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jesscat's review against another edition
3.0
Frustrating. Enjoyable as it is to see Melmotte the proto-Trump experience his downfall, it's not enough to sustain a 900+ page novel. I found most of the romances unengaging & the politics not as sharply drawn as in the Barchester books.
I can see Trollope is a more mature & balanced author in this later work but tbh I missed the eccentric obsessions with ecclesiastical minutiae & clerical manoeuvrings found in, say, Barchester Towers.
I can see Trollope is a more mature & balanced author in this later work but tbh I missed the eccentric obsessions with ecclesiastical minutiae & clerical manoeuvrings found in, say, Barchester Towers.
nnjack68's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
forever_fantasy's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
gbliss's review against another edition
4.0
How incredibly timely. This could be a tale of today, rather than 100+ years ago. Melmotte is Maidoff. The general depravity and social climbing/positioning that abound fit will with White House gate crashers, our human Nike logo in self-destruct mode, and banks that pay back they corporate welfare they desperately needed a year ago so they can hand out obscene bonuses one year later. I wish Trollope were alive today and could turn his poison pen on the way we live NOW.
chicagobooknerd's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
reads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
joweston's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant! All 32 hours of it, a masterful reading by Timothy West bringing to life a complex tale of fortune and misfortune.
minn3h's review against another edition
1.0
Spectacularly boring; timelessness alone does not an interesting story make.
navinvembar's review against another edition
4.0
This book, though written more than 130 years ago, does a fantastic job of exploring the economic corruption that we're living through today.
The backdrop of (mostly) entertaining characters trying to find either love or at least a rich wife moves along within the larger motifs of new money, opportunism, and American women who'll shoot you if you piss them off.
The book drags towards the end as it wraps up its loose ends, but it was always a delight to visit the world every time I picked it up, in part because every person in the book was real and full of foibles and entertaining in their own right. But watching the slow implosion of Melmotte was, to say the least satisfying.
Loved it.
The backdrop of (mostly) entertaining characters trying to find either love or at least a rich wife moves along within the larger motifs of new money, opportunism, and American women who'll shoot you if you piss them off.
The book drags towards the end as it wraps up its loose ends, but it was always a delight to visit the world every time I picked it up, in part because every person in the book was real and full of foibles and entertaining in their own right. But watching the slow implosion of Melmotte was, to say the least satisfying.
Loved it.
catrink's review against another edition
5.0
Delightful! Frankly, I didn't know what to expect as I hadn't read more of Trollope outside of The Warden, but this will encourage me to read more of his works. I listened to the audio book narrated by Timothy West, and while there may have been a few places where he seemed to have a problem when two women were speaking with each other when no names were mentioned so his tone of voice was the only way to tell who was speaking, this didn't happen often. I was disappointed after the last sentence and wanted it to just keep on going. That's saying a lot about a 30+ hour audiobook! The narrator was good, but the story was great!