Most helpful customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant!, Mar 14 2002
Barchester Towers is one of the most timeless British classics I have read. Told to us in narrative, this is a story of hierachy, power, love, and downfall, in this sacred, private, ecclesiastical world. Written with an intuitive perception for sights, sounds, and characters, there are no protagonists to whom you can sympathize, and yet each of these characters will leave you spellbound for there depth and sensitivity. The story is set in Barchester, a small divided city in the northern part of England. On one side of this division, and from where our story focuses, we have a wealthy church diocese, who with its own rules all must obey. Enter: Mr. Obadiah Slope. Single, sinister, and the new Dean of Barchester. From his very arrival he knew only of one thing, reform and change. And was met with scrutiny, and hostility, from a conclave where no secrets are shared or revealed. Poignantly written, the truths of this diocean world and its parshioners are slowly unveiled, as the author cleverly manoeuvres from chapter to chapter, giving us insight into conflicts among prominent families and the clergy. And it is these scenes of conflict among our characters: deceit, revenge, vanity, prosperity, and moral convictions, which are the most graphic, mesmerizing, and suspenseful, as any author could have written, and will leave you wanting more information as each page is turned. Written in an era when victorian men were considered strong parochial figures, and seduction among women sacrilege, the script is turned. And it is the women who dominate these pages, for there intelligence, independence, strength, and complexity. And ironically, it is the men who in my opinion, who are reduced to timid, naive, hypocrites. Though not to be deceived, male dominance does prevail, as passion wins over compassion, love for lust, and reverence for irreverence, as our author delivers a masterpiece of a finale in English literature, between two destined lovers. Barchester Towers is my introdution to Anthony Trollope, and will not be the last, that I plan to read in the future.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A great volume in a great series of novels, Dec 13 2001
This is the second of the six Barsetshire novels, and the first great novel in that series. THE WARDEN, while pleasant, primarily serves as a prequel to this novel. To be honest, if Trollope had not gone on to write BARCHESTER TOWERS, there would not be any real reason to read THE WARDEN. But because it introduces us to characters and situations that are crucial to BARCHESTER TOWERS, one really ought to have read THE WARDEN before reading this novel.Trollope presents a dilemma for most readers. On the one hand, he wrote an enormous number of very good novels. On the other hand, he wrote no masterpieces. None of Trollope's books can stand comparison with the best work of Jane Austen, Flaubert, Dickens, George Eliot, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky. On the other hand, none of those writers wrote anywhere near as many excellent as Trollope did. He may not have been a very great writer, but he was a very good one, and perhaps the most prolific good novelist who ever lived. Conservatively assessing his output, Trollope wrote at least 20 good novels. Trollope may not have been a genius, but he did possess a genius for consistency. So, what to read? Trollope's wrote two very good series, two other novels that could be considered minor classics, and several other first rate novels. I recommend to friends that they try the Barsetshire novels, and then, if they find themselves hooked, to go on to read the Political series of novels (sometimes called the Palliser novels, which I feel uncomfortable with, since it exaggerates the role of that family in most of the novels). The two "minor classics" are THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. The former is a marvelous portrait of Victorian social life, and the latter is perhaps the finest study of human jealousy since Shakespeare's OTHELLO. BARSETSHIRE TOWERS is, therefore, coupled with THE WARDEN, a magnificent place, and perhaps the best place to enter Trollope's world. There are many, many reasons to read Trollope. He probably is the great spokesperson for the Victorian Mind. Like most Victorians, he is a bit parochial, with no interest in Europe, and very little interest in the rest of the world. Despite THE AMERICAN SENATOR, he has few American's or colonials in his novels, and close to no foreigners of any type. He is politically liberal in a conservative way, and is focussed almost exclusively on the upper middle class and gentry. He writes a good deal about young men and women needing and hoping to marry, but with a far more complex approach than we find in Jane Austen. His characters are often compelling, with very human problems, subject to morally complex situations that we would not find unfamiliar. Trollope is especially good with female characters, and in his sympathy for and liking of very independent, strong females he is somewhat an exception of the Victorian stereotype. Anyone wanting to read Trollope, and I heartily believe that anyone who loves Dickens, Austen, Eliot, Hardy, and Thackery will want to, could find no better place to start than with reading the first two books in the Barsetshire Chronicles, beginning first with the rather short THE WARDEN and then progressing to this very, very fun and enjoyable novel.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Isn't it Amazing?, Jan 14 2001
From another century comes a voice that speaks to us today. Most writers hope for a shelf life of a year or two. Did Anthony Trollope have a clue that we'd be reading and relishing and learning and find ourselves mesmerized by him so many decades after he wrote this book? Is the TV age, the media and internet age lowering all our IQ's and ability to concentrate, as the contemporary author Sven Birkerts suggests? All I know is that re-reading this book last month was a joy, and I suggest all here turn off the TV, get off the internet and win back our minds with the wonderful book.
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