Oliver Goldsmith's hugely successful novel of 1766 remained for generations one of the most highly regarded and beloved works of eighteenth-century...
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Dec 05, 2011
Steve
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Looking for one more summary of the plot of The Vicar of Wakefield? Why would we do that again here?
Rather than waste time in that way, I wish to propose this theory. Those who most enjoy reading The Vicar of Wakefield, are those who, without realizing it on a conscious level, share many of Dr. Primrose's more problematic traits. His inability even to consider taking responsibility for his own destiny or the destiny of his family. His blindness as to the true nature of what goes on abo More...
Rather than waste time in that way, I wish to propose this theory. Those who most enjoy reading The Vicar of Wakefield, are those who, without realizing it on a conscious level, share many of Dr. Primrose's more problematic traits. His inability even to consider taking responsibility for his own destiny or the destiny of his family. His blindness as to the true nature of what goes on abo More...
Jun 22, 2010
Bruce
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This novel was published in 1766 and has a first person narrator. The novel is somewhat picaresque and reminds me of the works of Fielding. The plot involves our hero, having lost his fortune, leaving with his family on a journey to a new and much reduced clerical position. The loss of their fortune is the initial destabilizing event. Dangers are abundant: various possibly unscrupulous people are met, and the vicar’s family is too credulous. The family is also too ready to have aspirations
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Jul 29, 2009
Katie
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This was a charming, 125-page read. Towards the end of the novel I was afraid that it wouldn't end right, but it worked out very pleasantly, and I was grateful. It's fun to hear the minister's advice on life, since it's written in first person. He comments on everything, adding his two cents, and you forgive him for his slights on others' feelings because it's so true to life how he believes his opinions are the only ones that matter. A delightful, light-humored novel.
Quotable Quot More...
Quotable Quot More...
Mar 14, 2011
Pamela
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A curious book. I honestly didn't know what to expect. However, as I read the outrageous twists and turns of fate of Doctor Primrose (the titular vicar) and his family, I couldn't help but think that everything was meant satirically, and not as a true sentimental novel, with heaving bosoms, last-minute pardons, etc., etc. (although those do make appearances!). Everything is so absolutely over-the-top, and the vicar himself so very out of touch with the world and, at times, with rationality, t
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Dec 26, 2010
Lisa
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Delightful! See my review: http://anzlitlovers.wordpress.com/2010/1...
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Aug 03, 2010
Jocelyn
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The Rev'd Dr. Primrose, a devoted monogamist (meaning that, should his wife predecease him, he will never marry another) and father of six, becomes a kind of 18th-century Job. He loses his fortune, his property, his home, three of his children (sort of), and his freedom. He never loses hope, however, nor does he lose his devotion to family and religion. He is not so much a character as a caricature, so that we can weep for him and laugh at him at the same time. Along the way, we also enjoy satir
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Jul 20, 2009
Matthew
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While the various vignettes that comprise the novel are mildly entertaining in their own right, the "Vicar of Wakefield" as a whole is simplistic and uninteresting. At its core, this story is the Book of Job transposed into 18th-century England. The overzealous vicar, who is well off in the beginning, experiences a number of setbacks, but in the end all is restored to him. All the while, his faith in God is never shaken.
However, Goldsmith's vicar is an undynamic, one-dim More...
However, Goldsmith's vicar is an undynamic, one-dim More...
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Jun 18, 2011
Fred
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Well at first I didn't quite see the point in this updated story of Job. It's fine that the protagonist is such a pompous fool, obsessing over the religious controversies around the injunction to Monogamy, but why should he be so mocked by his circumstances, and be made to suffer so? And yet his perseverance in the face of continually overtopping misfortune finally casts about him an unlooked for dignity, and his untouchable goodness is by the end quite moving. And he can command a powerful e
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Apr 08, 2011
David
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Another reviewer described this as "simplistic and uninteresting". I know what he means. There are some very good bits but overall, I found it unsatisfying. Perhaps my disappointment is partly because I couldn't help comparing it to Henry Fielding's Tom Jones - another book where the hero patiently endures a rollercoaster of changing fortunes, and one of my favourite books ever. For a start, it's nowhere near as funny as Tom Jones, and the characters aren't as sympathetic or as well de
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Mar 11, 2010
Larissa
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The Vicar of Wakefield is a charmingly ramshackle book. Published to relieve Goldsmith's debts, for which his landlady tried to arrest him, it has the loose organization and abrupt tonal shifts of a work written in haste. The various digressions work in its favor, though, as around the middle of the novel Goldsmith starts to give his wit free reign. The somewhat placid story of a pious vicar becomes a madcap picaresque, and builds to a deliberately preposterous conclusion in which all of the cha
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Apr 15, 2010
Margaret
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I'd wanted to read The Vicar of Wakefield ever since encountering it in the pages of Little Women, when Aunt March catches Jo chuckling over it and demands that Jo read it to her (Jo later catches Aunt March reading it by herself). It's the tale of the Primrose family -- "all equally generous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive" -- headed by their father, the eponymous vicar, and their trials and tribulations.
