The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy (1948) by Evelyn Waugh is a darkly satirical novel that critiques the Los Angeles funeral industry and the Hollywood film business. Set in a world of morbid humor, it follows British expatriate Dennis Barlow, a poet turned pet mortician, and his entanglements with the glamorous yet grotesque world of the Whispering Glades funeral home. The novel explores absurdities such as the commodification of death and the clash of British and American cultures. Through characters like the obsessed embalmer Mr. Joyboy and the tragic, manipulative Aimée Thanatogenos, Waugh highlights the artificiality and corruption lurking beneath the surface of Hollywood's shiny exterior. The book is a biting commentary on death, vanity, and the human obsession with perfection, making it both humorous and unsettling.
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