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An Old Man's Love
When William Whittlestaff becomes guardian to the penniless daughter of an old friend, he finds himself gradually falling in love with her. But Mary is herself in love with John Gordon, who has gone to seek his fortune in the Kimberley diamond fields.
The Oxford edition of An Old Man's Love, Trollope's last completed work is the only annotated edition in print and is accompanied by two appendices detailing its fascinating composition.
The Oxford edition of An Old Man's Love, Trollope's last completed work is the only annotated edition in print and is accompanied by two appendices detailing its fascinating composition.
287 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1884
19 people are currently reading
590 people want to read
About the author
Anthony Trollope
2,291 books1,760 followersAnthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
July 9, 2017
Soppy and unlikely love story of a rich old man (of 50!) and an indigent but nicely brought-up young woman of 25 whose long-lost suitor comes back into her life the day of her engagement to the old man.
Shall she choose money over love? Shall she justify her choice because she doesn't want to hurt the feelings of this one or that one? Shall one or other of these men relinquish her to the more-suitable other? These weren't really the sort of existential questions that kept me eagerly turning the page and ignoring Nancy Grace ranting on the tv (silently, I like to watch her, not listen to her pitbull brand of tabloid barking).
There is also a side story of a bossy and garrulous housekeeper who is abused by her drunken husband. Both these characters are extremely annoying and you wish they'd carry on their mundane and unpleasant lives in another book, or on a Nancy Grace show. She would have demonised the husband and had the nation braying for justice. (Jerry Springer would just have made fools of them both).
These stories, uninteresting in themselves, are not relieved by Trollope's usually wonderful writing, sly, dry wit or political,social or business intrigues. Instead, they meander along in the fashion of a pay-per-word serial a la the Dickens myth and come to an end only when nothing further can be wrung out of the shallow plots.
Not recommended for anyone, including die-hard Trollope fans (like me).
Rewritten July 2017
Shall she choose money over love? Shall she justify her choice because she doesn't want to hurt the feelings of this one or that one? Shall one or other of these men relinquish her to the more-suitable other? These weren't really the sort of existential questions that kept me eagerly turning the page and ignoring Nancy Grace ranting on the tv (silently, I like to watch her, not listen to her pitbull brand of tabloid barking).
There is also a side story of a bossy and garrulous housekeeper who is abused by her drunken husband. Both these characters are extremely annoying and you wish they'd carry on their mundane and unpleasant lives in another book, or on a Nancy Grace show. She would have demonised the husband and had the nation braying for justice. (Jerry Springer would just have made fools of them both).
These stories, uninteresting in themselves, are not relieved by Trollope's usually wonderful writing, sly, dry wit or political,social or business intrigues. Instead, they meander along in the fashion of a pay-per-word serial a la the Dickens myth and come to an end only when nothing further can be wrung out of the shallow plots.
Not recommended for anyone, including die-hard Trollope fans (like me).
Rewritten July 2017
September 1, 2021
Really enjoyed this one. Anthony Trollope is such a great writer and this is a clever, poignant, focused shorter novel that I really enjoyed.
February 22, 2012
Trollope is one of my favorite writers, so it's hard to give one of his books only three stars, but I can go no higher, and even considered two stars.
An Old Man's Love is Trollope's last novel, published posthumously. It has a thin plot, little action, and a very limited cast of characters. The interest in the novel comes from the internal struggle of the Old Man of the title, William Whittlestaff, a single man of 50, disappointed in love earlier in his life, who gives a home to Mary Lawrie, whose father, an old friend of Whittlestaff's, has died, leaving her, at 25, penniless. Mary has also been disappointed in love; several years before she had fallen in love with John Gordon, but given that he was also penniless after his father's bank failed, they were unable to marry, and he left for the diamond fields of Kimberley without their having made any commitment to each other.
Whittlestaff finds himself falling in love with Mary, and eventually asks her to marry him. She discloses that she still loves John Gordon, but that there was never a promise made to or from him, and, after a week's reflection on her future, accepts the proposal with the clear understanding that she still loves John Gordon, but will be a good and faithful wife to Whittlestaff, which we know from her character to be true.
The very afternoon after Mary agrees to marry Whittlestaff, John Gordon returns to claim her, having made his fortune in the diamond mines. If he had returned a day earlier, Mary would have joyfully accepted his proposal, but she has made a promise, and will keep it. John Gordon, in one of the more memorable scenes of the novel, lays out before Whittlestaff his right to Mary's hand, contending that she will be happier as his wife than as Whittlestaff's.
The bulk of the book is Whittlestaff's internal conflict on what he should do. He argues with himself that Gordon's wealth is unstable whereas his is secure, that he will give Mary a more stable and certain comfort and wealth, and that his entire future happiness rests on not releasing Mary from her commitment to him. Mary is steadfast in her commitment to keep her word to Whittlestaff, believing that as long as he wishes to hold her to her promise, this is her duty to him and to his past generosity.
