Reviews

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

Only show reviews with written explanations

thealiest's review against another edition

Go to review page

slow-paced

3.0

lectora21's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Content Warnings

ed_moore's review against another edition

Go to review page

reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Anthony Trollope’s ‘The Warden’ is the first book in the Barsetshire Chronicles, following the church warden of Barchester, Septimus Harding, as he battles a legal case surrounding his entitlement to the money in the will of the owner of Hyram’s hospital, versus 12 beadsmen under the care of the hospital who believe it is entitled to they and the poor. It is a story of legal deceit and religious corruption, presenting the church as an entity that works to benefit solely itself and highlighting that the extent of empathy in religion and politics is largely unchanged, but placing such blame on the institution rather than the individuals benefiting from the clerical system.

‘The Warden’ was however quite uneventful, it wasn’t that long and I feel it could’ve taken a few more chapters to really explore religious corruption, though did give a sufficient satirisation into the hypocrisy of ‘public newspapers’ which I appreciated and even satirised Dickens and his formula of works. While this was an interesting element, that was the only memorable exploration for I feel the characters were largely flat and uninteresting in their motives, other than possibly the lawyer and suitor John Bold, and the plot really didn’t explore its core themes to the depth that I would expect. The whole book just had an heir of ‘nothingness’, despite such I think I will read ‘Barchester Towers’ one day as I picked up ‘The Warden’ due to a recommendation of its sequel, and if that is equally bland shan’t care for the rest of the chronicle.

connell98's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Not the best piece of Victorian literature, in my opinion, but not the worst either

emmilary's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

I read this for a challenge as my Victorian novel choice as I had not yet read anything by Trollope. This novel had some funny social satire, and several cutting comments made me laugh aloud! The Warden himself was an incredibly noble character. That said, the plot revolving around church politics was something I would not typically gravitate toward and I was somewhat bored at times with the minutiae.