anything more absurd than me reviewing the work of a colossal literary figure, like Waugh. Well maybe there could be if I were having a go at say, Alfred Lord Tennyson. Numerous qualified critics have long spoken of 'Scoop.' The Times;' "Mr. Waugh's ribald wit spurts in a brisk uninterrupted flow upon the caprices of sensational journalism." 'The Guardian;' " This satirical masterpiece." These critical observations are impossible to compete with then and now. Among the so many wacky elements of the story, the newspaper du jour of 1938, when the story was penned, was the Daily Beast. So, no, Tina Brown didn't get there first.
  
  I loved the book this read through. I'd read it in school, probably around 1964. Doubtful that I appreciated it as much as today. The very successful author of 'Me Before You,' JoJo Moyes was directly responsible for me rereading 'Scoop.' The work and its protagonist, 'Boot,' John Courteney BootScoop, to be precise, are artfully employed in Ms. Moye's earlier work, 'The Last Letter from Your Lover.'
  
  All the references aside, 'Scoop,' was a smashing read. Try it. You won't be disappointed. It is after all a classic.
• In Scoop Evelyn Waugh combined his own journalistic experience covering a foreign war with an hysterical case of mistaken identity to great comic effect. William Boot is a country wildlife writer who is unwittingly mistaken for his namesake who has tried to use his influential Aunt to get a post on the newspaper The Beast. William is dispatched to Ishmalia to cover the revolution there and while the professional reporters are off on wild goose chases he stumbles on the big scoop. Waugh is always funny but in Scoop there are so many sub plots that add to the humor. This is a great novel and the theme is as relevant today as it was then.
• This masterpiece of comedy, satire, and farce worked so very well for me because it has a timeless quality about it, mainly due to its subject the (un)workings of journalism. Don't get bogged down on the politics of the 1930s or the then state of international affairs in Europe or between the European powers and others. I think it helps to keep in mind three things while reading this savagely funny book. First, think of any and all scandals in journalism you can remember. There are so many infamous ones of both recent and vintage variety. Then think of how many times you've seen the press say how important some overseas war story was and how they were going to cover it, only to see them pack off quickly when the next even bigger story hits. Finally, think press Moguls. Obsessed press magnates in search of fame & fortune for their publications, journalistic scandals, and giving short shrift on important stories has been with us since journalism was deemed a career field. But it takes a Waugh to bring out the "fun", which he brillantly does by creating the unforgettable and unforgettably likeable William Boot, lover of all things quaint and rural, and his Addams Family-like disfunctional decaying manor and family. Transposing him by accident to not-so-war-torn East Africa and situating him with unsavory foreign correspondents becomes a sheer delight. The eclectic cast of eccentric characters is a joyous hoot. And unlike the somewhat bleak ending of Black Mischief, the earlier comedic masterpiece set in an Ethiopian-like setting, great characters like Corker and Pigge suffer, are humiliated, but at least they aren't eaten.
  
  Anyone who likes Mike Royko's The Boss, his warts and all journalistic bio on Mayor Richard Daley the First and his beloved Chicago, will love Scoop.
• His humour is is an inverse reflection of his real closed mind mentality. It's funny, but dripping with excess bile. I really enjoyed reading Waugh as an adolescent and obviously his baleful societal characterisations must have gone over my head at the time and I just found them as humorous as my other favorite writer of the time P.G. Wodehouse. Waugh's early short stories now make far more depressing reading. Wodehouse continues to pass the funny bone test irrespective of time. Waugh remains a great weaver of words but I cant help thinking he's never met a cat he wouldn't cheerfully kick in the stomach without a second thought, if it dared come near him.
• Evelyn Waugh has the ability to wrench out the most hilarious events from absolutely impossible-to believe situations. (I couldn't stop laughing about the milch-goat!!)
  Unfortunately, the degrading language concerning our black brothers is disturbing. I considered lowering it a star because of that but have chosen not to. Although it is degrading, it accurately depicts the attitudes of the time.
  Good, farciful fun.
• A very entertaining, humorous and well written story with themes and situations that still ring true to this day. I'd recommend to anyone who appreciates sarcasm in even the slightest.