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whatmeganreads 's review for:
Vanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
So, a Charles Dickens novel and a Jane Austen novel walk into a bar......
If you can imagine a mash-up between those two authors, you'd get close to Vanity Fair. Where Dickens pokes fun at society, Thackeray demolishes it. Where Austen gives you characters you want to fight for, Thackeray gives you characters you want to fight. The author didn't subtitle it "A Novel Without a Hero" for goofs. But GOSH, was it fun to read! This felt like an 1850's literary version of the movie Don't Look Up.
Razor-sharp wit and dry humor. Sarcasm. Romantic scandals. Betrayals. Cold calculations. Vengeance. The battle for true love. But also surprisingly relevant observations on systemic racism, societal disparities, crime, and wage gap. (The rich get richer while the poor get poorer....and folks wonder why we have the crime rate we do while also refusing to pay a living wage....)
And that last line? BOOM. I loved it. A fantastic classic, and rightfully deserving of that name.
"...and who knows but Rebecca was right in her speculations - and that it was only a question of money and fortune which make the difference between her and an honest woman? If you take temptations into account, who is to say that he is better than his neighbor? A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least keeps them so. An alderman coming from a turtle feast will not step out of his carriage to steal a leg of mutton; but put him to starve, and see if he will not purloin a loaf."
If you can imagine a mash-up between those two authors, you'd get close to Vanity Fair. Where Dickens pokes fun at society, Thackeray demolishes it. Where Austen gives you characters you want to fight for, Thackeray gives you characters you want to fight. The author didn't subtitle it "A Novel Without a Hero" for goofs. But GOSH, was it fun to read! This felt like an 1850's literary version of the movie Don't Look Up.
Razor-sharp wit and dry humor. Sarcasm. Romantic scandals. Betrayals. Cold calculations. Vengeance. The battle for true love. But also surprisingly relevant observations on systemic racism, societal disparities, crime, and wage gap. (The rich get richer while the poor get poorer....and folks wonder why we have the crime rate we do while also refusing to pay a living wage....)
And that last line? BOOM. I loved it. A fantastic classic, and rightfully deserving of that name.
"...and who knows but Rebecca was right in her speculations - and that it was only a question of money and fortune which make the difference between her and an honest woman? If you take temptations into account, who is to say that he is better than his neighbor? A comfortable career of prosperity, if it does not make people honest, at least keeps them so. An alderman coming from a turtle feast will not step out of his carriage to steal a leg of mutton; but put him to starve, and see if he will not purloin a loaf."