Rating: 
Summary: A suggestion for the title
Review: A better title for Trollope's novel would be "Can You Finish It?" Frankly, I couldn't. The type is too small, the style is too dense, and it's all much ado about nothing. Hmm. Much ado about nothing. Now there's a good title and a good read.
Rating:
Summary: A suggestion for the title
Review: A better title for Trollope's novel would be "Can You Finish It?" Frankly, I couldn't. The type is too small, the style is too dense, and it's all much ado about nothing. Hmm. Much ado about nothing. Now there's a good title and a good read.
Rating: 
Summary: Trollope begins his Palliser novels.
Review: Having almost completed chronicling the ecclesiastical affairs of Barchester in 1864, Anthony Trollope began a further series of six novels, this time depicting the English political scene of his day in general and the members of the Palliser family in particular. This one, the first of the six novels, carries a title that carries no hint of any political content whatsoever. Indeed, the "her" of the title is a perverse young lady, Alice, who refuses for almost 900 pages to marry the man whom all agree is so eminently suitable. Alice is one of at least four women that Trollope presents, all of whom struggle to answer the question, "What should a woman do with her life?" As usual with his female characters, Trollope is a sensitive, sure and unsentimental narrator. The business of the men, and the political issues they address, seem to consist in keeping solvent, gaining a seat and an office in parliament, and sniffing out any parliamentary intrigues. All of which might suggest that this is one early Victorian novel that today's feminists could pick up, read, and enjoy. I enjoy any Trollope novel immensely. No matter how slow moving, no matter how often he intrudes to comment on his characters and tell us what he does and does not know about them, every page of his novels and perhaps every sentence carries the stamp of a great novelist and language craftsman at work. Nevertheless, I must admit that "Can You Forgive Her?" has featured by my bedside for more than a year. This is not, therefore, a recommendation for something to quickly and thrillingly absorb the reader. It takes a long time to get to the novelist's final words, "But as they all ... have forgiven her, I hope that they who have followed her story to its close will not be less generous".
Rating:
Summary: The Jagged Edge of Marriage
Review: In an unusual turnabout for a Victorian novel, we have here three cases of women being very uncertain about their men -- to the point of, in one case, jilting a fiance and, in the other, with threatening to abandon a marriage by running off with an infamous ne'er-do-well. Also, we have Anthony Trollope's most dastardly villain, the ambitious and egoistic George Vavasor, with a visible fault line through his face for expressing rage.
In a Trollope novel, everything is not as it seems. The institution of marriage, in particular, comes in for some hard knocks -- all from the point of view of the women involved. Alice Vavasor, Lady Glencora Palliser, and Arabella Greenow come from the aristocracy and the upper middle class. All three women in the course of the novel grow and change before our eyes.
As the first novel in the six-book Palliser series, _Can You Forgive Her?_ also introduces us to the world of high politics. Sir Plantagenet Palliser is about to become Chancellor of the Exchequer; and George Vavasor dips into his fiancee's fortune to run twice as a Member of Parliament for Chelsea. Trollope had always wanted to become an MP himself, and ran once (and lost) for the borough of Beverley. His bad experiences were the stuff of some masterful election scenes in novels, notably the much underestimated _Ralph the Heir_.
Other Trollope set pieces include a fabulous fox hunt in Book I, in which the author himself appears under another name. There is also a dispute over an inheritance; fascinating legal trickery in George Vavasor's borrowings from his fiancee; and the typical Trollope developing of his characters' weaknesses until they pop.
While over 800 pages in length, I felt as if this was less than half that. Yes, reading Trollope requires a commitment; but his books are intriguing enough to reward it. This is one of my favorites.
Rating:
Summary: The story of a marriage, told thru 6 volumes, full of life.
Review: Lady Glencora McCloskie is "cumbered" by great wealth, Mr. Palliser though wealthy enough can use more for his political ambitions. A marriage is arranged between these two, though Lady Glencora loves a charming ne'er do well. So far it might be a Harlequin romance, but Trollope, whose generosity of spirit is matched only by the clarity of his eye, makes these stock figures and those around them real, odd as all humans are, and yet familiar. Thus Mr. Palliser at a climactic moment, "You are wrong about one thing. I do love you. If you do not love me, that is a misfortune, but we need not therefore be disgrace. Will you try to love me?" Then he is called from the room."He did not kiss her. It was not that he was not minded to kiss her. He would have kissed her readily enough had he thought the occasion required it. "He says he loves me," she thought, "but he does not know what love is." How they learn is a process that extends thru the six "Palliser novels." worth reading for students of life, writing, or love
Rating:
Summary: The First of a Great Series
Review: Reading Anthony Trollope is like seeing a great mental movie. If you let the fact that he was a Victorian scare you off, you will be cheating yourself out of some great entertainment. Just as the characters in Thackeray's Vanity Fair are 3-D, so are Trollope's. None of them are perfect individuals, and none of them lack a parallel to people we all know today. CYFH is engaging, as are his other works. The insight into British Parliament is fascinating and educational, but you are passively educated rather than drilled. By the time you read three of his books, you will know an amazing amount about Victorian-era British Parliament without realizing you ever learned anything. Did Planty Palliser and Phineas Finn teach me *that much?* is what you'll ask yourself. Learning has never been this entertaining since John Dos Passos, and characters haven't had this much blood flowing through them since Dickens and Thackeray.
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Summary: Anthony Trollope, Where Have you Been?
Review: This is a great Victorian novel, and the first by Anthony Trollope that I've read. After reading Can You Forgive Her, I was inspired to buy the entire set of Palliser novels; I plan to read and savor each volume in the series over the years. Can You Forgive Her introduces us to Alice Vavasar, her father, cousins, and fiance. Alice struggles with the question of whom she should marry. George is brandy; John is milk and honey. I love that! What a choice! Trollope has a wonderfully amusing style, evoking with great clarity 19th Century life in Victorian England. It's a time so very different from ours in the U.S., and yet, one can learn a great deal about the roots of some American cultural obsessions with love and politics. A hint: if you don't know British parliamentary history, you may want to review a little. However, don't let this deter you from trying out this splendid, enjoyable novel.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Victorian Character Study
Review: This is the first novel in the Palliser Series and it is an excellent introduction to Trollope's style and themes throughout the series. Read this novel if you enjoy detailed characterization, victorian obsessions with money, politics, class and sexual inequalities. Issues that have nothing to do with Modern England!
Rating:
Summary: The best book I have read in a long time!
Review: This is the first of Trollope's books I have read, and you can bet that I will read them all if they are this good! This 800+ page book had me hooked from the first sentence. I really like the complexity of the characters and the interesting insights into daily life in the 19th century. One of the highlights of this facinating page-turner are the comic characters that remind me of Jane Austen's Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice. This novel takes the reader through the whole range of emotions and is definitely a worthwhile read!
Rating:
Summary: Pure Pleasure!
Review: This novel was total amazement - I couldn't remember the last time I ENJOYED reading a book as much. Trollope is indeed the writer for people who enjoy reading.
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