Perhaps 3½ stars. Very well written as shown by the fact that Galsworthy managed to change my feelings about Soames from dislike bordering on hatred to sympathetic understanding in this first novel of "The Modern Comedy" but I missed the grand sweep of the family connections. This entry in The Forsyte Chronicles focuses almost exclusively on Soames & Fleur and a new couple called Bickett. Some of the other members of the Forsyte clan made fleeting appearances (such as June swooping in and enlightening Michael about Fleur's passion for her cousin Jon and then never appearing again). I hope that we see some more of the other branches of the family in the next installment!

( )

Fleur, the selfish cow
unchanged, unlike her father
Soames is the good guy?! ( )

Široce koncipovaný román zachycuje život tří generací rozvětveného patricijského rodu od poklidné éry panování královny Viktorie až do 20. let 20. století. Rodina, z jejíhož středu vyrůstají podnikatelé, právníci a vážení obchodníci, vyznává konvence pohodlného měšťáckého života a jako nejvyšší životní hodnotu uznává vlastnictví peněz a z toho plynoucí moc. Každý pokus o proražení hradby konvencí a tupé měšťácké samolibosti naráží na nepochopení a nekompromisní odsouzení.

This moves the story on and concentrates on Fleur and her husband. Fleur remains quite a shallow young lady, and she is set on collecting. Her collection includes the nice items she owns, but it also includes people who attend her salons and hearts. That of Wilfred is a case in point. She never goes as far as to have intimate relations with him, but she is not mature enough to dismiss him either. This is further complicated by the fact that he was her husband's best man and remains a close friend. Both the men come out of this a lot better than Fleur in terms of character. The white monkey of the title is a painting and that serves as an allegory of the society at the time they find themselves. This books has a wider range of non-Forsytes than the previous trilogy. Iy s none the worse for that.
Soames is now an elder statesman and he is a far more sympatheitic character than previously. He has softened, no matter how much he would say he has not. Although he does have a moment of triumph at the shareholders meeting that almost makes me want to cheer. ( )

This book is the fourth in the Forsyte Chronicles, first in the second trilogy. We are now in the roaring 20's, and the book focuses on Soames and his daughter, Fleur, and her husband Michael. Fleur, like Soames, is a collector. However, where Soames collects paintings, Fleur collects people. Galsworthy shows how in this time right after WWI the young people had an "I don't care what they think" attitude. Fleur's husband, Michael, is a likable character, who is madly in love with his wife and will do anything to make her happy. Soames becomes a more sympathetic character in this book, as he tries to fend off scandal, with foreshadowing of the Great Depression that was to come. ( )