And so the conflict turns on a simple question: will Whittlestaff, already in old age (as Trollope was when he wrote the novel), give up the possibility of his future happiness, release Mary to marry the man she truly loves, and return to the lonely life he was destined to live before Mary entered his life? Or will he assure his future happiness -- and there is no doubt in the reader's mind that if he holds Mary to her promise she will provide him with all the happiness she can -- at the cost of Mary settling for a marriage of respect but not love?
The outcome is predictable, and I found the path to it painfully slow. I seldom find myself skipping pages in a Trollope novel, but once the conflict had been well set in motion, I confess to proceeding with considerable rapidity and diminished attention as Whittlestaff dithered.
The strength of the novel is the well drawn characterizations and the internal conflict between securing one's happiness at the expense of another's, or providing one you love with her chance for happiness at the cost of your own. If the novel had been reduced in length by a third or so, it would have been a much stronger book, and would have received at least four stars. But as the situation drags on and on, it loses the drama and impact it had carried for the first two thirds of the novel. After awhile, one is just begging Trollope to get on with it.
It is still a book with some interest, worth a quick reading. But it is far from Trollope's strongest work, and is probably best read only by those who have already basked in his stronger works, particularly his Barchestshire and Palliser novels and his best standalone novels, Orley Farm, He Knew He was Right, and The Way We Live Now. If you want to read Trollope, read those first, and then if you find you enjoy his work and have some reading time to spare, spend a bit of time with these characters and ponder whether you would make the same decision that Whittlestaff does.
An Old Man's Love is Trollope's last novel, published posthumously. It has a thin plot, little action, and a very limited cast of characters. The interest in the novel comes from the internal struggle of the Old Man of the title, William Whittlestaff, a single man of 50, disappointed in love earlier in his life, who gives a home to Mary Lawrie, whose father, an old friend of Whittlestaff's, has died, leaving her, at 25, penniless. Mary has also been disappointed in love; several years before she had fallen in love with John Gordon, but given that he was also penniless after his father's bank failed, they were unable to marry, and he left for the diamond fields of Kimberley without their having made any commitment to each other.
Whittlestaff finds himself falling in love with Mary, and eventually asks her to marry him. She discloses that she still loves John Gordon, but that there was never a promise made to or from him, and, after a week's reflection on her future, accepts the proposal with the clear understanding that she still loves John Gordon, but will be a good and faithful wife to Whittlestaff, which we know from her character to be true.
The very afternoon after Mary agrees to marry Whittlestaff, John Gordon returns to claim her, having made his fortune in the diamond mines. If he had returned a day earlier, Mary would have joyfully accepted his proposal, but she has made a promise, and will keep it. John Gordon, in one of the more memorable scenes of the novel, lays out before Whittlestaff his right to Mary's hand, contending that she will be happier as his wife than as Whittlestaff's.
The bulk of the book is Whittlestaff's internal conflict on what he should do. He argues with himself that Gordon's wealth is unstable whereas his is secure, that he will give Mary a more stable and certain comfort and wealth, and that his entire future happiness rests on not releasing Mary from her commitment to him. Mary is steadfast in her commitment to keep her word to Whittlestaff, believing that as long as he wishes to hold her to her promise, this is her duty to him and to his past generosity.
And so the conflict turns on a simple question: will Whittlestaff, already in old age (as Trollope was when he wrote the novel), give up the possibility of his future happiness, release Mary to marry the man she truly loves, and return to the lonely life he was destined to live before Mary entered his life? Or will he assure his future happiness -- and there is no doubt in the reader's mind that if he holds Mary to her promise she will provide him with all the happiness she can -- at the cost of Mary settling for a marriage of respect but not love?
The outcome is predictable, and I found the path to it painfully slow. I seldom find myself skipping pages in a Trollope novel, but once the conflict had been well set in motion, I confess to proceeding with considerable rapidity and diminished attention as Whittlestaff dithered.
The strength of the novel is the well drawn characterizations and the internal conflict between securing one's happiness at the expense of another's, or providing one you love with her chance for happiness at the cost of your own. If the novel had been reduced in length by a third or so, it would have been a much stronger book, and would have received at least four stars. But as the situation drags on and on, it loses the drama and impact it had carried for the first two thirds of the novel. After awhile, one is just begging Trollope to get on with it.
It is still a book with some interest, worth a quick reading. But it is far from Trollope's strongest work, and is probably best read only by those who have already basked in his stronger works, particularly his Barchestshire and Palliser novels and his best standalone novels, Orley Farm, He Knew He was Right, and The Way We Live Now. If you want to read Trollope, read those first, and then if you find you enjoy his work and have some reading time to spare, spend a bit of time with these characters and ponder whether you would make the same decision that Whittlestaff does.
June 10, 2023
Free for Audible-UK-Plus members!!!!!!
