The Silver Spoon (Forsyte Saga) [Paperback]

John Galsworthy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001 | Series: Forsyte Saga

The Silver Spoon is the fifth volume in The Forsyte Chronicles, one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th-century literature. In creating the many extraordinary members of the Forsyte family, the author also drew a fascinating and accurately detailed picture of the British propertied class, from the wealth and security of the mid-Victorian era through the Edwardian high-noon to a post-War world of change, strikes, and social malaise.

This volume carries on with the tale of Soames' daughter Fleur. Married to Michael Mont, in line for a Barony, the story focuses on Michael's start in Parliament and Fleur's inherent dissatisfaction with her marriage, not unlike her father's own experience only in this case it is Fleur who loves another. The American Frances Wilmont enters the scene bringing news that Fleur's real love, Jon, forbidden to her as the son of her father's ex-wife, has married Wilmont's sister. Fleur struggles to be happy and fulfilled, just as her father Soames did.

The nine novels, which make up The Forsyte Chronicles -- one of the most popular and enduring works of 20th century literature -- chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women.

The author has drawn a fascinating and accurately detailed picture of the British propertied class. Often incorrectly called The Forsyte Saga - the nine novel sequence properly known as The Forsyte Chronicles contains three trilogies- of which the first trilogy is The Forsyte Saga (The Man of Property - In Chancery- To Let). The second trilogy- A Modern Comedy (The White Monkey- The Silver Spoon- Swan Song) is followed by the third and concluding trilogy- End of the Chapter (Maid in Waiting- Flowering Wilderness- One More River).

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"In naming this second part of The Forsyte Chronicles 'A modern comedy' the word comedy is stretched, perhaps, as far as the word Saga was stretched to cover the first part. And yet, what but a comedic view can be taken, what but comedic significance gleaned, of so restive a period as that in which we have lived since the war?" -- John Galsworthy

About the Author

John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was an English novelist and playwright, and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. Galsworthy became known for his portrayal of the British upper middle class and for his social satire.

His most famous work was The Forsyte Chronicles. Galsworthy was a representative of the literary tradition which had regarded the novel as a lawful instrument of social propaganda. He believed that it was the duty of an artist to state a problem, to throw light upon it, but not to provide a solution. Before starting his career as a writer Galsworthy read widely the works of Kipling, Zola, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Flaubert.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 332 pages
• Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL) (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589635817
• ISBN-13: 978-1589635814
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,620,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Woman of Property, October 16, 2004

By 

frumiousb "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Silver Spoon (Forsyte Saga) (Paperback)

The Silver Spoon opens with the introduction of Frances Wilmot, the brother-in-law of Jon. He arrives at the Mont house with a letter of introduction for Fleur. Fleur herself is occupied with her son Kit and her life as a leading social figure.

It is that social life which is endangered in this book as an impoverished and slightly disreputable socialite (Marjorie Ferrar) makes a disparaging remark about Fleur as collector in a gossip column and sets off a storm. The fierce and public reaction of Soames leads to a libel suit being filed against Fleur and the issue of private morals is tried on the public stage. Fleur proves herself as stubborn as her father when a matter of principle is involved, and burns her own hands on changing public opinion.

The character of Marjorie is an interesting one. In the first Forsythe trilogy, the agents of moral change are drawn very kindly and are actually the heros and heroines of the books. By contrast, Marjorie as the typical flapper is as repellant as she is energetic. She clearly represents the new world, but the approval that the book has for her is just as clearly mixed. Her honesty speaks in her favor, but she is also visibly shallow and capable of great careless cruelty. She seems to represent the accelerating decay of standards and values and as such offers as bad an option as the inflexibility of the earlier generation of Forsythes. At one point in the book, her kindly grandfather asks, "If your idea of life is simply to have a good time, how can you promise anything?" It is a question that the book seems to be posing of itself.

The book is bound with "Passers By", an interlude in Washington in which Soames realizes that he, Fleur and Michael are in the same hotel as Irene, Jon and Anne.

4.0 out of 5 stars ~suckling on privileges~, April 3, 2011

By 

Victoria "RangerGirl" (Provo, UT, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Forsyte Saga: The Silver Spoon (Paperback)

The Forsyte Saga: A Modern Comedy, Book Two

Quite interesting how idioms travel through different languages for the expression of someone being born with a silver spoon in her mouth is the same in Russian language. The idea of it goes through the book, true for those born into privileged families and England herself, both not ready to admit that adjustments to the lifestyle are long due.

This book concentrates on aspects of social and political life as related to Michael and Fleur Mont: his desire to aid England to fully use the resources of its vassal states; her desire to be the successful Lady in the eyes of the society. And people of the book, are still people: they smile to your face and gossip behind your back, and even if there is no strength to stand against them any more, some ideals must exist and young Michael finds support in wise people around him: in Soames, his father in law; his own father, and the author of "Foggartism", the novel theory of sending youth out of the country and to the farther reaches of the British Empire to live and work as the solution to end unemployment and ever expanding population rates.

I give the book four stars only because I am not interested in politics ways, but even I have to admit that those parts were written in simple and engaging language and allowed me to dive deeper into life of England in the 20th century.

Victoria Evangelina Belyavskaya

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars same disappointment, March 14, 2007

By 

Pauline B. Larach "Pauline Jane Brown Larach" (Brandon, Fl.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Silver Spoon (Forsyte Saga) (Paperback)

story line not what I had expected. Rambling on about other people of the husband's family, and lost interest in the whole book.