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wyemu's review against another edition
5.0
While reading this book I remembered why I enjoy classics so much. It's the inter-twinning stories, the wide array of characters, the plots and sub-plots that alternate the chapters and moral outcomes for all those involved. Trollope is a joy to read for all these reasons and don't let the size of the novel put you off because every chapter and sentence is well worth it. Greatly looking forward to reading more by him and being immersed again and again in the period
meredith_mccaskey's review against another edition
3.0
During the first two thirds of the book I thought this was going to be a 5-star read. It was similar to Dickens, in that Trollope gives us massive cast and multiple storylines all going at once, but I found almost all of them engaging, and even if I found quite a few characters insufferable, they were insufferable in a way that didn't prevent me from wanting to know what happened to them, and some of them had surprising depth. I kept seeing parallels between Melmott and Donald Trump that made me feel like Trollope was something of a prophet; I was astonished to find Mrs. Hurtle being such a badass female character in a Victorian novel; I liked Marie Melmott too; I liked Roger; I didn't like Paul and I kept hoping he'd get his punishment for acting like a cad to Mrs. H; the whole Melmott financial/power plot felt like a roller coaster nearing the crest of the hill, just waiting for a big drop–
and then, WHOOMPH. Everything flopped. And not in a good way.
Trollope, why? Did you just lose interest in your characters? (I mean, you wrote a thousand pages of them, so I guess that would be a little understandable...) Did your momentum fail? Because the last third was such a disappointment.
One of the things I love about Dickens is that even though he's got 5-7 storylines going on among characters that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, somehow by the end they've all intersected. Trollope did exactly the opposite. By the end, everybody's going their separate ways, to happy or unhappy endings, and it was a massive let-down. There was one character the reader becomes intimately involved with, in her quest for a husband, her frustrations with her family, her frustration at the society which demands she get married and yet will look down on her if she doesn't marry rich enough. Even though she wasn't a particularly nice character I felt invested in her. And then, at the end, as almost a footnote, I kid you not, she runs away with a curate whom we're never even introduced to.
And all the other winding-up of the other storylines felt the same way– totally abrupt, as though Trollope had just got tired of them, or else that he'd finally reached his word-limit. Thus the diminution of my 5-star rating to 3.
I also have to say a further word about Mrs. Hurtle. Because her storyline, like all the others, ended in a HIGHLY UNSATISFACTORY way, but also, because I think that she is a victim to Trollope's chauvinistic fantasies. He creates this character, an American woman, who has had to stand on her own two legs her whole life and fight for herself. She has shot a man rather than let him rape her. She has left a drunken, abusive husband. She falls in love with a Milk-Sop Englishman, who falls in love with her and promises to marry her, and then becomes squeamish about her "unladylike" past and decides to throw her over and then falls in love with a TOTALLY BLAND AND BORING English virgin who can't even stand up to her own overbearing mother. Mrs. Hurtle follows the milk-sop Englishman to England to try to persuade him to come back to her. She tries to win him back (and he, being a milk-sop) will neither admit he was a cad for throwing her over or go back to her completely, but strings her along in this wishy-washy state while still fully intending to go after Totally Bland And Boring English Virgin. And then when Mrs. Hurtle FINALLY backs him into a corner and forces him to make a decision, and he says he still won't marry her– well, then Trollope's patriarchal fantasies take over.
Because what does this strong, badass woman do? SHE DECIDES THAT THE MILK-SOP IS RIGHT NOT TO MARRY HER BECAUSE SHE'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM BECAUSE SHE'S NOT THE SOFT INNOCENT VIRGIN GIRL HE WANTS.
GAAAAAAAAAAH!
