I’m 67% of the way through The Forsyte Chronicles—all 3,157 pages of it—and I’m thinking about calling it quits.
I snagged the full set on Kindle for $0.49, a whim buy that turned into a serious project. It’s nine novels across three cycles, following the same family through three generations.
The first cycle (The Forsyte Saga) hooked me completely. Galsworthy garnered a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932, and it was well deserved. The prose is subtle and layered, and I loved how Irene—one of the most important characters—never gets a POV. We only see her through the lens of others, which makes her both fascinating and elusive. Five stars.
The second cycle, though? That’s where my enthusiasm flagged. This time the focus shifts to Fleur, Soames’s daughter, who is never satisfied. Over three novels, she cycles through near-affairs, social feuds, and eventually a full-blown fling with “the one that got away.” The writing is still beautiful, but Fleur’s self-destructive streak grows exhausting to watch. Without Irene’s quiet gravitational pull, the story feels flatter.
Now I’m staring down the final three novels, which will shift focus again—this time to Fleur’s son. Maybe he’ll break the family cycle. Or maybe I’ll just be in for another thousand pages of the same themes. And I find myself asking: do I really want to know, or can I live with looking up a plot summary?
I don’t usually feel guilty about DNF’ing a book—it just means it wasn’t for me. But DNF’ing a series? Especially one that started so strong? That feels different. Almost like breaking a promise.
So here’s my question: do you push through to the end, or do you give yourself permission to walk away when a series loses its spark?
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