A review by haazex
Dr. Thorne by Anthony Trollope

4.0

Entering the realm of Trollope is a magical experience. The writing is exquisite with waves of vocabulary and lingering sentences that virtually have their own linguistic flavor. It transports you to the realm of Barsetshire in mid-19th century England, and the midst of a number of personalities that you will literally live with as hundreds of pages unfold. Trollope has the power to place one (as a reader) among these individuals, sharing sorrows, happiness, conflicts, thoughts and daily lives. His power of description and characterization rivals Dickens, Eliot and Gaskell, so the main characters in the novel truly come alive. They are human in all aspects apart from a few that seemingly are used a humorous interludes. Trollope has a frisky sense of humor which especially plays out in the realm of the medical profession in this particular novel, but politics gets it fair bite as well. It is a love story blended with politics, the issues of wealth and aristocratic blood lines and time's ability to affect lives. From a more holistic perspective it is a story of how society as a whole relate to the individuals based on their wealth and/or aristocratic heritage. It seems as if Trollope wants the world to reflect on these issues through his characters. I very much enjoyed reading this book. However, the latter portion of the story somewhat disappointed me. This is why I removed one star from a novel that otherwise truly belongs in the five star realm.

Spoiler

Towards the end I expected Mary Thorne to pay back all the pain she had received from Lady Arabella and her aristocratic lineage. However, she simply turned the other cheek and seemingly ignored all the painful treatment she had received in terms of shunning and libel. Mary and Frank were simply a bit too angelic and perfect as characters (apart from Frank giving Mr. Moffett a good whipping. Seeing these qualities carried through to the very end of the novel bothered me quite a bit. I expected a drastic change towards the very end, a revolt, but Frank and Mary seemingly started to blend right back into the norms of the age. The de Courcys joined the wedding without any issues etc. The only payback I noticed was that Frank and Mary refused to visit the de Courcy castle. Otherwise life seemed like it was going back to normal in Barsetshire. Happiness prevailed. It felt kind of strange having the story wrapped up in this fashion. Numerous questions started to fill my mind as I finished the book. Is Trollope suggesting that societal change is extremely slow or that life is fixed in terms the roles we play in our society? In addition, I was quite irritated with that Mary was the last person to find out about her inheritance. Why did Dr. Thorne inform Frank and the Squire before his niece? Should it not be the other way around? Very peculiar! One of my favorite characters was Ms. Dunstable with her liberal views (which ultimately played an important role in the storyline).

It is hard to leave the Trollope world. This novel simply fueled my urge to continue the journey and further suspend myself in Trollope's linguistic weave in the years to come.