Customer Reviews

The Forsyte Saga (Wordsworth Classics)

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Family secrets, dirty little problems, and a dash of adultery, scandal and forbidden love. Soap opera? Well, sort of -- it's Nobel Prize Winner John Galsworthy's sprawling family epic "The Forsyte Saga." While it has a distinctly soapy flavor, "Saga" retains its dignity and look at turn-of-the-century mores and society.

The Forsyte family is determinedly regal and hard-nosed, almost to the point of a fault. One staid family member, Soames Forsyte, becomes obsessed with the beautiful but poor Irene, and finally gets her to marry him. Well, their marriage doesn't work. Soames is frustrated that Irene shuts him out of her life and her bed -- even more so when he learns that she is in love with sexy, arty architect Bosinney, who is building them a new house.

Soames rapes Irene and ruins Bosinney. His marriage falls into ruins, and Bosinney is killed in a car accident. So Irene leaves permanently, living in an apartment by herself. Then Soames announces that he wants to marry a pretty French girl, Annette, and Irene weds Soames' cousin. But the problems of the older generation get inherited by the younger one -- Soames's daughter falls madly in love with Irene's son, but their parents' secret pasts doom their love.

Three novels ("A Man of Property," "In Chancery," and "To Let"), connected with two short stories ("Indian Summer of a Forsyte" and "Awakening") -- it's a pretty big story, sprawling over three generations and four decades. It's a bit soapy, with all the scandal and family weirdness, but the dignified writing keeps it from seeming sordid.

It's a credit to Galsworthy that he can communicate so much without ever getting into his characters' heads. He displays emotion in undemonstrative people like Irene through little mannerisms and twitches. At the same time, he can give us heartrending looks into aging patriarch Old Jolyon's lonely mind. His writing is very nineteenth century, dignified and with plenty of furniture/clothing details. It's pretty dense, but all right once you get used to it.

Galsworthy was a solid supporter of women's rights, and you can see in Irene and Soames' relationship -- Soames, who sees his wife as another piece of property, and the determined Irene who only wants her own happiness, but can't afford to live on her own. Their respective kids Jon and Fleur are nice but kind of boring beside their darker, more intense parents.

For a look at the social shifts that helped define the twentieth century, take a look at the "Forsyte Saga." Or if you just want to soak in a tale of family woe, love, hate and dark secrets, "Saga" still works.

A trilogy that spans the years 1886 to 1920 in the lives of the gentrified Forsytes.
Opening with a family gathering for June's engagement to Bosinney, this the start of events that lead to a long running feud between the family factions when Soames's beautiful wife Irene-his 'property'-and Bosinney have an affair. This leads to Bosinneys death and a messy divorce for Soames. Both remarry but old wounds resurface when Irenes son and Soames daughter meet by chance and fall deeply in love...
This is exactly what the title says; a saga, that engrosses and engages. It explores many moral and social issues of the day and societys fundamental break with Victorianism to a new brave age wanting instant gratification and to live life more fully than their predecessors. Soames is one of literatures most complex characters, stuck with Victorian principles in an age growing out of them. You feel both sympathy for him as well as repugnance (He rapes Irene to assert his conjugal rights and uses his influence to crush people,yet his desire is for peace; to be generous)
Like many Victorian/Edwardian books -Dickens and Tolstoy included- much enjoyment can be had by reading these books for what they were at the time ie the soap operas of their day! Of course theres a huge difference between these great works and the vapid illiterate rubbish that serves as soap on TV today. Galsworthy, Dickens, Tolstoy et al were genius;explored intellectual themes and built their characters carefully, so maybe it is a bit of a demeaning term,but novels such as 'The Forsyte Saga' certainly perked up rather staid lives and was the topic of everyday conversations much like the soaps of today.
Galsworthy-like Kipling- tends to be overlooked these days; thought of as remenents of an imperial past which is both unfair and shows how little (if any) their critics have read of their work.
Galsworthy-like Kipling- was worthy of his nobel prize. A toch dated ? Yes in some ways (though reading 'To Let' it could just as easy have been questioning the direction of 60's youth as to that of 1920 when it was written) but I think you miss how good the work is if you continually judge with todays sensibilities.

