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Petra on hiatus - having fun in the city

March 14 2011

This is hilarious. The odious Mr. Slope slimes his way through the upper class elements of the church looking for power and patronage and love in a village where nothing ever happens. It's not so much a question of will-he/won't he, more how much more will he dare and who will fall for it? There's also an interesting character reversal in the Bishop's wife, Mrs Proudie, a strict sabbatarian who seeks to convert others to that practice. However, her esteem for the Church is far less than her esteem for herself, and she does the right thing but for all the wrong reasons. Lots of frustrated love, upright characters getting their just rewards, the unworthy slipping on their own grease and everything wrapped up in a tidy parcel just made for a BBC costume drama. 4 and a half stars. Recommended to lovers of classics, good writing and those who have a schadenfreude sense of humour. Read March 14 2011, reviewed March 27 2012.

M

Melindam

November 04 2014

“There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel.” A visit to Victorian England & indulging myself with another re-read of the delightful Barchester Towers. A new bishop is coming to town (the fictional Barchester in the fictional Barsetshire) greatly disturbing the stagnant water of long-standing clerical balance in the diocese. Almost instantly HOLY (?) WAR is declared between resident clergymen (High Church) lead by Archdeacon Grantly, who got disappointed in his hope of becoming the new bishop after his father’s death & Dr Proudie’s (the new bishop, Low Church) entourage, namely his formidable wife & his chaplain, Mr Obadiah Slope, a beneficiary of Mrs Proudie’s patronage. This is, however, not the only war that is waged in the novel. There is a contest for primacy in the diocese between Mrs Proudie & Mr Slope, because the hen-pecked Dr. Proudie is bishop only in name and so both strive to become the real power behind his ecclesiastical throne. :) Additionally, a there is battle for love (and/or for money – depending on the parties involved) to gain the hand of the young & rich widow, Eleanor Bold (sister-in-law to Archdeacon Grantly). The contestants are Mr Slope, Mr Bertie Stanhope (never-do-well, though harmless, spendthrift son of Dr Vesey Stanhope, prebendary of the Bishop) and Reverend Francis Arabin, a scholar and Fellow of Lazarus College at Oxford & a supporter of Archdeacon Grantly. You’d think after this summary that the clerical war is about some elevated subjects with deep, underlying philosophical ideas, but it is fought much more on social (wives joining husbands, daughters supporting fathers) & political levels (which camps can soldier bigger troops & more supporters) in drawing/ball rooms, at parties as well as in churches. This gives Trollope the chance to depict clergymen as men with a very much tongue-in-cheek approach, which makes the whole novel delightful & funny. "Wars about trifles are always bitter, especially among neighbours. When the differences are great, and the parties comparative strangers, men quarrel with courtesy. What combatants are ever so eager as two brothers?" Also the insight into his characters is wonderful: the most memorable from this novel are Mr Slope, Mrs Proudie, Signora Neroni & Archdeacon Grantley. Trollope never ceases to amaze me with his power of characterisation, which is precise, complex and utterly hilarious at the same time. The way he portraits Obadiah Slope is genius. He is one of the most obnoxious, obsequious, slimy appalling characters in classic literature (he brings Jane Austen's Mr Collins in P&P to my mind - in some respects) and yet you cannot help, but admire his cunning and enterprise as he sets about fulfilling his ambitions. He is a smarmy sycophant and no mistake, but he is never painted as black or even as a truly vicious person. - And here I have to mention the divine Alan Rickman, who played him to perfection in the 1982 BBC adaptation. (That is also highly recommended.) <img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/photos/1488363730p8/1860902.jpg" width="350" height="350" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> And then there is the indomitable & staunch Mrs Proudie, wife to the bishop, uncrowned queen of her family & the diocese. A character you love to hate, yet cannot help, but respect at the same time. "It is ordained that all novels should have a male and female angel, and a male and female devil. It it be considered that this rule obeyed in these pages, the latter character must be supposed to have fallen to the lot of Mrs Proudie, but she was not all devil. there was a heart inside that stiff-ribbed bodice, though not, perhaps, of large dimensions, and certainly not easily accessible." The scenes where Mrs Proudie & Mr Slope are involved in a tug-of-war with the poor bishop as the rope are the funniest in the whole book. " The bishop was sitting in his easy chair twiddling his thumbs, turning his eyes now to his wife, and now to his chaplain, as each took up the cudgels. How comfortable it would be if they could fight it out between them without the necessity of any interference on his part; fight it out so that one should kill the other utterly, as far as the diocesan life was concerned, so that he, the bishop, might know clearly by whom it behoved him to be led. There would be the comfort of quiet in either case; but if the bishop had a wish as to which might prove the victor, that wish was certainly not antagonistic to Mr Slope."

