by Evelyn Waugh
I read this book over a year ago, started this post and then promptly got sucked into other life events. I didn't want to just delete the post, though, because it's a great book. Following the lives of a Catholic family through the eyes of a dear friend and lover (who is certainly not Catholic), we see how they live through their faith or in hopeless denial of it. I think it would be a particularly great book for a book club, especially one interested in matters of faith, but the compelling story is enough for any discussions.
I don't want to give (much) away, but I'll add my favorite quote from the book:
"'Living in sin'; not just doing wrong, as I did when I went to America; doing wrong, knowing it is wrong, stopping doing it, forgetting. That's not what they mean...Living in sin, with sin, by sin, for sin, every hour, every day, year in, year out. Waking up with sin in the morning, seeing the curtains drawn on sin, bathing it, dressing it, clipping diamonds to it, feeding it, showing it round, giving it a good time, putting it to sleep at night with a tablet of Dial if it's fretful."She's speaking of actually living with a man who is not her husband, but I love this quote because it doesn't have to be about adultery. It's an amazing description of life for anyone who's committing what he or she knows is a sin and yet continues to do so - and hints at the self-inflicted suffering and weight that becomes overwhelming.
You can check out a biography of Evelyn Waugh at his alma mater. Here's a link to an article by the man who first interested me in the book, George Weigel for First Things (another plug for the magazine).
After reading the book, Josh and I rented the series from Netflix. It follows the book very closely and I recommend it as well.
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