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Enjoy. Long but incredibly interesting.

Yes, I am enjoying it. The middle section was great :-).

I read the whole thing as one big book; at the time, I didn't even know it was originally a three book story. Completely agree that it should be read as one. Glad you loved it!

You won't believe it since I started out as a Soames hater, but I found the end with him deeply moving. Oh, and I cried when (view spoiler)[Young Jolyon died (hide spoiler)].

I'm glad Soames won you round in the end. Poor sod, he was his own worst enemy, but he didn't know it till it was too late.

I hated YJ in the TV series, he was so bloody pious, not to mention being Team Irene; as my battle-lines were firmly drawn when I later read the book, I didn't give a stuff about him there either!

I liked both old and young Jolyon.

I didn't have a problem with OJ. But from that side of the family, I also hated June!

If you ever watch the TV series, look out for the wonderful Dartie. He was adorable, a loveable upperclass rogue, and I was disappointed to discover that he had a much smaller role in the book.

I agree, June was painful. As was Fleur.

I didn't dislike June. I think she made the best of life that she could after her disappointment in love and she poured her capacity for love into her lame ducks. As for Fleur, she was a selfish little thing, but that's hardly surprising given that her father always let her have her own way. I felt very sorry for her, her father and her husband on her wedding day. In effect, she was repeating Irene's mistake, albeit for a different reason. Although only partly for a different reason, because getting away from their family of origin was a motivation for both of them to marry.

While you're thoughts are a little kinder towards those two than mine are, I agree in essence to what you're saying. However, I still found them both very annoying. LOL. Which probably says more about me than you!

Where my thoughts differ from yours though, is in that I thought Fleur and June to a certain extent, were repeating Soames' mistakes as they were both the most like him. Fleur saw Jon as something she had to have at all costs (as June had with Bosinay) but while June found a much more acceptable solution to her problems, Fleur married for convenience (vanity?) to solve her problems. Both were indulged by father/grandfather and ignored all advice.

The difference between them and Irene for me was the fact Irene was on the other end of the badgering as Jon was, as Bosinay was before him. Both Fleur and Soames (and June) had driven their respective courtships. Fleur even lied to try and get what she wanted. Admittedly, Jon participated more willingly than Irene had, but he also had the good sense to step back from the edge, so to speak, when it looked like people getting hurt. So IMO John learned by his mother's mistakes (he refused to hurt others by his actions whereas she hadn't realized others would get hurt by her actions) but Fleur went on blindly repeating Soames' mistakes with Soames supporting/enabling her to do so.

I agree with what you say, J. I think the only real point of comparison between Irene and Fleur is in choosing to marry someone they don't love because it seems like the only / best option at the time.

It's left a bit up in the air why Fleur married Mont as we never really get her thoughts on it, but I'm assuming all is going to be revealed in another book down the track. I think the next group of books in the series deal with F&J when they meet up again later.

Absolutely. The saga is much better than the sum of its parts.