bookmarish 's review for:

Pamela by Samuel Richardson

3.0

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This is an early epistolary novel (novel in letter form), so it's no surprise that writing and reading are important to the characters, and say a lot about who they are. The story is formed around Pamela, a virginal servant girl who is constantly guarding her "virtue" against the lascivious Master of the house, a wealthy young gentleman named Mr. B. The struggle that ensues between Mr. B.'s crafty attempts to take Pamela's virginity (even holding her prisoner in his country house) and Pamela's righteous refusals can get a bit tedious and preachy, but there are some interesting contradictions to the characters as well as psychological dimensions to Richardson's story. It may be another one of those "virtue rewarded" tales (it says so in the title, just in case the reader was hoping to know how the story ends before they read it) but there are some interesting elements to it.