4½ stars. What a fitting yet melancholy ending to the Forsyte saga! I even felt sorry for Soames by the end...

A word of warning -- this novel does NOT stand alone! To be appreciated, or even understood, the previous novels & 'interludes' of the series need to be read first.

( )

Široce koncipovaný román zachycuje život tří generací rozvětveného patricijského rodu od poklidné éry panování královny Viktorie až do 20. let 20. století. Rodina, z jejíhož středu vyrůstají podnikatelé, právníci a vážení obchodníci, vyznává konvence pohodlného měšťáckého života a jako nejvyšší životní hodnotu uznává vlastnictví peněz a z toho plynoucí moc. Každý pokus o proražení hradby konvencí a tupé měšťácké samolibosti naráží na nepochopení a nekompromisní odsouzení.

This takes place over a comparatively short period of time, and focuses on the relationship between Jon (son of Young Jolyon & Irene) and Fleur (daughter of Soames and Annette). It is, as one might imagine, doomed from the start.
Fleur is very direct and goes after what she wants. She is, after all, the apple of her father's eye and has never been denied anything. Spoilt, in other words. She embarks on the grand passion she has for Jon in a very self centered way, it is always about her. At one point Irene sums them up as Jon is a giver and Fleur a taker - which might look like a model for an ideal marriage, but I suspect it would be a disaster as well. Jon, however, seems a bit bewildered by it all, being swept along by Fleur and never really being actively involved. Until he does make a stand and that one is irrevocable.
Of the older generation, Soames is more rounded here, he clearly adores Fleur, but has not really developed any emotional intelligence in the almost 20 years since we sw him last. Irene remains unknowable and distant, known only through young Jolyon, really, we see her through his eyes. It's a period of upheaval for the world, the shadow of WW1 hangs over this, although we don't hear of there being much impact on the Forsytes of this, they are either too old or too young, as a rule. It also has the passing of the last Forsyte and the most complicated will imaginable, which, by my calculation,might just be paid out in a year or so's time!
I have thoroughly enjoyed this sequence of books and can see myself finishing the 9 book sequence at some time. ( )

This is the last book in the Forsyte sage, and the one where the family feud among the Forsytes comes to an ugly end. Both Soames and Young Jolyn now have late-in-life children: Soames a girl names Fleur and Jolyn a young son named after himself but called Jon. It is now 1920 and most of the older generation of Forsytes are now gone and the focus is on the youngest generation.

Fleur and Jolly meet cute at June Forsyte's art gallery where there is an immediate attraction. Neither knows the family history, but Fleur, who seems much more on the ball that the somewhat clueless Jon, quickly figures out some of the story and then worms the whole truth out of June. She decides to keep the truth from Jolly, sensing that his knowledge of it will ruin their relationship. Instead she presses him to marry her.

Of course, both sides of the family are appalled by this romance. Soames, however, is willing to make allowances in order for the marriage to take place. Irene, however,refuses to accept it and in an overly dramatic climax Jolyn tells Jon of all the sordid facts of Soames and Irene's marriage and the relationship is over. Fleur marries a perfectly nice young aristocrat on the rebound (and the poor boy really deserves better) and Jon heads off to America to lick his wounds.

The beautiful house that Soames originally built for Irene is now vacant and "to let." ( )

The last volume in the Forsyte saga.

I loved this quote:
"He didn't know about the French, but there was not much
real harm in English people except their teeth and their taste,
which was certainly deplorable." ( )