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Henry Avila

July 23 2011

Barchester Towers is the second in the fabulous, of six Barsetshire novels by the illustrious Anthony Trollope a man with an acute imagination which this series displays. Set in a sleepy fictitious cathedral town, in mid nineteenth century England, no other writer could excel in chronicling. Eleanor Bold rich, young, pretty widow of John Bold is feeling lonely; but has a baby son to look after, still that is not enough. Not to worry , she will have three suitors soon, it is obvious she is too desirable to remain single (wonder why?) . When a new bishop comes to the small city, Dr.Proudie brings Rev. Slope an ambitious clergyman , who doesn't care how he achieves wealth and power (the first suitor). The Archdeacon Dr. Grantly (son of the late bishop) opposes Slope, Grantly travels to London to get help. And persuades Rev.Francis Arabin, an Oxford teacher and an old friend to take a job as vicar , in a Barchester church (the second suitor). Dr. Stanhopes (everyone is a Dr. in the book) returns from Italy his son, really a grownup kid also arrives, Bertie a lazy but charming man (the third suitor).The pusillanimous new bishop is controlled by Mrs. Proudie, his dominating wife he fears. Conflict soon happens, when the "hospital" is to reopen who will become the warden a do nothing job? Rev. Harding the former holder of the job and choice of Grantly or Quiverful, another clergyman and supported by the powerful Mrs. Proudie. Then an illuminating party by rich landowners Miss Thorne and her brother is given, all the important people in the area attend which tells the real situation of the city.We see how they interact with each other in a class conscious age. The poor sneak in and aren't thrown out, the Thorne's are too kind to do that yet we see the division in The Victorian Age, by where people sit ! Now Mrs. Bold has a problem, whom to pick as her new husband, she isn't lonely anymore. Another sumptuous story about the always entertaining life of a little town with a big voice, this will never change.

