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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Whew --- that was a read!
I picked up Vanity Fair as part of my usual summer-time-find-a-classic-I've-never-read program. At the start, I found it a slow read. Part of that is the prose style; Thackeray likes his digressions and his musings on society. Part of that was plot; it's not that I can't get into romantic novels (I love Jane Austen), but the male-female gyrations and machinations simply did not move me.
However, about the time the novel gets to Waterloo (about one-third in), I was hooked. I enjoyed the large ensemble cast and Thackeray's willingness to jump from character to character to build tension. I was also impressed throughout the novel by Thackeray's authorial presence through his addresses to the reader; it made the novel feel much more modern than I expected.
I picked up Vanity Fair as part of my usual summer-time-find-a-classic-I've-never-read program. At the start, I found it a slow read. Part of that is the prose style; Thackeray likes his digressions and his musings on society. Part of that was plot; it's not that I can't get into romantic novels (I love Jane Austen), but the male-female gyrations and machinations simply did not move me.
However, about the time the novel gets to Waterloo (about one-third in), I was hooked. I enjoyed the large ensemble cast and Thackeray's willingness to jump from character to character to build tension. I was also impressed throughout the novel by Thackeray's authorial presence through his addresses to the reader; it made the novel feel much more modern than I expected.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Funny, depressing, satirical and endlessly entertaining, this book is a masterpiece and one of my favourites of all time. Becky Sharp is one of the best characters of all time, and you can’t help but sorta root for her amid all her dastardly schemes.
Vanity Fair is a masterpiece. This is the second time I've read it, and my opinion of it only increased. It's witty, it has a main character (Becky) who is memorable and complex (though, I will allow, not as complex as she would be if written in more modern times), and its style is engrossing and addicting.
It is this combination that makes the 700-plus pages worth the reading.
Much of the reader's interest is wrapped up in what could be oscillating feelings about Becky Sharp, a character who is much maligned in our novel, but who would, in our modern era, be a Twitter and YouTube star, with rumors of her ascent to the US Presidency at the ready. Becky is conniving, determined, clever and brash; and is in the end all the more sympathetic because one wonders what the country at that time could have offered her: servitude and unwanted advances, as is pointed out early in the novel.
Thackery was experimenting with novelistic form, a practice of many authors of the time (The Female Quixote, Tristram Shandy). Now, having a story without a hero seems almost prerequisite (the TV series Search Party, or Pretty Little Liars, two more recent examples). Yes, stories like these seem more realistic, as we live in a world (or, at least, have a government) overrun by those who seek out their own self-interest and a great many who are content to bemoan a situation but are inclined to be silent. However, Thackery had what now seems a quaint interest in morality; behind his humor is critique of a self aggrandizing society and a small plea for something more. There is no sermonising in Vanity Fair, just humor. We may be beyond the overt morality of the Victorian era, but it does us some good to live there once in a while. We tend to emerge with a greater sense of purpose. I have every sense I will return to this novel again; greatness, as this novel suggests, is hard to find.
A+
It is this combination that makes the 700-plus pages worth the reading.
Much of the reader's interest is wrapped up in what could be oscillating feelings about Becky Sharp, a character who is much maligned in our novel, but who would, in our modern era, be a Twitter and YouTube star, with rumors of her ascent to the US Presidency at the ready. Becky is conniving, determined, clever and brash; and is in the end all the more sympathetic because one wonders what the country at that time could have offered her: servitude and unwanted advances, as is pointed out early in the novel.
Thackery was experimenting with novelistic form, a practice of many authors of the time (The Female Quixote, Tristram Shandy). Now, having a story without a hero seems almost prerequisite (the TV series Search Party, or Pretty Little Liars, two more recent examples). Yes, stories like these seem more realistic, as we live in a world (or, at least, have a government) overrun by those who seek out their own self-interest and a great many who are content to bemoan a situation but are inclined to be silent. However, Thackery had what now seems a quaint interest in morality; behind his humor is critique of a self aggrandizing society and a small plea for something more. There is no sermonising in Vanity Fair, just humor. We may be beyond the overt morality of the Victorian era, but it does us some good to live there once in a while. We tend to emerge with a greater sense of purpose. I have every sense I will return to this novel again; greatness, as this novel suggests, is hard to find.
A+
dark
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
the story of english society and the various rises and falls of becky sharp (its a basic but comprehensive description). thackery's narrator voice constantly threaded through was really fun, and (as commented by raquel), the way the novel directly dealt with the front line almost of the napoleonic war, as opposed to just a backdrop, gave a fun new insight onto life around this period. got to love the reference to mary somerville as well, burntisland girl represent!
I enjoyed this story, with its imperfect characters, and its dry wit. It is 809 pages and in my opinion drags needlessly in a few places. Overall, a tale true to human nature, with a satisfying end.
slow-paced
6/29/21
Listened to the unabridged version this time.
2019
I listened to the BBC full dramatization book. It was really fun. The story in itself reminds me a bit of "The Great Gatsby," but I find these characters more endearing.
Listened to the unabridged version this time.
2019
I listened to the BBC full dramatization book. It was really fun. The story in itself reminds me a bit of "The Great Gatsby," but I find these characters more endearing.