The Loved One
by Evelyn Waugh 
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Description
Mr. Joyboy, an embalmer, and Aimee Thanatogenos, crematorium cosmetician, find their romance complicated by the appearance of a young English poet.Tags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
SnootyBaronet Both poke fun at Southern California mortuaries.
hazzabamboo Both are funny satires of America - Waugh is more vicious.
11
Member Reviews
I don't think I would have enjoyed the company of Evelyn Waugh. I'm certain that he would have had little time for me, for he was a fearful snob who made many enemies and offended everybody he met. How gratifying it would be, though, to be on the receiving end of the witheringly elegant vitriol that came from his pen. Waugh's genius was to be very, very funny and yet, even as you are helpless with laughter, to make you feel really guilty about laughing when he kicks you hard with horror or pathos or both.
The Loved One is an old favourite of mine, and one of the funniest books I've ever read. The author abandons his usual habitat of English Society, and takes us to the Golden Age of Hollywood for a biting satire of the American Way of show more Death. In the Hollywood Cricket Club, where little cricket is played but the social standards of the British expat community are fastidiously maintained, the fortunes of the ageing scriptwriter Sir Francis Hinsley are fading, and his protegé the dapper young RAF officer and poet Dennis Barlow has already had his contract terminated by Megalopolitan Pictures and is reduced to working secretly for a pet cemetery, a position the Cricket Club would be appalled by if it became known. When Sir Francis, finally eased out by the studio, hangs himself it falls to Barlow to arrange his funeral at the lavish Whispering Glades and it's here that he encounters the naive young cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos (Waugh is a genius with names) and sets about wooing her. What ensues is a very dark farce with a tragic overtone and a bitter twist in the finale
As you'd expect from Evelyn Waugh, nobody comes out of it well. The British are cynical and manipulative, the Americans naive and stupid. The link between movies and death rituals is clearly drawn, the latter as much glitzy spectacle as the former. It's a very short book, just over a hundred pages, and rattles along at a brisk pace. In the end it's also rather moving. Everything a good black comedy should be. show less
The Loved One is an old favourite of mine, and one of the funniest books I've ever read. The author abandons his usual habitat of English Society, and takes us to the Golden Age of Hollywood for a biting satire of the American Way of show more Death. In the Hollywood Cricket Club, where little cricket is played but the social standards of the British expat community are fastidiously maintained, the fortunes of the ageing scriptwriter Sir Francis Hinsley are fading, and his protegé the dapper young RAF officer and poet Dennis Barlow has already had his contract terminated by Megalopolitan Pictures and is reduced to working secretly for a pet cemetery, a position the Cricket Club would be appalled by if it became known. When Sir Francis, finally eased out by the studio, hangs himself it falls to Barlow to arrange his funeral at the lavish Whispering Glades and it's here that he encounters the naive young cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos (Waugh is a genius with names) and sets about wooing her. What ensues is a very dark farce with a tragic overtone and a bitter twist in the finale
As you'd expect from Evelyn Waugh, nobody comes out of it well. The British are cynical and manipulative, the Americans naive and stupid. The link between movies and death rituals is clearly drawn, the latter as much glitzy spectacle as the former. It's a very short book, just over a hundred pages, and rattles along at a brisk pace. In the end it's also rather moving. Everything a good black comedy should be. show less
Death has never been this delighted with such saccharine morbidity. Waugh's tragicomic The Loved One dips in little funny musings that don't always land then halfway through makes a 360-degree turn with its mishaps. Set in 1940s Hollywood, Los Angeles, it tells the story of British "poet" hired-then-fired film scriptwriter, duplicitous Mr. Barlow who took a job in the Happier Hunting Ground, a pet cemetery that offers unusual funeral services, thereby being an embarrassment to the Hollywood British enclave. Opposite the Happier Hunting Ground is the lavish and mawkish funeral service provider for humans called the Whispering Glades where Mr. Barlow encounters both its senior and awkward mortician Mr. Joyboy and the cosmetician Miss show more Thanatogenos after a life-changing event that concerns Barlow's flatmate Hollywood scriptwriter Hinsley. There is tacit rivalry between these two funeral businesses that they deride and insult each other for what they reductively do. One can't help but think of the real value of losing an animal versus a person which I personally think is, of course, subjective to a pet / human's impact on someone.
