--- product_id: 37701506 title: "Vile Bodies" price: "SAR 96" currency: SAR in_stock: false reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/37701506-vile-bodies store_origin: SA region: Saudi Arabia --- # 4.0/5 Star Rating Classic Satire Gem Published 1930s Era Vile Bodies **Price:** SAR 96 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Summary > 📖 Own a piece of literary satire history—don’t miss out on the cult classic everyone’s whispering about! ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Vile Bodies - **How much does it cost?** SAR 96 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.sa](https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/37701506-vile-bodies) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Cult Classic Status:** Join the exclusive circle appreciating a novel that’s kept readers laughing for over 80 years. - • **Conversation Starter:** A witty, slightly irreverent read that sparks intellectual debates and nostalgic charm. - • **Collector’s Quality:** Good condition used book—perfect for your vintage literary collection or stylish office shelf. - • **Timeless Satirical Wit:** Dive into Evelyn Waugh’s razor-sharp social commentary on post-WWI British high society. - • **Rich Character Ensemble:** Experience a vivid cast of absurd, unforgettable characters that still resonate today. ## Overview Vile Bodies is a 1930s satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh, lampooning the frivolous 'Bright Young Things' of post-WWI England. This used copy is in good condition and holds a solid 4-star rating from over 1,200 readers, making it a must-have for fans of classic literature and sharp social critique. ## Description Used Book in Good Condition Review: "Glass Onion" in Great Gatsby Era - This book is: The "Glass Onion" movie character ensemble, trapped in a Great Gatsby era, with "O O O Shakespeherian Rag" dialect and Eton boys' vocabulary, dazzled by the satire of a professor emeritus with no-effs-given. And yes, after you read the book, this will make perfect sense. I highly recommend. Very funny. Review: A Bit Dated but Still Funny - Though I rarely review books by classic authors who have no need of my support (or lack of) to make their reputations, I sometimes bend my rule for books that might be lesser known in an author's oeuvre. So, admittedly as a fan of Waugh, I'm going to take the time to write a few lines about Vile Bodies. This is not one of my favorite Waugh novels. There is no plot to speak of. This book is really just a sequence of scenes that are meant to poke fun at the rich & foolish of post-WWI England; mainly, the "Bright Young Things". Though I'm sure this book was quite a riot in its day, I feel that it has aged less well than much of Waugh's work. This is also reflected in the use of what would be considered very un-PC language today. (Though, admittedly, the use of un-PC language doesn't really bother me personally.) That being said, there's no denying that Waugh is a very funny writer and that there are plenty of laughs still to be had here. Waugh's dialogue in this novel really pops with energy. There are set pieces that can still speak to us--the couple whose state of engagement changes on an hourly basis, the writer who makes up his articles wholesale, the religious proselytizers who don't practice what they preach. In fact, there are a whole slew of ridiculous characters here which each have a moment or two in the sun. Whatever its deficiencies, there's a reason some writers have their books still read over 80 years after they are first published: the worst book of a great author is better than most of the books out there. And I wouldn't say this is Waugh's worst. It's definitely worth a read. ## Features - Used Book in Good Condition ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #288,890 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1,066 in Fiction Satire #2,345 in Classic Literature & Fiction #7,392 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.0 out of 5 stars 1,231 Reviews | ## Images ![Vile Bodies - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71cRHZwlIBL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Glass Onion" in Great Gatsby Era *by L***. on August 24, 2023* This book is: The "Glass Onion" movie character ensemble, trapped in a Great Gatsby era, with "O O O Shakespeherian Rag" dialect and Eton boys' vocabulary, dazzled by the satire of a professor emeritus with no-effs-given. And yes, after you read the book, this will make perfect sense. I highly recommend. Very funny. