Mostly because Lizzie Eustace, the protagonist (or perhaps I should say antagonist), is so very annoying. She's supposed to be selfish, spiteful and generally reprehensible, but apparently Trollope also wanted to make her seem smart (at least that's what all his characters say). If so, he failed splendidly, and that leaves her with very few redeeming characteristics - characters who are both evil and stupid are really just boring to read about.

As I started thinking about this book, I suddenly realized the plot, or at least the romantic part of the plot, bears a certain resemblance to that of Gone With the Wind - that is, one could with some imagination link the main characters of this book to Scarlett O'Hara, Rhett Butler, Ashley Wilkes and Melanie Hamilton respectively. The difference is that Scarlett O'Hara, while perhaps just as selfish and harsh, has awe-inspiring willpower, courage and passion to make her a well-rounded character - and I'd even say a genuinely iconic character. Not so here, and with such a disappointing main character, the rest of the book would've had to be impressive indeed to compensate. As it is, it's not a bad book per se, and of course there are many enjoyable bits (including, in particular, everything involving the delightfully rude and direct Lady Linlithgow), but as a whole the book isn't particularly enjoyable. And Trollope's usual long-windedness, forgiveable in more entertaining books, does not help.

If people are interested in reading Trollope's Palliser series, which on the whole I do recommend to those interested in Victorian England, I wouldn't go as far as to suggest they skip this book, but it is by far the weakest of the three books I've read so far in that series, so definitely not a good place to start.