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A review by pgchuis
Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope, John Sutherland
4.0
Phineas Finn, son of an Irish doctor, is "elected" to Parliament and then appointed to a junior minister position. He falls for a series of women and has to decide how important his political independence matter to him when he disagrees with his party's policy on Irish tenants' rights. (Thankfully very little hunting in this one).
While I found Phineas a bit tame (he nearly runs into debt on a friend's behalf, but is bailed out by the friend's sister, we wonder if he will have an affair with the unhappily married Laura, but doesn't, he is tempted to be unfaithful to his Irish fiancee waiting for him at home, but resists), I liked many of the other characters. The story of the Kennedys' marriage was convincing and sad and I did enjoy Violet and her tormenting of her aunt. Helpful notes in this edition so that you understand what Trollope feels to be the "right" position on e.g. secret ballots. The ending was extremely abrupt...
Reducing this by one star on a re-read because there was an awful lot of politics and I do feel Phineas acted badly towards Chiltern and Violet.
While I found Phineas a bit tame (he nearly runs into debt on a friend's behalf, but is bailed out by the friend's sister, we wonder if he will have an affair with the unhappily married Laura, but doesn't, he is tempted to be unfaithful to his Irish fiancee waiting for him at home, but resists), I liked many of the other characters. The story of the Kennedys' marriage was convincing and sad and I did enjoy Violet and her tormenting of her aunt. Helpful notes in this edition so that you understand what Trollope feels to be the "right" position on e.g. secret ballots. The ending was extremely abrupt...
Reducing this by one star on a re-read because there was an awful lot of politics and I do feel Phineas acted badly towards Chiltern and Violet.