I am around 13 pages or so deep into the goings-on of John Galsworthy's The Man of Property. It's slow so far, and its opening pages make it very clear they want to serve as introductions to the family Galsworthy is to dissect in the chapters that are to follow.
There's an Aunt - Aunt Ann who shows promise of turning into the wasp that a large family with a large fortune needs. And then there are the brothers: Joylon, James, and two more I think. The brothers have secrets of their own or so the introduction will have me believe. And they - quite naturally - do not seem to get along with each other. Apparently, that seems to be the crux of all family dramas novelised or televised. The familial discord, the sibling rivalries, and the 'natural' dislike for blood relatives just have to be vital elements in any story that needs to be told of a family. Either those or divorces, adulteries, and greed take centrestage. I have yet to see another motive to begin a familial drama that quite merrily stretches over generations and continues till all concerned lie happily or unhappily in their graves.
The Man of Property is no exception to the rule. That you may have surmised already. I am hoping it picks up pace in the chapters that follow. It's billed as a brilliant piece of literature and coupled with two other novels, it forms what's known as The Forsyte Saga. It was even televised and seemed to have done well in terms of TRP ratings. So, well, I do approach it with those prejudices in my head. That it will validate them and turn out to be the exciting read it is known to be remains to be seen. It has managed to make me sleep halfway through the introduction for sure. But I am not letting that make me judge the compendium out of my reading list and into the bin. I am sure it has some merit of some note somewhere in its proceedings.
Well, I'll wait for that merit to come my way. Until then, I am more than willing to plow through descriptions of faces, gestures, and musings that seem stale to say the least. They don't seem to add any new twist to the ones I already am aware of. At one point in time, I began to get a headache because of the stops these descriptions brought about in the narrative. Yes, I understand it's a grand family masterpiece and all that, but a masterpiece needs to be told in a masterly fashion.
There's none of it here. Flashes of brilliant style do come your way but that's about it. Once you recover from the blindening surprise thrown at you, what follows is as good as a piece of flat land lending itself to no worthwhile value whatsoever.
Yet, I am, and will be, patient. I will plow through it all. And I will digest it as well.
For I do want to meet the merit of this piece of literature.
There's an Aunt - Aunt Ann who shows promise of turning into the wasp that a large family with a large fortune needs. And then there are the brothers: Joylon, James, and two more I think. The brothers have secrets of their own or so the introduction will have me believe. And they - quite naturally - do not seem to get along with each other. Apparently, that seems to be the crux of all family dramas novelised or televised. The familial discord, the sibling rivalries, and the 'natural' dislike for blood relatives just have to be vital elements in any story that needs to be told of a family. Either those or divorces, adulteries, and greed take centrestage. I have yet to see another motive to begin a familial drama that quite merrily stretches over generations and continues till all concerned lie happily or unhappily in their graves.
The Man of Property is no exception to the rule. That you may have surmised already. I am hoping it picks up pace in the chapters that follow. It's billed as a brilliant piece of literature and coupled with two other novels, it forms what's known as The Forsyte Saga. It was even televised and seemed to have done well in terms of TRP ratings. So, well, I do approach it with those prejudices in my head. That it will validate them and turn out to be the exciting read it is known to be remains to be seen. It has managed to make me sleep halfway through the introduction for sure. But I am not letting that make me judge the compendium out of my reading list and into the bin. I am sure it has some merit of some note somewhere in its proceedings.
Well, I'll wait for that merit to come my way. Until then, I am more than willing to plow through descriptions of faces, gestures, and musings that seem stale to say the least. They don't seem to add any new twist to the ones I already am aware of. At one point in time, I began to get a headache because of the stops these descriptions brought about in the narrative. Yes, I understand it's a grand family masterpiece and all that, but a masterpiece needs to be told in a masterly fashion.
There's none of it here. Flashes of brilliant style do come your way but that's about it. Once you recover from the blindening surprise thrown at you, what follows is as good as a piece of flat land lending itself to no worthwhile value whatsoever.
Yet, I am, and will be, patient. I will plow through it all. And I will digest it as well.
For I do want to meet the merit of this piece of literature.
Comments