Doctor Thorne (Chronicles of Barsetshire, #3) in Exploring Anthony Trollope

Aug 24, 2012 Patty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Doctor Thorne kept me company during a hurricane. I don't really understand how anyone could possibly not love Anthony Trollope. This 624 page novel went incredibly fast. Trollope is more courteous, more solicitous, gentler and kinder to his readers than any other author I know. I almost thought he might even pour my tea. The story, that of a romance complicated by societal predjudice, has been told by many authors, in many times and places. But the way he tells the tale is just incomparable. ...more

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Jan 16, 2018 Jane rated it liked it

Doctor Thorne is the third novel in Anthony Trollope’s series known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire; set in Greshamsbury, a rural town many miles away from the cathedral city the was the setting for the first two novels.

Mr Francis Gresham is the squire of Greshamsbury, and as he story begins he is celebrating the coming of age of his only son, Frank, with his family and friends. The squire is rightly proud of his son, who is handsome, good-natured, and popular; and his great hope is that Frank ...more

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Nov 05, 2016 Haaze rated it really liked it

Shelves: lit_classics, literature-19th-century, lit-english, rp_bloom-western-canon, literature, x_trollope

Entering the realm of Trollope is a magical experience. The writing is exquisite with waves of vocabulary and lingering sentences that virtually have their own linguistic flavor. It transports you to the realm of Barsetshire in mid-19th century England, and the midst of a number of personalities that you will literally live with as hundreds of pages unfold. Trollope has the power to place one (as a reader) among these individuals, sharing sorrows, happiness, conflicts, thoughts and daily lives. Entering the realm of Trollope is a magical experience. The writing is exquisite with waves of vocabulary and lingering sentences that virtually have their own linguistic flavor. It transports you to the realm of Barsetshire in mid-19th century England, and the midst of a number of personalities that you will literally live with as hundreds of pages unfold. Trollope has the power to place one (as a reader) among these individuals, sharing sorrows, happiness, conflicts, thoughts and daily lives. His power of description and characterization rivals Dickens, Eliot and Gaskell, so the main characters in the novel truly come alive. They are human in all aspects apart from a few that seemingly are used a humorous interludes. Trollope has a frisky sense of humor which especially plays out in the realm of the medical profession in this particular novel, but politics gets it fair bite as well. It is a love story blended with politics, the issues of wealth and aristocratic blood lines and time's ability to affect lives. From a more holistic perspective it is a story of how society as a whole relate to the individuals based on their wealth and/or aristocratic heritage. It seems as if Trollope wants the world to reflect on these issues through his characters. I very much enjoyed reading this book. However, the latter portion of the story somewhat disappointed me. This is why I removed one star from a novel that otherwise truly belongs in the five star realm. (view spoiler)
It is hard to leave the Trollope world. This novel simply fueled my urge to continue the journey and further suspend myself in Trollope's linguistic weave in the years to come. ...more

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Jun 21, 2018 Laura rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: hoopla, on-laptop, on-ipad2, bricks, british, owned, 2018, on-dj, classics, audible

The hopeless romantic in me really loved this book, even though it is a bit predictable. As always, where Trollope shines is characterization. The main characters became so real to me that I started speculating about their futures beyond the pages. Although this was a five-star read for the first 2/3 of the book, I felt that Trollope drew the resolution out far too long, and the book would have been stronger with about 100 pages cut.

Simon Vance's audiobook narration was, as always, nearly perfe ...more

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Jun 09, 2013 Trisha rated it really liked it

It’s hard to know why I am such a Trollope fan since many of his characters – especially the females – are so hard to relate to. Take the insipid and maddeningly passive Mary Thorne, the novel’s heroine, who simply accepts every cruel twist of fate that keeps her from marrying the man she loves even though he loves her in return (but must look elsewhere for a bride since he must marry for money in order to save the family estate.) You’d think a plot like this would be enough for me to abandon th It’s hard to know why I am such a Trollope fan since many of his characters – especially the females – are so hard to relate to. Take the insipid and maddeningly passive Mary Thorne, the novel’s heroine, who simply accepts every cruel twist of fate that keeps her from marrying the man she loves even though he loves her in return (but must look elsewhere for a bride since he must marry for money in order to save the family estate.) You’d think a plot like this would be enough for me to abandon the book at the first sign of poor Mary’s tears. But no…I kept reading on because I love the imaginary countryside that Trollope has created in his Barsetshire series (of which this is the third) and I love the way he writes. He’s a kindly uncle sort of writer who has his characters best interests at heart. From the outset we know that everything will turn out all right in the end and even the scoundrels are going to get their come-uppance. Not just content to be an omniscient narrator who takes great pains to fill in all the details about his characters’ motives, thoughts, and circumstances, Trollope sometimes steps right into his narrative to speak directly to the reader. In fact sometimes it seems like he’s right there looking over my shoulder to make sure I haven’t put the book down. At one point he even interrupts himself in the process of writing in order to acknowledge that the story seems to have gotten off to a slow start and to admit that he’s a little worried about his ability to keep us interested in reading: “This is unartistic on my part, and shows want of imagination as well as want of skill,” he admits, adding, “. Whether or not I can atone for these faults by straightforward, simple, plain storytelling - that, indeed, is very doubtful." Lucky for us that he kept going because the story continues in characteristic fashion while he pokes fun at the pretentions of some of his characters and peppers the narrative with wonderfully witty observations about them: “Of course, Lady Arabella could not suckle the young heir herself. Ladies Arabella never can. . . Nature gives them bosoms for show, but not for use. So Lady Arabella had a wet-nurse.” Trollope must have greatly enjoyed coming up with some of the names for his characters: The incompetent Dr. Filgrave; Mr. Reddypalm who had no problem accepting bribes from politicians, Miss Gushing, the spinster lady who tried so hard to flatter the Reverend Mr. Oriel into marriage, Mr. Winterbones who was "...a little, withered, dissipated, broken-down man, whom gin and poverty had nearly burnt to a cinder, and dried to an ash." Much of the pleasure in reading Trollope comes from passages like these, and although his novels proceed at a leisurely pace, I’ve always felt they were well worth the extra time it takes to follow along.

