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In Scoop, surreptitiously dubbed "a newspaper adventure," Waugh flays Fleet Street and the social pastimes of its war correspondants as he tells how William Boot became the star of British super-journalism and how, leaving part of his shirt in the claws of the lovely Katchen, he returned from Ishmaelia to London as the Daily's Beast's more accoladed overseas reporter.
Review:
"With this book England's wittiest novelist sets a new standard for comic extravaganza...the real message about Scoop is that it is thoroughly enjoyable, uproariously funny and that everyone should read it at once." The New York Times
Review:
"[A] good deal of sharp wit — you can cut your hands on it if you're not careful." The New Yorker
Synopsis:
Evelyn Waugh was one of literature's great curmudgeons and a scathingly funny satirist. Scoop is a comedy of England's newspaper business of the 1930s and the story of William Boot, a innocent hick from the country who writes careful essays about the habits of the badger. Through a series of accidents and mistaken identity, Boot is hired as a war correspondent for a Fleet Street newspaper. The uncomprehending Boot is sent to the fictional African country of Ishmaelia to cover an expected revolution. Although he has no idea what he is doing and he can't understand the incomprehensible telegrams from his London editors, Boot eventually gets the big story.
agf, January 25, 2011 (view all comments by agf)
Scoop is Waugh's wickedly funny tale of a civil war incited by the British press. It couldn't be more relevant to our recent (and current) political situation. A case of mistaken identity sends the local nature reporter from writing about griebs to covering the events in Ishmalia. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard.
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Product details
336 pages
Back Bay Books -
English9780316926102
Reviews:
"Review"
by The New York Times,
"With this book England's wittiest novelist sets a new standard for comic extravaganza...the real message about Scoop is that it is thoroughly enjoyable, uproariously funny and that everyone should read it at once."
"Review"
by The New Yorker,
"[A] good deal of sharp wit — you can cut your hands on it if you're not careful."
"Synopsis"
by chrisb@powells.com,
Evelyn Waugh was one of literature's great curmudgeons and a scathingly funny satirist. Scoop is a comedy of England's newspaper business of the 1930s and the story of William Boot, a innocent hick from the country who writes careful essays about the habits of the badger. Through a series of accidents and mistaken identity, Boot is hired as a war correspondent for a Fleet Street newspaper. The uncomprehending Boot is sent to the fictional African country of Ishmaelia to cover an expected revolution. Although he has no idea what he is doing and he can't understand the incomprehensible telegrams from his London editors, Boot eventually gets the big story.
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