Customer Reviews

Mr. Scarborough s Family

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of Trollope's more delightful novels, complete with happy ending and the usual conflict between love and duty. It is ironic that Trollope is so clearly sexist, again in this novel, in his insistance that women want a "lord and master" but at the same time he can create a character like Florence Mountjoy who is magnificent, strong and self-willed. This is not unusual with Trollope and must be taken as simply one of his oddities. I do wonder how a man who has created so many hundreds of characters can make so many of them come to life. The man's imagination was deep and rich, indeed. This book is full of memorable characters and none moreso than Uncle Prosper, His relationship with Miss Thoroughbung is positively delightful and at times laugh-out-loud funny. I recommend this book highly. It has all the elements one wants from a Trollope novel.

One of the best of Trollope's later novels. Much darker in tone that the Barsetshire series, it has a truly original character in Mr Scarborough himself. The plot is tightly constructed, and if the heroine (Florence Mountjoy) is considerably too good to be true, her hero is much more three-dimensional. The sub-plot of the Grey & Carroll families adds some humour and a wider social range.