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Sep 09, 2020 Tom Britz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This was a gorgeous read. You do not read Anthony Trollope for the surprise twists (there are little to none) nor for the spine-tingling suspense (again zippo) but you do read Trollope for the characters that seem as real as your neighbors and the true to life actions within. Trollope's comic asides (his narrator is in fact as much a character at times as those he is writing about) are at times laugh out loud funny, while at the same time his pathos can be heart warming and wrenching as any othe This was a gorgeous read. You do not read Anthony Trollope for the surprise twists (there are little to none) nor for the spine-tingling suspense (again zippo) but you do read Trollope for the characters that seem as real as your neighbors and the true to life actions within. Trollope's comic asides (his narrator is in fact as much a character at times as those he is writing about) are at times laugh out loud funny, while at the same time his pathos can be heart warming and wrenching as any other author you'd care to name.
This story is about family bloodlines (it is Victorian England) and a family's legacy that has been mortgaged by outstanding debts accrued by unfortunate investments and a political upheaval. Frank Gresham has just turned 21 and has "come of age". His overbearing mother (many times I wanted to drop kick her) knows that he must marry into money, in order to save the family legacy. However enter Dr. Thorne and his lovely niece. Dr. Thorne had a low-life brother that seduced a young woman of low birth, she had no bloodline or name behind her, but she was beautiful. Her brother Roger Scratcherd was a hard working and talented architect, stone worker. When Roger (who has a drinking problem) found out about the scandalous affair involving his beloved sister, Roger goes into a rage and kills Dr. Thorne's brother. Due to the circumstances, which the whole town knows about, Roger gets a light manslaughter charge and goes to prison for a few years.
Meanwhile the sister has a child, a girl, and Dr. Thorne and the girl's boyfriend come up with a plan. The fiance will marry her and move to America as long as she leaves the child behind, he wants Mary (the girl) but he wants a family that is his, and Dr. Thorne arranges for the child to be brought up by another family until she turns 13 at which time she will move in with Dr. Thorne as his niece.
Dr. Thorne is a good friend of the Gresham's so that Mary (the child) is brought up alongside the Gresham's family. This is the dilemna of the novel. Frank turns 21 and is in love with Mary. His family knows nothing about Mary's sordid past (being a bastard child with no bloodline or family) except for Dr. Thorne and the senior Gresham. Frank's family due to their precarious financial stance knows the only way out of their dilemna and save the family's estate is that Frank "must marry money".
Roger Scratcherd after getting out of prison due to his skills working with stone and the building trades goes on to become a millionaire and has his own family. In fact he is awarded a baronetcy.
This is the bare bones that Anthony Trollope polishes and uses to turn out a marvelous piece of art in this novel. There are no surprises, no other murders, just raw emotions and the never ending phrase that Frank "must marry money".
The reader knows basically early on how the story will turn out, but is still swept away and thoroughly enjoys the twists and turns. This truly is a masterpiece of realistic (yet comic) novelistic art. ...more

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May 29, 2018 Eddie Clarke rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 2018, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. It struck me that the entire oeuvre of PG Wodehouse is inspired by the opening chapters of Doctor Thorne, where a chumocracy of callow and unformed aristocratic youths are under the cosh of their ferocious and unrelenting aunts and mothers. Similarly, EM Forster’s Howards End is clearly massively indebted to Trollope in its social observation, comic situations, ironic tone, and authorial editorialising. Also in its somewhat uneven and imperfect structure and melodramatic plot.

Trollope’s psycholo It struck me that the entire oeuvre of PG Wodehouse is inspired by the opening chapters of Doctor Thorne, where a chumocracy of callow and unformed aristocratic youths are under the cosh of their ferocious and unrelenting aunts and mothers. Similarly, EM Forster’s Howards End is clearly massively indebted to Trollope in its social observation, comic situations, ironic tone, and authorial editorialising. Also in its somewhat uneven and imperfect structure and melodramatic plot.

