Scan barcode
A review by reflectiverambling_nalana
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
3.0
The Way We Live Now holds many of the things that people love about Trollope in an extended form. There are familiar character types, similar webs of social-political and romantic entanglements. While I can see why this is such a highly regarded novel, the issues that keep me amused by Trollope but not adoring in his previous work are similar to those that keep me from raving about this book.
The biggest difference between my reaction to this and the Palliser novels is that I instantly found the foppish characters and those that were smitten, even those who were plotting for advancement of them or their children to be somewhat endearing. The Way We Live Now even delivers more befitting outcomes for some of the characters than I feel other novels did. However, I could not gravitate towards the majority of the characters. Those that I were invested in at all felt pushed aside. I don't consider myself someone who is overly sensitive, but in more than one case scheming or expression of loathing seemed to be replaced with physical expressions of violence towards women. There was even a line that was something like: "Oh he hits mother some times, but he probably won't hit me." That is...not a very appealing argument on any level.
As a fan of the formula and the typical quirks, and to some extent the plotting, this novel does have brushstrokes of what makes this author so appealing. But my repulsion to some of the characters would take me out of the story from time to time and disrupted my connection that would have other wise be a triumphal return to an enjoyable author.
The biggest difference between my reaction to this and the Palliser novels is that I instantly found the foppish characters and those that were smitten, even those who were plotting for advancement of them or their children to be somewhat endearing. The Way We Live Now even delivers more befitting outcomes for some of the characters than I feel other novels did. However, I could not gravitate towards the majority of the characters. Those that I were invested in at all felt pushed aside. I don't consider myself someone who is overly sensitive, but in more than one case scheming or expression of loathing seemed to be replaced with physical expressions of violence towards women. There was even a line that was something like: "Oh he hits mother some times, but he probably won't hit me." That is...not a very appealing argument on any level.
As a fan of the formula and the typical quirks, and to some extent the plotting, this novel does have brushstrokes of what makes this author so appealing. But my repulsion to some of the characters would take me out of the story from time to time and disrupted my connection that would have other wise be a triumphal return to an enjoyable author.