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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
slow-paced
The Way We Live Now was Trollope’s attempt to write a sort of “state of the nation” novel reflecting contemporary British mores and society. It is ambitious. Naturally it fail at being an accurate snapshot of London in 187_. In my experience, Trollope rarely writes about the working or lower classes; his focus is typically the upper middle classes and the way THEY live. That said, The Way We Live Now is extremely topical in its depiction of humankind’s love of lucre and its ability for self-deception and hypocrisy; totally relevant since we haven’t changed at all in the intervening 140+ years. Mr. Melmotte, the financier/swindler around whom the plot is structured, is the Bernie Maddof of the 19th century.
The book is long, the plot complicated and if you really want to know about it, go read any of the highest rated goodreads reviews which are 100 times more thorough and entertaining than I could be. Let me just say that what struck me most about The Way We Live Now is the complexity of the characters. There are no heroes or heroines in this book. In fact, I thought they were all fairly obnoxious and frustrating, though some such as Lord Nidderdale, Marie Melmotte, Hetta Carbury, Mrs. Hurtle, etc. were less egregious in the errors of their ways than others. But they were always interesting, their motives for their behavior always made sense and I could even sympathize with even the most dastardly characters at times.
The book is long, the plot complicated and if you really want to know about it, go read any of the highest rated goodreads reviews which are 100 times more thorough and entertaining than I could be. Let me just say that what struck me most about The Way We Live Now is the complexity of the characters. There are no heroes or heroines in this book. In fact, I thought they were all fairly obnoxious and frustrating, though some such as Lord Nidderdale, Marie Melmotte, Hetta Carbury, Mrs. Hurtle, etc. were less egregious in the errors of their ways than others. But they were always interesting, their motives for their behavior always made sense and I could even sympathize with even the most dastardly characters at times.
Sometimes the old dead white guys really are not so terrible--especially when they indulge in such clever parody of themselves. It may seem I am jumping on the bandwagon with this choice. The Way We Live Now, though written in the 1870s, has enjoyed a lot of good press this year. So categorically does it prove the old adage, 'the more things change the more they stay the same' that it has been held up as a blistering piece of foreshadowing of the financial criminality and credibility of our new miserable century. The people I met in this sweeping yarn were utterly flawed and wildly amusing; and they would fit in better than one would imagine in present day society.
I found my battered paperback copy at a local half price book store about 15 years ago. I finally got around to opening it over 4 years ago when my daughter was still crawling around her play pen. I have picked it up and put it down again many times over the course of the past few years and, each time, I have easily fallen back into the story. It is witty and even juicy in the detailing of the lives and loves, adventures and catastrophes which befall a certain set of London gentlefolk in the high Victorian Era.
The Way We Live Now disproves the starchy image that is plastered over this period in history and, without getting too down and dirty, exposes the denizens of the day as being far less principled and proper than oft portrayed.
The central tragic villain of the piece is Mr. Augustus Melmotte. Unlike the rest of the cast he is a nouveau riche financier of uncertain pedigree and almost certainly shady past. What he lacks in breeding he makes up for in brass. Melmotte arrives on the scene in London and soon convinces enough of the Right Sort to invest with him in a Mexican railway scheme. Although Melmotte is a brilliant capitalist of sorts, he over-reaches (in more ways than one) and begins to topple society like a set of dominoes.
Along the way we meet the cads and ingenues...the saucy wench and her dim but stalwart admirer, and the manipulative social climbing society women who would put the bitch divas we see on contemporary housewife dramas to shame. This is very entertaining stuff and I could easily dramatize it in fine PBS Masterpiece form as I read it.
Trollope is an adept observer and lampooner of his class and his era. He is, oddly enough, equally adept at lampooning our own sorry times. If he was alive today I doubt that any of the sleazy dealings of the past decade would cause him to raise an eyebrow in surprise. As well as being good fun, The Way We Live Now gave me some much needed historical context.
I found my battered paperback copy at a local half price book store about 15 years ago. I finally got around to opening it over 4 years ago when my daughter was still crawling around her play pen. I have picked it up and put it down again many times over the course of the past few years and, each time, I have easily fallen back into the story. It is witty and even juicy in the detailing of the lives and loves, adventures and catastrophes which befall a certain set of London gentlefolk in the high Victorian Era.
The Way We Live Now disproves the starchy image that is plastered over this period in history and, without getting too down and dirty, exposes the denizens of the day as being far less principled and proper than oft portrayed.
The central tragic villain of the piece is Mr. Augustus Melmotte. Unlike the rest of the cast he is a nouveau riche financier of uncertain pedigree and almost certainly shady past. What he lacks in breeding he makes up for in brass. Melmotte arrives on the scene in London and soon convinces enough of the Right Sort to invest with him in a Mexican railway scheme. Although Melmotte is a brilliant capitalist of sorts, he over-reaches (in more ways than one) and begins to topple society like a set of dominoes.
Along the way we meet the cads and ingenues...the saucy wench and her dim but stalwart admirer, and the manipulative social climbing society women who would put the bitch divas we see on contemporary housewife dramas to shame. This is very entertaining stuff and I could easily dramatize it in fine PBS Masterpiece form as I read it.
Trollope is an adept observer and lampooner of his class and his era. He is, oddly enough, equally adept at lampooning our own sorry times. If he was alive today I doubt that any of the sleazy dealings of the past decade would cause him to raise an eyebrow in surprise. As well as being good fun, The Way We Live Now gave me some much needed historical context.
I enjoyed this book and it makes me want to read more by Anthony Trollope. I was impressed by the characterization and the psychological depth explored in each character. But I think that this book was too long, and many thoughts and dilemmas of the characters were repeated over and over again. Also I am not enamored by themes of class and wealth, more of gender and human psychology. There was a little too much of wealth and class, which is what this book is primarily concerned about to be fair, for me to fall in love with the story.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read half of it for my book club and enjoyed it, probably would have finished had other library books not clamored for my attention, perhaps in my retirement.
For me, it all gets tied up a little too neatly and the antisemitism is hard to stomach but overall a very good read.
I would like to read more Trollope to gauge whether my reactions are to this book or to his style and general manner, but I liked this novel far less than I anticipated doing. Partly, I found none of the characters particularly intriguing--even Melmotte--and felt that the social commentary was rather rote. There was very little vitality to the novel: without feeling predetermined, the action somehow never seemed spontaneous either. It made for a very long book.
This has to be the longest book I have ever read. There were many sections, including the last fifteen discussions of how Roger felt about Hetta and Paul, which I would have cut, had I edited this book. Hetta was sadly lacking in personality, but Georgiana was satisfyingly dreadful. Quite gripping in a Victorian sort of way.