Two Years Ago, Volume I

I first read Kingsley as a boy: Hereward the Wake, Westward Ho! and Water Babies—all fine tales—and have recently re-read Hereward and Water Babies.

I regret having wasted my time on Two Years Ago, a pretentious tale featuring mostly boring characters and ornate dialog such as has never been spoken by human lips.

Worst or all, perhaps, it is incredibly wordy. Half the book could be excised with no loss of meaning or meaningful emotion. Perhaps this was originally published as a serial and paid by the word. In his effort to expand description, for instance, in one lengthy passage Kingsley describes every flower blooming on a hillside. But what season can it be—spring (bluebells,) summer (roses) or fall (monkshood.) Dozens of other flowers are named, and dozens of other passages could provide similar examples.

He goes deeply into medicine, a laughable effort considering what he thought he knew then compared with present knowledge. Women are, for the most part, delicate souls to whom a harsh word will bring on the threat of collapse followed by decline and eventual death. They need much medical attention from the hero.

Only a few minor characters and the hero—a cynic and simultaneous do-gooder—are worth knowing, and even the hero is at times preposterous.