I am so blown away by this book that I am almost speechless. What wonderful writing, and what a deft balance of plot line and character portrayal. Few authors get both perfect, but I think Galsworthy has. I was intimidated by the size of this novel, but it reads so well that the pages fly by you and the read is done before you ever want to let go.

Soames Forsyte is one of the least likable yet most pitiable characters I have ever encountered. He is smug and arrogant and driven by money and property, and yet he is so a victim of who he is, who he has been raised to be, and in the end it is himself he hurts the most. I have seldom felt more genuine affection and admiration for any character as that I felt for Old and Young Jolyon. Each so remarkable in his own way and able to make me smile as if I were sitting in his presence and knew him. And then there is Irene. What a complicated and interesting woman! I swung across the pendulum on my feelings for Irene. At moments I blamed her, chastised her, cried for her and loved her. What makes the book so meaningful, to me, is the depth of the souls Galsworthy presents for our dissection and how beautifully human and flawed they all are.

I want to drone on about this book, but I do not want to give away anything for those who might decide to read it, and it would be so hard to discuss anything salient without divulging the secrets that lurk at the heart of the novel. Suffice it to say, I would recommend this highly to anyone who enjoys reading about people who might have lived, indeed might still live dressed up in different garb and lured by money more than by love.

If I were to compare Galsworthy's writing to anyone, it would be Edith Wharton. Both understood what it was to be in the upper-class and what it was to want to be there, the sacrifices sometimes extracted for that climb, and the hollowness of money when it comes to possess you more than you possess it. ( )

This i found a very tedious book(s) to read. All I can say is to watch the TV series from 1967 which is far more entertaining and actually helps the understanding of what the writer was trying to get across. ( )

Times change, people remain the same... ( )

A MODERN COMEDY:

Comprising The White Monkey / The Silver Spoon / Swan Song, this second trilogy of the Forsyte Saga concentrates on Soames' daughter Fleur and her marriage. Set in the 1920s, there's a great contrast between the sparkling set and the old guard, with dear old Soames soldiering on bravely among high-class chancers of various kinds, and the new branches of his family. Fleur goes on making mistakes and being Fleur, and it's just a great read, although a bit of an unwieldy one, as this volume contains the first trilogy too! ( )