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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A first-rate Trollope. I enjoyed this greatly and then flipped back to the introduction to find this descriptor – “The Small House at Allington has often been seen as relentlessly bleak, describing varieties of love and domesticity trapped in failure—‘wormish, dark, life-destroying and barren.’” But I loved it just the same. Trollope is bleak and barren in the same sense that one might describe Barbara Pym. The solitary consumption of mutton-chops, spinsters living in lodgings, and a disproportionate satisfaction found in the furnishings of one’s office: these details aren’t bleak, they’re real. Books like these turn the marriage plot on its head and glimpse it through a male perspective, where the dangers are many and the rewards are decidedly, if not surprisingly, domestic.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In my younger, more naive days, I believed this was one of Trollope's best. And I was smitten with Lily Dale, who I did not understand. I believed Eames to be as close to a hero as Trollope gets, and Crosbie to be a thorough villain. I thought this was the second best of the Barsetshire books, after the Last Chronicle.
While I still think it's truly great, it has fallen a bit in my estimation. This time around, I cared much less for the fates of Lily and Johnny. I didn't think so badly of Crosbie, who made a thorough mess of his life by being simultaneously too impulsive and too calculating. And I found much more interest in the Squire, the Earl and Mrs. Dale - the older characters who I used to think of as being props, more or less.
On the other hand, this novel is considerably more serious minded, and less fun than Barchester Towers. And I don't think it's quite as good as Framley Parsonage either. The Palliser chapters make some sense thematically as a kind of foil, but they don't quite fit this book (especially with the weight of the Palliser series leaning over them).
As for the characters, it seemed much clearer to me this time that, at least at the start, Johnny is as much of a confused jerk as Crosbie. They find themselves in eerily similar situations, having attached themselves to a woman who is probably beneath them, while also aspiring to the hand of a woman who is above them. Both of them, in different ways, end up jilting the girl beneath them. With Crosbie, we see that as him being a villain, while with Eames we look upon it as a noble escape. It would be interesting to retell this novel from the perspective of Amelia, the lover whom Johnny mistreats.
In addition to these, we have Palliser, who convinces himself that he loves Lady Dumbello, mostly because she is so aloof, and because the love would be forbidden and his ruin. What he is trying to do here, by breaking up the marriage of one of his uncle's few close friends, is much worse than either Crosbie or Eames. But he gets thwarted by Lady Dumbello's superior calculation and, perhaps, by his subconscious clinging to his own self-interest.
Finally, there is the successful love between Dr. Brooks and Bell Dale. This fits mostly because it cuts off her Cousin Bernard's aspirations. But in a novel where all the romantic love affairs are a disaster, this is the remarkable exception, and for that reason, it sort of does not belong. (I guess someone had to be happy.)
But despite all of these fits and mist arts among the younger people, to me the most touching thing in this book was the ultimate understanding and reconciliation between Chris Dale, the Squire and uncle to Lily and Bell, and Mrs. Dale, their mother. Both of them have lived thinking (mistakenly) that their worth was unappreciated by the other. This edge between them, and the dulling of that edge by the book's end, was warm, believable and heartfelt. And I'm sure it's something that I cared not a jot for in my younger days.
I'm having such a good time re-reading these Trollope novels Its a shame he only wrote 38 of them
While I still think it's truly great, it has fallen a bit in my estimation. This time around, I cared much less for the fates of Lily and Johnny. I didn't think so badly of Crosbie, who made a thorough mess of his life by being simultaneously too impulsive and too calculating. And I found much more interest in the Squire, the Earl and Mrs. Dale - the older characters who I used to think of as being props, more or less.
On the other hand, this novel is considerably more serious minded, and less fun than Barchester Towers. And I don't think it's quite as good as Framley Parsonage either. The Palliser chapters make some sense thematically as a kind of foil, but they don't quite fit this book (especially with the weight of the Palliser series leaning over them).
As for the characters, it seemed much clearer to me this time that, at least at the start, Johnny is as much of a confused jerk as Crosbie. They find themselves in eerily similar situations, having attached themselves to a woman who is probably beneath them, while also aspiring to the hand of a woman who is above them. Both of them, in different ways, end up jilting the girl beneath them. With Crosbie, we see that as him being a villain, while with Eames we look upon it as a noble escape. It would be interesting to retell this novel from the perspective of Amelia, the lover whom Johnny mistreats.
In addition to these, we have Palliser, who convinces himself that he loves Lady Dumbello, mostly because she is so aloof, and because the love would be forbidden and his ruin. What he is trying to do here, by breaking up the marriage of one of his uncle's few close friends, is much worse than either Crosbie or Eames. But he gets thwarted by Lady Dumbello's superior calculation and, perhaps, by his subconscious clinging to his own self-interest.
Finally, there is the successful love between Dr. Brooks and Bell Dale. This fits mostly because it cuts off her Cousin Bernard's aspirations. But in a novel where all the romantic love affairs are a disaster, this is the remarkable exception, and for that reason, it sort of does not belong. (I guess someone had to be happy.)
But despite all of these fits and mist arts among the younger people, to me the most touching thing in this book was the ultimate understanding and reconciliation between Chris Dale, the Squire and uncle to Lily and Bell, and Mrs. Dale, their mother. Both of them have lived thinking (mistakenly) that their worth was unappreciated by the other. This edge between them, and the dulling of that edge by the book's end, was warm, believable and heartfelt. And I'm sure it's something that I cared not a jot for in my younger days.
I'm having such a good time re-reading these Trollope novels Its a shame he only wrote 38 of them
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Alcohol
Not my favorite Trollope but still the usual dry and droll commentary on society and its peccadilloes.
Trollope must have been paid by the word when he wrote this book, or else he needed a good editor. Trimmed down to about a third of its length, it would have been far more enjoyable in my opinion. I realise this is probably heresy to true devotees of Trollope, but it was a big disappointment. I am working my way slowly through the Chronicles of Barsetshire, and I do hope that the final book in the series is better than this one.
Apart from his verbosity, Trollope surprised me with a truly nauseating small child, whose appearance was mercifully brief. After a comment by Adolphus Crosbie that if he received any more commiseration over a black eye he would lie down and die, he was asked by his future nephew:
"Shall 'oo die Uncle Dolphus, 'cause 'oo've got a bad eye?"
Perhaps the Victorians weren't good at writing small children because they didn't actually have much to do with them.
I have loved a number of Trollope's books, but this isn't one of them! 2.5 stars.
Apart from his verbosity, Trollope surprised me with a truly nauseating small child, whose appearance was mercifully brief. After a comment by Adolphus Crosbie that if he received any more commiseration over a black eye he would lie down and die, he was asked by his future nephew:
"Shall 'oo die Uncle Dolphus, 'cause 'oo've got a bad eye?"
Perhaps the Victorians weren't good at writing small children because they didn't actually have much to do with them.
I have loved a number of Trollope's books, but this isn't one of them! 2.5 stars.
I remembered this as the (relative) low point in the series, and re-reading decades later I still think Trollope plummets to a 5* instead of a high 5*.
I will add Lily Dale to my literary-characters-who-need-a-bloody-good-slap list.
I will add Lily Dale to my literary-characters-who-need-a-bloody-good-slap list.
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes