The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold by Evelyn Waugh

While I know that this was a good and inventive book, I can't stop comparing Waugh's later novels with his earlier ones, and missing the style and sharpness. I've always assumed that Waugh's characters are invented and/or based on people he despised, but Gilbert Pinfold was pretty explicitly autobiographical, and the book made me quite worry about just how much Waugh might have hated and mocked himself. I always just assumed he hated everyone else. I can't shake off the unpleasant feeling I get from his characters, and if they were bad in youth, I guess they're dreadful in middle age. This book is low on the purely humorous, it's satire is incredibly dark and depressing, and it's laced with multiple literary allusions, especially to Shakespeare, which were quite fun to trace. Generally, I thought it very unsettling and sad.