Crome Yellow

Title: Crome Yellow

Author: Aldous Huxley

Number of pages: 176

Started: 22 April 2008

Finished: 29 April 2008

Opening words:

Along this particular stretch of line no express had ever passed. All the trains - the few that there were - stopped at all the stations. Denis knew the names of those stations by heart. Bole, Tritton, Spavin Delawarr, Knipswich for Timpany, West Bowlby, and, finally, Camlet-on-the-Water. Camlet was where he always got out, leaving the train to creep indolently onward, goodness only knew whither, into the green heart of England.

Plot summary:

Denis Stone, a naive young poet, is invited to stay at Crome, a country house renowned for its gatherings of 'bright young things'. Crome's hosts, the world-weary Henry Wimbush and his exotic wife Priscilla are joined by a party of colourful guests whose intrigues and opinions ensure Denis's stay is a memorable one.
In the course of the weekend Henry tells his guests fantastical stories from the history of the house, Mr Barbecue-Smith invents inspirational aphorisms conceived in trances, Mary dispense with her virginity on the roof, the local vicar prophesies the Apocalypse, the annual Crome Fair takes place and Denis tries to capture it all in poetry and has his heart broken.

Summary from Amazon.

What I thought:

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is one of my favourite books, but it has to be said that this one has not been added to the list. The book is one of the ‘between the war’ books that looks at a decaying world of decadence, but that just isn’t my kind of book and although I read it to the end, I didn’t really enjoy it. Not my sort of book.