The first volume in an epic saga of upper-middle class life in England from the 1920s onward. Powell's prose is sublime, his characterisation perfect, and his sense of humour is bone dry. Art, culture and politics provide the background to many of the character's lives, but it's all about social interaction; these might be people you knew if you were more intelligent and wealthy. You'd have to be numb in the head to find Powell boring, as one poor fellow on this site does. ( )

It's hard to review this book independently of the others in the "Music of Time" sequence. It's quite episodic, and this would be a weakness if it were a stand-alone novel, but as an introduction to the series it works very well, bringing sharply-focused pictures of recurring characters such as the narrator's Uncle Giles, Charles Stringham, Jean Templer and the egregious Widmerpool (not to mention the narrator himself). Some people may find the upper-middle-class background of most of the characters offputting, but it's not necessary to have attended a public school to enjoy the humour of such incidents as the row between the Scandinavians Orn and Lundquist over a tennis game. (Note for US readers: public school here means a big-league private school.) ( )