Have you ever read a book, and when you summarize the plot, it made for a captivating, or at least interesting, story. BUT, when you think back about your experiences while reading said book, you can't help but cringe at the thought of putting yourself through such torture again? That's how I feel about Sons of Fortune. I felt the same way after finishing every Charles Dickens's novel I've read, as well as some of Tolkien's novels, among other equally verbose authors. They all seem to have one thing in common: they are great at creating memorable plots, characters, and events, but they are terrible at keeping one's interest and give details in all of the wrong places. Malcolm Macdonald has joined a very select group of authors, most of whose books I will never read again.
Sons of Fortune is the third novel in Macdonald's Stevenson saga, about a family who start in poverty, and through sheer will, cunning, and business sense, create one of the largest, and most profitable, enterprises in England's history. (I will say right now that I have no idea if the Stevensons are a real family, or if everything is completely fictional, and I have no desire to delve into it.) In this segment, Macdonald focuses on the growing pains the family faces. Now that the Stevensons are rich, they are being admitted into the restrictive world of London Society, and Mr. John Stevenson (later Baron, then Earl), is determined that all of his children, and his wife if he can bring it about, will all follow Society's rules, to the letter, regardless of their own wishes and hopes. The problem is that the money the family has made, and the unique upbringing the Stevenson children have had, makes the father's dream almost impossible.
The three oldest children, Boy (real name John), Winifred, and Caspar, all have very different ideas of what they'd like to do in life, compared to what their father wants them to do. John Stevenson has decided that his oldest son, Boy, will take over the firm; his oldest daughter, Winifred, will marry respectably and behave as a proper Society lady; and Caspar, being a younger son, will go into the military, wherever his father can purchase a commission. Boy, who has grown into unrealistic ideals, sees all of these plans as right and proper, because he believes it is their duty to obey their father, and he is fairly happy about following in John's footsteps. Caspar, on the other hand, believes that he'd be a better choice to head the company, and will do anything to follow his dream to go into trade. Winifred just has a love for education. She wants to teach, and further the education interests of women in England. Her dream is to open her own school, that would eventually become co-ed.
The novel kind of skips around depending on where you are in the plot. It starts off with John, and his worries about his children's futures. Then moves to Boy and Caspar, and their experiences at the boarding school Fiennes. Later, it speaks from their mother., Nora's, point of view. Winifred never has her view seen, the other children (there are 9 in total by the end) are barely heard from, and other minor characters dart in and out, or disappear without notice. If there were a rhyme or reason to explain why the perspective shifts, I'd have been happier. I'd even have been content if the novel had been told entirely from Caspar's view (he was mostly what kept me reading, since I could empathize with him the most).
I will say that the historical accuracy is very good. Details about London Society of the mid 1800s is very correct, as well as matching the Stevensons' time period up with events going on abroad. Either Macdonald did his research, or he already knew a lot about mid-19th century history. However, historical accuracy cannot make up for the tedium this book brought on. When I finished, I felt as though a heavy, depressing, uncomfortable burden had been lifted from my brain, and I breathed fresh mental air for the first time in nearly two weeks. That time, two weeks, was indication enough that I was not happy with Sons of Fortune; I haven't taken that long to read a 500 page novel since Oliver Twist (and, yes, I know OT is slightly more than 500 pages, but my point still stands).
I can't say that I'll ever read another Macdonald novel, and he has over thirty. He's certainly prolific, I'll give him that (although he's published novels under three different names, which strikes me as suspicious). I would not recommend Sons of Fortune to the casual reader. If you enjoy highly dense, overly detailed novels that you prefer to spend weeks, rather than days reading, then this may be a good choice for you. This is not my type of novel, but kudos to those who do enjoy this one and its like. I'll be very happy to go back to something light and fluffy after this to give my head a relaxing reprieve from the trial I've put it through reading Sons of Fortune.
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