The Forsyte Saga is Galsworthy's epic, Nobel-winning story of an uppercrust English family in London and its environs circa end of the 19th century. It primarily centers on Soames Forsyte, a well-intentioned malcontent who is gradually worn down by the trappings of affluence and the stunning disappointment it invariably creates. He takes as his wife and property Irene, a transcendent woman who marries for convenience, but soon learns of the gravity of her error and spends the rest of the novel trying to get out of the novel. There are also many other subplots, romances, peripheral characters, and subtle scenes scattered throughout that detail a respect for beauty and life, mingled with an apprehension about living it to a level that one feels they deserve. This constant cold war between passion and propriety leads the novel to a downcast (but oddly hopeful) conclusion.

As a novel, this is as distinguished as the art form can get. Mysteriously absent from the numerous best-of lists out there, it is nonetheless as good and complete as any other book I have read in recent memory. Galsworthy's great talent was mixing the entertaining with the substantive; the whole book is as dramatically entertaining as a soap opera, but nonetheless details the human spirit with supreme elegance. There is not a single character here that isn't completely human, whose interactions always make sense, and who are true. At the end I didn't necessary like all of them, but I understood them to a T. Galsworthy was also a master of description, and was able to amplify quiet moments of joy or devastation with economy and grace. Add to that the fact that the book overall moves quickly and is continually entertaining, and you have one of the most readable great books in existence. This is an exceedingly elegant, wonderful novel that was an honor to stumble upon; I guess I'll be recommending it to readers forever. Truly outstanding.

This book began with so many characters in the Forsyte family that I didn't know how I would ever remember them all. As the book progressed, it focused on a few family members at a time so you could get to know each one. Soames, "the man of property", becomes the central figure of the book. His thoughts and actions are described in great detail, while his wife Irene is sketchily developed, beauty being her prominent attribute.

This saga moves grandly through the generations. The elderly Forsytes worked hard for their wealth, invested wisely, and had much to show for their financial savvy. With each succeeding generation, there are fewer children born (corresponding to the decreasing interest rate) and a decline in morality and ambition. The last and smallest generation in the book are just spoiled rich kids with no special talents, living off their inheritances and returning to what the Forstyes did before they got rich: farming and other simple trades. The older generations bemoan the immaturity of the youth and the decline in morality, politics, and financial opportunity.

Soames marries Irene for her beauty. She is just another one of his possessions, added to his art collection. Miserable in her marriage, she falls in love with the architect of the house Soames builds in the country to get her away from everyone else and have her to himself, as if that would make her love him. Soames' sense of property prevents him from becoming the love of her life. His possessiveness pushes her on two occassions to do things that she may not otherwise have done. In the end, he is still left with nothing of real value (love). Irene, everlastingly beautiful, ends up with happiness, although after great suffering.

Having *almost* a Wuthering Heights type of ending, the reader wonders if their separate offspring will have the happiness that Soames hoped to have with Irene, or if - by a real long-shot - Soames and Irene will somehow get back together when his 2nd wife leaves and her 2nd husband dies. Finally, both Soames' daughter and Irene's son learn of the family skeletons, to their shock and horror.

Ultimately, the next generation's decision "all rests on" Irene's son, the product of an adulterous father and mother (adulterous in previous marriages only). Will he follow his heart like his parents did, or will he honor his father's deathbed wishes? Read the book, and find out.

This book offers much food for thought concerning relationships, possessions, family ties, and more. Finishing this book is like having to say good-bye to a good friend, but I am left with the many lessons learned and questions raised by the intricate twists of this epic novel. There is so much more to say about this worthwhile read, but this review is probably too long already.

I loved this book. It's a cautionary tale which reveals the intimate lives of three generations of Forsytes. It highlights the interactions of the family members and shows how each individual's actions ultimately affect the lives of the rest of the family, both immediate and extended. The book is beautifully written, and the characters are exquisitely drawn. The "Forsyte Saga" is turn-of-the-century high drama. The writing flows, but be warned, it doesn't flow at a very fast pace.

Soames Forsyte, the main character in this trilogy, is selfish and possessive and has all the feeling of a stick. He's critical of everybody, but especially of the women in his life. He never has a kind word for anybody, with the possible exception of his daughter. Although he says he wants her to be happy, he really only wants her to love him and no one else. He constantly bemoans his unhappy position. He just can't understand why everyone won't behave the way he wants them to behave. He is all ego, ego, ego, a very unpleasant fellow through and through.