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    Scoop
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    Scoop
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    Scoop
    Audiobook6 hours

    Scoop

    Written by Evelyn Waugh

    Narrated by Simon Cadell

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Lord Copper, newspaper magnate and proprietor of the Daily Beast, has always prided himself on his intuitive flair for spotting ace reporters. That is not to say he has not made the odd blunder, however, and may in a moment of weakness make another. Acting on a dinner party tip from Mrs. Algernon Stitch, Lord Copper feels convinced that he has hit on just the chap to cover a promising war in the African Republic of Ishmaelia. So begins Scoop, Waugh's exuberant comedy of mistaken identity and brilliantly irreverent satire of the hectic pursuit of hot news.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateDec 11, 2012
    ISBN9781619693890
    Unavailable
    Scoop
    Author

    Evelyn Waugh

    Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) estudió historia moderna en Oxford, donde llevó, según sus palabras, una vida de "pereza, disolución y derroche". Publicó en 1928 su primera novela, "Cuerpos viles", "¡Noticia bomba!" y "Merienda de negros", publicadas en esta colección, que le establecieron como el novelista cómico inglés más considerabe desde Dickens. Después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, el influjo de su conversión al catolicismose hizo muy acusado; destacan entre las obras de dicho periodo "Retorno a Brideshead", la trilogía "La espada del honor" y también "Los seres queridos", en la que regresó a la veta satírica de sus primeras novelas.

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    Reviews for Scoop

    4/5

    627 ratings47 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Amusing but I'm not sure it deserves the long standing assessment that it is a classic. A broad farce with mistaken identities, dropped trousers, cartoon like stereotypes as the main cast. And, of course, very much of its time displaying colonialist racist views.
    • 3/5
      Evelyn Waugh was a pretty vile human being (even for his time) and unfortunately, "Scoop" contains elements of his racism and anti-Semitism, which mar an otherwise decent novel.(I put this book on my list after reading and loving Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" -- before I had read anything about the author's life.)"Scoop" is the story of a newspaper columnist named Boot, who gets sent overseas as a foreign correspondent to Ishmaelia, where a war is expected to break out despite his lack of qualifications, because his name is similar to someone else more qualified. As a recovering reporter, there were elements of this book I found amusing and that still ring true today-- especially the pack mentality, which is still present in reporting today.
    • 3/5
      Persiflage op de journalistieke praktijken, het Britse kolonialisme, de Britse platteland-achterlijkheid, en zoveel meer. Zeer onderhoudend en grappig.
    • 5/5
      Hilarious satire of journalism.
    • 3/5
      Persiflage op de journalistieke praktijken, het Britse kolonialisme, de Britse platteland-achterlijkheid, en zoveel meer. Zeer onderhoudend en grappig.
    • 4/5
      Really puts the Boot in.
    • 5/5
      An uproariously funny comedy of errors with some of the wittiest dialogue I have ever read... it's only a shame that Waugh's racism comes to the fore with some less than well-chosen nouns that really, really make the book feel dated.
    • 4/5
      Very amusing satire of newspaper life & Colonial African politics. Probably not very politically correct in today's terms but I could easily visualize the attitudes and apathy of the natives of Ishmaelia, as well as the gullibility of the Europeans & cynicism of the newsmen.
    • 4/5
      Second time reading.

      File this under guilty pleasures. I'm, well outraged isn't the right word, made weary by the dreariness of the other reviews of this book: plot summaries, gestures towards its transhistorical narratives (or towards its capturing that peculiar moment before the Nazis invaded Poland), and hamfisted comparisons to P. G. Wodehouse (different sort of writer entirely, although, hilariously, Wodehouse does get a shoutout as the plot winds down). And then, well, there's the fact that the book is terribly racist. It's not racist in a Mein Kampf or Turner Diaries kind of way; there's no particular program Waugh wants to push; but the novel nevertheless goes hand-in-thoughtless-hand with the postwar atrocities committed by Britain in Kenya. Is this attitude inevitable? Simply a record of its time?

      Of course not. Don't be foolish.

      That said, it's delightful. I'm of course reminded of A. J. Liebling's war journalism. The plot should be a model for plots everywhere. The odd mixture of affection and contempt is characteristic of the best humor writing (see, for example, Diary of a Nobody or Cold Comfort Farm). I'm going a bit too far here: it's clear that Waugh finds the expropriation of Africa's natural resources by European colonial powers distasteful. And that's something.