*************************
In a nutshell, this story is about William Whittlestaff, a fifty-year-old bachelor, who takes on the guardianship of the twenty-five-year-old Mary Lawrie. She is the orphaned and penniless daughter of one of his close friends. Whittlestaff finds himself falling in love with Mary. Jilted in the past, he’s not willing to let this happen again. He is prepared to fight for her at all costs. The problem is that she is in love with another--John Gordon. John has departed for the Kimberley diamond fields of South Africa. He returns, young and handsome and now with a fortune to his name. Which of the two will she marry? That’s the gist of the tale.
In my view, the extent to which a novel passes the grade depends more on how a story is told than the plot The prose, the words and the details that make readers understand each character’s behavior are what make a book fail or succeed.
The book’s relatively low GR rating is I believe explained by Mary’s submissive behavior. Her comportment is contrary to the feministic view of women today. Usually, Trollope’s tales have headstrong women. Mary’s behavior becomes comprehensible the further one reads.
Details give clues. For example, Whittlestaff is compared to a dog protectively guarding a bone. It is noted that a “lovable person” is not the same as “a loving person”. Trollope plays with words, inducing readers to think and pay attention to how they may be used.
To understand the story’s characters, readers must pay attention to the details. One must be willing to see the book through the prism of Victorian times. A book that demands thought from its readers is one that I like. Complicated relationships are true to life. By the book’s end, I was convinced that the characters’ actions made sense.
Another interesting character is Whittlestaff’s housekeeper. Her behavior is both erratic and contradictory. People are not simple. Trollope doesn’t draw them simplistically.
Young Pastor Blake is sure to make you smile. There is a wide variety of characters in the story. This too is good!
An Old Man's Love is Anthony Trollope’s last completed work. Written when he was in his seventies, he knew the art of writing.
How is a person to live? Should one follow one’s heart? Must a promise made always be kept? The world does have its good people. Trollope makes such people believable.
Tony Britton, a renowned classical stage star, reads the audiobook. He does it with panache. He performs each character superbly, each one sounding as their individual personality dictates. You’re going to laugh at his wonderful rendition of the clergyman Pastor Blake. You hear a voice, and you know right off the bat who is speaking. I don’t usually want a narrator to perform or dramatize, but Britton does it so well that I loved it. Five stars for the narration.
*********************
Palliser Series :
1.Can You Forgive Her? 3 stars
2.Phineas Finn 4 stars
Standalones :
*The Vicar of Bullhampton 5 stars
*Orley Farm 4 stars
*An Old Man's Love 4 stars
*Miss Mackenzie 3 stars
*Dr. Wortle's School 3 stars
*Sir Harry Hotspur Of Humblethwaite 2 stars
*The Way We Live Now 1 star
*Autobiography of Anthony Trollope TBR
Chronicles of Barsetshire :
1.The Warden 3 stars
2.Barchester Towers 4 stars
3.Dr. Thorne 4 stars
4.Framley Parsonage 4 stars
5.The Small House at Allington 5 stars
6.The Last Chronicle of Barset 5 stars
*************************
In a nutshell, this story is about William Whittlestaff, a fifty-year-old bachelor, who takes on the guardianship of the twenty-five-year-old Mary Lawrie. She is the orphaned and penniless daughter of one of his close friends. Whittlestaff finds himself falling in love with Mary. Jilted in the past, he’s not willing to let this happen again. He is prepared to fight for her at all costs. The problem is that she is in love with another--John Gordon. John has departed for the Kimberley diamond fields of South Africa. He returns, young and handsome and now with a fortune to his name. Which of the two will she marry? That’s the gist of the tale.
In my view, the extent to which a novel passes the grade depends more on how a story is told than the plot The prose, the words and the details that make readers understand each character’s behavior are what make a book fail or succeed.
The book’s relatively low GR rating is I believe explained by Mary’s submissive behavior. Her comportment is contrary to the feministic view of women today. Usually, Trollope’s tales have headstrong women. Mary’s behavior becomes comprehensible the further one reads.
Details give clues. For example, Whittlestaff is compared to a dog protectively guarding a bone. It is noted that a “lovable person” is not the same as “a loving person”. Trollope plays with words, inducing readers to think and pay attention to how they may be used.
To understand the story’s characters, readers must pay attention to the details. One must be willing to see the book through the prism of Victorian times. A book that demands thought from its readers is one that I like. Complicated relationships are true to life. By the book’s end, I was convinced that the characters’ actions made sense.
Another interesting character is Whittlestaff’s housekeeper. Her behavior is both erratic and contradictory. People are not simple. Trollope doesn’t draw them simplistically.
Young Pastor Blake is sure to make you smile. There is a wide variety of characters in the story. This too is good!
An Old Man's Love is Anthony Trollope’s last completed work. Written when he was in his seventies, he knew the art of writing.
How is a person to live? Should one follow one’s heart? Must a promise made always be kept? The world does have its good people. Trollope makes such people believable.
