Review: The Way We Live Now (novel)

When I watch a film or series I generally try to read the book it was based on. I started this book shortly after finishing the miniseries. I've only just finished it.

The Way We Live Now is the longest of Anthony Trollope's many novels, first published in 1875. It's been adapted into two miniseries and a radio drama.

The novel's main plot is about the conman Augustus Melmotte, who arrives in London and immediately starts swindling people. Its many subplots revolve around the loathsome Sir Felix Carbury; his less despicable but quite boring sister Hetta; Paul, the man Hetta wants to marry; Mrs. Hurtle, the woman who wants Paul to marry her; and Ruby, an idiot in love with Felix.

It makes no pretensions of being anything but a satirical novel, and in the process it falls into the same trap as Dickens' Our Mutual Friend: whole subplots exist solely for the sake of satire. Probably they were compelling reading for Trollope's contemporaries. Unfortunately, I found them downright dull. The entire "Hetta thinks Paul is betraying her" subplot drags on and on and on until I gave up reading and skipped ahead. Same goes for the Felix/Ruby/John love triangle.

The truly interesting part of the novel is about Melmotte, his family, and his eventual downfall. About half-way through I started skimming over the rest of the story to focus on the parts about them. Marie, Melmotte's daughter, is one of the few sympathetic characters in the whole thing. I'm glad she got some sort of happy ending, and a chance to get away from the mess her father made.

Maybe it's because it took me ages to finish this novel, with long gaps in-between each chapter. Or maybe my opinion of it was coloured by the underwhelming 2001 series. Whatever the reason, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected to. Perhaps some time in the future I'll try rereading it and see if my opinion changes. For now, though, it's not one of my favourite books.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Gutenberg.

Rating: 5/10.

Review: The Way We Live Now (2001) (Episodes 3 & 4)

Review of the first two episodes here.

Episode two ended with Roger seeing Paul with Mrs. Hurtle. Episode three starts with Marie on a train, going to elope with Felix, while Felix is busy gambling with his friends.

I lost all sympathy for Paul when he agreed to spend the night with Mrs. Hurtle. He's said repeatedly that he loves Hetta and doesn't love Mrs. Hurtle, and then he goes and betrays Hetta 😠

Marie is arrested for stealing her father's cheque and taken back to her father's. Melmotte is a villain and a scumbag, but I have to agree with him when he tells Marie that Felix doesn't love her. Melmotte, meanwhile, is planning to run for Parliament.

Marie's arrest. (Well, technically it's not an arrest. More like bringing her home under threat of being arrested.)

Roger goes to see Mrs. Hurtle. He asks if there is anything between her and Paul. She tells him there is. Then Roger sees Ruby, and tells John, the man she was supposed to marry, where she is. One of Felix's friends suggests he goes abroad, so he goes to Ruby and offers to take her with him. But first he has to get money.

Paul arrives in Mexico and learns that none of Melmotte's money has reached the railway works. Meanwhile, Melmotte is still trying to get into Parliament. And Mr. Brehgert is starting to fall in love with Georgiana. Terrible idea.

Mr. Brehgert and Georgiana

Ruby's aunt and Mrs. Hurtle find out about Felix's plan to take her abroad, and they order him to marry her. Of course Felix has no intention of marrying her. Marie, unaware of all this, still wants to marry him. I see a lot of misery ahead for her.

Paul decides to expose Melmotte as a fraud. He goes to Mr. Alf, who owns a newspaper, and tells him everything. Well, at least he's doing the right thing in this case. Meanwhile, Hetta goes to Marie and tells her the truth about Felix. I don't know who I feel sorrier for: Marie, for having to hear the man she loves only wants her money, or Hetta, for having to give Marie such news 😢 Then Hetta says she's sure Paul never lies to her, and ouch, the cruel irony 😭

Mr. Brehgert and Georgiana get engaged. Her father is infuriated to learn his daughter is engaged to a Jewish man who's much older than her. Georgiana refuses to break off the engagement. Good for her, but considering how arrogant and money-mad she's shown herself to be, I'm not sure this will be a happy marriage.

