I am trying to read the whole series over the course of a year by reading one volume each months. This book collects the 4th to 6th volumes. These books cover Nicholas Jenkins and his friends and acquaintances establishing themselves in careers and marriages. I'm now more familiar with the people who pop up most often, but there are many new characters too. The London nightlife of the 30s described in this book is so interesting and the clouds of WWII are starting to gather. ( )

Yummy - and fashionably fashionable ( )

At Lady Molly's:
More fateful parties
Widmerpool nabs a cougar
love happens off-page.

Casanova's Chinese Restaurant:
Nick's wife is a blank
tragedies hit close to home
a wealth of in-laws!

The Kindly Ones:
Tarnished memories
war looms, inevitable
Nick tries to pull strings. ( )

Beautifully written, exquisite characterisations, and completely and utterly pointless, say what old chap: absolutely no plot I tell you, yes.

Terminally polite, like being at some stranger's garden party.

(12) I decided to plunge right in to the second movement despite trepidation. These are 3 more installments of Nick Jenkins adulthood before WW2. We still run into the old characters from the first movement of course (Widmerpool!) but Nick makes some new musical friends as well as meets the woman who will become his wife. That being said, Nick continues to be a cipher - this is really about the people and times around him, not his life. In fact, he says nothing of substance about his courtship and wife. We do go back in time in the last installment of the second movement and get some intel about his childhood and the lead-up to WW1. It is so preposterous (funny now I see) how the same people are threaded throughout his life and just so happen to make appearances in the most unlikely places as time goes by.

Something happened to me while reading this book that has never happened in my life despite the thousands of books I have read - in a new paperback copy of this book 20 pages were missing - the 20 pages that occur while in the titular 'Cassanova's Chinese Restaurant' - I finally decided to just read on without the knowledge those pages imparted and I did fine, but it felt such a betrayal. Anyway, I liked these additions about as much as the first movement - maybe a bit better now that I am familiar with the pattern of Powell's writing and the gimmicks he uses. I am starting to see the humor and I enjoy the spot-on snarky insights into human nature phrased in intelligent prose: A character is accused of being 'intellectually arrogant' and replies more or less - 'of course one is, it seems to me the right way to be.' It makes you chuckle inwardly as you recognize yourself in some of these barbs and retorts.

I will read on - Nick's time in WW2 is coming up and his wife is expecting their first child so it will be interesting to see how that shapes his optics. I suspect we will not even know the child's name, nor much about Nick's personal feelings about the military and killing - but we are sure to be treated to ironic observations regarding the quirky others old and new facing the same challenges. ( )