The Forsyte Saga

This novel is one of my all time favorites. It focuses on the relationships and struggles amid the lives of an upper middle class family. The narration is well worded and the characters deeply developed. I highly recommend this to anyone; though it is a long book.

Everyone's heard of "The Forsyte Saga," the BBC family epic of the late Victorian Age. Fewer have read the Galsworthy book, and that's a shame, because it's fascinating on so many levels. On the surface it's the story of Soames Forsyte, the quintessential icon of the growth of the upper middle classes and the decline of the nobility during the Victorian era. Descended from a farmer in Dorset in the not-too-distant past, Soames is a lawyer and a man of property. He buys wisely, sells more wisely, and husbands his wealth and that of the family. He is in control of everything that affects him, except one thing--his wife. Desiring to possess the sensitive, beautiful, genteel but poor Irene, and with the help of a callous mother, Soames pressures Irene into becoming his wife. From this single mistake, the one time Soames let passion rule, his life and the lives of his family and their descendants are changed in unpredictable and frightening ways. Galsworthy's theme is the constant tussle in life between property and art, love and possession, freedom and convention. In the fine tradition of family sagas, these themes play themselves out over and over with each generation. On another level, this is the story of an age, the story of the British Empire at its peak. Galsworthy packs his book with allusions to the great crises of the time, the Boer War and WWI, the rise of Labour, the death of the Queen, the spread of "democracy." The Forsyte homes are meticulously detailed, from the French reproduction furniture to the dusty sofas to the heavy drapes, to the fireplace grate, to the electric lights in the old chandeliers. Soames collects art, and Galsworthy showers us with the opinions of a British gentleman of the great and not so great art of the day. The saga was written over a period of many years, and on yet another level I found the the changes in Galsworthy's style from the rather clipped, detailed recitations of events and commentary typical of the 19th century to the more expressive style of the 20th. Especially in the first volume of the three, family relationships are painstakingly laid out, the rounds of dinners and family gatherings carefully chronicled. By the third volume, To Let, Galsworthy reveals the love of the countryside and the pain of repressed emotions that the family members a generation ago would have hidden. The writing is very beautiful--as in this sentence: "Fleur raised her eyelids--the restless glint of those clear whites remained on Holly's vision as might the flutter of a caged bird's wings." It took me a good six weeks to plow through The Forsyte Saga, but it was worth it.

I'll make this short and to the point. I'm quite the avid reader, but usually I don't enjoy books of this nature, opting for fantasy and sci-fi escapism instead. This story is just beautifully told though. The subtleties of the characters and the twisting lives of the Forsyte family are fascinating and makes this one helluva a page turner. I was hooked immediately. I honestly believe that people of all ages will love this book, and I urge you to give it a shot! I know sometimes that novels taking place in this particular era can seem daunting for those of us who crave more "Adventure! Action!" type books, but there is no lack of excitement here!

What an infinite study of character, the Forsyte character, men of ownership, of possession, of material things!I waited for the PBS presentation with patient enthusiasm, and was not disappointed. But knowing that video/movies can only do so much for a text, I unearthed my own private copy of Galworthy's book, one inherited from my aunt, and started the discovery by print.I have been so overcome by Galsworthy's skill as a wordsmith, and so fascinated by his social commentary on this class of people, that I have broken away from the novel time and time again and done further research into Galsworthy and his own commentaries of his work, particularly on the Forsytes. From his wife, Ada's preface, through his intro, to his chosen dedications, I am enchanted. I feel remiss to not have read him before this time, but so grateful to have an old copy and to now enrich my life with these characters.While not disappointed by the TV rendering, I am glad to know Soames, Irene, Old Jolyon, Young Jolyon, June, as Galsworthy painted them. I am glad to see their physical makeup to be different than those of the actors and actresses in the PBS series, and to feel I know them much more completely now. I have a personal love of British lit and am so pleased to find such great storytelling in an older text. The judges were so right in awarding prizes to Galsworthy.The Forsyte Saga is not so foreign in time and portrayal. Materialism still reigns and seduces and corrupts. Class one-up-manship still deludes. Self-importance and shallow values still prevail. Feet of clay forever are feet of clay.

The 1933 Scribner's edition of this classic trilogy is worthwhile because of the preface by Ada Galsworthy, the author's wife. Combined with the dedication (from John to Ada), it paints an inspiring picture of a marriage between two creative minds who respected each other's talents. The trilogy itself is an inspiring artifact of a life spent working hard. Galsworthy finished the first book, Man of Property in 1906, at the age of 39. He put the project aside for something like 12 years and then finished the last two novels when in his mid-50s. Most people only read the first book but the last two deepened my appreciation for the first and for Galsworthy's talent.

Upon the release of ML's 100 greatest English-lanuage novels of this century, it was to my great sadness to find "The Forsyte Saga" missing from the list. It seemed to confirm what I'd feared for the last several years: even critics have left this spectacular collection behind.Perhaps it is the fact that of the book's length that frightens off so many readers: at 800+ pages it doesn't exactly make for easy beach reading. Keep in mind, however, that the book is comprised not only of three separate novels but also of connecting interludes.If you want to read truly great literature of such a standard that earned John Galsworthy a Nobel Prize for Literature, you need look no further than "The Forsyte Saga."