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Title: Phineas Finn
Author: Anthony Trollope
Narrator: Robert Whitfield
Format: Unabridged
Length: 22 hrs and 35 mins
Language: English
Release date: 07-24-06
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 94 votes
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
Phineas Finn is the second of Anthony Trollope's six Palliser novels. While each is a story within itself, together the volumes comprise a large, coherent composition that captures the fashions, slang, manners, and politics of two decades. Beginning with this segment of the Palliser novels, Trollope painted an unrivaled portrait of Parliamentary political society in the high Victorian period. Trollope's understanding of the institutions of mid-Victorian England and the unobtrusive irony which informs his sympathetic vision of human fallibility is a hallmark of these stories.
Critic Reviews:
"This gracefully written work is perfectly read by Whitfield, who successfully evokes the Victorian era." (Booklist)
Members Reviews:
not a good first
If this had been my first Trollope novel, I probably would not have stuck with the read, but overall I liked it. The description of Parliamentary action many be too detailed for some readers, but as a Canadian with a similar system, reading such a portrait set in the period when Canada's own parliament was working for nation status was interesting.
The occasional "recaps" of plot betray that the novel originally appeared as a serial, and I found that bit annoying.
If you're new to Trollope, I'd recommend that you start with one of the Barset Chronicles rather than Phinneas.
A Political Scamp
I want to second an opinion expressed in another review. Phineas Finn is not a good introduction to Trollope; read Doctor Thorne or The Little House at Allington first. This is not to detract from this excellent book, it just not the place to start with Trollope. Robert Whitfield turns in a splendid performance as narrator.
Phineas Finn liked women and women liked him. His philosophy could be best stated in the words of that 60's song,"If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you're with". Restated: maybe a woman, in particular one Miss Mary Flood Jones, the girl back home, out of sight is a woman out of mind. Mr. Finn was a man of flexible principles and attachments. Clever, quick witted and handsome, he was scamp. I like him. He was a happy scamp, even a well meaning scamp. There were no mean bones in his body.
If you like inside politics, this is the book. He was a shooting star, flashing across the night sky suddenly appearing to be remarked upon then as suddenly gone. Elected to parliament without opposition at age twenty-five, the naive young man quickly finds himself at the center of political maneuvers and schemes. Then, suddenly, it was over but there is still the matter of the girl back home.
Best Reader I've ever heard--So-so story
In the end the principal enjoyment in listening to Phineas Finn for me was the excellent narrator, Robert Whitfield. He is able to convey, by changing his tone and accent, a character's gender, age and class in a single line; he switches back and forth without missing a beat. It's an astonishing performance and for the first time I actually searched and added to my wish list other books based on narrator.
*Spoiler alert from this point on.*
The novel itself is enjoyable, very funny sometimes, but really very slight. I wanted to like it;I was actually named for a character in a Trollope novel, believe it or not. But I came to feel that the hero's character is not the best drawn one in the book.
