liisu's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sophiefrancoiselucie's review against another edition
4.0
The first question that popped into my mind after finishing this book was, ‘Was it worth the commitment?’ And I’m afraid the answer is, ‘Probably not.’ - except if you’re a Victorian era nerd, which I definitely am.
Emily Trevelyan enjoys a friendship with her dad’s old friend, Colonel Osborne but the latter has a reputation. Rumour has it he likes married women, like really. So Mr Trevelyan asks his wife not to see him anymore because this friendship is quite scandalous. She refuses to please her husband. And that drives him mad, literally. So this story deals with married women’s lots - and single women’s as well - and the effect of jealousy and power on the human mind in what I thought to be a very realistic depiction of the human behaviour.
This novel is a bit more than 800 pages long (in my edition) and there are tons of repetitions which leave you wondering whether YOU are losing your mind, too. It’s the kind of book which is really interesting to read about, and I just can’t wait to start reading essays and reviews on this little number. However, I’m really happy I read it till the end because the cast of characters is just wonderful. I loved them all - or loved to hate them - and that’s very rare. I think Trollope had a very acute way of seeing the world and understanding the human mind. I almost felt as if I was sent back to a salon in 1860-something and that I was told about the shocking story of the Trevelyan household and the conservative Miss Stanbury. It was wonderful! But very long, indeed.
Emily Trevelyan enjoys a friendship with her dad’s old friend, Colonel Osborne but the latter has a reputation. Rumour has it he likes married women, like really. So Mr Trevelyan asks his wife not to see him anymore because this friendship is quite scandalous. She refuses to please her husband. And that drives him mad, literally. So this story deals with married women’s lots - and single women’s as well - and the effect of jealousy and power on the human mind in what I thought to be a very realistic depiction of the human behaviour.
This novel is a bit more than 800 pages long (in my edition) and there are tons of repetitions which leave you wondering whether YOU are losing your mind, too. It’s the kind of book which is really interesting to read about, and I just can’t wait to start reading essays and reviews on this little number. However, I’m really happy I read it till the end because the cast of characters is just wonderful. I loved them all - or loved to hate them - and that’s very rare. I think Trollope had a very acute way of seeing the world and understanding the human mind. I almost felt as if I was sent back to a salon in 1860-something and that I was told about the shocking story of the Trevelyan household and the conservative Miss Stanbury. It was wonderful! But very long, indeed.
saralynnburnett's review
5.0
Anthony Trollope is one of my favorite authors - he writes with such familiarity that you get sucked right into the story, no matter what it is.
catebutler's review
challenging
funny
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
#trolloping buddy read on Instagram - May 2023
siguirimama's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
captainoz's review
3.0
I give this 3.5 stars because I enjoyed reading it, but it only should have been about 350 pages, not 930 pages.
axl_oswaldo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
A novel that reminded me of some previous experiences reading other Victorian novels, such as <b>Middlemarch</b>, <b>The Tenant of Wildfell Hall</b>, and <b>North and South</b>. Actually, if I had to describe <b>He Knew He Was Right</b> by using a few words, those words would be: <u>Victorian, Victorian and Victorian</u>.
I'm not going to lie, I truly enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover, not only because Anthony Trollope's prose is genuinely beautiful and quite readable, but also because the main plot made me keep my eyes—should I say 'my ears' since I mostly listened to the audiobook?—on the multiple stories we have here. Almost 1000 pages that, at the end of the day, felt as if I had read only 500 or so pages, basically because it was impossible for me to put the book down.
As I said before, this book is so Victorian, basically what a typical Victorian story is about: marriage, old customs and new customs, social position and status, women's and men's role in society, and so on and so forth; since I am a total sucker for Victorian literature I was a bit skeptical about <b>He Knew He Was Right</b> being a good novel in terms of the content and the writing style—besides, my first experience reading a Trollope novel was regular only—but it turned out to be a great book, where the author really depicted the stories (both main plot and subplots) in a profound and a realistic way. That being said, I must confess there are some subplots that have nothing to do with the main plot—there is no a strong relation between them—and consequently they become boring at times, even disappointing if you are expecting to find something rather meaningful by reading those stories.
I have recently realized that Trollope wrote quite a few novels, and perhaps this one is not Trollope at his best—I would say it was still better than my first pick, <b>Cousin Henry</b>—but I can also tell it is actually a compelling, fascinating and at times intriguing book, which I would recommend to anyone who loves reading a lot of Victorian classics. Now, I'm not quite sure if this would be a good choice to kick off your Trollope journey with, perhaps you should try other shorter books first, and then come back to this one. In my case, I found myself gravitating toward the world Trollope is building in this novel; also, things such as being able to picture the Victorian society—mainly the countryside—throughout his book, finding some characters' relationships well depicted and, of course, a good, enjoyable style of writing – I guess I couldn't have asked for more.
If I had to say something negative about this book that would be the fact that the author is rambling on some topics that are not necessarily important for the sake of our main characters—it is nonetheless rambling stuff I also enjoyed reading—and the ending, that was somewhat abrupt and very, very optimistic (not a big surprise though, you can expect anything when it comes to Victorian endings).
