When I read classics, it's not all about just reading them. I'm also really trying to discover what's made them classics. I want to know why people like them so much. And I can usually figure something out; that's why I end up with so many five star reviews. But this? This piece of shit escapes me.

The first half is entertaining enough, as the vaguely-named Mr. B---- kidnaps a servant and tries to steal her titular virtue. There are dastardly schemes and narrow escapes, and he makes a good villai More...

Reading this is like watching the invention of literature before your eyes. Richardson began this as yet another work-for-hire series of "conduct letters" of the sort that Madame De La Fayette et al made popular during the 1600s, but the story took off in such a way that it became more like, oh, a reality show that develops into its own story. Richardson developed the narrative "a l'moment" approach, that is, slipping inside the character's skin and reporting on what they were thinking and feeli More...

Anyone who's had the Sisyphean task of reading this shares a cosmic bond: if you have, you know what I mean. This and "Dear Mr. Henshaw" make me want to slit my own wrists in reaction to the idea of the epistolary novel. Fucking Pamela is one dipshit of a girl, but Richardson himself is no better. Any time I see a terrible, modern didactic novel I feel reassured knowing it will end up as beloved & well-known as this one in the future.

I encountered Samuel Richardson's Pamela many years ago as part of my History of the Novel module at university. I was introduced to some great works through that course, and there are two reasons I am grateful for being introduced to this; mostly, because it was the first year the class had read Pamela rather than Clarissa (which is more than twice the length, but also because it made it clear to us that even in an academic environment there are books which are considered as classics because of More...

I did not finish this book. Because it is a million pages that boil down to:

PAMELA: I am a lowly maid. Yet my virtue, look at it.
MASTER-OF-THE-HOUSE: Ooh, dazzling. How 'bout you let me avail myself of some of that virtue?
PAMELA: No!
MASTER: YES.
PAMELA: No!
MASTER: YES.

[Insert cross-dressing in-bed-hiding country-house-involving shenanigans.:]

MASTER-OF-THE-HOUSE: Your virtue, it has won me over. Marry me?
PAMELA: But of course.

Ok, the shenanigans make it sound vaguely amusing? Just know that there More...

Pamela is a maid who plays hard to get and reaps all the benefits! She becomes mistress of the house and indeed her virtue is rewarded. This books is pretty engaging. So much so I finally have relented and have a "booksthattaughtmeaboutsex" shelf because while there is no explicit sex, I was SERIOUSLY confused reading this book about what exactly this guy was hassling Pamela about all the time and why she just didn't give him what he wanted. So I must have gleaned some tidbit that later helped m More...

read the one thousand plus pages or just the title, which also tells the whole story

I really didn't like this book. My British novel professor assures me that my affection for it will grow over the years, but I somehow doubt that at this point. Pamela is a dangerous picture of womanhood... she is largely responsible for the whole "women have power in powerlessness" idea that left many, many women abused and riddled with the sexually transmitted diseases their husbands brought home in the 18th and 19th centuries. Because of Pamela, I'm sure they often believed that if they were More...

Man, reading this book for 18th century literature was like a bad hangover except with no booze involved - just a headache. It was so very very long and so very very bad. I had to skim through the last half of the book, because I couldn't be bothered to give a damn.

The main character Pamela irritated me to death. Her virtue is her defining point and while I understand that morals and sexuality were VERY different in the 1700s, I didn't want to sit there and read page after page about a servant g More...

I imagine that most people today read this book to laugh at its outdated morality. Certainly, there is something funny in the premise of the story: Pamela, a poor but dignified servant girl, attracts the attention of a rich squire who deceives and kidnaps her but somehow is so impressed by her natural modesty and virtue that he is reluctant to take outright from her what she is unwilling to give.

One way to read the novel (a way that must certainly have contributed to the book's initial popularit More...

There is still like 1/3 of this I haven't read, but my professor isn't requiring we read the end, so I'm just going to mark this as read. I'll probably go back and finish it another time. This book had a lot of interesting things to say about power and relationship dynamics. The fact that I liked this book speaks to how good it was, because the majority of the time I was reading this book it was either 1 am when I could have been sleeping or 6 pm when I could have been having fun with my friends More...

Hello, dear reader, my name is Pamela and I am the human embodiment of the loftiest and most admirable virtues. Over the course of my tedious, overlong, and mind-numbingly predictable narrative, I will show you how I am the human embodiment of the loftiest and most admirable virtues.

For a woman.

In the 1700s.

Um, and how I am nearly essentially raped by the man I work for and how I inexplicably end up falling madly in love with him.

This will be a good read for you. It really, really, really, reall More...