Episode three ends with Paul returning and proposing to Hetta. Felix refuses his consent and tells her about Mrs. Hurtle. Episode four begins with Melmotte being elected to Parliament, and Hetta breaking her engagement with Paul. I agree completely with Hetta. Paul's behaviour has been underhanded and immoral, and she's much better off without him.

Melmotte in Parliament

Hetta breaking off the engagement

Just when I thought Felix couldn't possibly get any worse, he tries to rape Ruby. John arrives in time to save her and gives Felix a good hiding. Serves the bastard right!

Melmotte's financial scams, past and present, are now well-known and in many papers. I cheered when Mr. Alf gave Melmotte a piece of his mind. "The only thing you move is money, from the pockets of other men into your own!"

Hetta goes to see Mrs. Hurtle, who tells her about spending the night with Paul. Really, Hetta, it's time you gave up on him. He's not worthy of you.

Melmotte owes Mr. Brehgert money that he refuses to pay. Georgiana is furious to learn that Mr. Brehgert has very little money, and after an argument he decides to break the engagement off. I feel sorry for both of them -- more for him than for her, because she's a mercenary little brat -- but this is probably the best decision under the circumstances. That marriage would have been a disaster.

😔

Melmotte tries to pay some of his debts with money he gave to Marie. She refuses to give him any of her money. She gives her father a piece of her mind. Neither of them is likeable, but I side with Marie in this.

Mrs. Hurtle decides to give up on Paul, and tells Hetta so. Now she says that Paul didn't spend the night with her, even when all the evidence suggests he did.

Is this the only dress Mrs. Hurtle owns? She's spent most of the series wearing it.

The Melmottes are ruined and exposed as frauds. Melmotte is faced with total disgrace and an angry mob, so he commits suicide. This is an incredibly creepy scene, with the shots of his empty house while his maniacal laughter is heard in the distance.

Paul's business partner Mr. Fisker comes to tell Paul that the railway will be built anyway, in spite of Melmotte's fraud. Paul and Hetta get married, which is a real disappointment. Nothing he's done in the whole series shows he's good enough for her. She would have been much better off without him.

That final scene of Felix (who didn't get nearly enough comeuppance) is a very disappointing end to the series. It shows that he really didn't suffer much for his actions at all, and that he's still the scum of the earth. It would have been much better if they'd cut that scene and ended the series with Marie Melmotte closing the doors. That was much more dramatic and sombre.

So, what's my overall opinion? The Way We Live Now is one of the forgotten period dramas. You won't see many people talk about it unless they're die-hard fans of period drama. I can see why. It isn't atrocious like Pride and Prejudice (2005). It isn't outstanding like Bleak House (2005). It's just mediocre.

Is it available online?: Yes, on Dailymotion. The link goes to episode one, but all the episodes are available there.

Rating of these episodes: 5/10.

Overall rating: 5/10.

Review: The Way We Live Now (2001) (Episodes 1 & 2)

I'd never heard of this series or the book it's based on until I searched for BBC period dramas I hadn't seen. On the one hand, this meant I had no preconceived ideas of how the story should be adapted. On the other, it meant I didn't know the story at all.

This title-card looks better suited to a science fiction film than a period drama. Who designed this, and what were they thinking? On the bright side, the music is good.

The Way We Live Now is based on an 1875 novel by Anthony Trollope. It has a practically Dickensian amount of subplots, but the main story revolves around a financial scam.

