A review by grubstlodger
The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

5.0

Nice little short book after the last one. There was only one character I would have liked as a person (though many of them were enjoyable characters to read). The best chapter was the one dealing with the adventures of Primroses’s son - who spent time as a hack, a sailor, a soldier, a tutor on the grand tour and an art expert despite knowing nothing about art - I saw myself in that. I liked what a snob Primrose’s wife was and how patronising he was about it. I also liked the improbable ending though I suspected a more improbable one - I thought that Primrose’s misfortunes were a test created by the Burchell, the rich man. It wasn’t quite that complicated. The style was very simple and very readable and the sappy nature of the character never made the book feel sappy - pretty good in total.