Reader’s Morning Routine
REVIEW OF THE WAY WE LIVE NOW by Anthony Trollope
I am reading this beautiful Vintage Classics edition of “The Way We Live Now" by Anthony Trollope for Victober. Victpber is a portmanteau of the words Victorian and October, and is a
month long readathon that encourages readers to pick up Victorian literature, which is any English literature published during the reign of Queen Victoria from1837 until 1901. It is hosted by a few lovely ladies on YouTube. They are hosting a discord chat this year as well, which has helped to develop deeper sense of community among participants.
The Way We Live Now is a satire on the political and financial climate during the time in which Trollope wrote this novel. The exposure given to the way people look the other way if someone is perceived to have influence and wealth, regardless of whether it’s a credible assumption, is intriguing.
Under the rumor of a questionable past, financier Augustus Melmotte arrives in London with his wife and daughter to much pomp and circumstance. His daughter Marie is considered to be the most desired heiress to marry and so begins the vying and wooing by the eligible young male bachelors in the city. Trollope brings Felix Carbury to the forefront of the readers attention. And much to his mother - Lady Carbury’s - chagrin, it is very quickly evident that Sir Felix exhibits some serious character flaws - gambling, laziness, alcoholism, and lying chief among them. Not only does Lady Carbury contend with her deficient son, she has a daughter, Hetta, who is not complying with her mother’s wish to marry a distant but decently well-off cousin named Roger Carbury. Hetta has refused because she is most likely in love with Roger’s best friend, Paul. And we go from there…
In this 100 chapter book, we are introduced to an American woman who has shot men out west and travelled across the ocean to confront a jilting lover. We are shown time and time again that a woman’s worth is often related to her marriagability and not much else. We understand how a lame duck board of directors established for Melmotte’s shell company enables the use of railway funds gone awry. Which - as a side note- the use of a railway as a device for financial fraud reminds me strongly of Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged”.
My biggest frustration with this novel is that within the 560 pages that I’ve read so far, I have not found a character that I like. There are characters that I can sympathize with but at some point, their decisions continue to be weak-minded and frustrating to me as a reader. I get that not every character is going to behave in a likable way but I want to shake most of these characters to get them to wake up to their self-indulgence and obliviousness.
And does this need to be almost 900 pages? No! We seem to continue to circle around repeat marriage proposals for multiple couples. Despite making the choice to break off an engagement or to refuse someone, a few chapters later, we are back in a room with the same characters having the same conversations.
At the 65% completion mark, I am finally starting to see foreshadowing of a reckoning of the deceitful villain who is guilty of fraudulent actions, which is a relief at least.
REVIEW OF PHANTASTES by George MacDonald
“Phantastes” by George MacDonald, of the Princess and the Goblin fame, is known to be a befuddling novel so I choose to read this lovely annotated version and I am so glad I did! I have learned a lot as I’ve read through this short but dense novel.
In “Phantastes” we follow Anodos as he travels through Fairy Land. One of the reasons I appreciate the annotations is because nothing is without purpose in MacDonald’s work. Even the name Anodes means “pathless” in Greek. This tale is fraught with innumerable connections to other literary, musical, and historical works. Additionally, “Phantastes” was originally marketed as a fae romance for men and women, and despite knowing this prior to reading this, I have been clutching my pearls a bit as reading the annotations increases my awareness of how scandalous certain chapters are perceived to be.
I know I mentioned my frustration with the character flaws in the Trollope novel but let me emphasize here that Anodos is not without flaws, as well. He does not seem to take well-intentioned advice and he does not respect boundaries. But maybe my tolerance of Anodos and his flaws is related to the fact that directly correlated consequences are not far beyond his behavior choice. So much so, he ends up with a menacing shadow following him after a particularly egregious decision to ignore a “do not enter” sign.
REVIEW OF The House Witch by Delemhach
“The House Witch” by Delemhach is a fun romp with which to end my morning reading time. This is the first book in a series that follows Fin Ashwon who is - as the title suggests - a house witch, which in his world means he is a mutated witch since he is not ruled by any one element. Most witches in Fin’s world are ruled by fire, air, water, or earth. Fin’s power is based in the home in which he dwells, in this case in the castle of the King and Queen of Daxaria. The trigger warnings are child loss, difficult pregnancy, and physical abuse.
The House Witch fulfills that desire most readers have for a cozy, witchy story for autumn, but with the fun twist of having the main witch character be a male. As I mentioned, this is the first in a series and for one of the main plot threads to not actually resolve, “The House Witch” is fairly long. However, the writing is an interesting mix of being plot-driven and character-driven, so readers should be compelled to read this fairly quickly.
The tropes in “The House Witch” surround found family, grumpy-grumpy “will they/won’t they” romance, and the chosen one. And as Fin finds his mixed up tribe of friends, the found family trope is my favorite part of this book. The romance is fine, and I enjoyed the personality of Fin’s female love interest.
There are a couple aspects of this tale that I didn’t love. Although the setting is in a castle and feels medieval-ish, the tone is much more modern which often times would pull me out of the story. Additionally, the amount of alcohol imbibed in this book threw me off a bit. And lastly, there is some banter around same gender relationships but I wish instead of tackling the “is he or isn’t he” subject as a bigger discussion than it needed to be, Delemhach would have just made it so and moved on.
REVIEW OF After the Forest by Kell Woods
As a mash-up of fairytales, “After the Forest” is full of ‘easter eggs’ pointing to a bevy of tales we all know from childhood. Readers follow Hansel and Gretel as they grow into young adults. There is a sweet, slow burn romance that is low heat and although it is an “instant love” trope (which I like), there is a bit of the miscommunication trope as well.
“After the Forest” is about as atmospheric as one can get as far as autumnal vibes!