Finally, I'd like to share something else: it is a shame we don't have a lot of Trollope novels in Spanish translation—this novel, for instance, is not translated into Spanish, and I actually found it by spending some time on LibriVox, saving future readings, looking for future favorite narrators, and the like—which makes me think of the amount of books and authors we are missing because of those translations we don't have. It is really a shame to see many Victorian authors on LibriVox who I didn't know before, and whose works don't have a translation in my mother language. Somehow this situation just makes me want to keep reading in my second language in order to improve those reading skills that are so necessary for you to enjoy those stories and authors you care about. It sounds simple, maybe, but it is actually a long yet exciting journey.
By the way, he <b>WAS NOT</b> right. (I let this statement here without any context, so you can tell me in the future whether or not you agree with me, once you pick up and finish this novel of course).
<b>“The reading of poetry together, out of the same book, with brows all close, and arms all mingled, is very sweet. The pouring out of the whole heart in written words, which the writer knows would be held to be ridiculous by any eyes, and any ears, and any sense, but the eyes and ears and sense of the dear one to whom they are sent, is very sweet – but for the girl who has made a shirt for the man that she loves, there has come a moment in the last stitch of it, sweeter than any that stars, haycocks, poetry, or superlative epithets have produced."</b>
I'm not going to lie, I truly enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover, not only because Anthony Trollope's prose is genuinely beautiful and quite readable, but also because the main plot made me keep my eyes—should I say 'my ears' since I mostly listened to the audiobook?—on the multiple stories we have here. Almost 1000 pages that, at the end of the day, felt as if I had read only 500 or so pages, basically because it was impossible for me to put the book down.
As I said before, this book is so Victorian, basically what a typical Victorian story is about: marriage, old customs and new customs, social position and status, women's and men's role in society, and so on and so forth; since I am a total sucker for Victorian literature I was a bit skeptical about <b>He Knew He Was Right</b> being a good novel in terms of the content and the writing style—besides, my first experience reading a Trollope novel was regular only—but it turned out to be a great book, where the author really depicted the stories (both main plot and subplots) in a profound and a realistic way. That being said, I must confess there are some subplots that have nothing to do with the main plot—there is no a strong relation between them—and consequently they become boring at times, even disappointing if you are expecting to find something rather meaningful by reading those stories.
I have recently realized that Trollope wrote quite a few novels, and perhaps this one is not Trollope at his best—I would say it was still better than my first pick, <b>Cousin Henry</b>—but I can also tell it is actually a compelling, fascinating and at times intriguing book, which I would recommend to anyone who loves reading a lot of Victorian classics. Now, I'm not quite sure if this would be a good choice to kick off your Trollope journey with, perhaps you should try other shorter books first, and then come back to this one. In my case, I found myself gravitating toward the world Trollope is building in this novel; also, things such as being able to picture the Victorian society—mainly the countryside—throughout his book, finding some characters' relationships well depicted and, of course, a good, enjoyable style of writing – I guess I couldn't have asked for more.
If I had to say something negative about this book that would be the fact that the author is rambling on some topics that are not necessarily important for the sake of our main characters—it is nonetheless rambling stuff I also enjoyed reading—and the ending, that was somewhat abrupt and very, very optimistic (not a big surprise though, you can expect anything when it comes to Victorian endings).
Finally, I'd like to share something else: it is a shame we don't have a lot of Trollope novels in Spanish translation—this novel, for instance, is not translated into Spanish, and I actually found it by spending some time on LibriVox, saving future readings, looking for future favorite narrators, and the like—which makes me think of the amount of books and authors we are missing because of those translations we don't have. It is really a shame to see many Victorian authors on LibriVox who I didn't know before, and whose works don't have a translation in my mother language. Somehow this situation just makes me want to keep reading in my second language in order to improve those reading skills that are so necessary for you to enjoy those stories and authors you care about. It sounds simple, maybe, but it is actually a long yet exciting journey.
By the way, he <b>WAS NOT</b> right. (I let this statement here without any context, so you can tell me in the future whether or not you agree with me, once you pick up and finish this novel of course).
<b>“The reading of poetry together, out of the same book, with brows all close, and arms all mingled, is very sweet. The pouring out of the whole heart in written words, which the writer knows would be held to be ridiculous by any eyes, and any ears, and any sense, but the eyes and ears and sense of the dear one to whom they are sent, is very sweet – but for the girl who has made a shirt for the man that she loves, there has come a moment in the last stitch of it, sweeter than any that stars, haycocks, poetry, or superlative epithets have produced."</b>
the_naptime_reader's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
I enjoyed this book a lot. The main plot focuses on the marital trouble of a young couple because of the husband's jealous demands for the wife's obedience. The novel was published in the late 1800's and many have said that it feels like a more modern Othello. The main story was sad and a bit drawn out. I was left thinking some good marriage counseling would set these two straight. This main plot was surrounded by several much more charming stories. Altogether there are five different marriages the reader learns about. Excited to explore more by this author. Loved that I regularly needed my dictionary because of the exposure to all sorts of new vocabulary.
I enjoyed this book a lot. The main plot focuses on the marital trouble of a young couple because of the husband's jealous demands for the wife's obedience. The novel was published in the late 1800's and many have said that it feels like a more modern Othello. The main story was sad and a bit drawn out. I was left thinking some good marriage counseling would set these two straight. This main plot was surrounded by several much more charming stories. Altogether there are five different marriages the reader learns about. Excited to explore more by this author. Loved that I regularly needed my dictionary because of the exposure to all sorts of new vocabulary.