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A review by jennifer2008
Orley Farm by Anthony Trollope
4.0
I just finished this, and I found myself unable to sympathize much with Lady Mason no matter how much Trollope pleads on her behalf. Facts are facts,
And I must say Trollope had some pretty harsh things to say about the legal profession, and none of the attorneys in the book, except for perhaps Felix Graham, came off looking well at all. As I was reading, I wondered if he had somehow felt burned by the law (I know John Grisham had), and so I did some research. Turns out his father had been a barrister but lost his job because of his temper, and that Anthony Trollope had a terrible time trying to deal with the conflict between the privileged position of his parents (mostly in terms of their education) and their poverty after his father lost his practice twice. So, he was indirectly burned, and his low opinion of attorneys (which comes out, although in a much lesser form, in The Chronicles of Barsetshire) makes somewhat more sense given that background.
I must say I was disgusted with Joseph Groby's wife as well. I'm surprised he didn't divorce that stingy woman, whose economies all came from stinting on other people's food and clothing, and even took out chairs from a table set she was going to give as a gift, even though she knew that they were worthless.
As usual, most of his characters came across as people I could imagine having as neighbors - maybe some rude ones, but nevertheless I could imagine them as real people. And I usually end up yelling at his books like other people yell at the TV. I wanted to yell at Lady Eustace too when I was reading [b:The Eustace Diamonds|73954|The Eustace Diamonds|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1360705640l/73954._SY75_.jpg|525729]. That lying liar!
And from the preceding paragraphs, you may have gotten some idea of how real most of Trollope's people seem, as opposed to most of Dickens's, who primarily come across as vehicles for ideas. I've never found myself wanting to yell at a Dickens book or to start ranting about the characters of his characters. I would certainly recommend any Trollope novel I have ever read to anyone who enjoys Victorian novels, and that includes this book.
Spoiler
and the facts here are that she forged a will and lied about it twice in a court of law. And got off anyway, mostly because of her attorneys, who weren't interested in the truth in the least. I know Lady Mason had her reasons, but still.And I must say Trollope had some pretty harsh things to say about the legal profession, and none of the attorneys in the book, except for perhaps Felix Graham, came off looking well at all. As I was reading, I wondered if he had somehow felt burned by the law (I know John Grisham had), and so I did some research. Turns out his father had been a barrister but lost his job because of his temper, and that Anthony Trollope had a terrible time trying to deal with the conflict between the privileged position of his parents (mostly in terms of their education) and their poverty after his father lost his practice twice. So, he was indirectly burned, and his low opinion of attorneys (which comes out, although in a much lesser form, in The Chronicles of Barsetshire) makes somewhat more sense given that background.
I must say I was disgusted with Joseph Groby's wife as well. I'm surprised he didn't divorce that stingy woman, whose economies all came from stinting on other people's food and clothing, and even took out chairs from a table set she was going to give as a gift, even though she knew that they were worthless.
As usual, most of his characters came across as people I could imagine having as neighbors - maybe some rude ones, but nevertheless I could imagine them as real people. And I usually end up yelling at his books like other people yell at the TV. I wanted to yell at Lady Eustace too when I was reading [b:The Eustace Diamonds|73954|The Eustace Diamonds|Anthony Trollope|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1360705640l/73954._SY75_.jpg|525729]. That lying liar!
And from the preceding paragraphs, you may have gotten some idea of how real most of Trollope's people seem, as opposed to most of Dickens's, who primarily come across as vehicles for ideas. I've never found myself wanting to yell at a Dickens book or to start ranting about the characters of his characters. I would certainly recommend any Trollope novel I have ever read to anyone who enjoys Victorian novels, and that includes this book.