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The Prime Minister (Palliser #5)

Anthony Trollope,

Hector Whistler (Illustrator)

Discussion: Palliser Novels

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Palliser Novels

* The Series
By Elizabeth (Al… · 6 posts · 37 views

last updated Feb 25, 2014 10:29AM

The Duke's Children
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last updated Feb 08, 2015 02:43PM

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What Members Thought

Jan 25, 2024 Lisa (NY) rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics-19th-century-earlier, audiobook, 2024-tbr-shelf

In The Prime Minister, Trollope focuses on two very moral but stubbornly frustrating characters - the Duke of Omnium, soon to become Prime Minister, and Emily Wharton (Lopez). I found myself shaking my head frequently at both of them. Trollope is so astute, so snide and so surprisingly funny.

I don't think I've ever used the word "chuckle" to describe a reaction of mine, but I was certainly chuckling throughout this book. I'm a big fan of Lady Glencora who is featured throughout the Palliser ser ...more

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Jan 21, 2015 Jane rated it really liked it

I didn’t mean to read ‘The Prime Minister’ quite so soon, or to rush through it quite so quickly, but I had to step back into Trollope’s world because there seemed to be so many old friends I wanted to see again, so many interesting new people to meet, so many intriguing things happening.

Plantagenet Palliser, the Duke of Omnium, was Prime Minister!

He headed a coalition government, and he had risen not so much as the result of his own charisma and ambition, more because there was no other candida ...more

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Dec 19, 2011 Elizabeth (Alaska) rated it really liked it

Shelves: nineteenth-century, author-trollope, palliser

Trollope always gives us more than one story - sometimes several stories. In this there are two stories that do loosely touch each other. I'm not sure either couldn't have been told without the other, and having them together made this quite long (it is the length only that has me shorting it a star). At the same time, having them together added an element to each that might not have happened had they been separate.

The story that is of the title provides us with a more complete characterization Trollope always gives us more than one story - sometimes several stories. In this there are two stories that do loosely touch each other. I'm not sure either couldn't have been told without the other, and having them together made this quite long (it is the length only that has me shorting it a star). At the same time, having them together added an element to each that might not have happened had they been separate.

The story that is of the title provides us with a more complete characterization of Plantagenet Palliser than we have had before. In three of the four previous novels, he was somewhat of a background character, and in the fourth his wife, Lady Glencora, got the spotlight. As shy and aloof as he is, it's hard not to come to admire him. With this story are brought along many of the political characters we have seen in the Phineas Finn novels, including Mr. Finn himself.

The other story is of characters we have not seen before. Emily Wharton (written before Edith Wharton was even born, I thought how lucky we are that her name is Emily!) is a young and wealthy woman who doesn't seem especially enamored of the man who has been in love with her for several years.

The beau ideal of a man which she then pictured to herself was graced, first with intelligence, then with affection, and lastly with ambition. She knew no reason why such a hero as her fancy created should be born of lords and ladies rather than of working mechanics, should be English rather than Spanish or French. The man could not be her hero without education, without attributes to be attained no doubt more easily by the rich than by the poor; but, with that granted, with those attained, she did not see why she or why the world, should go back beyond the man's own self.

Beyond this, I'll not give you any spoilers: this work contains the most villainous, underhanded, despicable character I've encountered in Trollope. I wouldn't throw my kindle against the wall, and I surely wanted to see what would happen next.

Although all of the novels in this series can be read independently of the others, this one I would not recommend be read without having read the others. Trollope provides less back story that the reader would appreciate knowing. ...more

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Jul 14, 2016 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Trollope is simply the best. This is the second last book in the Pallisers series and I have one more to read in the Barchester Chronicles. I'm going to miss these people enormously, the only bonus is I can read the rest of Trollope ...more

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Mar 29, 2021 Joseph rated it it was amazing

Although I very much enjoyed Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series, I'm finding the Palliser Series more to my liking - perhaps it's the political intrigue that's tipping the balance. And this volume has been one of my favorites so far. ...more

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