We need the baffled “nature writer” who has never been outside of England to suddenly find himself in a foreign country in the middle of a civil war, surrounded by INSANE foreign correspondents … in order for the book to work. Scoop flat out would not work if the lead character was fully ensconced in that kind of journalism, and knew the rules, and accepted them. The best part about this book is its protagonist. And so the foreign correspondents race around trying to beat each other to the punch – but it’s all bogus anyway, and what on earth is the point? But you get into the realm in Scoop where “truth” is the LAST thing anyone cares about. Does anyone else see how INSANE this all is? There’s a sort of Wag the Dog thing going on here – Scoop reminded me quite a bit of that film, only it took as its target journalism.

It is a book for those of us who look around, see craziness, and wonder if we are all alone. It is 100% absurd, from beginning to end, but at the same time (and this is Waugh’s genius), all you can do is see how right ON his observations are … how true the whole thing is, and that he seems to be only exaggerating a little bit. Scoop is the best lampoon of journalism (especially foreign correspondents) I have ever read. “Why is she whooping and guffawing all by herself over there?” It’s not always comfortable to have your face literally FROZEN into a Greek comedy mask!! It makes you look like a lunatic! I had to put it down occasionally, because I just needed a break from the laughter. Some books are amusing, they have a light and hilarious tone, that puts you into an easygoing comedic mood. To me, Scoop is in the top 5 funniest books I have ever read in my life.

What’s funny to me may be just “silly” to someone else. It’s hard to describe why something is funny – and humor, of course, is a subjective thing. It is so funny that I found myself on the bus one night, reading it, and my face was literally frozen in a comedy mask of laughter for the entire ride, tears streaming down my face. To say this is a funny book is to completely under-state the situation. Hitchens’ review made me laugh out loud, so I immediately went out and bought a copy and read the book last year. I read this book because of Christopher Hitchens’ review of it, I think in The Atlantic.

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh