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Title: Loved this book
Review: I ran across this book by accident following Wikipedia links, since I've never seen the TV series. It's a lush delight, with a slice-of-frozen-time writing style reminiscent of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, except this book gives a 1923-1944 look into the life of a Catholic English aristocratic family to whom the protagonist attaches himself. Evelyn Waugh wrote the book during six months spent living on soybeans after a parachute accident, so said he had a "kind of gluttony..for the splendours of the recent past."Since Waugh was a convert to Catholicism, he attempts to subtly proselytize his readers, which is slightly annoying since the characters end up renouncing their illicit romances to pursue lives of celibacy. Still, excellent look into a luxurious lifestyle only now afforded by the most ultra-rich.
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