Men and the Girls

Rating:
Summary: To err is to Human
Review: 7/31/01: I am Edward E. Rawson, a.k.a Ric Rawson, a.k.a ricr2, but, for what it is worth, I neither wrote this review nor have read this book. Perhaps someone in my family used my aol email name rather than theirs by mistake?

This novel has a charming English element that I believe American authors tend to miss. Trollope is a descriptive writer, thus placing the reader in context of the setting before the plot unfolds. Trollope sets the reader up to find similiarites with all the characters and gives a good argument as to why change at any time is good. Nobody is perfect and Trollope reminds us and reassures of that.

Rating:
Summary: Real Men and Better Girls
Review: Generational gaps are the backbone of this subtle, well-crafted novel; from the elderly men living with or married to middle-aged women to the elderly Oxford spinster befriending the teenaged rebel, Trollope's novel is a study in the dynamics that erupt when age becomes MORE than just a number. With strong yet vulnerable characters (just eccentric enough to add the necessary levity to the densely psychological plot), compelling plot twists, and an ending that is just happy enough to satisfy (one couple is reconciled, one is not), Trollope makes you laugh, cry ... and fear for your OWN relationships. A solid, emotional, intelligent read.

Rating:
Summary: One of Trollope's best
Review: I have read nearly all Joanna Trollope's books and this book is one of her best. The story was complex without exaggeration. I especially enjoyed the intergenerational weave of relationships.

Rating:
Summary: Giving Versus Taking
Review: I often wonder why the brilliant Ms. Trollope gives such deceptively fluffy titles to all her books, when every book she writes contains such richness. Is that why, in a recent review, I saw her described as "cozy"? I almost fainted!

Therefore, let me say it here and now: If you are looking for cozy and comforting romance (and there's nothing wrong with that!), Joanna Trollope is not your author. If, on the other hand, you enjoy reading about likeable, oh-so-human characters who try, in their own muddled way, to slog through the complexities of everyday life, you will love "The Men and the Girls," another Trollope masterpiece.

The "men," in this case, are James and Hugh, both successful, urbane friends who are now in their 60s, and who have known each other over 40 years. Theirs is a friendship made indescructible by time and understanding, even if there are times when each grates horribly on the other. Each man, as it happens, has chosen a companion very much younger than himself. James, an academic, has been living with Kate, a lovely and artless woman in her 30s who prefers menial jobs (such as waitressing) so she can pursue her true passions, such as helping out at a home for battered women. She has an impossible teenaged daughter, Joss, the product of a brief and hurtful romance gone wrong. Kate and James are very happy; their household is completed by James' elderly uncle, Leonard, whose cantankerous bellowing belies a tender heart. The heart of the house is Kate, who keeps everything going and who manages her horrible teenager and the equally horrible Leonard with love and aplomb.

Hugh, a minor TV personality, lives with the prim and proper Julia, also in her 30s, a lovely woman who has given birth to Hugh's only children, impeccable twin boys. Their picturebook life is lived in a beautifully decorated and spotless house with a gorgeous garden, all the work of Julia, who keeps her six-year-old twins equally clean and perfect. Julia also works in television, but devotes the majority of her time to Hugh, her boys, and her house and garden.

In both relationships, James' and Hughs', the men take wholeheartedly of their women's love and nurturing, and age seems to be no problem whatsoever. Enter a totally unlikely catalyst: a plain and elderly spinster names Beatrice, whom James has accidentally knocked off her bicycle on a dark and rainy night. Beatrice is unhurt, but James, understandably upset, becomes involved in her life, first out of guilt, and then out of real interest.

It is at this point that Kate suddenly and cruelly decides that she cannot live with James another minute, and uproots herself and her daughter with no thought to the consquences other than the need to escape. A similar situation occurs with Julia and Hugh (too complicated to describe in a review), and they, too, separate. And suddenly, our preconceived ideas about who are the givers and who are the takers are completely reversed, as the four protagonists must shift their lives and their expectations in completely unforeseen ways. In the end, all of our suppositions about James, Kate, Hugh and Julia are radically different, as we realize that none is truly a whole adult. And that Joss, the nasty, self-centered teen, is the most truly well-rounded of them all.

Interesting reading, fascinating to think about. Happy ending? Not exactly. A REAL ending is more to the point, as lives sort themselves out, not always for the better, but as they inevitably must. "The Men and the Girls" is another Trollope triumph, well worth reading and keeping on one's shelf of well-loved books.
--Calyndula

Rating:
Summary: Likeable Characters Ring True in a Modern Tale
Review: Trollope has become one of my favorite authors and this book is one of the reasons why. Her characters draw you in with their everyday humanity; none of them are perfect and you feel you can relate to most of them.

With a title like The Men and the Girls you might think you know where Trollope is going with this -- some kind of modern morality play -- but that's never the case with her stuff. She paints a lively, honest picture of what's real and complicated about our daily modern lives, including all the little things we do that can be so telling. Her endings are rarely contrived or completely happy, and so seem all the more real.

And even though some of her characters seem a bit too quirky for their own good, the end result is one of embracing what's different and hence "normal" about us all.

This book should appeal to all kinds of people...women in relationships with older men, and men of the same age... men in relationships with younger women, women of the same age, and older women! (OK Ms. Trollope can u spin us a yarn next time with a woman and a younger man?!).

This American reader is devoted to this British author. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Likeable Characters Ring True in a Modern Tale
Review: Trollope has become one of my favorite authors and this book is one of the reasons why. Her characters draw you in with their everyday humanity; none of them are perfect and you feel you can relate to most of them.

With a title like The Men and the Girls you might think you know where Trollope is going with this -- some kind of modern morality play -- but that's never the case with her stuff. She paints a lively, honest picture of what's real and complicated about our daily modern lives, including all the little things we do that can be so telling. Her endings are rarely contrived or completely happy, and so seem all the more real.

And even though some of her characters seem a bit too quirky for their own good, the end result is one of embracing what's different and hence "normal" about us all.

This book should appeal to all kinds of people...women in relationships with older men, and men of the same age... men in relationships with younger women, women of the same age, and older women! (OK Ms. Trollope can u spin us a yarn next time with a woman and a younger man?!).

This American reader is devoted to this British author. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Real Men and Better Girls
Review: Yet another marvelously drawn and engrossing story by Ms. Trollope of disparate characters living ordinary English lives. Two Masterpiece Theatre miniseries of her books have been made; all her titles warrant such media attention.

I love introducing my friends to this literate, perceptive author wno does her literary ancestor proud.

Rating:
Summary: Another can't-put-down effort by Trollope.
Review: Yet another marvelously drawn and engrossing story by Ms. Trollope of disparate characters living ordinary English lives. Two Masterpiece Theatre miniseries of her books have been made; all her titles warrant such media attention.

I love introducing my friends to this literate, perceptive author wno does her literary ancestor proud.