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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
‘The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.
Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.’
A satirization of the Victorian era English society and “A novel without a hero” this book is one of the first stories featuring the “two friends and their tangled love life” paradox that inspired countless others to follow suit.
Narrated as a sort of a puppet play by an omniscient narrator
Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp are friends who belong to different Social classes.
Amelia is a plain, sweet-natured and simple minded, wealthy girl whereas Becky is a beautiful, strong-willed and cunning girl from the lower strata of the society.
The story or rather the epic journey of their lives as they go about it, Amelia facing obstacles in her path and Becky tackling her obstacles head-on to further her motives makes for interesting reading.
The book is full of intense drama and very entertaining but also quite insightful with regards to the Victorian Society era.
The characters are wonderfully well- developed and have their flaws which make them all the more realistic, not just plain black or white these characters are colorful and vivid with lots of gray depending on the perspective you look at them from.
Despite it’s very intimidating page count (about 850) this is a book you won’t regret reading!
“Who needs to be told, that if a woman has a will, she will assuredly find a way?”
Fun Fact -> The title Vanity Fair refers to a town called Vanity, (taken from John Bunyan’s book called Pilgrim’s Progress) a stop along the Pilgrim’s route where a never-ending fair is held, meant as a metaphor to man’s attachment to the trivial affairs of the World.
Funny how it’s inspired a publication that does just that ;)
Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.’
A satirization of the Victorian era English society and “A novel without a hero” this book is one of the first stories featuring the “two friends and their tangled love life” paradox that inspired countless others to follow suit.
Narrated as a sort of a puppet play by an omniscient narrator
Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp are friends who belong to different Social classes.
Amelia is a plain, sweet-natured and simple minded, wealthy girl whereas Becky is a beautiful, strong-willed and cunning girl from the lower strata of the society.
The story or rather the epic journey of their lives as they go about it, Amelia facing obstacles in her path and Becky tackling her obstacles head-on to further her motives makes for interesting reading.
The book is full of intense drama and very entertaining but also quite insightful with regards to the Victorian Society era.
The characters are wonderfully well- developed and have their flaws which make them all the more realistic, not just plain black or white these characters are colorful and vivid with lots of gray depending on the perspective you look at them from.
Despite it’s very intimidating page count (about 850) this is a book you won’t regret reading!
“Who needs to be told, that if a woman has a will, she will assuredly find a way?”
Fun Fact -> The title Vanity Fair refers to a town called Vanity, (taken from John Bunyan’s book called Pilgrim’s Progress) a stop along the Pilgrim’s route where a never-ending fair is held, meant as a metaphor to man’s attachment to the trivial affairs of the World.
Funny how it’s inspired a publication that does just that ;)
This is an amazing book that I did not dare to pick up for a very long time just because it was featured on many of the reading lists that we got in school (those books suck. Period)Vanity Fair is witty, unpretentious and definitely likeable. Heres the thing though, I was reading this as an ebook on my phone and no matter how brilliant this book is there are only that many pages that you can bear on a stupid screen. Seriously theres no old paper smell! So I havent finished it and I wont unless I find a proper we-killed-trees-for-this copy. Recommended atleast till the 381 pages that i read :)
It's long, and very slow, but definitely worth the read. The characters are quite interesting, and I loved the narrator's tone. I really liked following Becky and Amelia in their ups and downs, and it's all very well linked to 19th century history. The male characters were also interesting, especially Rawdon in his evolution.
J'ai beaucoup aimé ;e roman et j'ai été particulièrement contente de la fin. L'auteur évite la fin clichée « les gentils sont récompensés et les méchants sont punis» de justesse et j'ai aimé ce qu'il a fait de Rebecca. J'ai même fini par apprécier Amelia et son fils dans le dernier dixième du livre.
J'ai également beaucoup aimé le type de narration de l'auteur beaucoup moins moralisateur qu'il aurait pu être et faisant preuve de beaucoup de compréhension à l'égard de ses personnages
J'ai également beaucoup aimé le type de narration de l'auteur beaucoup moins moralisateur qu'il aurait pu être et faisant preuve de beaucoup de compréhension à l'égard de ses personnages
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Cynics better not read.
And being one, found myself becoming more cynical than ever. The portrayal of human fault, from being too naive to too selfish, to just deplorable behavior, that could have been present in 19th century, Thackeray portrays beautifully.
And many naive and too good-hearted people could benefit in harsh lessons of life, but for us cynics, it just makes us lose the last bit of faith in humanity (figuratively).
And while emotions, build-up and situations are beautifully built, and would deserve 5/5, the unreadability of some sections, and completely unnecessary descriptions of lesser characters and sometimes even whole chapters, made my opinion go down to 3/5.
In truth, the book spanned more than 15 years, so by default it couldn't be short and flow nicely, however taking into account all ramblings and (very annoying) sudden opinions of authors 'I', as if he was part of the fictional society, the book could be compressed into 400-450 pages and be a very enjoyable read!
And being one, found myself becoming more cynical than ever. The portrayal of human fault, from being too naive to too selfish, to just deplorable behavior, that could have been present in 19th century, Thackeray portrays beautifully.
And many naive and too good-hearted people could benefit in harsh lessons of life, but for us cynics, it just makes us lose the last bit of faith in humanity (figuratively).
And while emotions, build-up and situations are beautifully built, and would deserve 5/5, the unreadability of some sections, and completely unnecessary descriptions of lesser characters and sometimes even whole chapters, made my opinion go down to 3/5.
In truth, the book spanned more than 15 years, so by default it couldn't be short and flow nicely, however taking into account all ramblings and (very annoying) sudden opinions of authors 'I', as if he was part of the fictional society, the book could be compressed into 400-450 pages and be a very enjoyable read!
Pros:
1. Loved the writing style, the humour and wit were right up my street and it's one of the things I loved most about this novel.
2. I actually really liked the narrator inserting himself into the work.
Cons:
1. None of the characters were particularly likeable?? At most I felt pity, at the least complete disdain. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be the point of not but nevertheless it annoyed me.
2. Becky Sharp. Enough said.
1. Loved the writing style, the humour and wit were right up my street and it's one of the things I loved most about this novel.
2. I actually really liked the narrator inserting himself into the work.
Cons:
1. None of the characters were particularly likeable?? At most I felt pity, at the least complete disdain. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be the point of not but nevertheless it annoyed me.
2. Becky Sharp. Enough said.