There's a long list of familiar actors:
David Suchet (the title character in Poirot) as Melmotte
Miranda Otto (Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings) as Mrs. Hurtle
Matthew Macfadyen (Arthur in Little Dorrit 2008) as Sir Felix
Lilo Baur (Hortense in Bleak House 2005) as a maid (again!) (though a less murderous one this time)
Cillian Murphy (Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders) as Paul Montague
Anne-Marie Duff (voice of Hyzenthlay in Watership Down 2018) as Georgiana
Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter) as Marie Melmotte
Joanna David (Mrs. Gardiner in Pride and Prejudice 1995) as Lady Pomona Longestaffe
Douglas Hodge (Lydgate in Middlemarch 1994) as Roger Carbury
David Bradley (Riderhood in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Mr. Broune
Jim Carter (Captain Brown in Cranford) as Mr. Brehgert
Fenella Woolgar (Arabella in He Knew He Was Right) as Lady Julia
Richard Cant (Mercury in Bleak House 2005) as Adolphus "Dolly" Longestaffe
Toby Jones (Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop 2007) as Squercum

The Melmottes have just arrived in London. Augustus Melmotte, a financier, is supposed to be enormously rich, but there are rumours he was involved in a failed bank before. This doesn't stop people flocking to give him their money. Nor does it stop scoundrels plotting to marry Melmotte's daughter Marie for her money.

The very sinister Mr. Melmotte

Meanwhile, we meet the Carbury family. Lady Carbury is an aspiring but talentless writer who is rapidly running out of money through her own and and her son's extravagance; Sir Felix, the aforementioned son, is a gambling spendthrift who wouldn't know a moral if he fell over it; and Hetta, his sister, is disgusted with her family's behaviour but can do nothing about it.

The nauseating Sir Felix and equally nauseating Lady Carbury

Hetta

Felix plans to marry Marie Melmotte. His wretched mother encourages him in it and gives him money to help him. Hetta is appalled, but her family refuse to listen. Soon afterwards they go to visit their cousin Roger. He has somewhat more sense than Lady Carbury or Felix, but he's also in love with Hetta despite being about twenty years older than her. Lady Carbury wants Hetta to marry Roger because he's rich, with no regard for what Hetta wants.

Lady Carbury and Roger

Side note: I'm not a fan of the way the hunting scene is filmed. It jumps around so much and the camera is so shaky that it makes me feel dizzy.

Roger has a ward, Paul Montague, who falls in love at first sight with Hetta... and she falls in love with him. Paul has been living in America and is interested in engineering. He's trying to raise money to build a railway between America and Mexico. Naturally, he becomes one of the many people to get involved in Melmotte's schemes.

Hetta and Paul

It's a pretty grim scene, but I can't help laughing when Mrs. Melmotte covers her ears when her husband and stepdaughter are yelling at each other.

Well, that's one way to cope with a dysfunctional family! 😆

The Carburys and Paul are invited to a ball the Melmottes are hosting. While there, Paul and Hetta become closer, and Felix meets Marie. The scene of Paul and Hetta dancing together (several times) is cute, but in hindsight it becomes depressing. I liked Paul the first time I saw this scene, but after learning certain things about his past, I don't like him nearly as much.

Marie

Among the other things that happen at the ball, we get an entirely unnecessary scene of Felix and Marie kissing, and learn that a prince is among the Melmotte's many guests. There's a comical scene of Mrs. Melmotte being completely caught off-guard when the prince asks her to dance 😄

Roger proposes to Hetta. She refuses him, to her mother's disgust. Roger goes and confronts Felix about his spending. This is one of the few times I agree with Roger. After that he tries to warn Paul away from getting involved with Melmotte -- which I approve of -- and from courting Hetta -- which I don't approve of, and which made me despise Roger.

Side note about the railway: no idea if this is from the original novel or not, but I find it very hard to believe Salt Lake City would be considered as a good place to build a railway station. This was a time when Salt Lake City and its inhabitants were basically outlaws. What were Paul and his friends thinking?

Melmotte plans to use Paul's railway to steal other people's money. Paul hasn't a clue about this... yet. Felix becomes one of the directors of Paul's railway. I face-palmed when he said he was good with money, and laughed when Hetta said he was good at losing it.

