Reviews - Moll Flanders | The StoryGraph

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"I saw the Cloud, though I did not foresee the Storm."

One of the goals on my (reading) bucket list is to get through as many stories about women as possible so when I found this little gem during one of my binge-buying-sprees online I was enraptured.

"What an abominable creature am I! and how is this innocent gentleman going to be abused by me! How little does he think, that having divorced a whore, he is throwing himself into the arms of another! that he is going to marry one that has lain with two brothers, and has had three children by her own brother! one that was born in Newgate, whose mother was a whore, and is now a transported thief! one that has lain with thirteen men, and has had a child since he saw me! Poor gentleman!"

Moll Flanders is a report about Moll's life recounted in 1st person. She tells us the story of how she was born in the prison of Newgate, of how she was raised parentless and of how she found herself falling slowly into depravity at the hands of a destiny too cruel to allow otherwise. She marries five times, once, unbeknownst to both, to her own brother. When widowhood and abandonment bring only poverty and despair she finds herself either stealing from others or selling herself. Moll Flanders is a cruel portrayal of a female condition that doesn't really allow much more:

"As the market ran very unhappily on the men's side, I found the women had lost the privilege of saying No; that it was a favour now for a woman to have the Question asked."

"Certainly does interest banish all manner of affection, and so naturally do men give up honour and justice, humanity, and even Christianity, to secure themselves."

I found Moll's voice strong and assertive, some of the instances drippled with such exquisite feminism that I couldn't do anything else than cheering and rooting for her.

It took me 3 whole months to get through this book though and that is because, read past 1/3 of it, the story slows painfully down, being extremely detailed oftentimes it felt sterile and dry. That didn't put me off though which is undoubtedly a good thing, but I had to lower my rating that had been a strong 4 star one for the majority of my time reading it.

I'm glad I read Moll Flanders though and I'd recommend it to anyone in need of a strong female voice and who wants to catch up on the classics just like I am!

fifi99's review against another edition

2.0

challenging slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lisasletters's review against another edition

2.0

4/10
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This experience started absolutely horrible - every time I had completed what felt like 100 pages, I had only read 5. It was so slow, and only had a few passages that were actually interesting. Needed an audiobook to get through it.

Would’ve rated even lower if my teacher hadn’t managed to pull me along with her excitement about the book.

This would have been a DNF if I hadn’t had to; would not recommend!