Finishing The Last Chronicle of Barset is really the end of a reading era for me. The entire Barset series consists of six books, and I've read every one. Not consecutively, obviously, but over the course of seven to eight years.
This series epitomizes my favorite genre of literature, where the excitement is in the daily lives of the characters - personality clashes, scandalous gossip, etc. Where the women and men primarily worry about property, money, and family. Where everything seems to happen in a muted melodrama, heavily-laden in dialogue with paragraphs of description that can be more than a page long. I realize how boring this might sound to most of you, but it's my literary sweet spot, and having this series to satisfy my Brit Lit craving has been wonderful.
This book is a tome - 861 pages of poor Mr. Crawley being accused of stealing a check (for hardly any money) and all the repercussions both of being poor and being a member of the clergy accused of a crime. It affects his family, his income, and it's all the people of the county and talk about. The incident though shows us what these characters are really made of - who's kind, who's cruel, who's lack of action is just disappointing, and it's really a fitting way to say good-bye to characters we've followed through so many pages.
Of course, no book from this era (1867) is complete without taking about love and this book has it all - lovers held back by outside forces, unrequited love, loving the one you're with, and love to ensure stability. There's also the steadfast love of Mrs. Crawley who stands by her accused husband through his whole ordeal, doing her best to support him. It's an incredibly busy story although not much action happens.
I could probably talk about this intricate fictional town for a long time. For me, so much has happened between the pages of this series, especially in this last book that it's too much to recap, but it's really not the plot that makes this, and other 19th Century books, so wonderful. it's the depth. The depth into the lives of regular people where what's going on may not really matter to us, but it matters to them. Instead of being all about the action or contriving extreme situations to force the characters through, Trollope is about the people and how they experience their unique versions of a regular life, and I absolutely love it.
I previously reviewed the rest of the books in this series. Click here if you'd like to take a look.
2013 Reread #1
This book is still, without a doubt, my favorite Jane Austen book and one of my Top 5 of All Time. There's not a single character I don't like, which is saying a lot for Austen who's sometimes overly-girlish, naive female leads drive me crazy (see Mansfield Park or Emma.)
Anne Elliot, our lead in Persuasion, is a mature, intelligent woman who has grown up to realize they importance of following your heart regardless of the opinions of those around you. She learns this lesson just in time to have her happy ending. It also gives her the ability to look outside societal title and rank to appreciate the happy endings for those around her. She's an amazing character, full of so much emotion for other despite the lack of regard shown to her by her father and oldest sister. Living a relatively comfortable life, it is the lack of regard for her needs that's her unique obstacle. Austen typically focuses on rank and obstacles society places in the way of happiness more centrally than she does here.
Persuasion also boasts a male lead who's not stiff and inaccessible (see Pride and Prejudice.) Captain Wentworth doesn't hide his emotional side, going so far as to drop hints to Anne of how he feels about her during public conversations. He even writes her a very personal letter while in a room full of people passion so overcomes him. While not an "open book," Wentworth is still more multi-dimensional than Austen typically allowed her male characters to be.
This was the last book Austen wrote before her death and it's very apparent how much she matured as a writer throughout her career when pitting it against any of her other works. There's nothing frivolous in Persuasion; every character, every event contributes to the story in such a perfect way that you can't help but love every page. It has been a little over a decade since I last read Persuasion and it's great to know it's still as wonderful as I've always remembered it. I know it's hard to purposefully pick up 19th Century literature, but if you ever feel the urge, make this your first choice.