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Paul Bryant

July 17 2022

Victorian novels were so freaking long because the authors had absolutely no distractions! They had no Candy Crush, no cute Instagram cat videos, no ice bucket challenges, no Pokemon, they weren’t on whatsapp, didn’t have to figure out whether the dress was blue or white, never played Wordle or Minecraft, didn’t know what a sim was, oh, and there was no porn. Well, there was porn, but not as we know it. And no Tinder! The publisher’s reader who first read Barchester Towers complained it was far too long and should be cut down from three to two volumes. I AGREE! <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1658074725i/33177831.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> THIS NOVEL WAS A BIG HIT In 1855 Trollope earned less than £10 from his writing (=£1200 in modern money); by 1860 he was getting £3000 per novel (=£255,000). THE EXCRUCIATINGLY POLITE CIVIL WAR This novel is about two things modern readers will not care two hoots about : 19th century church politics, and whether the rich young widow will marry a nice clergyman or not. In the first case, readers are expected to know the difference between an archdeacon, a dean, a precentor, a canon, a chaplain and a bishop and why a chaplain could offend the entire town of Barchester by preaching a sermon. There are heavy duty paragraphs all about church etiquette. There was a very mild civil war going on at the time between High Church types and Low Church types. It’s all very rarefied. It is like watching some gentle pushing and shoving between butterfly collectors about whether a new species has been discovered in Uruguay or not. Some readers are going to be eye rolling. VAMPIRES, LEECHES AND DRONES The first Barchester novel (The Warden - better than this one) is all about a nice old clergyman who has a sinecure which is a job where you collect a FAT PAYCHECK (or “annual stipend” trala) in return for doing SWEET F.A. The church in the 19th century was, it seems, stuffed full of these non-jobs. In The Warden an annoying young person pointed out loudly and uncouthly that this harmless old fart was collecting a shedload of banknotes every year as the warden of a charity for broke down old men, and the broke down old men were getting ALMOST NOTHING. When this grotesque anomaly was brought to the attention of the harmless old man he resigned out of sheer embarrassment. He is back in this second Barchester novel being offered not one but two wonderful jobs where he wouldn’t have to do hardly anything. Man, this must be a very sweet old guy. Why do the church authorities want to shower him with unearned income in this way? He turns the first down because it would now involve preaching a sermon every day. Oh no! Too much! What do you take me for, a beast of burden?? So the plot of BT is all about whether this guy or another guy will be appointed to this job or that job, and every job mentioned is carefully labelled with a salary (plus free house and land, naturellement). I myself would label these sinecure holders as vampires and drones and leeches but in Barsetshire they are considered as sweet deserving Godly types who you should never say boo to. There is even a guy who is a canon, which is pretty high up, who hasn’t been seen in England, never mind Barsetshire, for years, because he took himself and his family off to the shores of Lake Como in Italy, because why wouldn’t you. The old bishop just didn’t notice this. When the new bishop requires his attendance at the cathedral to perform his light duties he huffs and puffs his family back to England cursing his fate – why me, o Lord? You might be thinking that Trollope’s book’s main point is to savagely satirise such nasty goings-on, but it isn’t. That’s all just background radiation to the “small ecclesiastical maneuvers” (in Trollope’s phrase) and the more than somewhat standard romantic shuffling about of the main quincunx of characters. THE BEST CHARACTER IN THE BOOK Was not the disabled man-eating Signora Neroni “You don’t know the intriguing villainy of that woman,” said Mrs Proudie “But you say she has only got one leg!” “She is as full of mischief as though she had ten.” but the author himself who keeps breaking the fourth wall and chatting casually to the reader, as they used to in those days. Trollope cheerfully points out all this is fiction, he gives spoilers for his own novel because he doesn’t think there should be “secrets” between author and reader, and at one point he says well, this minor character has a very interesting story but I couldn’t include it because Mr Longman wouldn’t let me write a fourth volume! IN THE END This was too much about too little. <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1658074874i/33177845._SY540_.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy">

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°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ʜᴇʟᴇɴ Ροζουλί Εωσφόρος ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°° ★·.·´¯`·.·★ Ⓥⓔⓡⓝⓤⓢ Ⓟⓞⓡⓣⓘⓣⓞⓡ Ⓐⓡⓒⓐⓝⓤⓢ Ταμετούρο Αμ

