Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

This is another one of those books that it is not advisable to read in public, unless you don't mind people staring at you as you laugh hysterically. It is extravagantly and delightfully absurd, its humour is less bleak than many of Waugh's other books, and it feels more innocent and lively. Unfortunately, political correctness goes out of the window completely, I'm well-practiced at turning a blind eye to Waugh's sexism already, and racist overtones are definitely present. But the real targets of Waugh's satire are the British and their institutions, and Waugh's comedic imagination has plenty of room to expand in the new territory of the imaginary African country Ishmaelia. The competition of news agencies and the machinations of foreign correspondents are wonderfully depicted, with hilarious stories about legendary journalists who report on non-existent wars and revolutions, and the resulting press attention subsequently causing these revolutions to happen. The main character is a wildlife correspondent who wants nothing more than to stay in his country house and write about the nesting habits of birds and hibernation patterns of badgers, but is, thought a bizarre confusion, sent to report of a supposed revolution in Ishamaelia. He is a little too unbelievably naive, most of Waugh's main characters are touchingly and pathetically oblivious, but William Boot really exceeds credulity. Not that this is a bad thing, just unusual for Waugh, I thought Boot seemed like an almost fairy-tale character in his utter innocence of any kind of ulterior motives and inability to understand them in others. He falls into ideal, fairy-tale love with the only available female, and almost by accident finds the coveted 'scoop', which is a sort of pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I really loved the relationship between truth and lies in this novel: at one point, a reporter makes up a story that accidentally turns out to be very close to the truth, but the rival journalists 'kill' the story before it can break, making it impossible to report the real truth when in emerges, because it's not a 'dead' story that no one wants to read. As usual with Waugh's early novels, I absolutely loved it and I think it is a work that is both a fun and easy read and a complex production, posing fascinating psychological and philosophical questions.