alexiacambaling's reviews
442 reviews

The first book I read by Anthony Trollope was The Warden which I rated 2 stars and didn't really enjoy. Can You Forgive Her? was a much longer read than The Warden but far more enjoyable. I liked the characters and plotlines more and the writing is also better.

In Can You Forgive Her? we are asked to forgive the main female characters around whom the novel revolves, but chiefly Alice Vavasor who breaks off her engagement several times only to get back together with the jilted fiance. Alice can be frustrating, but I like to think that she's doing her best for a woman in that era. If she had been allowed to run for Parliament herself as a woman, then perhaps all that ruckus could have been avoided. I like Alice, as I said, she's sometimes frustrating, but she's an interesting character. While strong-willed and independent, she's not immune to manipulation and does get manipulated by the people around her.

Lady Glencora is also another complex character. Even as she contemplates the greatest sin in marriage, the author remains sympathetic to her situation and asks the readers to forgive her. As a note, I actually like them saying that Lady Glencora is 'young' at 21 because I'm tired of modern historical fiction calling 21 year olds, 'spinsters'. In any case, Lady Glencora is the more emotional between her and Alice, but she is never mocked or derided because of her nature. 

The female characters in this novel are great. Sometimes, they can be annoying, but they are complicated, complex, and flawed. They feel like real people. In contrast, the male characters can seem a bit one note. I won't be hurrying to read the next novel in the series, but I will do it because I've gotten attached to this style. And I think I might pick up more of the Barsetshire Chronicles novels too.

There are many thoughts running through my mind while I read this book. It's impossible to read it and not think. But chiefly, I thought of Plato's perfect society that he depicted in The Republic. Strip away the mass production, genetic engineering, and drugs present in Brave New World and you'd see a version of the society Plato wished for. The Alpha Plus Controllers being the Philosopher-Kings. A society made up of a hierarchical caste structure, which everyone is conditioned not to challenge. I wondered what Plato would have thought of such a society. 

Brave New World depicts a society controlled by mass production and consumerism. The conditioning of its inhabitants geared towards continuous consumption, more machine than individual. Throw away the old, they said, why mend when you can get something new? In a way, I was reminded of an ant colony. The lower castes were being thoroughly dehumanized conditioned to hate nature, to not seek art and free thought because passion is dangerous, destabilizing. The stability came at the cost of the loss of what made humans human. Happiness and stability, but only a shallow one. Soma exists because thinking of these things would make one realize how depressing, vapid, and shallow it all is.

The most interesting thing about Brave New World is the society it depicts. The characters serve to guide you along the world the author depicted, but other than that, I don't find them very much memorable. The Savage, perhaps a mouthpiece for those horrified at the society depicted. The writing isn't particularly memorable either. It's great achievement lies in depicting a dystopia eerily plausible. 

I like that there was an argument for the society. I don't agree with it but I like that it exists. I can see why people would choose it and I can see why they'd choose it for everyone else. To be honest, I've not read many dystopias since I've had my YA dystopia phase when I was 13, but I would say Brave New World is better than every one of them if only because those in charge were not incompetent. This society doesn't fall, it continues, because the alternative is too frightening for the mass-conditioned inhabitants to imagine. 

I went into this book expecting something very different, I expected it to be more about religion than it was. While it is true that most of the characters were religious, that wasn't the focus at all. Instead, I found a moving story about human lives, how the victims of this tragedy were connected to one another, and how love influences their lives. 

One of the things you question as a religious person is why God allows tragedies to happen. I thought that this question presupposes that God micromanages our lives, and I think that it's a very unfair view. The character of the monk in this book initially believed that the fall of the bridge and the subsequent deaths were a result of a punishment. Instead, the characters' backstories and motivations for being on the bridge on that day, at that moment were far more complex. I thought this illustrative of how real life is also more complex and often averse to simple explanations. 

Each story of each character was rich and thoughtfully introduced and told. The threads of how their lives cross with each other were beautifully woven, making for a complete story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will think of it in the months to come.

While I consider this book to be five stars, it's also one I'd find difficult to recommend. It is a neurotic book which shows in its narration- no dialogues, only narration. I thought that it's an excellent narrative device which helps separate the exterior from the interior. While things do happen and are described, it is the things that happen within the characters' heads that are far more important and which the novel is far more concerned with. 

The sexual content does not serve to titillate, but to further explore the psychology of the main character, Erika. Her deep repression and oppression at the hands of her mother left her psyche deeply twisted and manifested into her desires. Desire in this novel is violent and destructive. Erika's desire often shows itself through violence, because in her mind, it is a way to escape from her domineering mother. Her relationship with her student too, is an escape, from her mother and from unfulfilled dreams and desires as an artist.

The writing style highlights all of these well. By not having any dialogue, it shifts the focus from things happening to the characters' reactions as things happen. It is energetic and almost neurotic. Metaphorical language is used to show how deeply Erika is repressed and how tied she is to her mother's apron strings. 

In the end, I truly liked this book despite how disturbing it was and how uncomfortable it made me. It is the kind of psychological deep dives into flawed, unlikeable characters that I enjoy, and for that, I give it five stars.

I'm a bit unsure about what to say about this book because frankly, I don't have much to say about it. As a mystery, I didn't find it gripping nor did I find it to be satisfying. However, I did enjoy the gothic feel of the book and the characters.