The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)

Fantastic! What a book! If you like great big long sagas full of crime, romance and interesting, if obnoxious, characters, this is for you. Its a beach book, a recovering-from-flu book or a flight-to-Indonesia (24 hours!) book. Of all the Barchester books, this one is the best. You don't need to read them in order either but it helps with the chronology of the characters. ( )

2007, Blackstone Audiobooks, Read by Simon Vance

Barchester’s well-loved characters assemble one final time in The Last Chronicle of Barset; and true to form, Trollope proves himself a worthy storyteller as he weaves the threads of this final tale. The pitiful and ornery Mr. Crawley is accused of stealing Mr. Soames’ cheque, an incident which creates all manner of grief. Major Grantly falls for Grace Crawley, and his father, the Archdeacon, is outraged. John Eames, now a wealthy man by the generosity of the late Lord De Guest, persists in his love for Lily Dale while amusing himself with coquette Madalina Demolines, an alliance of which no good can come. The affairs of the Dobbs Broughtons collide with those of the wealthy Van Sievers, and at the heart of the conflict, aside from money of course, is a troublesome painting of “Jael and Sisera.” The detestable Mrs. Proudie meets a just defeat at the hands of Mr. Crawley and Dr. Tempest. And finally, Septimus Harding, the gentle, worthy, and now venerable protagonist of The Warden, where the chronicles began, arrives at the end of his life surrounded by family; and is the subject of a beautifully poignant farewell by Trollope.

As always, Trollope kept me wholly entertained. His humour, which I adore, created this laugh-out-loud moment for me when John Eames is cautioned by his friend that his dalliance with Miss Demolines, which he believes to be a harmless friendship, is not what it appears:

“I know the bird better than you do, and I strongly caution you to beware of the bird. The bird is a bird of prey, and altogether an unclean bird. The bird wants a mate, and doesn’t much care how she finds one. And the bird wants money and doesn’t much care how she gets it. The bird is a decidedly bad bird, and not at all fit to take the place of domestic hen in a decent farmyard. In plain English, Johnny, you’ll find some day, if you go over too often to Porchester Terrace, either that you are going to marry the bird, or else that you are employing your cousin Toogood for your defense in an action brought against you by the venerable old bird, the bird’s mamma.” (Ch 75)

I’ll miss the characters of Barchester and the fabulous Simon Vance, but as all good things must come to a close, The Last Chronicle of Barset does a wonderful job of achieving that end. Highly recommended! ( )

Trollope has really mastered the art of creating irritating characters in this last volume of 'The Barchester Chronicles'--which doesn't make it any less enjoyable. Some are familiar to readers of the earlier novels. There's Mrs. Proudie, for example, the bishop's wife, who seems to think that SHE is the bishop, yammering on about "the souls of the people" while she bullies her husband and everybody else. The namby-pamby bishop is quite irritating on his own accord: he never silences or reprimands his wife until near the end, and then it takes the form of whining and blaming. The focal figure of the novel, the reverend Mr. Crawley . . . well, I wanted to whack him over the head with a 2x4! I understand his forgetfulness and his adherence to principles, but refusing to hire a lawyer (even taking on a free one) when you've been charged with a crime, thus putting your family on the brink of total destitution and disgrace, is unforgiveable, not to mention just plain stupid. Then there's Lily Dale, abandoned in an earlier installment by her lover in favor of a wealthier woman. Devoted not only to him but to her role as martyr, she refuses the love of a good man, refuses to marry the now-widowed lover, and takes a vow reflected in her diary: "Lily Dale: Old Maid."

By now, you're probably wondering why I didn't hate this novel. Well, while all of these characters are maddening, somehow Trollope also manages to makes their trials and tribulations quite intriguing. And at least one of them gets his or her comeuppance. Trollope weaves in several subplots as well, inlcuding that of Grace Crawley, a young woman as principled as her father who refuses the proposal of the man she loves, reluctant to tie his family to her father's possible shame. And John Eames, who has loved Lily Dale forever. There are plenty of other characters to admire, among them those trying to help the beleaguered Mr. Crawley. (Most memorable is the goodhearted lawyer Mr. Toogood.)

As others have mentioned, the subplot surrounding John Eames's friend, the painter Conrad Darymple, doesn't quite fit. Perhaps it's true that Trollope stuck it in to come up with the number of pages required by his publisher. Nevertheless, The Last Chronicle of Barsetshire is an entertaining and engaging book, a fitting conclusion to Trollope's delightful six-volume chronicles. ( )

Although The Warden and Barchester Towers are the ones everybody knows, with the most celebrated comic episodes, this is really the strongest and most mature of the Barchester novels. Trollope winds up many of the loose threads from the earlier novels, and we get some great scenes with Mrs Proudie, Archdeacon Grantly, and other old friends, but it's the forceful yet ambiguous Mr Crawley who provides the central driving force for the story. Anyone who can defeat Mrs Proudie fair and square in open combat has got to be worth following for 600 pages... ( )

The last book in the Barset series. Trollope himself rated it as his best book. I have not read them all, but have (again) read all the Barset novels, and it is perhaps the best of these, even if they are all good. The chapters on Conway Dalrympe and his various women irritated me - but one reviewer on Amazon wrote that these bits were only included because Trollope had an obligation to write a certain number of pages for a magazine publication. I can believe that.... these bits strike me as irrelevant and rather boring. But the rest is very good. The complicated story of the Crawley family, the death of Mr. Harding, and the development of the character of the archdeacon are all wonderful.
The love stories of Lily and John as well as Grace and Major Grantley are very well described. I agree with all who have written that if you want to start reading Trollope, start with this series of novels :-) ( )