Trollope’s psychological penetration and ear for dialogue is the best in the business. And ‘business’ for him it was, with his pace of 3000 words every day before breakfast (his manservant was paid overtime to bring him his first pre-dawn mug of coffee): sadly, to the detriment of his posthumous reputation. The panjandrums of Eng Lit are very taken with the ideal of artistic integrity, and this is where Trollope, however titanic his strengths, falls short. Doctor Thorne feels to me as if it requires a little bit of judicious editing and redrafting. Trollope preferred to cash his publisher’s cheque and to move on to the next book.

The political hustings episode at Courcy Castle feels like an intrusion from another novel - it just meanders away from the main plot and goes on too long. Trollope seems to throw in new characters willy-nilly as they suit his purposes and then drops them outrageously once their plot function has been served. A related problem is his inability to control point of view: it careers all over the place and seems to frequently distract the author. For instance, Caleb Oriel is introduced towards the very end of the novel because Trollope suddenly realises he can hang his conclusion of the main plot off the back of a Beatrice Gresham /Caleb Oriel wedding. I don’t object to that, but it would have been better if the reader had been prepared for both Caleb and a possible secondary romance plot earlier in the novel: just a few paragraphs or a small inciting incident at an appropriately early point would have sufficed. The pursuit of Caleb by the village spinsters is funny, but introduced far too late: it should have been threaded throughout the novel. Similarly, the characters of
Winterbones and Jonas are there primarily to dramatise the horror and pathos of their respective masters’ alcoholism - but once their masters succumb we never hear of them again. Jonas has caused considerable mayhem in Doctor Thorne’s household so he is a character with a (sub)plot which does need closure: Dickens, by comparison, was invariably scrupulous about tying off these loose ends.

These problems are emphasised by comparison with Trollope’s best practice: The introductions of both Scatcherd and Miss Dunstable are handled terrifically well. Both are somewhat stock narrative types. Miss Dunstable is first spoken of as a desirable target for young Frank’s mercenary matrimonial project as directed by his aunt and mother. Young Frank is dragged kicking and screaming off to Courcy Castle to pay court to Miss Dunstable’s £200,000 under the injunction that “he must marry money”. Our first physical description of Miss Dunstable confirms she is a stock type: the unattractive aging heiress chased by suitors for her money. Trollope’s delicious surprise for the reader is when she speaks for the first time: she’s clearly highly intelligent, knows exactly why she is lionised by society, can see the fortune hunters a mile off and deals with them wittily, discreetly and with some compassion as circumstances permit. Young Frank’s initial inept attempts at flirtation are comical, but this then ripens into a surprising friendship between the two; one important to the plot as Miss Dunstable supports Frank in his struggle to marry Mary Thorne against his family’s rigid opposition. A non-romantically based friendship between the genders is unusual even today in literature: and this one was published in 1858. That Trollope successfully portrays one is a huge tribute to his originality, skill, and the depths of his psychological acuity.

Scatcherd is first told of in Mary’s back story, and seems a basic plot device at that point (a violent, impulsive and drunken labourer who kills Mary’s father for seducing his sister, Mary’s unmarried mother). In the early chapters, Trollope again teases the reader with hints as to what Scatcherd is now, and then finally confirms: he is Sir Roger Scatcherd, dynamic railway entrepreneur and aspiring politician and by far the richest character in the book. Once again, it is his dialogue which brings the character to life and makes vividly memorable. I wonder how much he influenced Dickens’s Magwitch in Great Expectations (a similar kind of plot) published three years later.

A modern reader expects the Victorian melodramatic plot: this one was given to Trollope by his brother (Doctor Thorne became his best-selling book to Victorian audiences). Today this is worth reading for the humour and characters and insight into the Victorian world. He’s great at both individual psychology and how individuals interact amongst themselves in varying social situations. The comic situations perhaps don’t quite reach the sublime heights of those featuring Mrs Proudie in Barchester Towers - but in compensation the author’s editorialising is funnier (if sometimes taken too far. This was the kiss of death for Henry James. On the whole, I’m amused). Trollope’s dialogue is sensational: what a loss he was to the theatre.

(Barchester Chronicles Book 3) ...more

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Apr 24, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, 5-star-reads, classics, barsetshire, author-trollope

This is yet another very enjoyable installment of the Barsetshire Chronicles. There are a few minor characters from previous novels: Drs. Fillgrave and Rerechild; and even attorneys from his The Way We Live Now in the firm of Slow and Bideawhile.

Trollope has not the meanness of sarcasm, rather his style is one of tongue-in-cheek.

Frank had become legally of age, legally a man, when he was twenty-one. Nature, it seems, had postponed the ceremony till he was twenty-two. Nature often does postpone

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Jan 20, 2015 Joseph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Another enjoyable installment in an enjoyable series (the Chronicles of Barsetshire), where Trollope writes of life in mid-1800s rural England. In this book, we're treated to a number of memorable characters: the thoughtful Doctor Thorne, his angelic niece Mary Thorne, and the delightfully disgusting Sir Louis Philippe Scatcherd. In my mind, there's nothing like a character to loathe, and Sir Louis fits the bill. On to installment #4! ...more

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