El custodio (1855)

Re-reading this after a long time made me remember the wonderful TV adaptation of 1982, probably one of the best small-screen adaptations ever of a classic. Covering the next book, Barchester Towers, as well, the castings were perfect. Donald Pleasance, who normally played baddies, was a wonderful, gentle whimsical Mr Harding. Janet Maw was lovely as his daughter, Nigel Hawthorne at his most bombastic as Archdeacon Grantly, and Donald's daughter Angela Pleasance as Mrs Grantly: "Oh, Archdeacon!" The bishop's scheming wife was Geraldine McEwan, and who could forget Alan Rickman in one of his early roles as the unctuous Mr Slope?
Normally I prefer the book to the film in every case, but when I read this, that's who the characters look like.

The story is about Harding, the warden, and his struggles to do the right thing. What is the right thing? Is it according to the law, your conscience, or what the public thinks. Legally Harding is not wrong, but he cares much what people think and whether he can live with his deeds. He chose what he is comfortable with, and in the process, stood up to his son-in-law whom he fears. ( )

I love Victorian novels, but I haven't read one in quite a long time, so I thought that this comparably short one would be a good reintroduction. It was in some aspects, and in others not so much.
The title refers to Septimus Harding, who is the warden of an almshouse that is home to twelve elderly and poor men. This almshouse was donated and is still maintained due to the charitable will of one man who lived four centuries ago. A local surgeon, John Bold, who considers himself a reformer, raises the question if the warden should earn a much smaller sum of money for his tasks, and if justice is done to the will by the way the finances of the almshouse are kept. To make things more complicated, Bold is both a friend of the warden and as good as engaged to his daughter Eleanor.
While I thought the moral questions raised in the novel to be interesting, the plot and style seemed a little too constructed to me. The excursions into politics, the comments on the media and the important role the church plays in the story were a little too much for my taste. The strong presence of the narrator disturbed my reading flow. On the other hand, when the story was actually going, I quite enjoyed it, and there were a few scenes and pictures that really went to my heart. I liked the characterization of most of the characters, including the more satirical ones.
I will continue with The Barsetshire Chronicles, but will not be in a rush as long as I have so many other unread Victorian novels still on my shelves. ( )

I chose this because I've always wanted to try this author and now that I've found the Serial Reader app, this was easy to read. The novel is about a man who is in charge of a home run by the church for poor elderly men who needs medical care at the end of their life. Trouble ensues for the Warden of this home when a local do-gooder thinks the men deserve more money than they are receiving for their care and the Warden should be making less. The rest of the novel is how the various characters deal with this issue. There isn't much drama but I found myself enjoying this and found it a pleasant read. The Warden, Mr. Harding, is a likable man and I found myself in sympathy with him throughout the novel. ( )

Love the writing and the language, even if I have to, at times, read a sentence twice, three times. I still love the beauty of how the words are used and each sentence is an interpretation. Trollope created a character who was drowning in his virtues. I thought there was a better solution to his dilemma, he wasn't a practical man, idealistic perhaps, but unable to see the impact of his actions on other people. His conscience was satisfied, but he abandoned the others who were his responsibility, via his job. The future bedesmen that could have benefited from the trust were never allowed the opportunity because of the warden's need to keep his conscience pure. ( )