| Barchester Towers (Oxford World's Classics) | 
 enlarge | Author: Anthony Trollope
Creators: John Sutherland, Michael Sadleir, Frederick Page, Edward Ardizzone
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 36597
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 388
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1.3
ISBN: 0192834320
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780192834324
ASIN: 0192834320
Publication Date: April 2, 1998
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| Customer Reviews:
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"The end of a novel, like the end of a children's dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums." February 16, 2008
(4.5 stars) Anthony Trollope does, indeed, fill the ending of this delightful social satire with all the "sweetmeats" any reader could desire. Between the introduction and conclusion are so many moments of wry humor, genuine thoughtfulness, and satisfying come-uppances, however, that the extra sweetness at the end is a bonus. In this second of the Chronicles of Barsetshire, published in 1857, Trollope continues the story of Mr. Septimus Harding, the gentle and unambitious clergyman who, in The Warden (1855), resigned his appointment as warden of Hiram's Hospital for the poor and became the vicar of a small church, living frugally above a chemist's shop. His daughter Eleanor, who married reformer John Bolt at the end of The Warden, is now a widow with a small son--and considerable inheritance.
Ecclesiastical controversies, many of them linked to the desire for power within the small world of the church hierarchy, still exist in Barchester, and the arrival of Mr. Slope, as chaplain to Bishop Proudie, signals fireworks. Slope, one of Trollope's most unforgettable characters, is one of the slimiest, most sycophantic, and manipulative clergyman ever to appear in English literature, and before long, he is controlling the bishop, clashing with the bishop's wife (who regards herself as co-bishop), using the unfilled wardenship of the hospital as a bargaining tool with Mr. Harding and Eleanor, alienating and even outfoxing Archdeacon Grantly, and seeking a wife with a large fortune.
Far more complex than The Warden, the novel has more fully developed characters acting from more realistic motivations. Victorian England, as we see it here, is a multileveled society which does not allow for much upward mobility, and the entrenched clergy regards itself as second only to the aristocracy. The human foibles, the back-biting, the selfishness, and the one-upsmanship which Trollope includes in his depiction of all levels of society are particularly ironic in the case of the godly churchmen, and the honest and straightforward Mr. Harding is a counterweight to them throughout the novel.
Several courtships and marriages are presented so unromantically here that it is difficult even to imagine the concept of sexuality, but the novel is witty and clever, and Trollope shows his continued development as a satirist. Not a writer of "sensation," like Wilkie Collins, or of social criticism, like Dickens, Trollope has his own quiet style, and his wry observations about his world may resonate with the present reader more than either of those other giants. n Mary Whipple
Delightful, a book to read and re-read January 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
"Barchester Towers" is the second novel of Trollope's Barchester-chronicles and though it's perhaps best it is by no means necessary to have read the first novel in the series ("The Warden) before reading "Barchester Towers".
I immensely enjoyed this book. It may seem wellnigh impossible to write an engaging novel about a set of clericals in a fictional cathedral-town, but Trollope does exactly that and does it very well too. When the Bishop of Barchester dies contenders from all around begin to campaign, and when the new Bishop is installed that's only the beginning of a lot of scheming (worthy of present-day politicians) between his followers and opponents, which Trollope interweaves with the plotting of several suitors for the hand of a well-off widow.
All of the characters are finely portrayed (some of them are quite unforgettable), and there's a delightfully subtle humour throughout the book. I'm terribly glad I finally got around to reading some of Trollope's work, and will definitely not stop here. The world Trollope's characters inhibit seems (and is off course) ages ago and how and why his characters behave the way they do may therefore seem quaint at times, but personal advancement, love and courtship are as relevant today as they were then, which makes "Barchester Towers" a very satisfying read.
Wonderful April 17, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was the first Trollope's novel that I had ever read and since then or maybe because of it I became a faithful fan of Mr Trollope. I have read all the series of Barset. In my opinion although not so well known as others English writers, Trollope is one of the best of this period. I like him a lot better than Dickens for instance. Like Austen he speaks about people and about the normal everyday things that happens to normal people and like Austen he created real alive characters, not perfect, not absolutely good or bad but human beings, and so much lovable because of it. You learn to love as much the nice people in this novel as the less worthy people because Trollope makes you to know them so well. They become just like your family, you have to love them in spite of their faults or just more because of them.
