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arinasunny's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After years of melancholy and private embarrassment, Soames Forsyte decides he should divorce his wife Irene, who left him years ago. He encourages his sister Winifred to divorce her husband when he steals her jewelry, threatens her, and heads off on a ship to South America with another woman. As desperate as Soames is to leave his first wife behind and start a family with another he becomes obsessed with Irene again after seeing her after so many years. 'In Chancery' finds the siblings trapped and unhappy with the situation their unwise marriages have left them in.
Time continues erode the family - Galsworthy's themes have expanded with his knowledge of what will happen to the Forsytes and their world. 'The Man of Property' was published in 1906 and 'In Chancery' in 1920. A style of living that was slowly transforming was obliterated in the years between those two novels, Galsworthy's satire becomes necessarily more elegiac. The description of fraying family ties and of cousins drifting apart after the deaths of the older relations that kept them together keeps the story grounded and prevents the novel from being only about the problems of a privileged class. It is mostly about that, but not entirely.
Soames continues to be contrasted with his cousin, Young Jolyon, who abandoned his first wife and child for the love of another woman. Young Jolyon had reconciled with his father at the end of 'Property' and has now inherited his money and the house, also he must pay an allowance to his cousin Soames' estranged wife Irene. More details and subplots make the novels seem improbable, but the overall result is elegant. 'In Chancery' provides the 'The Forsyte Saga' a bittersweet climax for Soames, Irene, and Young Jolyon, giving them what they desire and taking it away at the same time.
'The Forsyte Saga'
Previous: 'The Man of Property'
Next: 'To Let'
Time continues erode the family - Galsworthy's themes have expanded with his knowledge of what will happen to the Forsytes and their world. 'The Man of Property' was published in 1906 and 'In Chancery' in 1920. A style of living that was slowly transforming was obliterated in the years between those two novels, Galsworthy's satire becomes necessarily more elegiac. The description of fraying family ties and of cousins drifting apart after the deaths of the older relations that kept them together keeps the story grounded and prevents the novel from being only about the problems of a privileged class. It is mostly about that, but not entirely.
Soames continues to be contrasted with his cousin, Young Jolyon, who abandoned his first wife and child for the love of another woman. Young Jolyon had reconciled with his father at the end of 'Property' and has now inherited his money and the house, also he must pay an allowance to his cousin Soames' estranged wife Irene. More details and subplots make the novels seem improbable, but the overall result is elegant. 'In Chancery' provides the 'The Forsyte Saga' a bittersweet climax for Soames, Irene, and Young Jolyon, giving them what they desire and taking it away at the same time.
'The Forsyte Saga'
Previous: 'The Man of Property'
Next: 'To Let'
katiedreads's review against another edition
4.0
This is a great book (or second in a trio of books), it is interesting and intriguing but requires dedication to get through. To me, this is very much like an English Anna Karenina but with less religion. I love that it is a multi-generational story and spans entire lifetimes and the era's in British history. You get to follow along with each new generational shift in attitudes and ideas and current political climates. I enjoy that the narrative follows multiple members of the family and that it switches POV's. It allows you to develop sympathy and understanding of multiple characters who are often in direct conflict with each other and not all of them likable. This is not easy as none of the characters are good or bad, nothing so two-dimensional. They are fully human and complex, leaving you as a reader, torn. This is a 4/5 star for me as I think it fell short on a true understanding or empathy for the females. You at times aware that John Galsworthy was a man in the early 1900's writing about what he thinks a woman thinks... and not always convincingly, it lacked emotional maturity and motivation in the females. But ultimately as a whole work one of my favorites.
mavenbooks's review against another edition
4.0
A continuation of the Forsyte Chronicles, I think I liked this one a little bit less than The Man of Property, but it was still enjoyable. I missed some of the characters from the previous book, but there was still plenty of drama to keep things interesting. I do wish there were more of Irene's perspective, rather than treating her as a thing of beauty and not a whole person (which I think was one of Virginia Woolf's criticisms of these books).
This series continues to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, as it's a rather richly done -- and engrossing -- soap opera. The historical tidbits interspersed throughout make it more interesting and help make the time period more vivid.
This series continues to be a bit of a guilty pleasure, as it's a rather richly done -- and engrossing -- soap opera. The historical tidbits interspersed throughout make it more interesting and help make the time period more vivid.
bookeboy's review against another edition
4.0
Written years after A Man of Property, I believe, In Chancery, the second volume in The Forsyte Saga, abandons the lovely, ambling rhythm of the original and one is encouraged to stride purposefully through the pages of what is essentially an enjoyable melodrama.
ruthiella's review against another edition
4.0
Book two in the Forsyte saga. It takes place 12 years after the first book, still focusing on the doomed relationship between Soames and his estranged wife, Irene, with Young Jolyon operating even more as a counterpoint to Soames. The reader says good bye to many of the old guard of the family. Despite the irritation caused by the attitudes and mores of Soames and his father James, I did find his relationship with and care that Soames takes for his aged father quite touching. Also, the reader meets the new generation of the family who will come of age in the new 20th century.
Read for the 1920 Club hosted by the bloggers at Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.
Read for the 1920 Club hosted by the bloggers at Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings.
sevenebulas's review against another edition
5.0
Such an interesting glimpse into divorce in 1900. Galsworthy is a terrific author and am enjoying the saga very much.
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