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lotusmeristem555's review
5.0
In this book the "Why it's not good to be an upper class twitt" theme revolves around British racism.
Wilfred Desert went to Darfur and was forces at gunpoint to convert to Islam. This, according to all the characters he chooses to listen to, marks all Britishers as non-ubermench and therefore vulnerable to attack from the people England is trying to continue tyranning over.
What a crime!
Dinny, the sharp and beloved character the story revolves around, falls in love with Wilfred because she has a knack for lame ducks and Wilfred is just the right kind of pouty I'm-so-speshul-take-care-of-me-mommy kind of dashing to sweep ladies with not enough self confidence.
Luckily, Wilfred is man enough to go fistycuffing with one of these racists (this one eugenics-flavores, but a baddie ugenics-flavoured, not a goodie eugenics-flavoured like kind uncle Adrian). He's not man enough, however, to accept the fact that Dinny, by some mean, caused the end of the fistycuffs.
SAVED BY A FEMALE?????!!! That's even worse than converting to woggish worship!
So he huffs away, for the shame of it all, breaking a marriage promise to Dinny.
And so, the stupidity of 1930s English society saved Dinny from being dragged around by a Byron-flavoured manchild. Who might be somewhat based on T.E. Lawrence, maybe.
Good on you, Dinny.
Wilfred Desert went to Darfur and was forces at gunpoint to convert to Islam. This, according to all the characters he chooses to listen to, marks all Britishers as non-ubermench and therefore vulnerable to attack from the people England is trying to continue tyranning over.
What a crime!
Dinny, the sharp and beloved character the story revolves around, falls in love with Wilfred because she has a knack for lame ducks and Wilfred is just the right kind of pouty I'm-so-speshul-take-care-of-me-mommy kind of dashing to sweep ladies with not enough self confidence.
Luckily, Wilfred is man enough to go fistycuffing with one of these racists (this one eugenics-flavores, but a baddie ugenics-flavoured, not a goodie eugenics-flavoured like kind uncle Adrian). He's not man enough, however, to accept the fact that Dinny, by some mean, caused the end of the fistycuffs.
SAVED BY A FEMALE?????!!! That's even worse than converting to woggish worship!
So he huffs away, for the shame of it all, breaking a marriage promise to Dinny.
And so, the stupidity of 1930s English society saved Dinny from being dragged around by a Byron-flavoured manchild. Who might be somewhat based on T.E. Lawrence, maybe.
Good on you, Dinny.
kathryn08's review
3.0
I enjoyed this - the 8th in the Forsyte Chronicles. It was based on a premise which I couldn’t fully see from the point of view of the characters (I think either because it upheld a value that is very British and being Australian, I’m not quite on the same wavelength, or it was a value more prized around the time the book was written (1930s) and has lost favour now - or a combination of both), but it was still a good read.
It didn’t quite follow the path that I thought it was going to, and then the ending also wasn’t quite what I expected, but it kept me hanging on throughout, wanting to read more to find out what happened next. 3.5 stars.
It didn’t quite follow the path that I thought it was going to, and then the ending also wasn’t quite what I expected, but it kept me hanging on throughout, wanting to read more to find out what happened next. 3.5 stars.
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