Product Description

The Forsyte Saga initially centres on Soames Forsyte - a successful solicitor living in London with his beautiful wife Irene. A pillar of the late Victorian upper middle class, materially wealthy, his appears to be a golden existence endowed with all the necessary possessions for a 'Man of Property' but beneath this very proper exterior lies a core of unhappiness and brutal relationships. When The Forsyte Saga was shown on television in 1967 it was hugely successful. The nation was gripped by the masterful visual telling of the Forsyte family's troubled story and adapted its activities to suit the next transmission. The Forsyte Saga comprising The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let, is here produced by Wordsworth for the first time in a single volume.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8077 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

Customer Reviews

Lives of Forsytes
Family secrets, dirty little problems, and a dash of adultery, scandal and forbidden love. Soap opera? Well, sort of -- it's Nobel Prize Winner John Galsworthy's sprawling family epic "The Forsyte Saga." While it has a distinctly soapy flavor, "Saga" retains its dignity and look at turn-of-the-century mores and society.

The Forsyte family is determinedly regal and hard-nosed, almost to the point of a fault. One staid family member, Soames Forsyte, becomes obsessed with the beautiful but poor Irene, and finally gets her to marry him -- on condition that if their marriage doesn't work, she walks. Well, their marriage doesn't work. Soames is frustrated that Irene shuts him out of her life and her bed -- even more so when he learns that she is in love with sexy, arty architect Bosinney, who is building them a new house.

Soames rapes Irene and ruins Bosinney. His marriage falls into ruins, and Bosinney is killed in a car accident. So Irene leaves permanently, living in an apartment by herself. Then Soames announces that he wants to marry a pretty French girl, Annette, and Irene weds Soames' cousin. But the problems of the older generation get inherited by the younger one -- Soames's daughter falls madly in love with Irene's son, but their parents' secret pasts doom their love.

Three novels ("A Man of Property," "In Chancery," and "To Let"), connected with two short stories ("Indian Summer of a Forsyte" and "Awakening") -- it's a pretty big story, sprawling over three generations and four decades. It's a bit soapy, with all the scandal and family weirdness, but the dignified writing keeps it from seeming sordid.

It's a credit to Galsworthy that he can communicate so much without ever getting into his characters' heads. He displays emotion in undemonstrative people like Irene through little mannerisms and twitches. At the same time, he can give us heartrending looks into aging patriarch Old Jolyon's lonely mind. His writing is very nineteenth century, dignified and with plenty of furniture/clothing details. It's pretty dense, but all right once you get used to it.

Galsworthy was a solid supporter of women's rights, and you can see in Irene and Soames' relationship -- Soames, who sees his wife as another piece of property, and the determined Irene who only wants her own happiness, but can't afford to live on her own. Their respective kids Jon and Fleur are nice but kind of boring beside their darker, more intense parents.

For a look at the social shifts that helped define the twentieth century, take a look at the "Forsyte Saga." Or if you just want to soak in a tale of family woe, love, hate and dark secrets, "Saga" still works.

Slow Starter, Strong Finish
I read the first 100 pages of this novel with a certain degree of scepticism - there seemed to be too many characters, all of whom were too similar, and an overly critical narrator. However as the tale continues and gathers speed Galsworthy manages to withdraw his critical additions and the novel improves considerably for this. I would thoroughly recommend persevering with this - by the end I could not put it down.

An About Turn
At the beginning of the trilogy,we are presented with Soames as a selfish "Man of Property"who protects his assets allowing nothing to come between his own desires and the needs of others,however,at the end of the last book,he appears as a bewildered observer of modern day living in which his possessions are regarded as unimportant.Galsworthy,although never shirking from pointing out his faults fails to create a monster,rather the reader is continually drawn to empathize with his plight and see things from his perspective.He and Irene are the main protaganists among many shadowy Forsyte family members and also-rans.
I`m not sure whether Galsworthy intended Irene to be a sympathetic and unselfish character but this is not how she comes across;she marries Soames for money or at least as an alternative to having to work and earn her own living.She is presented as very beautiful but penniless,nevertheless,it is surprising that she does not have several suitors from whom to choose,after all,Soames is attentive and he,as we are frequently told,would never commit the folly of marrying below his station or out of his class,yet,we are informed that Irene is forced to marry him.If she really was the free spirit we are led to believe then she would have made her own way in the world from the outset.Of course as an upright member of Victorian society,he would look on her as his property,we cannot make 21st century judgemnets on this point.
She is cold and unresponsive to Soames,making no effort to build a successful marriage and has no scruples about not only throwing herself at Bossiney but being brazen about it in front of the family and overriding the affections of June,her loyal friend,into the bargain.It seems that what Irene wants,Irene will get,irrespective of the feelings of others.Everything she does is for her own gratification,she considers nothing else.
She continues in this vein throughout all three novels;she is the dominant partner in her relationships with Young and Old Jolyon both of whom are besotted with her and yield to her every whim.Young Jolyon in particular is a very weak man suseptible to the caprice of a pretty woman and at the end of the story,it seems that the roles alloted to her and Soames are reversed,she is the one who clings to her"property"her son and Soames who is prepared to sacrifice his feelings for the sake of his daughter`s happiness.She is adamant that Jon will not have Fleur even though her own situation with Bossiney was identical and to be tolerated;she even gives him the choice,having first ensured that it is a Hobson`s Choice,because he is racked with guilt over his commitment to both his parents,his father having written an explanatory letter outlining the history of the families and supportive of Irene`s cause;he also makes it very clear that Jon should always put Irene`s emotional state above all else,a letter which Irene keeps,a very telling fact.Her constant snubbing of Soames is highlighted when she has finally"won"and she affords him a conciliatory wave of the hand.
Quite an unsatisfactory ending to a pot boiler of a tale.