Anthony Trollope, you are such a dickhead at this point. Of coooooourse in your patriarchal wet-dream you have a badass woman sobbing at your feet that her life is ruined because you won't marry her. Of cooooooourse it's your Victorian fantasy that all badass women are really self-loathing and sitting around wishing they were weak and soft and innocent. But the reality, Anthony Trollope, is that if Mrs. Hurtle was a real woman, when she finally saw the Milk Sop Englishman for the spineless whiny coward he was, she would have brushed the dust off her feet and told herself "good riddance," and moved on with her life. News flash, Tony– women don't spend the rest of their lives pining away over guys who dump them.
and then, WHOOMPH. Everything flopped. And not in a good way.
Trollope, why? Did you just lose interest in your characters? (I mean, you wrote a thousand pages of them, so I guess that would be a little understandable...) Did your momentum fail? Because the last third was such a disappointment.
One of the things I love about Dickens is that even though he's got 5-7 storylines going on among characters that seemingly have nothing to do with each other, somehow by the end they've all intersected. Trollope did exactly the opposite. By the end, everybody's going their separate ways, to happy or unhappy endings, and it was a massive let-down. There was one character the reader becomes intimately involved with, in her quest for a husband, her frustrations with her family, her frustration at the society which demands she get married and yet will look down on her if she doesn't marry rich enough. Even though she wasn't a particularly nice character I felt invested in her. And then, at the end, as almost a footnote, I kid you not, she runs away with a curate whom we're never even introduced to.
And all the other winding-up of the other storylines felt the same way– totally abrupt, as though Trollope had just got tired of them, or else that he'd finally reached his word-limit. Thus the diminution of my 5-star rating to 3.
I also have to say a further word about Mrs. Hurtle. Because her storyline, like all the others, ended in a HIGHLY UNSATISFACTORY way, but also, because I think that she is a victim to Trollope's chauvinistic fantasies. He creates this character, an American woman, who has had to stand on her own two legs her whole life and fight for herself. She has shot a man rather than let him rape her. She has left a drunken, abusive husband. She falls in love with a Milk-Sop Englishman, who falls in love with her and promises to marry her, and then becomes squeamish about her "unladylike" past and decides to throw her over and then falls in love with a TOTALLY BLAND AND BORING English virgin who can't even stand up to her own overbearing mother. Mrs. Hurtle follows the milk-sop Englishman to England to try to persuade him to come back to her. She tries to win him back (and he, being a milk-sop) will neither admit he was a cad for throwing her over or go back to her completely, but strings her along in this wishy-washy state while still fully intending to go after Totally Bland And Boring English Virgin. And then when Mrs. Hurtle FINALLY backs him into a corner and forces him to make a decision, and he says he still won't marry her– well, then Trollope's patriarchal fantasies take over.
Because what does this strong, badass woman do? SHE DECIDES THAT THE MILK-SOP IS RIGHT NOT TO MARRY HER BECAUSE SHE'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM BECAUSE SHE'S NOT THE SOFT INNOCENT VIRGIN GIRL HE WANTS.
GAAAAAAAAAAH!
Anthony Trollope, you are such a dickhead at this point. Of coooooourse in your patriarchal wet-dream you have a badass woman sobbing at your feet that her life is ruined because you won't marry her. Of cooooooourse it's your Victorian fantasy that all badass women are really self-loathing and sitting around wishing they were weak and soft and innocent. But the reality, Anthony Trollope, is that if Mrs. Hurtle was a real woman, when she finally saw the Milk Sop Englishman for the spineless whiny coward he was, she would have brushed the dust off her feet and told herself "good riddance," and moved on with her life. News flash, Tony– women don't spend the rest of their lives pining away over guys who dump them.
jasonfurman's review against another edition
4.0
The Way We Live Now is a bitter satire of British society, but does not bite as much as Thackeray.
The Way We Live Now concludes by pairing off all of the characters in matrimony, but none of the marriages make as much sense as Austen.
The Way We Live Now has morally ambiguous characters, but none of them are as fully realized and sympathetically depicted as Eliot.
And don't get me started on Dickens--the villains are not as villainous, the poor characters are not as human, London is not as vivid, and the plot is not as interesting.
