Finished: Brideshead Revisited (Waugh). I really loved this book! :-) Loved the story, loved the characters, loved the writing. I was drawn into each one of the characters and came to care what happened to each of them....even the ones who screwed up their lives and the ones who I wasn't too fond of. I suppose that's the essence of a good writer...to make you feel that way about otherwise unlikable characters. In Waugh's other book, A Handful of Dust, I also enjoyed the writing, and came to care for a couple of the characters, but I just couldn't get past the young mother and wife in that book abandoning her husband and young son for a frivolous affair. And then, the young son died a horrific, hunting accident death. And, then, the book had a super bizarre ending. Anyway, in Brideshead Revisited, none of the main characters ended up happy either, but the stories made more sense. The book was infused with the Catholic faith and the struggles of the characters to come to terms with their own personal faiths, or lack thereof. The protagonist, Charles Ryder, is in his early 40's when we meet him, and in the British army during WWII. His unit hasn't seen any front line action and is mainly sent here and there to various English countryside homes, which have been taken over by the military, to handle supplies issues. As they come upon their latest home, which has been pretty downtrodden by the previous military unit that stayed there, Charles realizes that it is Brideshead, the sprawling, ancestral home of his Oxford school friend, Sebastian Flyte. Charles had spent many a year visiting Brideshead and from there we are propelled over 20 years back in time to Charles' Oxford years; his meeting of the eccentric Sebastian; his meeting of other memorable people, such as the blatantly homosexual, Anthony Blanche; his becoming inseparable from Sebastian; their downward spiral into drinking; Charles' ability to "grow out of it" and Sebastian's tragic descent into full-blown alcoholism; the meeting of Sebastian's family - his authoritative and very Catholic mother, his beautiful, look-a-like, yet independent, debutante sister, Julia, his detached older brother, Bridey, and his full-of-life and faith youngest sister, Cordelia; his understanding of Sebastian's fear that once Charles meets his family, he'll be engulfed by them and won't be "just Sebastian's" any longer; his meeting of Sebastian's father, Lord Marchmain, who lives in Venice and left the family and the Catholic religion years ago; Charles' realization that he wants to be an artist, a painter, so he leaves Oxford after two years; Charles humorous first "long" holiday home from Oxford where he visits his own father who puts him through all sorts of uncomfortable situations after Charles informs him he's gone through all his school allowance and then some; Charles' realization that he will get no additional money from his father until the next semester, and his growing up the next year and learning to manage his money better; Julia's abandonment of her Catholic faith, which was shaky for her anyway, so she could marry Canadian, Rex Mottram, which becomes terribly unhappy in less than a year; Cordelia's growing up and being the one sibling to embrace her faith and go off and help others in Spain; Sebastian's still further descent and alienation, leading to the pretty much irrevocable split in friendship between Charles and Sebastian...even though...Charles goes to find him in Morocco when Lady Marchmain is on her deathbed and wants to see Sebastian, but Sebastian is himself in the hospital and too weak to travel; Lady Marchmain's death and the impact on the family; Charles marrying Celia Mulcaster, the sister of an Oxford friend, mostly for convenience and because of the physical attraction; Celia's unfaithfulness setting Charles free and allowing him to go and live his own life, spending two years in South America painting, and then hooking up with Julia after ten years and realizing he's truly been in love with her all along; Agnostic Charles and Catholic Julia's two year love affair, including many discussions about faith and the absolution of sin; Charles' pretty much abandonment of his own two young children, JohnJohn and Caroline; (OMG, I just realized that their names are the same as the Kennedy children!! That is super eerie! This book was written in 1945 so wow. I mean, really, didn't John Jr. go by JohnJohn when he was little, or am I misremembering that??) Charles and Julia's divorcing of their spouses so they can get married; Charles and Julia so in love; Cordelia's tales of traveling, nursing, and finally coming across Sebastian who is still a raging and declining alcoholic, but has taken refuge at and is actually helping out in a Tunisian monastery; Bridey finally meeting a widow he wants to marry, which finally prompts Lord Marchmain to come back home and take over the family estate of Brideshead because he detests Bridey's bride-to-be; Lord Marchmain going against all tradition and legally making Julia his heir to Brideshead instead of Bridey; Lord Marchmain's declining health which leads to his ultimate death; and, of course, the climax of the story....Lord Marchmain finally accepting the sacraments and last rites of a priest right before he dies. No one knows if he hears the rites or not, but then he quietly, struggling, lifts his hand to his forehead and then across to each shoulder, making the sign of the cross; the profound affect Lord Marchmain's last action has on his family - Julia takes that as a sign that her father saw in his last moments that there is a God to take you to heaven, so she breaks off with Charles and tells him she can't marry him and live with the "sin" they've been perpetuating...her faith has been restored; Charles having been agnostic throughout the entire story, is actually down on his knees praying to God that Lord Marchmain will be accepted if that is God's will, but also praying at the same time that Lord Marchmain will make no outward sign of his faith so he can be "right" about faith to Julia (so just by the praying alone, some amount of faith finally makes it's way into Charles); finally, all those years later during the war, Charles makes his way upstairs at Brideshead and finds a few of the old servants and the old Nanny there. They recognize him and let him know that Cordelia and Julia are together, serving others during the war, with the Ladies of Hope. Charles is alone, not married, virtually childless, since he abandoned his children (an aspect of Charles' character that really, REALLY bothers me), and has given up his art for the military...but he ends the book by going to the chapel at Brideshead. Perhaps he's found true faith after all? I might have to read some more Waugh. :-)