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This is actually a fictional novel, but seeing as it was written in 1930, it now functions as a historical view into the lives of yuppies in the 1920s. In addition to that it is a pretty good book, giving a much better critique of the rich and shameless than that weak and spineless piece of trivia by Tom Wolfe. Of course if all you want is a better yuppie put-down, then you can read American Psycho , though you may want to skip the gruesome sex and violence scenes.
What makes Vile Bodies worthy of attention is that, when compared to Modern Yuppies, we see that nothing has changed. Well almost nothing.
These characters live in a whirl of sex, deceit, fraud, gambling and violence, with the prospect of a World War hanging over their heads. What they actually got was a Stock Market Crash and a World Depression. Our Yuppies live in a whirl of sex, deceit, fraud, gambling and violence, with the prospect of a Stock Market crash and World Depression hanging over their heads, hopefully they are right this time.
If you like the Stories of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, then this is the same world, viewed from a less savoury angle. As with many cases in which someone views the world in a less savoury manner, it can be described in two ways. One view is that the less savoury viewpoints come from people who are more true-to-life. The other is that they just have less savoury lives.
My own opinions leans towards the latter. Whenever I am subject to the output of artists and writers, especially those hired by the governments to “speak to today’s youth in terms they can relate to”, I realise that what they consider to be real, is what I consider to be lowlife scum. And when I am told that “this show/book/advertisement is about real life, people who have drug problems, suicidal tendencies and unwanted pregnancies” my reaction is “That is not about MY real life. Perhaps you guys should change your lives instead of telling everyone that this is how everyone has to live.”
Getting back to the book at hand, I see that I may have lead you astray. Just because the characters don’t have lives as carefree as Bertie Wooster, does not mean that they are as grubby as the characters in a government safe sex campaign. It is probably because they don’t have Jeeves to take care of them. And because they aren’t quite as cowardly as Bertie. Remember that “Virtue often takes credit for behaviour that should be attributed to cowardice.” And this means that their lives are fun to read about.
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