The Loved One
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The Loved One (1947) is a short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry.
It is still in print, with a recent edition issued in Boston by Back Bay Books in 1999 with ISBN 0316926086
In the novel, a young English poet, Dennis Barlow, goes to Los Angeles to visit his uncle, Sir Francis Hensley, who works at a film studio. When he is fired by the studio, Sir Francis commits suicide, and Dennis goes to the imposing necropolis called Whispering Glades (its details partly inspired by Forest Lawn, which mesmerized Waugh) to arrange for the funeral. While there, he meets Amy Thanatogenos, an embalmers assistant, becomes obsessed with her, and competes for her attention with the sinister Mr. Joyboy.
The comedy is savage and macabre, as biting today as it was when it was written. The Loved One appeared on most of the 'Hundred Best Novels of the Century' lists in 2000.
The book was adapted into a sprawling film of the same name in 1965, billed as The motion picture with something to offend everyone! Not particularly true to the book, the film features many in-joke cameos and familiar California filming locations like the Harold Lloyd estate. Christopher Isherwood worked on an early version of the screeplay and can be glimpsed as one of 'Uncle Frank's' mourners.