      I'd suggest, however, starting with The Loved One.
    • 2/5
      Some people claim this is funny (even "hilarious"?!), but I found it to be only mildly, situationally funny. In fact, the fun is far outweighed by the racist and imperialist attitudes all though out the book. All the satire of journalism stuff is alright, but it's not worth the ugliness.
    • 4/5
      Very funny and proof that there's nothing wrong with long, twisty sentences when done right. Plus ca change and all that.
    • 5/5
      Pretty clever throughout but it turned out hilarious by the end.
    • 4/5
      This is the first Evelyn Waugh book that I have read and having now done so feel that I have been sorely missing. I mean I love PG Wodehouse so why not Waugh?The book appears at first glance to be a simple tale of mistaken identity as an obscure country gent is sent to Africa as the foreign correspondant of the Beast newspaper instead of an inspiring author but it soon becomes evident that it is more than that. It is a parody of journalism, communism. fascism and colonialism all in one. The book was written in the 1930's and should the power of the press, when foreign correspondants telegraphed the headlines of stories back to their headquarters for others to fill in the gaps solely dependant with their owners' pre-disposed opinion. Where papers could create tension where none existed. I loved the idea of a journalist locking himself away from his companions for a few days then making up some story of some daring deed before leaving the country before anyone can question them. I often like to watch the News 24 channels and often feel that the reporters there are trying to create a story where one does not exist just to fill time so feel that this story has a relevance in todays world.I loved the characters from the pompous Lord Cooper, the inept William and fighty Katchen and although in many repects they were like ships passing in the night as they flitted in and out they gave a certain depth and pathos to the tale.Waugh's style is more satirical rather outright humourous and as such is different than Wodehouse but all the same the book made me laugh out loud at times, the writting style quirky yet succinct and overall I really enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      Am slowly working my way through the Waugh canon but wish it hadn't taken me so long to get around to Scoop. Finished the book a couple of days ago and I'm still smiling over the final 15 pages.In this outing Waugh takes a break from heavy social commentary (war, politics, social mores) to take on a much broader mark: the fourth estate. Unrest is brewing in the African country of Ishmaelia; British tabloids scamble to deploy their best foreign correspondents to cover the efray. Alas, through a series of blunders and misunderstandings, the Beast ends up deploying the author of their "pastoral living" column. Regular readers of Waugh will recognize William Bolt's type: steadfast and unflappable in the face of mounting chaos. Thrust into the heart of a forgotten African country, surrounded by a cast of socially/ethically/intellectually compromised foreign correspondents, and laden with an entire train-car full of wholly ridiculous luggage (including a "rather overfurnished tent, three months' rations, a collapsible canoe, a jointed flagstaff and Union Jack, and hand-pump and sterilizing plant, an astrolabe, six suites of tropical linen and a sou'wester, a camp operating table and set of surgical instruments, a portable humidor, and a Christmas hamper complete with a Santa Claus costume and a tripod mistletoe stand"), Bolt weathers a series of increasingly absurd predictaments without ever compromising his dignity. There's not much subtlety here: the majority of characters are little more than grotesques and much of the humor is broad farce. But it's extraordinarily witty and hugely amusing farce: I laughed aloud so often, people actually began to move away from me on the metro. (A added boon during rush hour!)Yes, Waugh's treatment of Africans is racist and irreverent - but then again, so is his treatment of his fellow countrymen, so critical reviewers might consider lightening up. The racism is no more than an honest representation of the paternalistic attitude of Britain towards "uncivilized lands" at this time in history; and, besides, all's fair in love, war, and satire. Scoop is brisk, broad, and fun, fun, fun! Definitely a book I'll be picking up again one day.
    • 4/5
      Like some of Waugh's other comic novels, Scoop is based loosely on Waugh's personal experiences, and amuses the reader with its clever satirisation of virtually every aspect on which the book is based. In this case, we have a story about a rural journalist, who writes on countryside matters, who is by pure bad luck signed up as a foreign correspondent and sent out of the country to report on a civil war in a small country in Africa. He is clueless of course, but as an Englishman he blunders through and manages to do his best, even going as far (mainly by luck) as to get the eponymous Scoop.Scoop is of a similar quality to Waugh's Decline and Fall, and nearly as good as Black Mischief, which is probably the funniest book I've read. This is definitely one for fans of Waugh, and a good place to start for those who have not before experienced his brilliant humour.
    • 4/5
      This classic British novel raises the issue of "presentism" in crystal clear focus -- it is a wonderfully written and scathingly funny novel, but it is also racist. In 1938, when the book was written, British racism didn't bother to be covert (it was after all only 30 years earlier that Kipling referred to "lesser breeds without the law") and this book is full of racist opinions, and racist language. Should we judge the views and language of 1938 by the standards of 2011? To do so is to commit "presentism". That's an attitude that would cut one off from a lot of the great and enjoyable literature of the past, and one that I generally try to avoid. I did so with "Scoop", and enjoyed it a lot, despite fairly frequent cringes. BUT I can't always suspend the will to be offended, especially when it's my identity group that's getting dumped on -- as soon as I read what Mencken had to say about women, for example, I gave up on Mencken. I think a lot of readers may not be able to avoid being offended by this novel. Essentially, I'd have to put a caution lable on a positive recommendation -- "A Riot, but Racist"
    • 3/5
      This book starts laugh-out-loud funny, as through a series of misunderstandings and blunders a mild-mannered nature columnist is sent by a newspaper to be its ace reporter covering a bloody civil war in Africa. It's also kind of funny at the end, as the nature reporter seeks to avoid the limelight, and the newspaper seeks to honor him with a banquet and a knighthood. It's the in-between part I have big problems with.Sometimes literature from certain eras will use negative, racist terms and words to describe a person, peoples or practices. And sometimes in the context of such books we can read around this, as simply being chronologically representative of the way things were then. These terms and words are used in profusion in Scoop. Here, however, the attempted humor of the book too frequently depends on the reader's acceptance of the negative characteristics implied by the racist terms. In other words, if the reader doesn't accept the blatant racism of some of the 'humor,' it's not easy to find anything to laugh about. There are a few zingers about the way the press sometimes manufactures news, but not enough to ignore the cringe-inducing remainder of the reporter's African adventures. Not recommended.
    • 3/5
      A satire with a farcical story that holds back from becoming a 'farce', this is the sharpest sketch of Fleet Street ever written - a shame, because it deals with foreign affairs and so the newsroom passages are brief.
    • 4/5
      A savagely hilarious satire of the intersecting worlds of sensationalistic journalism, politics, and high society. Possibly even more relevant today than when it was written.
    • 5/5
      This is very funny, full of ridiculous and eccentric characters with ludicrous names, and a quick succession of farcical situations which somehow Waugh makes believable. Some reviewers describe the language as dated, but this is its charm. If only more modern authors could write with such wit!
    • 3/5
      Good fun, but barely a novel, more a collection of deftly drawn caricatures. Lord Copper is the most marvelously monstrous of all and it is striking how many true notes he could strikes as a tycoon of the 1990s not the 1930s. Up to a point at least.
    • 3/5
      For the most part, a gentle, charming satire - part of its charm being that it doesn't come across as bitter and cynical in the way that much satire does.Some of the vocabulary and of the depictions of Africa and Africans did make me wince - this is very much a book of its time in that respect.
    • 5/5
      Evelyn Waugh was one of those authors that I had somehow considered difficult for some reason. I mean, Brideshead Revisited and all that. But the description of this wicked little story sounded so tempting that I had to give it a try. I will definitely be reading more.Scoop is the story about a modern war. Or rather, about modern journalism and how they report on a war. The war is in the fictional African country of Ismaelia, and our intrepid reporter is sent off to get the story. The Megalopolitan News Agency wants to be the first to break the story. Lady Stitch recommends her good friend, Mr. Boots. But a hapless editor hires the wrong Mr. Boots, and William is sent off quite unwillingly to cover a war he knows nothing about and which, in fact, hasn't really started yet. (But the paper still wants news of a victory around the first of July.)Naive country gentleman William is soon mixing with a crowd of veteran news reporters, barnyard animals, a somewhat faithful German wife, a Scandinavian missionary, and a crowd of politicians as eager to avoid him as he is to speak to them. Only when events take a strange and sudden turn does William find his chance to get the story and get back home to England.I have to add that this book is full of racial slurs. My impression is that they are mostly used to describe the close minded, bigoted attitude of the Europeans in the story, but it was still pretty shocking in parts. I really don't remember the last time I read anything quite this offensive, so take a warning from that.My favorite quote from the story is when William is discussing the situation with his editor, Mr. Salter, just before leaving England."I don't read the papers very much. Can you tell me who is fighting who in Ishmaelia?""I think it's the Patriots and the Traitors.""Yes, but which is which?""Oh, I don't know that. That's Policy, you see. It's nothing to do with me."Very cynical, but very funny. Now I want to give that Brideshead Revisited book or whatever it is a try.
    • 4/5
      A satire of newspaper life in the inter war years, a comedy of manners and full absurdist humour. Entertaining and fun.
    • 5/5
      The most enjoyable book I've ever read. Had me in giggling like a schoolgirl from beginning to end.
    • 5/5
      as ever, Waugh's mastery of English sense of humour is super! love it!
    • 5/5
