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A review by ashleylm
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope
5.0
If you haven't read Trollope before, this is a pretty good place to start. It depends on your mood--if you want high life and politics, then the Palliser series will please (and this, and the second book, are my favourites in the series), but if you prefer something a little gentler, then go for the Barchester Chronicles (and probably start with book 2).
Either way, he's a lovely writer. He's a bit like Dickens divided by Eliot multipled by 1/2 an Austen, if you can imagine that. What stands out most, for me, is he's not afraid of the occasional unhappy (or, at least, non-happy) ending. His books have that wonderful Victorian broadness of scope, are elegantly written (but not overwritten or dry, I can't read the later Henry James, not really, but Trollope's a page-turner by comparison).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.
Either way, he's a lovely writer. He's a bit like Dickens divided by Eliot multipled by 1/2 an Austen, if you can imagine that. What stands out most, for me, is he's not afraid of the occasional unhappy (or, at least, non-happy) ending. His books have that wonderful Victorian broadness of scope, are elegantly written (but not overwritten or dry, I can't read the later Henry James, not really, but Trollope's a page-turner by comparison).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, I'm a bit more ruthless.