MUCH THAT IS APPEALING, BUT---
Many of my friends are constant readers, but most, much to my surprise, have read little or none of Anthony Trollope's (47) books. All that I have read have seemed 'hollow' to me: the movement is slow, the characters and settings are of a limited scope. In other words, by the end of the books I have read or listened to, I really did not care about the characters. Some characters become simply annoying: Trollope repeats the tragic musings of Emily Lopez (a character who, against the wishes of all around her, married a man who turned out to be a real creep) literally ad nausem. The aristocratic characters seem to allow themselves emotions only after a protracted consideration of whether or not an emotion would further their agenda. This book is worthwhile because, after wading through the excess verbiage, the descriptions of the processes and men of the British parliament are devastating and funny. And, surely there has never been a more shallow and callow group of aristocrats ever created in English literature. It is all excellent satire, but it is also clothed in far, far too many words. In conclusion, the universe created is unreal and limited, but they are rewards in reading and listening to this book. As for the recording, the narration by Simon Vance is excellent. He always seems to have real interest in his characters, no matter how often they have voiced the same emotion.