The Way We Live Now

Publisher's Summary

The Way We Live Now is a complex and compulsive tale that traces the career of Augustus Melmotte, a strange and mysterious financier who bursts into London society like a guided missile. In setting up a dubious scheme based on speculative money and stock market gambles, Melmotte manages to lure in several members of the English aristocracy, for whom money is the summum bonum. The world is at his feet - until the corruption catches up with him.

Considered one of Trollope's greatest works, The Way We Live Now leaves the listener questioning whether much has changed in the last century or whether this, after all, is the way we live now.

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Public Domain (P)2016 Naxos AudioBooks

Fun, but no heroes here

Drawn in by British TV and radio, I've concentrated my Trollope-reading on the Barchester and Palliser series. The Way We Live Now is the first standalone Trollope novel I've tackled.

As always, the characters are unique and realistic, few of them all good or all bad. There are four callow young men - Paul Montague, Dolly Longstaffe, Felix Carbury, and Lord Nidderdale (if he has a first name, I missed it) - and although it's easy to get them confused in the beginning, their different personalities soon assert themselves. Of the four, Paul is the closest to being an honorable man, but even he has moral baggage: a woman from America, with whom he lived for awhile and then dropped, has followed him to England and threatens to cause a scandal.

Hovering over the proceedings is the brooding figure of Augustus Melmotte, a wizard of finance, who promises to make the fortunes of many but turns out to be the mastermind of a kind of Ponzi scheme. He has a daughter, Marie, who is pursued - for her money - by Carbury and Nidderdale. For the sake of her fortune, they're willing to overlook Melmotte's shadowy past, which includes the possibility that he may be Jewish.

Which brings us to another point. There's a fair amount of anti-Semitism depicted in the novel. One subplot, involving another couple, results in tirades of racist invective: it's so over the top and so clearly irrational that it seems to absolve Trollope himself of being anti-Semitic. But the author's point of view isn't always so obvious, and it remains a vexed question. Trollope strikes up conversations with his readers easily and repeatedly, and he never hesitates to tell us what he thinks of his characters; but he never takes the trouble to make himself clear on this one issue.

David Shaw-Parker is a wonderful narrator of Trollope who has done all the Barchester novels for Naxos. Long may he continue. He has the knack of capturing exactly the right tone for Trollope - affectionate, amused, clear-headed, and eminently sensible. And he can do a credible American accent as well, which for this novel is crucial.

The one thing he can't do is make any of these finely drawn characters endearing. It's a great job, but there aren't any heroes to root for in this one.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Terrific Narration

The book itself is wonderful, but what makes this audiobook stand out is the superb narration by David Shaw-Parker.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Evergreen Title

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Anthony Trollope is the ultimate comfort read for me. It's like floating on a sea of Victorian storytelling, where everything comes out right in the end. That being said, The Way We Live Now was not always a comfortable book to read. I don't think it would be my first recommendation for people new to Trollope. The characters aren't quite as sympathetic as some (I think the wrong man got the girl in the end) and the length of this is pretty daunting.

What did you like best about this story?

This novel has some serious staying power/relevance. It first popped onto my radar back in the days of the financial crisis when a couple of people I knew told me that this novel was all too close to the then current story of Bernie Madoff. Fast forward two presidential terms later, when I finally get around to tackling it, and Bernie Madoff is old news. It's not him I see most in Augustus Melmotte, the vulgar nouveau-riche man trying to prove himself worthy in London society. "There was one man who thoroughly believed that the thing at the present moment most essentially necessary to England’s glory was the return of Mr. Melmotte for Westminster. This man was undoubtedly a very ignorant man. He knew nothing of any one political question...He had probably never read a book in his life. He knew nothing of the working of parliament...But yet he was fully confident that England did demand and ought to demand that Mr. Melmotte should be returned for Westminster. This man was Mr. Melmotte himself."I wish I thought Trollope was psychic. Instead I am afraid that The Way We Live Now may just be the way we are always going to live. One just wishes that Ivanka showed as much strength of character as Marie.

What about David Shaw-Parker’s performance did you like?

The reader manages many voices and accents without ever letting his performance overwhelm the material.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

A classic story, beautifully told. Highly Relevant in 2018.

The central figure is a wealthy, unscrupulous conniver to whom all London kowtows. The highest and mightiest throw reputations away in pursuit of quick money. It’s 1873...or is it 2018?

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Memories of Tootsie

A great story and the reader did a wonderful job except for the male and female Americans who sounded like Dustin Hoffman.

A glimpse into Britain's past, oddly contemporary!

Trollope provides a multi-faceted, panoramic insight into British life in the 1860's, complete with politicians who seem eerily like some we have now. It's humorous, engaging, and complex, with many intersecting plots. Being rather old-fashioned, it's a bit rambling, sometimes repetitious.... I skipped ahead a few minutes here and there, when I'd had enough of a particular character. Overall, I enjoyed it right up to the end, where all the various plot threads get resolved. If you have time for such a long book, you like an historical setting, and you don't mind a bit of a ramble here and there, I recommend it. The reader is wonderful.....I'm going to go look for other books he's narrated.

A tale for our times

This story is a long tome but it is very relevant to our times. I liked the happy ending.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

An excellent rendition

The novel has a large number of chacters, and David Shaw-Parker deals with the challenges involved with consummate skill. His pace is just right for a massive novel. The Way we Live now is regarded as Trollope's masterpiece: this narration is worthy of the great novel.

Enjoyable and long.

Well read. Good story but a bit repetitive, probably because published originally in monthly parts. You could skim a bit if reading but it might be best for listening if lightly pruned.

Marvellous

Mr. David Shaw-Parker's marvellous performance makes Trollope's masterpiece truly unforgettable. The story is told with absolute mastery, with ever so many different accents and voices that every character appears as having a life of its own.

Brilliant all round..

Superbly read and typically wonderful Trollope. Brilliant all round, and heartily to be recommended. should be compulsory for all students of English literature.

Epic

Hard to imagine the how the author could complete this masterpiece. Colossal social historical drama

A joyous marathon

Loved the parallels with today's capitalism. The narrator was a joy to listen to. One of Trollope's best.