Tony Britton, a renowned classical stage star, reads the audiobook. He does it with panache. He performs each character superbly, each one sounding as their individual personality dictates. You’re going to laugh at his wonderful rendition of the clergyman Pastor Blake. You hear a voice, and you know right off the bat who is speaking. I don’t usually want a narrator to perform or dramatize, but Britton does it so well that I loved it. Five stars for the narration.
*********************
Palliser Series :
1.Can You Forgive Her? 3 stars
2.Phineas Finn 4 stars
Standalones :
*The Vicar of Bullhampton 5 stars
*Orley Farm 4 stars
*An Old Man's Love 4 stars
*Miss Mackenzie 3 stars
*Dr. Wortle's School 3 stars
*Sir Harry Hotspur Of Humblethwaite 2 stars
*The Way We Live Now 1 star
*Autobiography of Anthony Trollope TBR
Chronicles of Barsetshire :
1.The Warden 3 stars
2.Barchester Towers 4 stars
3.Dr. Thorne 4 stars
4.Framley Parsonage 4 stars
5.The Small House at Allington 5 stars
6.The Last Chronicle of Barset 5 stars
December 10, 2016
This was Trollope's final novel and published posthumously. I think he had lost none of his power as an author. This story involves two men who both love one woman. The men love with all their heart - it is not simple desire nor is it male ego. She loves one of them, but has promised to marry the other. With very few exceptions that I have seen, Trollope gives his readers happy endings. I wondered all along if it were possible in this case. Surely someone was going to be disappointed, and I sympathized with all of three of them.
His insight into a woman's place in Victorian England comes through. I continue to remark on it because it continues to surprise me, even though it has been written about, and I have read enough I should expect it.
His insight into a woman's place in Victorian England comes through. I continue to remark on it because it continues to surprise me, even though it has been written about, and I have read enough I should expect it.
"What are you, that you shouldn't let a gentleman like him have his own way?" Why was it not so much to her as to Mr. Whittlestaff? Was it not her all; the consummation or destruction of every hope; the making or unmaking of her joy or of her happiness? Could it be right that she should marry any man, merely because the man wanted her? Were there to be no questions raised as to her own life, her own contentment, her own ideas of what was proper?Trollope had not lost his humorous edge either. Mr. Whittlestaff's housekeeper was an outspoken woman who occasionally crossed the line of impertinence. Additionally, she was 25 years married to (though not living with) a drunk with a wooden leg. The man who tended Whittlestaff's horses and stables was Hayonotes. I loved this almost as much as many of this others, but it probably is only for those who, like me, cannot live without reading Trollope now and then.
October 23, 2011
Due largely to the Yahoo! Trollope reading group over the last six years, I have by now read most of the 47 novels by Anthony Trollope. Few writers of fiction are so consistently good. Every time I think I have read enough of his work, and then start on a new one, I become newly enamored of his work. An Old Man's Love is a good example: I did not think the author had any more surprises in store for me, but I was wrong!
William Whittlestaff is an "old" bachelor who was once stood up by a young woman who married another. At the age of fifty, he helps another young woman named Mary Lawrie, who is left penniless at the age of 25 when her father, Whittlestaff's old friend, dies. He brings her to Croker Hall and, predictably, falls in love with her. Just as the bachelor has an unhappy memory of early love, so does Mary, who loved a man named John Gordon, who was also penniless. Because he was penniless, he was asked by her family to stop paying attentions to Mary.
When Whittlestaff pops the question to his protegee, Mary honestly tells him of the skeleton in her closet. No sooner does she do this than the man himself shows up at Croker Hall and throws a monkey wrench into the bachelor's attempt to redeem his life.
This is too good a story to spoil it. One of Trollope's shorter novels, it was also his last completed work. (The Landleaguers, which came later, was never finished.) There is something almost Buddhist in Whittlestaff's reaction to the upsetting of his plans for love and marriage.
William Whittlestaff is an "old" bachelor who was once stood up by a young woman who married another. At the age of fifty, he helps another young woman named Mary Lawrie, who is left penniless at the age of 25 when her father, Whittlestaff's old friend, dies. He brings her to Croker Hall and, predictably, falls in love with her. Just as the bachelor has an unhappy memory of early love, so does Mary, who loved a man named John Gordon, who was also penniless. Because he was penniless, he was asked by her family to stop paying attentions to Mary.
When Whittlestaff pops the question to his protegee, Mary honestly tells him of the skeleton in her closet. No sooner does she do this than the man himself shows up at Croker Hall and throws a monkey wrench into the bachelor's attempt to redeem his life.
This is too good a story to spoil it. One of Trollope's shorter novels, it was also his last completed work. (The Landleaguers, which came later, was never finished.) There is something almost Buddhist in Whittlestaff's reaction to the upsetting of his plans for love and marriage.
November 22, 2024
Maybe 3.5
Trollope's final novels weren't necessarily his best.
Trollope's final novels weren't necessarily his best.