It was a little tough to get into, due to a highly digressive an More...
It was a little tough to get into, due to a highly digressive an More...
Jan 17, 2012
Asia
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I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining and easy to read this book was. It's refreshing, despite its old age, and never stops to worry about the realism of it all!
The narrator (Dr Primrose) is both hopeless and moving, wise and naive. Even though it wasn't as good as a whole as other books I've read (someone in the reviews mentioned Fielding, and I agree), I couldn't stop thinking about its possible meaning and moral for some time after finishing it. Is the vicar rescued, or rew More...
The narrator (Dr Primrose) is both hopeless and moving, wise and naive. Even though it wasn't as good as a whole as other books I've read (someone in the reviews mentioned Fielding, and I agree), I couldn't stop thinking about its possible meaning and moral for some time after finishing it. Is the vicar rescued, or rew More...
Jan 10, 2012
Susan
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I have not done any research on this book, but it is obvious to me that Austen had read it before writing her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice. Throughout the reading of this novel, I was undergoing a constant comparison to Austen's P&P. Goldsmith takes up many of the same themes: a scheming mother trying to find husbands for her daughters, a daughter who runs away with a rake to get married, and a family having financial difficulties. The main character is a clergyman, but a different kind of
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Jun 13, 2011
Adrian
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The Vicar of Wakefield is a classic novel of 18th century England. The prime virtue is the irrepressible character of the title character, who remains optimistic in the face of terrible events that befall his little family. He falls victim to lies and tricks, but always retains faith in humanity.
There are aspects that distract a modern reader, though. His views on class and gender are archaic. It seems so obvious that many of his misfortunes are due to the fact that his society e More...
There are aspects that distract a modern reader, though. His views on class and gender are archaic. It seems so obvious that many of his misfortunes are due to the fact that his society e More...
Jun 13, 2011
Bob
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I read this for a book club challenge and at first it was hard to get into, mainly because of the over flowery language but by the end I was moving right along. The Vicar and his family of wife two older daughters, and older son and three younger sons have a comfortable living in a small country parish. Then the village merchant who was acting as banker disappeared with all their funds and they were forced to move to a smaller farmstead in the country. That was the beginning of their continued
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Jan 18, 2012
Hermien
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A quintesentially English book redolent with witticisms such as “Although we seldom followed advice we were all ready enough to ask it” and “Though I have made no use of advice myself I should in conscious give it to those that will.” I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The book was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766, and was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians. The novel is mentioned in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dick More...
The book was written in 1761 and 1762, and published in 1766, and was one of the most popular and widely read 18th-century novels among Victorians. The novel is mentioned in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Jane Austen's Emma, Charles Dick More...
Aug 22, 2009
To any interested in early literature of novels, I would quite readily suggest this book for its slim on one account and easily read on the other. It has also great style and sensitivity. These merits are not self evident, but neither must they be dug for; rather they are strangely aroused throughout the course of the narrative. Largely a continuous series of misfortune, Goldsmith's novel centers around a Vicar who in his simplicity and goodness appears the perfect candidate for a satire of m
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Jun 25, 2009
You know that Monty Python sketch, where the guy introduces himself as "Mr. Smoketoomuch"?
"Well, you'd better cut down a little!" says Mr. Bounder.
"I'm sorry?"
"You'd better cut down a little then."
"Oh, I see! Smoke too much so I'd better cut down a little then!"
"Yes. Ooh, it's going to get people making jokes about your name all the time, eh?"
"No, actuall More...
Apr 06, 2010
Joseph
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 06, 2010
Jennifer
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As I read this book, I couldn't help but see the parallels to the book of Job. The Vicar is a wonderful character -- a man of integrity, faith, and fidelity. He has a wonderful life when things begin to fall apart. His wealth, health,and family are all taken from him, yet through it all he stays true to what he believes. And everything is restored at the end book because of his fidelity. Of course woven into the plot is the 18th century love story with its misunderstandings and tragedies, bu
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Sep 03, 2011
Jesse
rated it:
A good read.
The language was pretty dense, but to be expected from the time period. And besides that, it was actually a pretty easy book to get into and get through (I'm always worried when I start a book that is 200 years old).
The story is a classic tale of the humble good man how keeps getting screwed by the greedy evil guy(s). And the Vicar really gets beaten down by the jerk antagonists. I was impressed how well Goldsmith makes you love to hate the bad guys.
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The language was pretty dense, but to be expected from the time period. And besides that, it was actually a pretty easy book to get into and get through (I'm always worried when I start a book that is 200 years old).
