Scoop is finished. "Uproariously funny" "ingenious" "hilarious" are a sample of the back cover reviews, I'm not so convinced. It was silly, but filled with overt racism that made my stomach turn. Not so easy to belly laugh when the ugly words of my grandfather's generation pepper the pages. Scoop satirized the newspaper business. He ridiculed its controllers and its methods by creating bumbling characters like William and Theodore Boot and powerful idiots like Lord Copper. Women didn't come out very well either; Katchen was a gold-digging cheat and William's female relatives never left their house. Mrs. Stitch, however, was a high point in the novel. Her power over the male characters was an unexpected and happy plot element and ultimately, the cause of all the ensuing trouble.
My rankings:
1. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh (a silly account of mistaken identity and disquieting racism)
2. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (a tedious journey into university faculty)
Next up....Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (I'm excited about this one.)
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