October 9, 2022
I’ve had less luck with Trollope’s shorter novels, interestingly. I don’t think he does as well with one plot line as he does with multiple plot lines. (The exceptions being, thus far, The Warden and Dr. Wortle’s School, but I think those stories are more complex.) I noticed with this story and with Cousin Henry, which I read in Victober 2021, that the main issue is belabored and carries on for more pages than feels necessary. I liked John Gordon a lot but the other characters didn’t feel very real. Mrs Baggett is sooo annoying! It may be the voice the narrator gave her but I think I would still find her a pain.
Victober 2022
Victober 2022
March 23, 2010
Henry James said that Trollope's greatest and undeniable merit was his utter understanding of the ordinary. He succeded in feeling any little thing in everyday life not only in seeing it. He felt them simply and directly in their sadness and in their gaiety, in their appeal and in their comical aspects and in their most obvious but sensible meanings. This introduction of an amazingly prolific writer made by another terrific author made me feel guilty and sorry for not knowing him more and deeply. I decided I had to read one of Trollope's novels. Isn't he one of the Victorian writers , I'm so intrested in? He is, but I'm ashamed to say I had never read one of his novels.
So, strangely enough , I happened to start from his latest achievement, written in the final years of his life and only published posthumously in 1884: AN OLD MAN'S LOVE.
The story is rather paradoxical and extremely pleasant: Trollope's irony and wit, his attention to simple ordinary aspects of life, to very simple and ordinary people, his bitter/sweet approach to the theme of old age versus youth made this last of his works a very good, entertaining read.
Maybe some of you have already noticed I've got a professional tendency to find connections and links - a pedantic mania ? - and also on this occasion ... here we go!
Trollope & Austen: Mr Hall vs Mr Bennet
Introducing Mr. Hall, Trollope directly reflects on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and, especially, on Mr Bennet. Mr Hall , who has an entailed estate (which cannot be left to his female offspring), lives frugally — in fact in a style well beneath what one expect — precisely because he does not want to have his daughters end up in the world of Pride and Prejudice; that is, unlike Austen's Mr. Bennett, who retreats to his library and proclaims he can do nothing to help his daughters, Trollope's Mr. Hall changes his life, sacrificing much because chosen not "to leave his children paupers", so dependent on marriage for their economic survival. Trollope's character obviously criticizes Austen's as weak and self-indulgent.
Trollope & Dickens-Mr Sentiment
Trollope parodies Dickens calling him Mr Sentiment (see Trollope, Anthony. "Tom Towers, Dr. Anticant, and Mr. Sentiment." The Warden. World Classics. Oxford: Oxford UP). Reading this novella, An Old Man's Love, and after reading several of Dickens's novels their different approach to story-telling and characterization is evident.
Dickens's exaggerations often make his characters like caritures: both positive and negative aspects in their personalities are stressed and seen as through a magnifying glass. Trollope's characterization is more realistic, his humoristic portrayals are not based on exaggeration and his sense of human drama not approached with sensationalism. You smile and you are sorrowful at the different situations he describes, but you never laugh out loud or are never moved to tears. (Just in brackets, I do love Dickens!)
An Old Man's Love
So, strangely enough , I happened to start from his latest achievement, written in the final years of his life and only published posthumously in 1884: AN OLD MAN'S LOVE.
The story is rather paradoxical and extremely pleasant: Trollope's irony and wit, his attention to simple ordinary aspects of life, to very simple and ordinary people, his bitter/sweet approach to the theme of old age versus youth made this last of his works a very good, entertaining read.
Maybe some of you have already noticed I've got a professional tendency to find connections and links - a pedantic mania ? - and also on this occasion ... here we go!
Trollope & Austen: Mr Hall vs Mr Bennet
Introducing Mr. Hall, Trollope directly reflects on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and, especially, on Mr Bennet. Mr Hall , who has an entailed estate (which cannot be left to his female offspring), lives frugally — in fact in a style well beneath what one expect — precisely because he does not want to have his daughters end up in the world of Pride and Prejudice; that is, unlike Austen's Mr. Bennett, who retreats to his library and proclaims he can do nothing to help his daughters, Trollope's Mr. Hall changes his life, sacrificing much because chosen not "to leave his children paupers", so dependent on marriage for their economic survival. Trollope's character obviously criticizes Austen's as weak and self-indulgent.
Trollope & Dickens-Mr Sentiment
Trollope parodies Dickens calling him Mr Sentiment (see Trollope, Anthony. "Tom Towers, Dr. Anticant, and Mr. Sentiment." The Warden. World Classics. Oxford: Oxford UP). Reading this novella, An Old Man's Love, and after reading several of Dickens's novels their different approach to story-telling and characterization is evident.
Dickens's exaggerations often make his characters like caritures: both positive and negative aspects in their personalities are stressed and seen as through a magnifying glass. Trollope's characterization is more realistic, his humoristic portrayals are not based on exaggeration and his sense of human drama not approached with sensationalism. You smile and you are sorrowful at the different situations he describes, but you never laugh out loud or are never moved to tears. (Just in brackets, I do love Dickens!)