Marie tells Felix that Mrs. Melmotte isn't her mother, and that her real mother disappeared mysteriously. Creeeepy. Than as if Felix isn't enough of a scumbag, we learn that while meeting Marie, he's also involved with another girl, Ruby, who lives on Roger's estate. There's a scene with the two of them that I always skip.

The music in this series is some of the eeriest I've ever heard in period drama. Especially that opera-ish wailing towards the end of episode one.

At the start of episode two, we learn that Paul was once engaged to an American widow, Mrs. Hurtle. She's followed him to England to force him to marry her. Paul tells her he loves another woman, but she refuses to let him out of the engagement.

Paul and Mrs. Hurtle.

(When she first appeared I knew I'd seen her somewhere before. Half-way through the episode I realised she was Éowyn. Of all people!)

The Carburys are getting deeply into debt. Lady Carbury and Felix only make things worse, and Hetta can't stop them. I sympathise with Hetta's anger, but I find it very hard to believe a 19th century upper-class woman would ever outright compare a loveless marriage to prostitution. Not only was that a taboo subject, but loveless marriages were the norm for women like Hetta. It's only quite recently than marrying for love has become the rule rather than the exception, so Hetta's attitude is rather anachronistic.

Shares in the railway company are going up and up. Melmotte encourages more and more people to buy them. Paul begins to have some worries about this scheme, especially when he suspects none of the money is being used to build the railway.

Melmotte finds out about Felix and Marie's "engagement". He isn't happy, especially because Felix has no money. I rolled my eyes when Felix said he was a gentleman. Yeah, suuuuuure you are, Felix.

I laughed at the scene where Georgiana (who reminds me a great deal of Fanny Thornton in North and South) yelled at her father for not taking her to London, and her father simply held his newspaper up to his face and ignored her.

Georgiana Longestaffe, one of this series' many obnoxious brats.

Felix is still seeing Ruby, whose grandfather wants her to marry another man. She refuses John, the other man, so her grandfather beats her. Ruby runs away and goes to London to find Felix. I'm just waiting for the moment when Ruby and Marie find out about each other. It'll be exactly what Felix deserves. Less than he deserves, actually.

Ruby

Marie seems to be both very childish and slightly unhinged. I'm torn between feeling sorry for her and being slightly afraid of her.

Ruby has taken lodgings in the same place where Mrs. Hurtle is staying, and she sees Paul with Mrs. Hurtle. Mrs. Hurtle told her they're engaged. I can already see where this is going.

Paul is becoming more and more suspicious of Melmotte. He decides to investigate by going to Mexico. Hetta admits she loves Paul. She still doesn't know about Mrs. Hurtle. No way can this end well.

Georgiana, the sister of Felix's friend, is staying with the Melmottes, where she meets Mr. Brehgert -- a banker and one of the few decent, likeable characters in this series. Or maybe I'm immediately prejudiced in his favour because I can't see him without thinking of Captain Brown. Unfortunately, he's yet another person dragged into Melmotte's web.

Mr. Brehgert at one of the Melmottes' parties

Marie plans to elope with Felix. She steals a cheque from her father to pay for their boat fare. Meanwhile, Mrs. Hurtle tries to convince Paul to take her with him. And Ruby tells Felix she's seen Paul with Mrs. Hurtle.

Episode two ends with Marie preparing for the elopement, and Felix reluctantly going along with it. And then Roger sees Paul with Mrs. Hurtle. Paul tries to explain. Roger doesn't believe him. I don't like Roger, but I have to agree with him when he says Hetta won't want to be dragged into this mess. I'm not too fond of Paul either, but I definitely agree with him when he says Hetta is embarrassed and disgusted by Roger's interest in her.

My overall opinion? ...I haven't decided yet. It's not terrible, but it's not outstanding. There are some scenes I wish weren't in it and some characters I detest, but I can still watch it without cringing. We'll have to wait and see if the next two episodes change my opinion 😊

Rating: 5/10.

Review of the next two episodes here.