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bogumilb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
michael5000's review against another edition
3.0
This is the worst thing I've read by Trollope. It's pretty good!
Knowing nothing about it, I had three surprises. One was that it is set in the Australian bush, rather far from the London and provincial towns of his usual fare. Another that it is a sort of Christmas story, which worked rather well as I started into it the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas in the Australian heat is strange to his emigrant characters and his British readers alike, and Trollope has fun replicating, but sometimes in an inverted fashion, the themes of family, fellowship, and redemption that you would find in, most familiarly, the Dickens Christmas novels.
The third surprise was that, as I might have expected from a Christmas novel, it is much, much shorter than most Trollope novels. Since I was listening, I didn't get the "telltale compression of the pages," and the book ended rather abruptly just as I felt like the characters and setting had all been introduced, and was wondering what would happen next. If I read it again, it will be interesting to see how differently the pacing feels when you know that what I thought of as the opening gambit is actually the central plot.
Knowing nothing about it, I had three surprises. One was that it is set in the Australian bush, rather far from the London and provincial towns of his usual fare. Another that it is a sort of Christmas story, which worked rather well as I started into it the day after Thanksgiving. Christmas in the Australian heat is strange to his emigrant characters and his British readers alike, and Trollope has fun replicating, but sometimes in an inverted fashion, the themes of family, fellowship, and redemption that you would find in, most familiarly, the Dickens Christmas novels.
The third surprise was that, as I might have expected from a Christmas novel, it is much, much shorter than most Trollope novels. Since I was listening, I didn't get the "telltale compression of the pages," and the book ended rather abruptly just as I felt like the characters and setting had all been introduced, and was wondering what would happen next. If I read it again, it will be interesting to see how differently the pacing feels when you know that what I thought of as the opening gambit is actually the central plot.
tjwallace04's review against another edition
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
You wouldn't be able to tell from the title...or from the cover...or even from most of the plot 😅, but "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil" is a Christmas story, which is why I joined a buddy read of this classic novella this month. It was one of my reading resolutions for 2023 to read something by Anthony Trollope, and I read one of his shortest novels, "The Warden," in February, and now I have read this little-known novella in December. So I am fulfilling my goals...with the least possible effort 😂. It's not that I haven't enjoyed Trollope's writing! I have, and I would like to read more by him. But the majority of his best-known books are lonnnngggg. Maybe next year. I can make another resolution. 😆
Meanwhile, back to "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil"! I have learned from my buddy read friends that this novella is unique in that it is the only book that Trollope set in Australia, rather than England. Trollope's son immigrated to Australia, and Trollope visited him there in 1871. He took much of his inspiration for this story from his son Frederick's sheep farm. There are still Trollope descendants living in Australia!
I enjoyed "Harry Heathcote of Gangoil." At 116 pages, it is a very quick read, but there is a big, emotional, and exciting story packed in there. Harry is a character with depth - a driven, exacting, proud person, but with a big heart. The question of whether his vast stretches of land and pasture are going to be burned by his enemies - people he has offended by his relentless pursuit of truth and high-handed manner - is gripping. The drama comes to a head on Christmas Eve, with a lovely Christmas Day resolution and reconciliation and even a whiff of romance (**if you can call it a romance when it's a "you're the only eligible male/female within 50 miles of this remote place, so let's get married" situation ). It was fun to learn a little bit about Australian history and culture of that time period: the squatters vs. the free selectors; and a "nobbler" is a great name for a shot of alcohol. It was definitely odd to read a Christmas story set in a heat wave with wildfire warnings, but of course, it's the Southern hemisphere!
Overall, this is an easy and fun read. If you have been looking for that elusive Australian sheep farming in the 1800s Christmas story, look no farther!
Meanwhile, back to "Harry Heathecote of Gangoil"! I have learned from my buddy read friends that this novella is unique in that it is the only book that Trollope set in Australia, rather than England. Trollope's son immigrated to Australia, and Trollope visited him there in 1871. He took much of his inspiration for this story from his son Frederick's sheep farm. There are still Trollope descendants living in Australia!
I enjoyed "Harry Heathcote of Gangoil." At 116 pages, it is a very quick read, but there is a big, emotional, and exciting story packed in there. Harry is a character with depth - a driven, exacting, proud person, but with a big heart. The question of whether his vast stretches of land and pasture are going to be burned by his enemies - people he has offended by his relentless pursuit of truth and high-handed manner - is gripping. The drama comes to a head on Christmas Eve, with a lovely Christmas Day resolution and reconciliation and even a whiff of romance (**if you can call it a romance when it's a "you're the only eligible male/female within 50 miles of this remote place, so let's get married" situation ). It was fun to learn a little bit about Australian history and culture of that time period: the squatters vs. the free selectors; and a "nobbler" is a great name for a shot of alcohol. It was definitely odd to read a Christmas story set in a heat wave with wildfire warnings, but of course, it's the Southern hemisphere!
Overall, this is an easy and fun read. If you have been looking for that elusive Australian sheep farming in the 1800s Christmas story, look no farther!
frances_ab's review against another edition
3.0
Another of the lesser Trollope's, this is a quick read, set during Christmas in the Australian outback.
pgchuis's review against another edition
3.0
Mildly interesting story about squabbling between a sheep farmer and his neighbours in Victorian Queensland, made slightly more so because I have just read a Bill Bryson book on Australia and also in the light of the forest fires we have been having here in BC this summer. (Clearly Trollope did not regard lightning strikes as a potential source of fire.)
Nothing much really happened, although Harry's character was well-drawn and Trollope managed to fit a small romance in.
Nothing much really happened, although Harry's character was well-drawn and Trollope managed to fit a small romance in.
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