An Old Man's Love
June 26, 2018
My attention was grabbed in the first chapter and kept through the final sentence. This book is much shorter than any in the Barsetshire Chronicles or Palliser books, but it contains all the same elements, including main story and side plot - the only difference being the faster pace.
It didn't end the way I'd hoped, but it is still classic Anthony Trollope. His characters are always the best part of his books. My favorite was the housekeeper - repeatedly admitting herself to be a fool, yet displaying much wisdom in her advice to her "master," Mr. Whittlestaff. Likewise, I found Mary to be both admirable and nauseating at the same time - a feat only Trollope can accomplish with such subtlety and style.
It didn't end the way I'd hoped, but it is still classic Anthony Trollope. His characters are always the best part of his books. My favorite was the housekeeper - repeatedly admitting herself to be a fool, yet displaying much wisdom in her advice to her "master," Mr. Whittlestaff. Likewise, I found Mary to be both admirable and nauseating at the same time - a feat only Trollope can accomplish with such subtlety and style.
September 11, 2017
Libro e storia leggermente clautrofobica.
In alcuni momenti ho avuto la sensazione di assistere ad una rappresentazione teatrale fatta di pochi ed essenziali personaggi che alternandosi sul palco sviscerano al pubblico i loro pensieri più intimi e scandagliano i loro timori esistenziali.
Le location sono ridottissime e descritte in modo minimesimale, è l'ego dei tre o quattro personaggi, se proprio vogliamo essere generosi, a farla da padrone.
Alla fine ci si sente quasi degli intrusi ad entrare così di soppiatto nei loro pensieri ma, se non fosse per le innumerevoli elucubrazioni mentali, la vicenda di stampo semplicissimo si sarebbe potuta risolvere in poche pagine.
Primo approccio con Trollope, sostanzialmente mi è piaciuto ma non so se ripeterò l'esperienza.
In alcuni momenti ho avuto la sensazione di assistere ad una rappresentazione teatrale fatta di pochi ed essenziali personaggi che alternandosi sul palco sviscerano al pubblico i loro pensieri più intimi e scandagliano i loro timori esistenziali.
Le location sono ridottissime e descritte in modo minimesimale, è l'ego dei tre o quattro personaggi, se proprio vogliamo essere generosi, a farla da padrone.
Alla fine ci si sente quasi degli intrusi ad entrare così di soppiatto nei loro pensieri ma, se non fosse per le innumerevoli elucubrazioni mentali, la vicenda di stampo semplicissimo si sarebbe potuta risolvere in poche pagine.
Primo approccio con Trollope, sostanzialmente mi è piaciuto ma non so se ripeterò l'esperienza.
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August 23, 2007this was my first try at reading the classics (not including the required readings).it was being sold at a discounted price, the thickness wasn't intimidating.i deemed it a safe gamble of my precious time.i had no idea who Mr Trollope was.my instinct turned out to be right.i think i would like to re-read again after 7 years.
July 31, 2019
Vey short and easy to read. Usual Trollope investigation into character and motives. Very simple story but a key to understanding the Victorian mind. Enjoyable.
Second reading 2019. Maybe more enjoyable because it was read aloud. There is more in it than I noticed reading it 5 years ago. Well worth your time.
Second reading 2019. Maybe more enjoyable because it was read aloud. There is more in it than I noticed reading it 5 years ago. Well worth your time.
October 18, 2015
Quintessential Trollope with all the ingredients one comes to expect. I think the saddest of his novels, though, even more so than "He Knew He Was Right" which is fairly depressing. This is just plain sad, though.
November 9, 2024
While the anguish of recent events and fears for the future of the country are here to stay—it is just days after the 2024 US election—this book did offer a useful temporary diversion from the sad present. The novel is not among Trollope’s best work, but nevertheless offers his fine expression of complex human feelings and characters (very much in the Victorian mode), albeit with his unfortunate casual prejudices and offhand racism in evidence as well.
April 30, 2021
@Brittany -- this reminded me of "Can You Forgive Her" because it explores the motivations of three people involved in a fate-driven love triangle. It was his last finished book -- published posthumously I think.... You should add it to your list.
