Scan barcode
A review by ruthiella
The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope
4.0
So this is it. The last book from Barsetshire (unless you consider the Angela Thirkel’s early to mid 20th century continuations) that I will ever read. I freely admit that I cried when Septimus Harding breathed his last. I know that some people hate The Warden, the first book in this series while enjoying other Trollope titles, but I do not understand such people. It was that book that made me love Mr. Harding and ultimately Trollope. I owe it everything and I love it unreservedly. I have so enjoyed vicariously hanging out in Barsetshire these past few years. It might be the fictional world I would like to live in (next to St. Mary Mead) but only if I could be like Mrs. Thorne and be fabulously wealthy and yet still lower middle class. Just like I am now really, just minus the cash.
I do have a hard time imagining a young, good looking man with mutton chops, despite the current trend of young men and facial hair. So any time young Johnny Eames or Major Grantley strokes his whiskers, I admit, I have to imagine him clean shaven. But that is really the only one of the few set-backs I have in reading Trollope and (to me at least) his realistic portrayals of 19th century middle to upper class life and his brief forays into the lives of the poor as well: “I fear that they were not always good to their wives, nor were their wives always good to them; but it should be remembered that among the poor, especially when they live in clusters, such misfortunes cannot be hidden as they may be amidst the decent belongings of more wealthy people.” I find that observation to be still true today.
Equally, I appreciate that none of Trollope characters are wholly bad. For those who have read the book, they will understand when I write that even Mrs. Proudie gets some insight and sympathy here. Although I did want to punch Mr. Crawley throughout most of the book. Lily Dale did drive me a bit bonkers too, but let not the reader absolve John Eames as he shares just as much of the blame in my opinion. And I do understand where Lily is coming from; I would dig my heels in too if everyone kept telling me what I “should“ do without my asking for advice and/or if my personal life were so openly discussed among strangers.
I also think that Trollope is funny. To wit: “After this the archdeacon walked away, and would not argue the matter any further with his wife at that moment. He knew very well that he could not get the better of her, and was apt at such moments to think that she took an unfair advantage of him by keeping her temper.”
I do have a hard time imagining a young, good looking man with mutton chops, despite the current trend of young men and facial hair. So any time young Johnny Eames or Major Grantley strokes his whiskers, I admit, I have to imagine him clean shaven. But that is really the only one of the few set-backs I have in reading Trollope and (to me at least) his realistic portrayals of 19th century middle to upper class life and his brief forays into the lives of the poor as well: “I fear that they were not always good to their wives, nor were their wives always good to them; but it should be remembered that among the poor, especially when they live in clusters, such misfortunes cannot be hidden as they may be amidst the decent belongings of more wealthy people.” I find that observation to be still true today.
Equally, I appreciate that none of Trollope characters are wholly bad. For those who have read the book, they will understand when I write that even Mrs. Proudie gets some insight and sympathy here. Although I did want to punch Mr. Crawley throughout most of the book. Lily Dale did drive me a bit bonkers too, but let not the reader absolve John Eames as he shares just as much of the blame in my opinion. And I do understand where Lily is coming from; I would dig my heels in too if everyone kept telling me what I “should“ do without my asking for advice and/or if my personal life were so openly discussed among strangers.
I also think that Trollope is funny. To wit: “After this the archdeacon walked away, and would not argue the matter any further with his wife at that moment. He knew very well that he could not get the better of her, and was apt at such moments to think that she took an unfair advantage of him by keeping her temper.”