Not only is this a satirical novel about Hollywood but also a superficial look at its stifling and unfair culture that makes and drives the people in its own community bad and mad. Also worth noting that there is a paragraph in the book about (the now debunked belief) how cigarettes help with lung problems ("The cigarettes Mr. Slump smoked were prepared by the doctors, so the advertisements declared, with the sole purpose of protecting the respiratory system" p93). Although I would have appreciated it better if Waugh focused more on these issues instead of resorting to a problematic and strange love triangle I guess this is a little story of how we give more importance to a person's death than the life they lived that their death seems to be the sole definition of their existence. How that John Lennon song rings very true: "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." I can't say The Loved One did not make me laugh because it did and near its end it is aptly disturbing and devastating. show less
Not only is this a satirical novel about Hollywood but also a superficial look at its stifling and unfair culture that makes and drives the people in its own community bad and mad. Also worth noting that there is a paragraph in the book about (the now debunked belief) how cigarettes help with lung problems ("The cigarettes Mr. Slump smoked were prepared by the doctors, so the advertisements declared, with the sole purpose of protecting the respiratory system" p93). Although I would have appreciated it better if Waugh focused more on these issues instead of resorting to a problematic and strange love triangle I guess this is a little story of how we give more importance to a person's death than the life they lived that their death seems to be the sole definition of their existence. How that John Lennon song rings very true: "Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground." I can't say The Loved One did not make me laugh because it did and near its end it is aptly disturbing and devastating. show less
[The Loved One] by Evelyn Waugh
British author Evelyn Waugh visited Hollywood shortly after WWII to negotiate the sale of film rights to his novel [Brideshead Revisited], and while there he hobnobbed with members of "the British film colony." Too, he toured the grounds and facilities of the famous Forest Lawn cemetery. He returned home without selling film rights, but with the outline of a satirical novel in his head. [The Loved One] skewers the insularity and pomposity of those Brits working in the film business. But its larger target is Forest Lawn.
Dennis Barlow, an unknown British poet, shares a house with Sir Francis Hinsley, a has-been British writer barely clinging to a job at a film studio. When his job vaporizes, Sir Francis show more hangs himself. Dennis is tasked with making the funeral arrangements at Whispering Glades. There he meets and instantly falls for Miss Aimee Thanatogenos, a mortuary cosmetician.
Mr. Joyboy, the head mortician, also has eyes for Miss Thanatogenos. Who will win her? show less
British author Evelyn Waugh visited Hollywood shortly after WWII to negotiate the sale of film rights to his novel [Brideshead Revisited], and while there he hobnobbed with members of "the British film colony." Too, he toured the grounds and facilities of the famous Forest Lawn cemetery. He returned home without selling film rights, but with the outline of a satirical novel in his head. [The Loved One] skewers the insularity and pomposity of those Brits working in the film business. But its larger target is Forest Lawn.
Dennis Barlow, an unknown British poet, shares a house with Sir Francis Hinsley, a has-been British writer barely clinging to a job at a film studio. When his job vaporizes, Sir Francis show more hangs himself. Dennis is tasked with making the funeral arrangements at Whispering Glades. There he meets and instantly falls for Miss Aimee Thanatogenos, a mortuary cosmetician.
Her full-face was oval , her profile pure, and classical, and light. Her eyes greenish and remote, with a rich glint of lunacy.
Dennis held his breath. When the girl spoke it was briskly and prosaically.
"What did your Loved One pass on from?" she asked.
"He hanged himself."
"Was the face much disfigured?"
"Hideously."
"That is quite usual. Mr. Joyboy will probably take him in hand personally. It is a question of touch, you see, massaging the blood from the congested areas. Mr. Joyboy has wonderful hands."
"And what do you do?"
"Hair, skin and nails and I brief the embalmers for expression and pose. Have you brought any photographs of your Loved One? They are the greatest help in re-creating personality. Was he a very cheerful old gentleman?"
"No, rather the reverse."
"Shall I put him down as serene and philosophical or judicial and determined?"
"I think the former."
"It is the hardest of all expressions to fix, but Mr. Joyboy makes it his specialty--that and the joyful smile for children."