I went into The Way We Live Now with very high expectations, I was sort of saving it having gone through much of the highlights of the Victorian canon ([a:Thomas Hardy|15905|Thomas Hardy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429946281p2/15905.jpg] being the most notable exception). I quite liked it. But I did not love it, not as much as those other authors, and not as much as Trollope's [b:The Warden|267123|The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire #1)|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388555550l/267123._SY75_.jpg|3102430]. I did not love how unlikable the characters were, how little sense the marriages made, how absurd the schemes of the financier were, or how little insight, sympathy or internal development Trollope allowed any of them to have (except maybe for Mrs. Carbury, who was one of the most fascinating characters in the entire book).
All that said, and setting aside my expectations, it was a wonderful Victorian novel that covered finance, politics, the press, corruption, dissolute titled nobility without money and dissolute moneyed people without titles, and dissolute people without real money or titles, all in a plot that set of subplots that remained engaging from beginning to end. It was just that I didn't start fantasizing about reading it again like I do with the very best books.
The Way We Live Now concludes by pairing off all of the characters in matrimony, but none of the marriages make as much sense as Austen.
The Way We Live Now has morally ambiguous characters, but none of them are as fully realized and sympathetically depicted as Eliot.
And don't get me started on Dickens--the villains are not as villainous, the poor characters are not as human, London is not as vivid, and the plot is not as interesting.
I went into The Way We Live Now with very high expectations, I was sort of saving it having gone through much of the highlights of the Victorian canon ([a:Thomas Hardy|15905|Thomas Hardy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1429946281p2/15905.jpg] being the most notable exception). I quite liked it. But I did not love it, not as much as those other authors, and not as much as Trollope's [b:The Warden|267123|The Warden (Chronicles of Barsetshire #1)|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388555550l/267123._SY75_.jpg|3102430]. I did not love how unlikable the characters were, how little sense the marriages made, how absurd the schemes of the financier were, or how little insight, sympathy or internal development Trollope allowed any of them to have (except maybe for Mrs. Carbury, who was one of the most fascinating characters in the entire book).
All that said, and setting aside my expectations, it was a wonderful Victorian novel that covered finance, politics, the press, corruption, dissolute titled nobility without money and dissolute moneyed people without titles, and dissolute people without real money or titles, all in a plot that set of subplots that remained engaging from beginning to end. It was just that I didn't start fantasizing about reading it again like I do with the very best books.
suey's review against another edition
4.0
Wahoo! FINISHED! If you think I didn't like it, just 'cause it took me so long to read, you'd be wrong. It's one of those wonderfully complicated soap opera books that I love. It was just long.. and there were parts that hung me up. But still, it was a fun story.
firerosearien's review against another edition
4.0
While there was much in this novel I did enjoy, I don't think it's my favorite Victorian read because comparably little happens and the plot is very much predictable.
On the other hand, I really did end up feeling sorry for Roger Carbury, one of the few decent characters (along with Hetta). Lady Carbury herself was amusing, while Felix was in need of a good hiding.
I do not think Melmotte's fate was taking the easy way out, but I was hoping for a greater pay off.
On the other hand, I really did end up feeling sorry for Roger Carbury, one of the few decent characters (along with Hetta). Lady Carbury herself was amusing, while Felix was in need of a good hiding.
I do not think Melmotte's fate was taking the easy way out, but I was hoping for a greater pay off.
odyssia's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I recommend watching the TV series before attempting to read this as it helps bring the characters alive in your mind, but there are some major differences between the series and the book.
I've found myself talking and thinking about the book a lot, there's plenty to unpack about the relationships and actions of various characters.
It is, however, very long and some sections feel rather surplus to requirements.
I've found myself talking and thinking about the book a lot, there's plenty to unpack about the relationships and actions of various characters.
It is, however, very long and some sections feel rather surplus to requirements.
sarahbohl's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
pjraff's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75