      This book has long been a favourite of mine. It is often described as a satire on journalists and press magnates, but it's really more wide-ranging. It is set in the world of the foreign corespondent, in the few years before the outbreak of the World War II.The hero is William Boot, a young man, the head of the ramshackle Boot family, who's family seat, Boot Magna Hall, is as decayed and improvised as any seat could be. He lives a blameless life, his main aim is to keep his small salary as the writer of Lush Places a nature column, published weekly in the Daily Beast, so that he can live quietly. A mix up occurs and he finds himself Foreign Correspondent for the Daily Beast in Ishmaelia, an African country that is a composite of Abyssinia, Liberia and others, to cover an uprising.The press core, a fine collection of grotesques, fire off five word telegrams and the newspapers cover three pages with 'colour', no one can find the uprising, the Fleet Street legends find themselves comfortable holes and try and make the news, the rest whinge, bicker and get drunk. In Ishmaelia, Boot finds love, and loses it, he loses a wagon-load of gear (including a huge bundle of cleft sticks) and finds it, but on the whole, he survives better than the than the rest of the journalists. The world of Ishmaelia is one of corruption, nepotism and pretence (the second largest town on the map doesn't actually exist and everyone who gets sent to it ends up eaten.) The natives are barbarous, venal, stupid and lazy, the ruling, extended, Jackson family is eccentric, and corrupt.The key to Williams survival, is his background at Boot Magna Hall. Waugh's description of Africa and Africans is no more withering than his description of the inhabitants of this decayed outpost of the rural ruling class, in England. An impoverished sprawling family, variously mad, bad, stupid and venal, whose decrepit and lazy servants spend more time looking after each other than they do the family, and whose farm workers make the cast of Deliverance look well bred. The visit of Mr Salter to the Hall, a suburbanite amongst the savages, is my favourite bit of the book. "...at every station there had been a bustle of passengers succeeded by a long, silent pause, before it started again; men had entered who, instead of slinking and shuffling and wriggling themselves into corners and decently screening themselves behind newspapers, as civilized people should when they travelled by train, had sat down squarely quite close to Mr Salter, rested their hands on their knees, stared at him fixedly and uncritically and suddenly addressed him on the subject of the weather in barely intelligible accents; there had been very old, unhygienic men and women, such as you never saw in the Underground, who ought long ago to have been put away in some public institution; there had been women carrying a multitude of atrocious little baskets and parcels which they piled on the seats; one of them had put a hamper containing a live turkey under Mr Salter's feet. It had been a horrible journey."The book is beautifully crafted and very funny. I think it is genuinely a serious satire, Waugh's characters lead lives of drudgery, misery and failure. His characters who have attained worldly success are pathological and self-deluding, in his books he chronicles human despair and hopelessness, I must re-read more Waugh.
    • 5/5
      this book had me cracking up laughing. waugh was a master of satire.
    • 4/5
      Slow hilarity. That's the best description I can come up with for Waugh's particular brand of gradually crescendoing absurdity. Scoop isn't the kind of book you can open to just any page and find a gem of a passage, but it's not for lack of authorial mastery. It's really just that Waugh's humor is very dry, and he tells his jokes little by little, revealing details judiciously and developing connections between his many characters in a seemingly offhand manner.And it is the characters who really make this novel what it is--a motley cast of misfits, each trying to get by, mostly without ambition or understanding and certainly without any real sense of connection to the rest of the human race.At the center of it all is bewildered William Boot, yanked inexplicably from his life of genteel semi-poverty in the English countryside and dispatched to the northeastern African nation of Ishmaelia as a war correspondent for the Beast. With only a bottomless expense account to guide him, our confuddled young hero doggedly attempts to do what's expected of him. But since he's actually not even the journalist the paper meant to send, he blunders continuously and pathetically.Ishmaelia, once he finally reaches it, presents an object lesson in the "art" of journalism. Hordes of correspondents have converged on Ishmaelia because its highly unstable political situation has captured the interest of Europe and England--except that no one in Ishmaelia seems to be aware of, or care about, or even acknowledge, a political situation of any kind. So the journalists lounge around drinking, playing ping pong, getting insanely overcharged, and occasionally firing off dutiful wireless cables to their editors. The cables, which are filled with nonsense of the most improbable kind, generally conveyed in 10 words or less, are worked over and splashed onto front pages as thrilling, dire headlines. And William, who probably never told a lie in his whole life (because he never even thought of it), simply cannot wrap his mind around the business. Even when he lucks into some real news, it doesn't matter, because What Really Took Place just happens to be something the newspapers have already denied. And how could a paper maintain the trust of the people if were to be retracting what it had reported as fact?But Boot triumphs. Sort of. In this ridiculous world Waugh has created--one which contains more than a kernel of truth--only the most ridiculous person, who has the least possible interest in (let alone understanding of) what he's supposed to be doing, through the most unlikely series of coincidences, can come upon the Holy Grail of Ishmaelite news and bring glory to himself and his paper.Waugh's dryness and convoluted vocabulary and product-of-his-times racism mean he's not for everybody. But if you like a novel that falls into place bit by bit in a decidedly satisfying way, and can appreciate the artful decimation of naive ideas like "journalistic integrity" and "governmental competence," then give this unusual book a chance.
    • 4/5
      London newspaper satire. This book is filled with mistaken identies, satirical political intrigue, and don't forget, the big scoop on the story!