Mr. Joyboy, the head mortician, also has eyes for Miss Thanatogenos. Who will win her? show less
I tried to like this, twice, at least enough to finish. I usually like reading books that present a lens from a different time. Maybe this type of satire doesn’t age well. I read enough to appreciate why it was probably more interesting and artful seventy years ago. Today, for me at least, it was repetitive and vulgar, without either being additive.
A tragi-comedy (mainly satiric comedy) about the burial traditions in California. Expertly written, a tight story line and perfect capture of absurd attitudes, American and British, by a writer with an accurate appreciation for bullshit situations and how to expose them.
I haven't been to a library for eight weeks, undoubtedly the longest period since I learned to read. Not to sound antisocial, but I miss seeing books face-to-face more than seeing people face-to-face. While I can video call my loved ones, there is no webcam that lets me check on the library books! I hope they're doing OK. Anyway, a couple of lovely friends basically let me browse their bookshelves like a library via video call, then we had a carefully distanced outdoor exchange of items. I swapped flour and yeast (which I'm clearly not going to use) plus [b:Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn show more Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229] for seven books, two face masks, and some bananas. This is one of those library-of-friendship books, an acerbic novella that Evelyn Waugh wrote after visiting America. It seems not unreasonable to infer that he didn't like what he saw of it. The tone of the writing is arch and satirical, the settings two funeral parlours. One is for pets, the other for people. The two main characters each work in one of these establishments, in Los Angeles. Waugh displays a distinct lack of sympathy for his characters, which somehow feels sharper than the distant observation of [a:Muriel Spark|13093|Muriel Spark|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1342563799p2/13093.jpg].
I found the dialogue in 'The Loved One' very funny, especially the darkly hilarious corporate patter used by Whispering Glades employees. Upon arrival at the funeral parlour, it begins like this,
The detailed portrait of an establishment that attempts to extract as much profit as possible from death is a very witty and apt one. The characters, however, exhibit an unsettling level of cruelty. There are two suicides in the book's 144 pages, both provoked by the behaviour of others. I would therefore not characterise this as very suitable lockdown reading, given it is pessimistic to the point of nihilism in places. As a social satire it works so well that LA is left with some pretty savage wounds. While I enjoyed the style, witty byplay, and imagery, it left me feeling sad. 'The Loved One' was published in 1948 and seems to depict a society numbed to the impact of death by the horrors of the Second World War. I also felt that the name Aimée Thanatogenos was a little too on the nose. show less
I found the dialogue in 'The Loved One' very funny, especially the darkly hilarious corporate patter used by Whispering Glades employees. Upon arrival at the funeral parlour, it begins like this,
"Can I help you in any way?"
"I came to arrange about a funeral."
"Is it for yourself?"
"Certainly not. Do I look so moribund?"
"Pardon me?"
"Do I look as if I were about to die?"
"Why, no. Only many of our friends like to make Before Needs Arrangements. Will you come this way?"
The detailed portrait of an establishment that attempts to extract as much profit as possible from death is a very witty and apt one. The characters, however, exhibit an unsettling level of cruelty. There are two suicides in the book's 144 pages, both provoked by the behaviour of others. I would therefore not characterise this as very suitable lockdown reading, given it is pessimistic to the point of nihilism in places. As a social satire it works so well that LA is left with some pretty savage wounds. While I enjoyed the style, witty byplay, and imagery, it left me feeling sad. 'The Loved One' was published in 1948 and seems to depict a society numbed to the impact of death by the horrors of the Second World War. I also felt that the name Aimée Thanatogenos was a little too on the nose. show less
I don't think I would have enjoyed the company of Evelyn Waugh. I'm certain that he would have had little time for me, for he was a fearful snob who made many enemies and offended everybody he met. How gratifying it would be, though, to be on the receiving end of the witheringly elegant vitriol that came from his pen. Waugh's genius was to be very, very funny and yet, even as you are helpless with laughter, to make you feel really guilty about laughing when he kicks you hard with horror or pathos or both.