August 16, 2019
Trollope's final completed novel shows some flagging of his creative powers, but it still has much to recommend it. The basic story is simple: orphaned Mary Lawrie is taken in by a friend of her father's, the "old man" (at 50!) of the title. The man who had been wooing her was driven off by her aunt years back because he had no money. He has not been seen or heard of in the years since. Naturally (or perhaps not, your thoughts may vary on this), our "old man," Mr Whittlestaff (given how he--and especially his masculinity--is worn down across the novel, this name seems to be one of Trollope's more pointed significant names) falls in love with Mary, proposes, and is accepted--more out of Mary's sense of duty and obligation than anything else, but Trollope makes clear that she has no antipathy towards him. Naturally (or, more accurately, novelistically), the bsent lover immediately reappears, newly-wealthy from the diamond mines in Australia. Who will Mary end up marrying? This scenario (implausible as it is, and one imagines that a younger and more vigorous Trollope might have done more to paper over its implausibility-I mean, really? the guy never wrote, not even once?) gives Trollope lots of room for his favourite mode of characterization, the intense examination of a mind in conflict with itself. Whittlestaff is of course the centre, but Mary is also given some depth; only her lover, John Gordon, is rather flatly conceived (even many of the minor characters hare are delightful inventions, Mrs Baggett, chief among Whittlestaff's servants, being the standout example). Despite the novel's brevity, the action does flag a bit in the middle--Trollope seems to be spinning his wheels, often hitting a point he had hit before. To some extent, this may reflect the vacillations of a mind torn, but Trollope manages such complexities better in earlier novels. Perhaps the fact that he was dictating a lot of the novel made it a bit flabby. Anyway, despite the novel's slight flaccidity, it does display hallmark Trollopean psychological insight, and in the darker vein that comes up more frequently in his later work. Whittlestaff even considers suicide, albeit not terribly seriously. And Trollope avoids the easy solution of having another potential lover emerge for him at the end, to compensate him for surrendering Mary to her younger lover. (Of course, the idea that Mary is to be disposed of between the two men, treated in effect as property, is not merely implicit but actually made clear--without being as problematized or challenged as one would hope. It is perhaps worth note, as well, that the very exploitative nature of the diamond industry is completely ignored.) This may be a lesser-known Trollope, but it has much to recommend it to fans of his better-known novels, and to fans of nineteenth century fiction generally.
March 27, 2018
It is strange how much I felt for every of the three protagonists (+ Mrs Baggett was great as well).
We learned enough about them to really care about their fate. All of them acted understandable and in the end I wanted all of them to be happy, what just wasnt possible.
The whole novel was well written and really fun to read. The plot itself is probably nothing new to a modern audience but I enjoyed it nethertheless.
The author described nothing I considered unimportant and every paragraph drew me into the world and the life and feelings of the characters.
I think the ending was handled particurlary well. While kind of being a happy ending it also dealt, maybe realisticly, but at any rate interestingly, with the thoughts and feelings of the characters, especially Mary.
My only complaint is that the supporting characters were not utilized enough and were dealt with rather rushed. Maybe I only think so because I just finished a rather large book of Dickens, where every character basicly is a main character at least in some chapters, but who knows.
We learned enough about them to really care about their fate. All of them acted understandable and in the end I wanted all of them to be happy, what just wasnt possible.
The whole novel was well written and really fun to read. The plot itself is probably nothing new to a modern audience but I enjoyed it nethertheless.
The author described nothing I considered unimportant and every paragraph drew me into the world and the life and feelings of the characters.
I think the ending was handled particurlary well. While kind of being a happy ending it also dealt, maybe realisticly, but at any rate interestingly, with the thoughts and feelings of the characters, especially Mary.
My only complaint is that the supporting characters were not utilized enough and were dealt with rather rushed. Maybe I only think so because I just finished a rather large book of Dickens, where every character basicly is a main character at least in some chapters, but who knows.
November 26, 2015
I did like the book. It's a short novel like many of Trollope's writings. I like his style a lot and find it easier to read than many classics.
February 1, 2018
This one is way too similar in theme to The Vicar of Bullhampton (published first), which I read very recently. It's still a good story, and I felt myself grow very attached to Mr. Whittlestaff. I was about ready to cry for him by the end - probably owing to my having found myself in a situation with an undesirable number of congruities. I wish John Gordon's character had been developed a little more so that the reader could sympathize with him a bit more. This is not something I'd recommend for a Valentine's read. It's very somber, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows Trollope.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2018
This book should not be read as a romance book, otherwise it will be a very dull and boring reading. This is more likely to be read as an essay about love. I thought it to be extremely repetitive. It was showing every time how each character was feeling about all the situation going on. I don't recommend it, unless you are a Trollope's fan.
January 20, 2021
Dude's in his fifties - that ain't old, says this fifty-something old man. It's been many years since I have read Trollope. This was one of the few that I hadn't read yet. I was struck by how flabby this book is. It could have been cut by at least a third. It's an exploration of marriage and betrothals. Trollope gives an example of a very bad marriage, and he shows how absurd custom is with regard to the solemnity of betrothal. But the heroine is honor-bound to keep her word to absurdity because that's what good girls do in Trollope novels. It's a pleasant read, and there are a few genuinely humorous bits, but there are literally dozens of other Trollope novels that are far more fun.
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November 30, 2022This book was boring due to its repetitive nature. Others have said that this last novel was published posthumously. I could not find a source to confirm that, but it seems like no editing was done here. Whole sections of the book appear over and over again almost verbatim.
It is still Trollope and there are some funny moments, but I would recommend this only for the die-hard completionists.
It is still Trollope and there are some funny moments, but I would recommend this only for the die-hard completionists.
April 10, 2024
After I don't know how many years, 20+, with this book I have finished reading all 47 of Anthony Trollope's novels.