March 14 2019

«Οι Πύργοι του Μπάρτσεστερ»,είναι μια ανθρώπινη εκδήλωση συμπεριφορών και συναισθημάτων. Πύργοι γεμάτοι ρομαντισμό και άρωμα παλιών και πολλών αιώνων που μολύνθηκαν απο κάποιες τραγωδίες και ακολουθούν την κλίμακα αξιών της ανθρώπινης ζωής. Όσο εξελίσσεται η πλοκή και η δράση των πρωταγωνιστών μας ανακαλύπτουμε μια ανθρώπινη κωμωδία που μοιάζει να ακολουθεί την παράδοση του Μπαλζάκ. Ο Τρόλοπ έχει ένα φοβερό ταλέντο να δημιουργεί χαρακτήρες που σκέφτονται, αλληλεπιδρούν και συμπεριφέρονται με τρόπο ταύτισης προς τους αναγνώστες. Μαγεύει με την πένα του και θολώνει με την προφανέστατη αγάπη του και με γλυκίσματα κωμωδίας, κάθε ίχνος οργής, ακόμη και για τους χειρότερους ήρωες του, αυτούς, τους πιο κακούς, τους λιγότερο έντιμους, τους περισσότερο δόλιους και εγωκεντρικούς. Παρόλο που το σκηνικό μας είναι οι εκκλησιαστικοί πύργοι του Μπάρτσεστερ και τα επαρχιακά υπέροχα περίχωρα, με όλη την υποβλητική ατμόσφαιρα μιας χαμένης, αλλοτινής εποχής, αρχικά, διαφαίνεται η π��λη ανάμεσα στις ιεραρχικές δυνάμεις των ιερωμένων για δύναμη, εξουσία, πλούτη και αξίωματα. Δεν υπάρχουν περιθώρια για άσκοπες φλυαρίες σε αυτόν τον συγγραφέα, παρόλο που τα αποτελέσματα και η κορύφωση στις ζωές των χαρακτήρων είναι προφανέστατα και καταγεγραμμένα εξ αρχής, κανένα αρνητικό απόθεμα πλήξης δεν θα περισσέψει σε ένα τόσο παραγωγικό μυθιστορηματικό έργο. Έξω και γύρω απο τους πύργους του Μπάρτσεστερ, στα θεμέλια των κτισμάτων, στα παράθυρα των ναών, στους ήχους των καμπαναριών, στις υπαίθρους της ματαιοδοξίας και στις πολιτισμένες εκτιμήσεις ζωής και θανάτου, εξυφαίνονται τα σχέδια των θεών και των ανθρώπων που επιθυμούν μια θέση με όμορφη θέα και άμεση πρόσβαση σε κάποιο κολασμένο παράδεισο. Υπάρχουν πολλοί τρόποι να αντιληφθείς, διαβάζοντας, την τεχνοτροπία του Τρόλοπ. Χτίζει έναν δικό του κόσμο και φέρεται σαν εκπρόσωπος του βικτωριανού νου χωρίς να εκφέρει άμεσα την γνώμη του ή να παίρνει θέση σε κάθε είδους πολιτικο-κοινωνική κατάσταση. Πολιτικά φέρεται ως φιλελεύθερος με συντηρητικό τρόπο και καταφέρνει με απόλυτη ανεξαρτησία να το περάσει σε κάθε σταγόνα απο το μελάνι της πένας του. Επικεντρώνεται σχεδον πάντα στην μεσαία, ανώτερη, αριστοκρατική τάξη της κοινωνικής κλίμακας, αλλά προσεγγίζει πολύ ταπεινά και οικεία, με προσεγμένη τρυφερότητα και γλυκιά προσμονή όλα τα ανθρώπινα προβλήματα. Σε ηθικά πολύπλοκες καταστάσεις αρωματίζει διακριτικά την γυναικεία ανεξαρτησία και χαρίζει σε κάθε θηλυκό του δημιούργημα επιλογές, ευκαιρίες, δυνάμεις και δικαιώματα που εξαιρούνται απο τα βικτωριανά πρότυπα. Μπείτε στους Πύργους του Μπάρτσεστερ. Έχουν τον πιο εθιστικό τόπο ονείρων και εφιαλτών για να σας φιλοξενήσουν και να σας χαρίσουν άφθονες στιγμές απόλαυσης, έντασης, δραματικές σκηνές και ιερές σχέσεις απόλυτης αφοσίωσης που πλημμυρίζουν κάθε ανθρώπινη καρδιά. Καλή ανάγνωση!!! Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

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Magrat Ajostiernos

October 13 2019

Me ha gustado mucho más de lo que esperaba, me ha atrapado casi desde el principio y las últimas 200 páginas las he devorado. La historia sigue a una serie de personajes que viven en Barchester y van a sufrir un gran cambio en sus vidas tras la muerte del obispo y la llegada de su sucesor. La narración es entretenida y ágil, cargada de una ironía cercana a la sátira que a mi personalmente me ha conquistado, aunque reconozco que el narrador y su interés por hablar directamente al lector no siempre eran de mi agrado... Lo que me acabó encandilando fueron sus personajes, eso sí. Al principio no parecían demasiado espectaculares pero poco a poco van calándote, especialmente los "malvados" como el despreciable (y contemporáneo) Señor Slope o la Signora Madeline Stanhope y toda su genial y maquiavélica familia. Trollope me ha recordado aquí a una mezcla de Elizabeth Gaskell con George Eliot, aunque es más irónico que la primera y mucho más ligero que la segunda. En fin, una gran lectura, sin duda leeré El doctor Thorne más pronto que tarde :)

