George Augustus Moore (1852–1933)

Moore's tale of a "fallen woman" necessarily bears comparison to Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. However, whereas Tess is freed from the stigma of raising an illegitimate child because her boy dies in infancy, in Moore's novel one sees the struggles of a working-class woman who has to raise her child to adulthood. Tess is confronted with some painful choices and ends up paying the ultimate penalty for her one act of determined rebellion and vengeance. With Moore's heroine, Esther, though, we see a woman confronted with very different but equally difficult choices all resulting from her child living. Esther must overcome loss of employment, extreme poverty, and the despised workhouse. The reader gets a real glimpse into the difficulties of a single woman raising an illegitimate child in late Victorian England. Those difficulties notwithstanding, the reader also gets to see the determination of a devoted mother to her son.

George Moore certainly does not rise to the top of the list of inspired writers. He is neither as descriptive nor as elegant a writer as Thomas Hardy; the telling of his tale suffers as a result. As an example, the rape scene in Tess is written with such sublime inspiration as to leave the reader in awe of the act. Moore manages to pass over the deed in a few quick sentences. Further, although Moore talks of Esther's time in the workhouse, he never adequately describes the horrors of the place. The reader can be forgiven for thinking that the hell of these workhouses was not all that bad.

The most striking difference between these two novels comes at the end. In Tess we are confronted with the image of Tess at the end of the hangman's noose after murdering her assailant, but Moore takes Ester to a completely different place. We see her at the end of the book with her former and current employer, Mrs. Barfield, working as a maid at Woodview where the story began. The closing scene is of Esther's son, Jack, coming to visit and embracing his mother. it comes as the fitting end for a woman who had endured such privation but showered such love on her son, Jack, in order to raise him. She is rewarded with his love as he embarks on his own adult life. In this way Esther is triumphant, almost redeemed. As such, George Moore's novel can be read as an uplifting book expounding the virtues of hard work and sacrifice in the service of familial devotion.… (altro)

'He was.. bad only because he had not strength to be good'

So this is a very Hollywood novel despite being set in 1870's London. The plot, a young artist moves to the big city but finds it hard to make his mark.
Hence why i describe it as Hollywood-like. Its all about celebrity and talent and trying to be one of the few to succeed.
Interestingly though, unlike most of these kinds of stories our hero isn't all that talented, he's the artistic equivalent of a soap actor he's really not in it for the art either but simply the fame and fortune.

The novel follows the up's and down's of his career and the various women who he uses along the way. Like Hollywood the art industry is often about who you know and this guy has no problem using the various women he meets to open doors for him.

It's a very realistic novel and all of the characters are well drawn. You never really hate the protagonist, he's quite a practical guy really, sleeping his way to the top. This would definitely be written with a gender reversal if done today so its nice to see a man in this position.

There are a few downsides. Its a little longer than i think it needs to be and the story moves in and out of focus.
So at times its an intimate piece and then it moves to a more distant narrator view and then back in again. So there are times when you feel like your losing touch with the characters. Also probably due to this method of storytelling it occasionally feels like people change their minds and opinions a bit to suddenly.

Overall though a pretty interesting story, good characters, its social scene including tennis matches make it feel like its set in the 1920's at times rather than the 1870's. Speaking of which there's quite a few similarities with [b:Lady Chatterley's Lover|32049|Lady Chatterley's Lover|D.H. Lawrence|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1215571713s/32049.jpg|3249302] at times.
A surprisingly realistic and very unromantic romance, written with a sort of cynical glimmer in its eye. Also some good discussions of Art and how public taste changes over time.… (altro)

***WHO SUCKED ME IN***
Books and Things on YouTube in their Where to go after Jane Austen, or Jane Austen and the Victorians #janeaustenjuly video published on 25 july 2018

She compared it with Sense and Sensibility. I have not read that one but I really enjoyed the movie from 1995. I would compared that movie to the the Abduction Club, which is a lot more lighthearted (and unrealistic) but the relation between the sisters felt somewhat the same!… (altro)