The Small House at Allington: The Chronicles of Barsetshire (Oxford World's Classics)

As with many of Trollope's books, including some of the previous four volumes in the "Chronicles of Barsetshire," this one starts off slowly. Trollope takes his time to set the scene, provide descriptions and introduce the characters without giving us particular reasons to keep our interest awake. And then, after a few chapters, the plot starts to unfold, and the reader regrets having paid less than full attention to the introductory section.

Trollope is a master at portraying the undercurrents in social intercourse. He is also almost unparalleled (I'm thinking about George Eliot) in describing the psychological makeup of those who inhabit his novels. There are few, if any, cardboard characters. And there is hardly anyone, no matter how villainous, without some redeeming quality or, at least, some claim to a measure of understanding and compassion. Conversely, whether in describing them or in portraying them directly, few of the "good" characters are entirely flawless.

In this novel, we see yet again (the same as in Framley Parsonage, the previous volume in the series), how your average, decent person, little by little, falls prey to entanglements that are above his strength of character to solve in a moral, gentlemanly way. He made a choice, he will have to pay for it. But he will not be the only one to suffer from his choice.

And yet, I can't bring myself to love the heroine of the story. I don't know what to make of Lily Dale. She is jilted, she suffers, she forgives, and yet she is too saintly to be convincing. I think it is a mark of Trollope's ability that he is fully aware of that, and he allows the reader to feel some impatience, or even irritation, towards her. The question remains: should we blame her for refusing other courses of action people present to her to assure her happiness? Or, maybe, we should instead respect her autonomy and let her do as she pleases, even if we are deprived of the fully happy ending we were expecting? Whose life is it, anyway?

Squire Dale, Lily's uncle, is one of the most interesting characters I've come across. No more spoilers, but let me say that the dissonance between his words, feelings, and acts is described with precision, and it strikes a note. Come to think of it, we have, most of us, met someone like him, except that, just like his family, we have trouble understanding and dealing with them.

There are also some fairy tale elements in this story, which only add to the charm. This is a beautiful book, and I think it deserves its four stars. I'm removing one because I'm a sucker for a happy ending, and, although good things do happen when you reach the final page, the main plot remained unresolved. Just as in real life, I hear you saying. True, but I have real life thrown upon me every single minute of my day. Let me at least find refuge in the pages of a good novel.

As is so often the case, I tried reading it in the Penguin Classics kindle edition, which has detailed notes. Still, after bumping into two or three typos per page (in my dictionary, this is called "unethical"), I returned the book and bought the Oxford World's Classics instead. Almost no typos on this one but, unlike the other books in the series, the notes were less than sufficient to provide the necessary context and refresh the reader's mind when characters from previous volumes made a new appearance. Still, it's a good edition, and I would recommend it over Penguin's any day.

Great edition of a great book