A review by sinceremercy
Joseph Andrews/Shamela by Henry Fielding

3.0

I didn't like Shamela (which I read first). To my surprise though I really did like Joseph Andrews as a novel in its own right. It's definitely more comical in tone than Pamela and the narrator has a very prominent voice. Fielding offers both Joseph and Adams as 'virtuous' male characters, the one a figure of chastity and love, and the other of charity, sort of as a counterpoint to Pamela's main male character who is consistently terrible. More over, Joseph Andrews offers a much broader look at 18th century English society and its flaws, the problems with the class system and the way marriage works, etc, whereas Pamela is a much more intimate story.

There is unfortunately a "stolen by g****ies" plotline that pops up at the end of the story, though.