The bishop for instance ... How can you learn to love so much this weak and rather contemptible character? Well, you do love him because Trollope makes you feel that he is lovable in spite of everything. He makes you feel tenderness about him. Even Mrs Proudie, such absolutely repellent character, she is described with so much humour and so much life that you have to enjoy her and like her. The same you can say of the wonderful Mr Slope so masterful portrayed. I think that I almost like better these characters than the "good" ones. With the exception of course of Mr Harding that is the grand-father anyone would love to have.
Of course we can find that the way Trollope writes is in many ways old fashioned. Now, we are not used to have the writer including his own personal opinion about the characters... but even that, I have learn to love it, just as a characteristic of himself. Just as his characters, not perfect, but because of this even more lovable.
When I finished this book I didn't stop until I read all the five books about Barset. I wasn't disappointed. I couldn't had enough of Barset and its people. A whole world for you to enjoy it.
Return to Barsetshire April 4, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Following The Warden, we return in a longer book to the fictional world of Barchester, and the intrigues festering within the ecclesiastical community. The new Bishop, Mr Proudie and his fearsome wife, have moved into the city, with their chaplain, the oily Mr Slope. The wardenship of the hospital is to be given, but there is much debate as to whether it should be given to its previous occupant, the delightful Mr Harding, or to the deserving, if weak, Mr Quiverful, an impecunious gentleman with fifteen children and a determined wife. The main subplot is Mr Slope's inept wooing of the widow, Mrs Bold (Mr Harding's virtuous and sensible daughter), and the feeling of her friends that she should have nothing to do with him.What marks Trollope as a great original is the way he takes the reader into his confidence - he has no time for the writer who is mysterious as to the outcome: we have no doubt as to the happy outcome for Mrs Bold, but the interest is in how the denouement is reached. And in seeing how many men can make fools of themselves with the Countess Neroni. This superb novel has a variety of well-drawn supporting characters, and the reader will find himself living their dramas with them. The other author who comes most to mind is Austen, but Trollope has a wider cast of characters. The strong women characters are drawn from Trollope's own family: his mother, Frances, herself a noted novelist, was a strong-willed woman who kept their family together in the face of her husband's impecunious habits. This is rightly regarded as one of Trollope's many masterpieces, and is a firm favourite with Trollopians. After reading it, I can easily see why.
 Monstrous villany! March 12, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
There are three reasons why Barchester Towers stands out as one of the finest of all Victorian novels: Mr Slope, Mrs Proudie and the Signora Madeline Vesey Neroni, fabulous individual characters all! Of course, like all excellently drawn characters, they need a decent stage on which to perform and Trollope's tale of clerical shabby beaviour regarding the appointment of the warden at Hiram's Hospital, and the various plays for the hand of the demurely lovely Eleanor Bold, provide a fabulous backdrop. Mr Slope would walk away with the title of oiliest character in English lterature: he slides furtively beside Eleanor as he attempts to gain her hand in marriage (and her income); he moves with silent greasy ease between the respective cases of Mr Quiverful and Mr Harding as they vie for the position of warden in Hiram's Hospital and he fawns shamelessly upon the bishop and the bishop's wife, Mrs Proudie, playing one off against the other as the situation demands. Everything he does is purely for his own benefit and no sychophantic act is too demeaning or shameful. The character of Mrs Proudie has been well documented, surely one of the most icily fearsome women in literature, a masterful portrayal of sustained closet ferocity. But perhaps the greatest character of the three is the Signora Madeline, a lady who is carried everywhere due to a hip injury and who reclines at parties holding court on a large sofa surrounded by the adoring husbands of other women. Any male who comes with ten yards of her falls head over heels in love and proceeds to make a complete idiot of himself, professing undying devotion regardless of his own marital status or position in life. If I could actually meet a character from a novel it might well be her (but then again, perhaps by saying that, I'm only making an idiot of myself.....). Fabulous creature!In short Barchester Towers is a book to curl up with of a winter's evening, a book to cherish and to live with over a few weeks. Cosy and comfortable but not without a definite edge when it comes to social observation. Within its pages you will, I promise you, meet characters you'll never forget.
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