The Loved One is an old favourite of mine, and one of the funniest books I've ever read. The author abandons his usual habitat of English Society, and takes us to the Golden Age of Hollywood for a biting satire of the American Way of show more Death. In the Hollywood Cricket Club, where little cricket is played but the social standards of the British expat community are fastidiously maintained, the fortunes of the ageing scriptwriter Sir Francis Hinsley are fading, and his protegé the dapper young RAF officer and poet Dennis Barlow has already had his contract terminated by Megalopolitan Pictures and is reduced to working secretly for a pet cemetery, a position the Cricket Club would be appalled by if it became known. When Sir Francis, finally eased out by the studio, hangs himself it falls to Barlow to arrange his funeral at the lavish Whispering Glades and it's here that he encounters the naive young cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos (Waugh is a genius with names) and sets about wooing her. What ensues is a very dark farce with a tragic overtone and a bitter twist in the finale
As you'd expect from Evelyn Waugh, nobody comes out of it well. The British are cynical and manipulative, the Americans naive and stupid. The link between movies and death rituals is clearly drawn, the latter as much glitzy spectacle as the former. It's a very short book, just over a hundred pages, and rattles along at a brisk pace. In the end it's also rather moving. Everything a good black comedy should be. show less
The Loved One is an old favourite of mine, and one of the funniest books I've ever read. The author abandons his usual habitat of English Society, and takes us to the Golden Age of Hollywood for a biting satire of the American Way of show more Death. In the Hollywood Cricket Club, where little cricket is played but the social standards of the British expat community are fastidiously maintained, the fortunes of the ageing scriptwriter Sir Francis Hinsley are fading, and his protegé the dapper young RAF officer and poet Dennis Barlow has already had his contract terminated by Megalopolitan Pictures and is reduced to working secretly for a pet cemetery, a position the Cricket Club would be appalled by if it became known. When Sir Francis, finally eased out by the studio, hangs himself it falls to Barlow to arrange his funeral at the lavish Whispering Glades and it's here that he encounters the naive young cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos (Waugh is a genius with names) and sets about wooing her. What ensues is a very dark farce with a tragic overtone and a bitter twist in the finale
As you'd expect from Evelyn Waugh, nobody comes out of it well. The British are cynical and manipulative, the Americans naive and stupid. The link between movies and death rituals is clearly drawn, the latter as much glitzy spectacle as the former. It's a very short book, just over a hundred pages, and rattles along at a brisk pace. In the end it's also rather moving. Everything a good black comedy should be. show less
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Author Information
132+ Works 56,610 Members
Born in Hampstead and educated at Oxford University, Evelyn Waugh came from a literary family. His elder brother, Alec was a novelist, and his father, Arthur Waugh, was the influential head of a large publishing house. Even in his school days, Waugh showed sings of the profound belief in Catholicism and brilliant wit that were to mark his later show more years. Waugh began publishing his novels in the late 1920's. He joined the Royal Marines at the beginning of World War II and was one of the first to volunteer for commando service. In 1944 he survived a plane crash in Yugoslavia and, while hiding in a cave, corrected the proofs of one of his novels. Waugh's early novels, Decline and Fall (1927), Vile Bodies (1930), and A Handful of Dust (1934), established him as one of the funniest and most brilliant satirists the British had seen in years. He was particularly skillful at poking fun at the scramble for prominence among the upper classes and the struggle between the generations. He lived for a while in Hollywood, about which he wrote The Loved One (1948), a scathing attack on the United States's overly sentimental funeral practices. His greatest works, however, are Brideshead Revisited (1945), which has been made into a highly popular television miniseries, and the trilogy Sword of Honor (1965), composed of Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1955), and The End of the Battle (1961). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Evelyn Waugh has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Loved One
- Original title
- The Loved One
- Alternate titles*
- De dierbare : een Anglo-Amerikaanse tragedie
- Original publication date
- 1948
- People/Characters
- Miss Thanatogenos; Mr. Joyboy; Dennis Barlow
- Important places
- California, USA; Los Angeles, California, USA; Whispering Glades Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Related movies
- The Loved One (1965 | IMDb)
- Dedication
- To
Nancy Mitford - First words
- All day the heat had been barely supportable but at evening a breeze arose in the West, blowing from the heart of the setting sun and from the ocean, which lay unseen, unheard behind the scrubby foothills.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)He picked up the novel which Miss Poski had left on his desk and settled down to await his loved one's final combustion.
- Publisher's editor*
- Editorial Anagrama
- Original language*
- Engels
- Disambiguation notice
- Do not combine with the movie directed by Tony Richardson.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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