John Galsworthy (1867–1933)

I found this really very good. The line about each family being uniquely unhappy is apt, as the extended Forsyte family is not a happy ship. In this book, set at the turn of the 20th century, there is a sense of change. There is the understandable changing of the guard, Old Jolyon has died before the book starts, one sister and James pass on during the book, all having achieved a ripe old age. The middle generation, of which young Jolyon & Soames are the main protagonists, are moving towards show more being the elders of the family. They are, in a sense stepping into their father's shoes. The younger generation are the ones trying to move out and into the world, rather than simply follow their fathers.
I still can't like Soames. His behavior towards Irene and his new wife strikes me as reminiscent of Henry VIII - I must have a son and any lengths will I go to. The way he goes about his divorce of Irene strikes me as being almost vengeful. I accept that at the time adultery was the main way in which a divorce could be sought, however he wants the divorce, but not his name to be associated with the scandal of being the guilty party (despite the fact that he has been taking prostitutes, whereas Irene says she has not been having affairs) feels like he wants his take and to eat it. It feels that he, in fact, precipitates the relationship between Irene & Jolyon that he quotes as evidence in the divorce. I don;t like the way he treats his new wife either. She, similarly to Irene, seems to have signed a pact with her happiness for security. I don't envy her her lot.
The younger generation are a mixed bag. Young Dartie and Jolly get to show their teeth to each other, then end up in deeper trouble than anticipated, with not backing down resulting in them heading off to fight a war. That the precipitates the girls to follow suit and nurse them. They feel more impetuous, but that is probably both their age and the age they come of age in, there's a raft of social changes at this time.
Overall, this is turning into a really good read. I was intimidated by the size of the task, but the idea of a book a month breaks the saga down into manageable chunks and I look forward to finding out what lies in store for the family in the new century. show less

This was the first of the three trilogies Galsworthy wrote about the eponymous family of successful upper middle class lawyers and businessmen, whom he uses to stand for a certain Victorian, English set of attitudes and values focused on the primacy of money, social position, respectability and security.

The lawyer Soames Forsyte has a central position in all three novels: he’s an almost-perfect embodiment of Forsyteism, his idea of himself as a Man of Property invariably trumping any show more distant echoes of aesthetic sense or human feeling that get through to him. In the first novel we see his despotic possession of his wife Irene fall apart when she falls for the distinctly un-Forsyteish architect Philip; in the second we find him being pushed into a position where his desire for a child forces him into the ultimate sacrifice of respectability, a passage through the divorce court; and in the third he is pushed towards another major sacrifice of reputation for the sake of his daughter.

Galsworthy writes with a Trollope-like irony towards his characters (and a very Trollope-like fascination with legal quirks), but it’s informed by a 20th-century scepticism about Victorian values, written in the aftermath of the humiliation of South Africa and (in the last book) the horrors of the Great War. And a certain sense of nostalgia, too: when Timothy Forsyte, last of the Victorian generation, is interred in Highgate Cemetery, it’s a bit like the death of Emperor Franz-Joseph. Oddly, he doesn’t have anything to say about the Women’s Suffrage movement, but he does stress how Victorian law and custom were used to oppress women, and puts in his own plea for a long-overdue reform of divorce laws. show less

I've been meaning to read The Forsyte Saga for years, having enjoyed both TV dramatizations (1967 and 2002). And even though I know the story, I very much enjoyed this first book in the saga. Galsworthy gives us a lush, detailed view of late Victorian England's upper middle class and their mania for property and respectability. Like every family, the Forsytes have their secrets and black sheep, and that makes them all the more intriguing. The focus here is the ramrod-spined solicitor Soames show more and his unhappy wife, Irene. Soames had courted Irene more for her beauty than for love, treating her like one of his exquisite objéts d'art. So determined was he to have her that he promised to let her go if she wanted her freedom. And here lies the crux of the story: Irene is dreadfully unhappy, yet Soames refuses to let her go.

Galsworthy has created a cast of one-of-a-kind characters (or if they now seem like sterotypes, they were one-of-a-kind when first created). There are the senior Forsytes, Old Jolyon, James, Roger, and the aunts; the "black sheep," Young Jolyon, who married beneath him and was cut off by his father; Winifred, married to the alcoholic bounder Monty D'Arty; June, Young Jolyon's philanthropic daughter from a first marriage, and her dashing architect fiancé, Philip Bossiney, secretly dubbed by the family "The Buccaneer"; and many, many more.

There's a reason why Galsworthy's novels were so popular--and why not one but two dramatizations have been made. Quite simply, [The Forsyte Saga] is a jolly good story. I'm looking forward to moving on to the next six books in the saga. show less

Very enjoyable continuation of Soames and Irene's disastrous relationship. I had to gave this one a half-star lower rating than the five stars I gave to the first book, even though this book concentrates on Old Jolyon's family who were mostly the characters I liked best.

In modern times, it is shocking to read of the divorce laws and realize a married woman was regarded as "owned". And divorce was not so easy to attain.

Soames doesn't come out well here, but I still can't warm to Irene. The show more younger generation play a bigger part of the story with the passing of the old generation being portrayed by Queen Victoria's funeral. show less