Loved One by Evelyn Waugh is the epitome of absurdity of life. One would better get ready to accept the fact that there is no a sacred theme for the author. This dark satire turns everything upside down, laughing at human stupidity and mocking lots of rather useless customs that we cherish so much. Though the author chooses quite disturbing topics to cover, it is simply impossible to put the book away. That mockery of death and a sense of wrongness are simply mesmerizing.
It seems that the novel doesn’t have at least one character whose behavior is not rather questionable. They are either vain or cynical or simply too irritatingly sensitive to every little thing. It is extremely interesting how the author covers a theme of human vanity with the help of Whispering Glades. What is death? It is ending of one’s life. If the dead person has relatives and friends, he/she will be grieved for. That is it, a natural – though very sad – thing. What do the creator and workers of Whispering Glades do? They make a travesty out of it! They give corpses “the radiant childhood” smiles, make them look unrecognizably, put too much makeup on them, and dress them up. A dead person gets buried under fakery. The funniest thing is that Whispering Glades are a perfect place but not for dead ones. This is where so called “waiting ones” can entertain themselves.
It would be rather unrealistic to implement a classic love line in this novel, so the writer resolves to a comedy. Poor Aimee – a rising star of Whispering Glades – has to choose between being unethical and unhappy or being unhappy but staying ethical. This is an issue that drains all strength from her, for she simply can’t make up her mind and end the drama she created. On the one hand, there is Dennis Barlow. On the other hand, there is Mr. Joyboy. Dennis is everything that the young woman believes to be unethical and cynical. Though he is a poet, the man can be rather crude and unpredictable, thus Aimee doesn’t know what to expect. What is more, she doesn’t understand his dark sense of humor. Of course, Mr. Joyboy is nothing like his opponent. He is a perfect young man and would do everything possible to please. The problem is that the only one person he is afraid of disappointing is his mother. Hoping to get a clear instruction what to do and whom to choose, Aimee simply loses herself.
Loved One is a novel that is not for everyone. It is mostly for those who like making fun of forbidden topics and sports a dark sense of humor. It is a perfect chance to have a look at the modern culture and its values, though it is not necessarily. One can simply enjoy a good time, reading about people who tend to exaggerate every little thing and blow everything out of proportion.
