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jlmb's review against another edition
2.0
I read this because I kept seeing it referenced in other novels. I wanted to see why other novelists, novelists I really admire like Dickens and Eliot, would mention another author's book within their own. I still don't really understand why.
It's not a terrible novel, just not a great one, which is why you don't see people in the 21st century reading it very often, unless they are taking a History of the English Novel class. The story is melodramatic and the characters one dimensional. My favorite parts are when Goldsmith is having Primrose pontificate on a topic for pages & pages, using him as a mouthpiece for his own views. Normally, I hate it when an author does that.
Goldsmith makes a lot of spot-on observations about human nature which reminded me that even though this book is over 250 years old, people are - in the immortal words of Depeche Mode - people.
"the jests of the rich are ever successful"
"although we seldom follow advice we are all ready enough to ask it"
"I laboured to become cheerful, but cheerfulness was never yet produced by effort"
"the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition"
"laws govern the poor and the rich govern the laws"
Truth.
It's not a terrible novel, just not a great one, which is why you don't see people in the 21st century reading it very often, unless they are taking a History of the English Novel class. The story is melodramatic and the characters one dimensional. My favorite parts are when Goldsmith is having Primrose pontificate on a topic for pages & pages, using him as a mouthpiece for his own views. Normally, I hate it when an author does that.
Goldsmith makes a lot of spot-on observations about human nature which reminded me that even though this book is over 250 years old, people are - in the immortal words of Depeche Mode - people.
"the jests of the rich are ever successful"
"although we seldom follow advice we are all ready enough to ask it"
"I laboured to become cheerful, but cheerfulness was never yet produced by effort"
"the hours we pass with happy prospects in view are more pleasing than those crowned with fruition"
"laws govern the poor and the rich govern the laws"
Truth.
psalmcat's review against another edition
3.0
Here is our online catalog's record for this edition of this book:
BUT, it also had big print and fun illustrations, so I guess you take what you can find. No clue what year this was published: before I was born, probably before WWII even.
I read the book because we were in Wakefield this summer. However, it appears that most of this book does not actually take place in Wakefield, after about page 10. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, this book might be very enjoyable for you. I found it deadly, although I finished it because I kept thinking it had to get better. Very mannered, very 18th century, very sexist, very classist...and all very neatly tied up in the end.
By the last few pages I was chuckling over how a director would film the denouement, which takes place in the debtor's prison and involves pretty much EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the novel, all in the cell together.
Sorry, it makes me laugh just writing that. Lightweight. Didactic. But I smiled, so I can't be too hard on it (even though I'm not sure all the humor was intended).
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774.Messy record, messy copy of the book: loose pages, mostly yellowed paper...
The Vicar of Wakefield
[S.l. : s.n.]
xcv, [97]-278 p. ; 14 cm.
T.p. missing.
"The life of Dr. Goldsmith": p. [xiii]-xcv.
Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774.
BUT, it also had big print and fun illustrations, so I guess you take what you can find. No clue what year this was published: before I was born, probably before WWII even.
I read the book because we were in Wakefield this summer. However, it appears that most of this book does not actually take place in Wakefield, after about page 10. If you are a fan of Jane Austen, this book might be very enjoyable for you. I found it deadly, although I finished it because I kept thinking it had to get better. Very mannered, very 18th century, very sexist, very classist...and all very neatly tied up in the end.
By the last few pages I was chuckling over how a director would film the denouement, which takes place in the debtor's prison and involves pretty much EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the novel, all in the cell together.
Sorry, it makes me laugh just writing that. Lightweight. Didactic. But I smiled, so I can't be too hard on it (even though I'm not sure all the humor was intended).
kat_the_bookcat's review against another edition
5.0
This book was absolutely hilarious! I couldn't help but love it! I will definitely be rereading this one over and over again!
aya_hibaler's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
5.0
ameliaminamikoji's review against another edition
5.0
''The Vicar of Wakefield' remains a peculiarly odd generic hybrid that participates in modes as diverse as the picaresque novel, the French philosophical conte, the periodical essay, domestic conduct books, and the traditions of classical fabulists such as Aesop, while at the same time invoking the formal structures and arguments of everything from sermons and political pamphlets to the lyrics of the pleasure gardens and the popular ballads of the city streets.' (Robert L. Mack)
srm's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Kidnapping
elizastudying's review against another edition
4.0
3,5/5 stars. This one started someone slow but I enjoyed it surprisingly much in the end. You can see influences of many things here: the sentimental novel, neo-classicism, the enlightenment, and the philosophical novel. Glad to have read it and looking forward to learning more about Goldsmith sometime.
goldenqueen3's review against another edition
3.0
It's weird I absolutely hated this book in the beginning it was so boring and the narrator seemed to go on and on. I wasn't sure what the point of it was and I thought the story was predictable and I didn't even like the story I could predict. But then it slowly began to grow on me. The main character the vicar is inspiring because all these crazy horrible things keep happening to him and his family, at first he loses most of his fortune and has to move to the country to a small cottage and there not really poor they just have to lead a more simple life. Then his daughter is tricked into eloping with there landlord and her father the vicar goes after her and eventually finds her. She was tricked into a fake marriage with there landlord and is now ruined. Later in the book they find out that there landlord is going to marry someone else so the father confronts him and gets thrown in jail. But when I really started to like the vicar was when he started to read his sermons to the prisoners at first they just laugh at him but they eventually start to listen to him and he sort of helps them to learn how to have a better life. I just loved the perseverance of this guy I mean no matter what happens to him he never gives up, he finds good in every situation. He submits himself to God's will and has incredible faith through pretty much everything. This book was definitely a lot better than I was expecting it to be.
thespiritoftheage's review against another edition
3.0
The epitome of the Eighteenth-century English Novel.