The Way We Live Now (Wordsworth Classics)

The Way We Live Now is one of the finest of over forty novels that Anthony Trollope wrote in his long and productive career. What makes this novel truly great is Trollope's ability to involve the reader in a lengthy and complicated story. Few other writers have Trollope's skill in creating a world that seems as true as our own. From the beginning of the story, we take an interest in the activities of the major characters and find ourselves thinking about them and their problems even after we have finished reading for the day. Trollope's characters are as real as our own family and we think of them as relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Often, we would like to step into the novel and discuss a pressing problem with a character.At the center of The Way We Live now is Augustus Melmotte, the financial wonder of the age who dupes investors with a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernard Madoff proud. All the characters in the novel are in Melmotte's orbit. He is the most important character in the story. When he departs, page 638 in my edition of the novel, all that is left is to tie up loose ends, and there are many of them. Unfortunately, Trollope takes too long to do so, at least in my opinion. That is the only weakness in what otherwise is a great novel.Few authors have ever described so accurately and well the lives of the ruling class in England. Readers of George Eliot's Middlemarch, or Thackeray's Vanity Fair, or perhaps Dickens' Bleak House and Little Dorrit will certainly want to include these great novelists in the discussion of true artists who create an unforgettable world of the imagination. Trollope not only belongs in this august company, in some ways he is superior to it. Readers of Middlemarch surely will wish to argue with me. Yet Trollope has few equals when it comes to dramatizing the ordinary events of everyday life. His description of each scene is so complete and accurate and his dialogue so real that for the time we are reading we lose any sense of distance as a reader and, as noted earlier, become involved as if we ourselves were a character in the story.I had just finished reading five of Trollope's Palliser novels and decided to take a break from this series before starting The Duke's Children, the final Palliser novel. The Way We Live Now came higly recommended by both professional critics and Amazon reviewers. I add my voice to the chorus of Trollope admirers and enthusiastically recommend The Way We Live Now to all lovers of Victorian literature.

This is a great book, very appropriate for the way we live now, today, in America. The more things change... there are quotes that could be printed in the paper today and you would think it was about American politics. I was expecting a lovely Trollopian escape but I got much more than that. There are of course love stories that end sweetly, throughly bad young men, quiet heroes and all sorts of schemes that must unravel. I do think this is one of his greatest works.

Everything arrived on time and as advertised

I like this novel because it makes me aware of how the middle and upper class in the London area lived during Mr Trollope's time and at the same time makes me want to draw parallels between then and now. Mr Trollope has the reader continually guessing as to what's going to happen next with many of the characters.His descriptive writing makes it rather easy for me to visualize characters, locals, country side and the various city spits very well.

One of the best written books written in the last two centuries by, perhaps, the greatest Victorian author. A joy.

A social satire encompasses endless and interesting anecdotes. It gets better after the first ten pages of the book. Anthony Trollope was a master raconteur. I like how the author used sophisticated punctuation in his book. In a brief summary - You know that feeling when you can't put down a great book and all you want is more.

It's quite a bit longer than I had anticipated at 766 pages. While I enjoyed the overall story there are subplots I think could have been shortened if not eliminated altogether. This book was written in the late 1800's however, it could just have easily been written today.

Great story about a 19th century Bernie Madoff. Superb acting (especially David Suchet--better known for his Poiret role). Anthony Trollope, who is perhaps the least appreciated of the great English authors of that period, at the top of his form. It's got it all---love, greed, boundless ambition all portrayed by the people who do it best.

Into my 7th decade without ever having read any Anthony Trollope, I decided that I should educate myself and give him a try. I chose The Way We Live Now because it is a standalone book and I didn't want to embark on a series of books if I wasn't going to like the author. Well I did. From my perspective, it was a similar experience to reading Dickens, but I found the language slightly more modern and the characters more modern as well. Published in instalments with short chapters, it is easy to pick up and put down again, because that is how it was designed to be read.The main plot line is of financial shenanigans which chime strongly with contemporary events and personalities, whilst the underlying theme is an examination of what should be considered acceptable in a time of shifting mores. Again there are plenty of parallels that can be drawn, so despite it being written nearly 150 years ago, the satire in The Way We Live Now remains very relevant in the 2020's.

Let's face it Anthony Trollope is not going to set the world alight in 2016 or appeal to everyone. Who wants to read 500 pages when most of us struggle to concentrate for more than five minutes? Yet a book that is, what, 150 years old, still has huge resonances for our world now.In this age of international capital, celebrity worship, human ambition and weaknesses, the story of The Way We Live Now remains as engrossing and fascinating as it ever did because of the very themes that continue to exist in our lives.However, bear in mind that this book was originally published in instalments over 18 months. So make sure you have a few weeks set aside to enjoy the pleasure within the writing, the entanglement and duplicities of the characters, and the enduring selfishness of ambitious men and women.Like many things enjoyed over months, not minutes, the effect is memorable and enlightening.

Delivered on time, all pages in tact. Paper a bit yellow with age which made very small print less clear to read.

I enjoyed this book, Anthony Trollope is such a pro. Everyone should read it. Especially todays Politicians!

Big Victorian novel, telling the story of a man who came from nowhere and made himself very powerful and ruthless. Plenty of modern-day examples. Trollope`s dry wit enlivens the drama.