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Piyangie

April 30 2021

This is by far the best Trollope novel that I've read. His writing is clever, satirical, and almost hilarious that I felt as if I was watching a comedy. Perhaps it's unfair to compare this Victorian novel to a comedy, but the comicality achieved by Trollope through some of the characters paints such a picture. I was a little bit reluctant to read Barchester Towers following the disappointment in The Warden, since the story here is more or less a continuation of what began in The Warden. But I was encouraged by many of my GR friends to continue with it since Barhester Towers is the better of the two. I'm really thankful to them and happy that I took their advice. Chruch politics continues here on a full scale, and I was surprised to find with what little favour Trollope has portrayed his clergy. :) However, they hugely contributed to the enjoyment of the story. In Barchester Tower, Trollope introduces one of the sliest clergymen in Victorian literature in the shape of Obadiah Slope. Even though he isn't the protagonist, his role in the story justified my considering him as such, for the whole story nearly revolves around him. Odious though he may be, and annoying enough to feel like boxing his ears yourself as Eleanor did, he certainly provides the foremost entertainment of the story. :) At the outset of the story, a "war" begins between Mr. Slope and Dr. Grantly. Neither being ready to surrender, they keep on at it, finding their own allies in the course - Mr. Slope within the robes of the bishop, and Dr. Grantly in the scholarly mind of Mr. Arabin. I wouldn't venture to say the outcome of the battle; that'd spoil the story. But I could certainly say that the subtle battle between these two factions of the clergy was far more entertaining than any real battle could. :) Dr. Grantly is portrayed in a much different light here. Although he hasn't greatly outgrown his arrogance and presumptive nature, his feeling of utter helplessness when things work against him, and his resignation to those inevitable, showed a human side to him not seen before. While these clergymen provided the best entertainment, the non-clergy too was not far behind. These characters, most being women, show that when it comes to scheming, they could outdo the learned dons. :) Out of them, Madeline Neroni holds the brightest candle, closely followed by Mrs. Proudie, the true power behind the bishop's robe. It is interesting to note that how much these two characters entertained me in their different way, even though I couldn't like either of them. This shows how well Trollope has portrayed his characters. Except for my slight disappointment at Mr. Harding and Eleanor playing second fiddle to the new characters, I've no complaint against him. The merit of this book lies in Trollope's writing. I've admired his keen wit, satire, and humour in his previous works, but not so much as in here. Trollope's whole tone is light and bantering which makes the story more engaging and entertaining. I've read a lot of Victorian satire, but in my opinion, no author can produce such entertaining satire in a light and bantering manner as Anthony Trollope. In that respect, Trollope is a Victorian Jane Austen. I'm beginning to warm up to this series, and I'm eager to know what more stories the inhabitants of Barchester can tell me.

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Cecily

May 30 2008

The 2nd Barchester novel. Some of the church politics is rather too esoteric (but less than The Warden), but mostly it is charming, astutely ascerbic and amusing, yet also a little twee. But Eleanor is a feisty and somewhat unconventional heroine for a male writer of Trollope's time. The names of most minor characters are too comic for the style of the novel (eg farmers Greenacre & Topsoil; Drs Fillgrave, Rerechild, Lamda Mewnew & Omicron Pie; Revs Brown, White, Grey & Green; aspirational Lookalofts; Rev Quiverful with 14 children; diplomatic Mr Plomacy; loud Mrs Clantantram; attorney Vellem Deeds); some aren't even characters, just names on a guest list. Yet the main characters have more suitably subtle names (Proudie, Grantly & Slope).

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Darwin8u

February 23 2020

"Till we can become divine we must be content to be human, lest in our hurry for change we sink to something lower." - Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1582472213i/29009234._SX540_.jpg" width="400" height="316" alt="description" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> This was lovely. Barchester Towers in probably Trollope's best known and most popular work. It could stand alone, but really should be read after Warden as book 2 in the Barsetshire Series (six books). Trollope's prose is beautiful but his characters (good and bad; pretty and plain) are sketched with such nuance and understanding that two books in I feel like many of them are family. This year, I committed to reading the six novels in the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the six novels that compose his Palliser series. After finishing book two, however, I'm about read to commit to reading all 47 of his novels PLUS his autobiography. I surprised my wife by joining The Trollope Society last night (£36) and feel it is inevitable that one of these days I'm going to have to explain to my lovely wife, my partner, my soul why 47 books just came here from London (you can order a very nice set of Trollope's complete novels for £950 + £50 for shipping to the US). It really does seem almost as inevitable as entropy. Unstoppable really. It might not be this week, this month, or this year, but it just seems easier to bite it in one chunk than collect these novels higgledy-piggledy.

J