The story is a classic tale of the humble good man how keeps getting screwed by the greedy evil guy(s). And the Vicar really gets beaten down by the jerk antagonists. I was impressed how well Goldsmith makes you love to hate the bad guys.
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Jan 26, 2012
Nadyne
rated it:
First sentence: "I was ever of opinion, that the honest man who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he who continued single and only talked of population."
P. 99: "But nothing could now exceed my confusion upon seeing the gentleman and his lady enter; nor was there surprise at finding such company and good cheer less than ours."
Last sentence: "It now only remained that my gratitude in good fortune should exceed my former submis More...
P. 99: "But nothing could now exceed my confusion upon seeing the gentleman and his lady enter; nor was there surprise at finding such company and good cheer less than ours."
Last sentence: "It now only remained that my gratitude in good fortune should exceed my former submis More...
Nov 04, 2010
Núria
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A veces me pregunto qué pensarán las generaciones futuras si se da el caso de que ven un episodio de ‘True Blood’. ¿Creerán que es una serie seria o se pensarán que es una parodia? ¿Pensarán que la perpetración de tópicos, tramas absurdas, escenas ridículas y giros argumentales inverosímiles son en serio o pensarán que son un guiño irónico hacia los espectadores? Yo misma no sería capaz de decirlo. Algo parecido (me) pasa con ‘El vicario de Wakefield’ de Oliver Goldsmith (escrita entre 1761 y 17
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Aug 26, 2010
Karen
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The nice thing about novels written mid-eighteenth century is that they are so different, to each other as well as to what we have come to expect from the realistic novels of the nineteenth. The sentimental story requires virtue assailed by calamity, but Goldsmith avoids the lachrymose by the sustained cheerful resilience of the Vicar, without him ever becoming annoying. Calamity succeeds disaster, and towards the end there's little left that hasn't yet occurred, but the calm light tone prevents
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May 18, 2010
K.D.
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West Yorkshire, England, 1761 and 1762. Oliver Goldsmith wrote The Vicar of Wakefield, his one and only novel. Part of the introduction of this book says that Mr. Goldsmith was asked by his landlady to leave his apartment due to unpaid rent. Mr. Goldsmith asked his friend, Mr. Boswell, to sell the manuscript of this novel for him to have money.
According to Wikipedia, this novel was one of the most popular and widely read 18th century novels among 19th century Victorians. The novel is More...
According to Wikipedia, this novel was one of the most popular and widely read 18th century novels among 19th century Victorians. The novel is More...
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Mar 09, 2010
Justin
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What's going on here? According to the introduction and notes, it's satire on literary convention. But satire seems too harsh- more like loving parody. I have very little to say, except that if i had to read one eighteenth century novel, this would be it: it's short, it's not repetitive, the prose is lean and clean, it's funny, and it's full of good cheer. And the characters have persuasive arguments for the importance of neo-classical ideals in literature, of which recent authors of bloated mon
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May 14, 2010
Cindy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 24, 2009
Kj
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You can't get very far into Victorian literature without tripping over references to The Vicar of Wakefield. Either the novel's heroine is reading the book, making fun of the book or trying to teach her French pupils how to translate the book. Oliver Goldsmith's 1766 novel is sort of the Moby Dick of the 19th century, in that it was the book that everyone read, or was supposed to read, and thus, the default title to name drop. I'm not comparing the literary merit of Moby Dick and Vicar of Wakefi
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Oct 04, 2008
Hey more 18th century English literature!
This book has one big advantage: It's super short- like 200 pages of regular text. It is so, so much easier to read then any of the other books I've read from this period. This is also the only book you will ever read by Oliver Goldsmith. Sorry- it's true. Goldsmith is a kind of Dickensian character- graduated last in his class at Trinity in Dublin, failed as a writer. Luckily he was buddies with Samuel Johnson- it was his intervention that got More...
This book has one big advantage: It's super short- like 200 pages of regular text. It is so, so much easier to read then any of the other books I've read from this period. This is also the only book you will ever read by Oliver Goldsmith. Sorry- it's true. Goldsmith is a kind of Dickensian character- graduated last in his class at Trinity in Dublin, failed as a writer. Luckily he was buddies with Samuel Johnson- it was his intervention that got More...
Nov 29, 2007
Kitty
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The original Mr. Darcy can be found lurking in the sidelines of this story... Very excellent! It was plain to me that Austen had read this book, and I guess others by Goldsmith. Certainly their views on the world would have been quite compatible. While I'm not sure that they ever met, they were both writing during the meteoric rise of the Empire, and had very similar thoughts on the political and social implications of that rise.
By far the best part of the book were the soliloquies o More...
By far the best part of the book were the soliloquies o More...