I would have finished sooner if I had resisted the temptation to reread the 6 novels of the Palliser series. But I wasn't trying to see how fast I could read all of them, so it doesn't matter how long it took me.
Now I may reread the Barsetshire novels.
I would have finished sooner if I had resisted the temptation to reread the 6 novels of the Palliser series. But I wasn't trying to see how fast I could read all of them, so it doesn't matter how long it took me.
Now I may reread the Barsetshire novels.
July 20, 2022
Trollope writes so well but i get frustrated when he covers the same ground many times. He repeats himself. He's repetitious. I don't need the same thing said many times. no i don't.
September 17, 2023
Second half so slow and going around and around in circles that I had to abandon.
February 24, 2020
Just a sad commentary on the predicaments women were beholden to not that long ago.
August 5, 2014
I have read and loved many of Trollope's earlier works, but this one is just not that interesting. There are two parallel struggles: one between the men, older and younger, as to who will "get their way" with regard to marrying Mary; and the second between the women - the old housekeeper and the 25-year-old Mary.
I have often chafed at the Victorian moralities/pieties regarding women that are embodied in Trollope, and it can be an interesting sociological exercise, but I think here he really gives Mary no freedom of action at all. The housekeeper incessantly nags Mary to accept Mr. Whittlestaff as her husband because he's the master and should get his own way, especially as Mary is totally dependent upon his charity and thus owes it to him. When Mary finally breaks down under the coercion and accepts Whittlestaff, the housekeeper THEN incessantly whines and complains about having to leave because she can't abide having Mary be made the mistress of the house and placed over her.
No matter what Mary does, someone is going to be miserable. I got to the point where I actually wanted her to consider looking for a post as a paid companion or housekeeper, so she could get out of Whittlestaff's house and be able to call her soul her own. I wanted there to be another possibility for Mary beyond "get married immediately". Even the lover, John Gordon, is barely known to Mary. No real courtship occurred between them earlier, and certainly no declarations of love and no correspondence while he was off making his fortune. There is the cautionary example of the housekeeper's abusive drunken husband to show that marriage can be as much of a curse as a blessing. I think the story might have been improved if Mary's choice had been more in doubt. The notion of choosing to be "an old man's love or a young man's slave" might have been more specifically worked out, to the benefit of the story.
I think the characters of both Mary and of John Gordon are insufficiently developed - we ought to know or learn more about them. Mary herself seems to be a nonentity. Whittlestaff is sympathetically drawn, but his love for Mary seems to have little to do with her as a person or personality and more to do with propinquity.
I have often chafed at the Victorian moralities/pieties regarding women that are embodied in Trollope, and it can be an interesting sociological exercise, but I think here he really gives Mary no freedom of action at all. The housekeeper incessantly nags Mary to accept Mr. Whittlestaff as her husband because he's the master and should get his own way, especially as Mary is totally dependent upon his charity and thus owes it to him. When Mary finally breaks down under the coercion and accepts Whittlestaff, the housekeeper THEN incessantly whines and complains about having to leave because she can't abide having Mary be made the mistress of the house and placed over her.
No matter what Mary does, someone is going to be miserable. I got to the point where I actually wanted her to consider looking for a post as a paid companion or housekeeper, so she could get out of Whittlestaff's house and be able to call her soul her own. I wanted there to be another possibility for Mary beyond "get married immediately". Even the lover, John Gordon, is barely known to Mary. No real courtship occurred between them earlier, and certainly no declarations of love and no correspondence while he was off making his fortune. There is the cautionary example of the housekeeper's abusive drunken husband to show that marriage can be as much of a curse as a blessing. I think the story might have been improved if Mary's choice had been more in doubt. The notion of choosing to be "an old man's love or a young man's slave" might have been more specifically worked out, to the benefit of the story.
I think the characters of both Mary and of John Gordon are insufficiently developed - we ought to know or learn more about them. Mary herself seems to be a nonentity. Whittlestaff is sympathetically drawn, but his love for Mary seems to have little to do with her as a person or personality and more to do with propinquity.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2017
Love Trollope and his stories set during the Victorian era.
This was his last book and he finished months before he died.
This story definitely had a touch of sadness and the sorrow of an "old man" who tries to love again in his 50s. We're certainly treated to a bit more than typical perception of paths life can take and why.
There exists in this story Trollope's introspective analyses of the characters and their feelings, emotion, their ways of life, their personalities, and their motives.
This was his last book and he finished months before he died.
This story definitely had a touch of sadness and the sorrow of an "old man" who tries to love again in his 50s. We're certainly treated to a bit more than typical perception of paths life can take and why.
There exists in this story Trollope's introspective analyses of the characters and their feelings, emotion, their ways of life, their personalities, and their motives.
November 4, 2013
Not one of trollops best books dirty old man lusts after woman half her age and she lusts after a young poor man victorian style. Not a great page turner and the housekeeper would have been sacked if she was my housekeeper. I prefer the political / church books i think.
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