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Bit Dated but Still Funny *by T***H on July 20, 2012* Though I rarely review books by classic authors who have no need of my support (or lack of) to make their reputations, I sometimes bend my rule for books that might be lesser known in an author's oeuvre. So, admittedly as a fan of Waugh, I'm going to take the time to write a few lines about Vile Bodies. This is not one of my favorite Waugh novels. There is no plot to speak of. This book is really just a sequence of scenes that are meant to poke fun at the rich & foolish of post-WWI England; mainly, the "Bright Young Things". Though I'm sure this book was quite a riot in its day, I feel that it has aged less well than much of Waugh's work. This is also reflected in the use of what would be considered very un-PC language today. (Though, admittedly, the use of un-PC language doesn't really bother me personally.) That being said, there's no denying that Waugh is a very funny writer and that there are plenty of laughs still to be had here. Waugh's dialogue in this novel really pops with energy. There are set pieces that can still speak to us--the couple whose state of engagement changes on an hourly basis, the writer who makes up his articles wholesale, the religious proselytizers who don't practice what they preach. In fact, there are a whole slew of ridiculous characters here which each have a moment or two in the sun. Whatever its deficiencies, there's a reason some writers have their books still read over 80 years after they are first published: the worst book of a great author is better than most of the books out there. And I wouldn't say this is Waugh's worst. It's definitely worth a read. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Twit Parade *by B***M on August 9, 2006* On the one hand, "Vile Bodies" has much of what makes Evelyn Waugh so admired so many years after its 1930 publication: Whip-smart dialogue, characters hoisted on their own petards, brutal plot twists, and a sense of cosmic, comic disengagement. On the other hand, well, let's just say this is one time Waugh doesn't employ his usual gimlet-eyed focus. Adam and Nina prepare to tie the knot, only he keeps falling out financially while she is distracted by a suitor who she used to play with when she was a girl and "his hair was a very pretty colour then." Their friend Agatha hasn't enough sense not to smoke in a race-car pit, but her being strip-searched at customs becomes national news. Evangelist Mrs. Ape and her all-girl wing-wearing retinue plies their trade to the aristocratic circle, while prime ministers rise and fall and the jeunesse dorée Waugh dubs the Bright Young Things seek ever-more exotic locales for their parties and shallow, self-serving games. Shallow selfishness is the theme of this, Waugh's satire of the class and culture he inhabited. Perhaps as an extension of this satire, Waugh is even more disengaged than usual in his characters and their goings-on, and as he jumps from one frothy distraction to another, it makes for a tough read. As Adam says at one point near the final stretch: "I've rather lost interest in this race." Adam is a particular difficult character in the novel, being the protagonist, so feckless he's hard to root for, whether he's giving a thousand pounds to a stranger to make a bet for him or selling his fiancée off to his rival to square a hotel bill. He does get one brief burst of energy when Waugh thrusts upon him the job of a gossip columnist, which Adam fills with unexpected verve and imagination, peopling his column with imaginary characters like a rare beauty, "very dark and slim, with large Laurencin eyes and the negligent grace of the trained athlete" of whom another celebrity of Adam's invention describes as "justifying the century." For a time, Adam's column sends London aflutter, and Waugh's satire soars, but then Waugh quickly switches gears and moves on to the next thing. He does this in all his novels, but he's normally such an inventive scenarist you don't mind. Here, so much of the divertissement is paper-thin, it really disappoints someone weaned on far better Waugh books set in the same place, like "Brideshead Revisited" (as deep and real a vision of London in the 1920s and 1930s as this is not) and "A Handful Of Dust" (where protagonist Tony Last merits a rooting interest.) Here you have what amounts to a clever Waugh short story that just goes on a bit too long. Even the humor feels forced at times. When Agatha finds herself in a strange house still dressed for a party from the night before, Waugh is compelled in parenthesis to tell us she's in a grass skirt, as if not trusting us to cotton onto the joke otherwise. Most people seem to regard this novel as one of Waugh's better ones, capturing the spirit of the time and its frivolity. It's frivolous, I grant you that, and you may find it more engaging. Certainly it is a Rosetta stone for understanding Waugh's complicated relationship with his surroundings, and his embrace of Catholicism as apparent satiety for the "almost fatal hunger for permanence" articulated in this novel by a wandering Jesuit. I just wish, for all the occasional moments of humor and Waugh's characteristically sharp pen, there was something of his more transcendent quality to be found here as well. ## Frequently Bought Together - Vile Bodies - Decline and Fall --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/37701506-vile-bodies](https://www.desertcart.com.sa/products/37701506-vile-bodies) --- *Product available on Desertcart Saudi Arabia* *Store origin: SA* *Last updated: 2026-05-05*