He Knew He Was Right (1869)

Honestly, I don't remember much about reading this. Here, however, is what I wrote after reading in 1983: "Very good. In Trollope style, set in Victorian England, yet is a bit different in that it is a deep psychological analysis. Louis Trevelyan; was he right?" ( )

Mainly about the quarrel which arises between Emily Trevelyan and her husband Louis over her friendship with Colonel Osborne, known to be a home-wrecker, but a friend of Emily's father. This quarrel escalates into a separation and then Louis becomes unreasonable and finally mad. Other strands include the romance between Emily's sister Nora and Louis' friend Hugh, who writes for a newspaper and therefore is seen as slightly "Bohemian", the romances of Dorothy, Hugh's sister, and finally the romance of a former suitor of Nora's who dares to marry an American.

While there were enjoyable sections in this novel; the irrational whims of Miss Stanbury, Mr Gibson's various mishaps, Sir Marmeduke's complete ineffectuality as a govenerner and the appalling Wallachia, I struggled with much of the rest:

1. Emily's intransigence throughout - obviously Louis becomes impossible to reason with, but for my money, she brought it all on herself. I don't like either Emily or Louis very much and sympathized with neither.

2. How old was the child Louis supposed to be? - I thought he was 10 months old at the beginning of the quarrel and then months later he seems to be a much older child.

3. The whole deathbed forgiveness thing was nauseating (although, I suppose, very Victorian).

4. I became very very tired of the whole "Nora could have been the rich Lady Peterborough, and does she or does she not regret refusing Mr Glascock?"musing, which is repeated over and over. I found it odd that Nora should have been taken in so affectionately by Caroline and Charles, given the history and don't really understand why Emily didn't want her to stay with her in Siena at the end. How was it OK for Emily to stay there alone?

5. There were too many romances and too many examples of heroines resolving to refuse proposals because "it would be better for the man" that they do so.

Ultimately disappointing and I think Colonel Osborne should indeed have got his comeuppance. ( )

If Louis Trevelyan were around today, he'd be on antipsychotic meds.

This wasn't one of Trollope's bests, as the whole descent into madness thing got tiresome, and I didn't care for either Louis (who could?) or Emily, both had flaws that kept them from being likeable and when you don't like the main characters, the book is hard to plod through. For some reason, I read it through, probably because I'm a Trollope fan, but I should have spent my reading time elsewhere.

It is a good example of how a person can be their own worst enemy, as Louis let his paranoia get the better of him, and couldn't let go of his belied that his wife had been unfaithful, despite nothing more to go on than a friendship with an old family friend. It wasn't surprising that Emily would enjoy this man's visits, as her husband wasn't much fun to be around, and there was also that forbidden fruit thing about it: the more Louis didn't want Emily to see him, the more she wanted his company. This, of course, pushed Louis even more over the edge, making both Emily and himself miserable.

Two very unhappy people. Anyone engaged to be married will have second thoughts if they read this book. ( )

The beauties of conventional decency, and what lurks beneath

Trollope is the ideal Victorian, celebrating the conventional, but with a thoroughly worldly appreciation of the darker side of human psychology that's best kept bottled up. In this novel, he promotes over and over -- with not just one but three admirable ingenues who live happily ever after -- the virtues of romantic marriage, while putting his fourth heroine in a catastrophic union where stubborn self-assertion leads to separation, irrational jealousy, parental kidnaping and tragic dissolution. All unfolds with Trollope's characteristic insightful, gentle and funny writing style. The novel's 822 pages turn as easily as an entertainment, but with enough moral gravitas and incisive description of the world of the 1860's to keep the reader thinking and pondering amidst the pleasure of reading this wonderful novel. ( )

After reading both the Barsetshire and Palliser series, this was my first foray into one of Trollope's standalone novels. It left me a little unsatisfied, I think because of the main topic, marriage.

The main storyline here involves the marriage of Louis and Emily Trevelyan who have been happily married for about 5 years and have a young son. Trevelyan becomes jealous of Emily's relationship with a friend of her father's, Colonel Osbourne and forbids her to see him anymore. She believes he is overreacting (which he is) but also can't see that Col Osborne is certainly flirting with her and sort of enjoying making the situation worse. At first I felt they were equally at fault, but then Trevelyan descends farther and farther into obsession and madness to the extent of banishing Emily from his house and hiring a private detective to watch her.

Contrasted with this portrait of marriage is Emily's sister's love for Hugh Stanbury. Stanbury works as a journalist for his income and here is another theme. Should a woman tie herself to a husband who doesn't have inherited income and has to work for a living - and not just work, but work in journalism instead of something like the clergy, a doctor, or a lawyer? And then there are a host of other women who treat marriage and love in different ways, but always the question is what is more important, love or financial security or independence. It doesn't seem possible to achieve all three of these things. In fact, Trollope seems intent on saying that women really need to worship their husbands (a troubling word and concept to me) for a marriage to be happy. Certainly this has come up before in his work, but I found it more pervasive here and harder to gloss over or accept.

Then again, I really loved some of the characters, particularly Miss Stanbury, and thought there were some really funny moments (especially the running "chignon" joke). I enjoyed this, but it wasn't my favorite of his novels. ( )