It saddens me that Goodreads has no love for this book. First of all, it's one of the earliest novels ever written, so it deserves more respect from that perspective alone. Secondly, you have to place it in its time. Early 18th century readers found this material quite titillating, and of course wanted to see a virtuous end to all the lasciviousness. That way, they could have their cake and eat it, too. For its time, this was really racy material. Naturally nowadays we find the idea of a woman w More...

Right! I'm a bit behind on my reviews, but they aren't going to get done by sitting here staring at my stacks of books.

Pamela was pretty good. I mean, if you like kidnapping and Stockholm Syndrome to be glorified and lead to a "happy" marriage. Towards the end it got repetitive, but the beginning, with the kidnapping and escape attempts, was pretty cool over all.

So Pamela is a young waiting-maid whose mistress has just died. Her parents are obviously concerned that the family home is now going t More...

I suppose I can't blame Richardson for his outdated ideas; Pamela was written in the 18th century for goodness' sake. I think this is an early example of the recurrent theme of the love of a good woman being able to change a bad (or troubled) man for the better. It's a dangerous notion that even today makes women and girls think that they can change a guy if they just love him enough.

For some reason, most societies have chosen to burden women with the responsibility of not only maintaining their More...

BUT,of course I had to read my name sake!It was INDEED a hard read.
Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded is an "epistolary novel" by Samuel Richardson, first published in 1740. It tells the story of a beautiful but poor 15-year old servant-maid named Pamela Andrews whose master, Mr. B, a nobleman, makes unwanted advances towards her after the death of his mother whose maid she was since the age of 12. Mr. B is infatuated with her, first by her looks and then her innocence and intelligence but his high rank More...

I read this book at least four years ago so I cannot remember the whole storyline and don't plan on reading this again. What I do remember is how tedious it was for me to read.
The book is well-written but if you're not used to old-style english it takes some concentration. But the problem for me was the fifteen year old Pamela. Maybe its just me but I thought she was overreacting about Mr B's "advances".
Throughout the book I felt he was completely misconstrued and although he may have acted wr More...

Reading this book for grad school with other epistolary novels of the period throws into sharp contrast the ridiculous, obscene, and vulgar denouement of this novel in comparison to its peers. The novel is 550 pages in length and the issue is resolved on page 246! The lead up to this climax is a tedious, un-suspenseful account of all the evil things this man does to molest the protagonist: he pays someone to beat up and rob a priest, kidnaps Pamela, attempts to rape her in her bed chamber, pays More...

This book was assigned to me as part of the Books1001 group on LiveJournal. I wouldn't have chosen to read it myself, or if I did, I probably would have given up after a few pages because it's stiff reading. Nevertheless, I did complete it for the group and here is my review:

I'm going to start by giving some historical background, because I think it's important for understanding not only the book itself, but also the general influence it had on literature (and some other specific books on our r More...

Finally relinquished this to Goodwill, but not before re-reading the scribbles I made in the covers during my "The Origins Of The Novel" class, circa 2001:
"It's like a manifesto! Serving girls! Throw off your chains and marry your masters!"
... actually, my professor said that one.


Confession: I love Samuel Richardson. I love Pamela. I love Clarissa. I love the wicked Mr. B-, who practically twirls his mustache as he looms in corners, waiting for 'poor unhappy Pamela' to drop her defenses (and he More...

I was so busy catching up on all my vacation books that I totally forgot to blog my final thoughts on this 18th century behemoth.

What to say about a book that treats virginity as the most important quality a woman has but is weirdly feminist in the agency and resistance it gives its perky heroine? A book that demonizes a tyrannical master as a would-be rapist and jailer and then turns him into a romantic hero? A book that embraces a cross-class marriage while avowing to preserve the distinction More...

I'm rather piqued that Richardson's heroine has my name. This novel does little to recommend itself or its heroine. I managed to read 119 pages (but who's counting?) before I caught myself slowly reaching for my eyes in order to gouge them out. That way, with my eyes gouged out, it would be easier for my brain to ooze out of my eye sockets, it having been turned completely to mush by this "story."

I suppose it's well known enough: Mr (or Squire) B lusts after the gorgeous and pert Pamela. Alas! S More...

(I would like to point out that the following review is more of a rant than a proper review and will be of no benefit for those wishing to ascertain the quality of the novel)

I have rated this book so low, not because it lacks literary value, but because the plot alone is abhorrent to my delicate sensibilities. This poor girl is sexually assaulted several times as Mr. B makes multiple attempts to rape her and THEN (because she refuses to be violated) she is tricked into a several month long impri More...

I read Pamela four or five years ago for a class on Restoration and 18th century British Literature. I believe I was the only person in the class who actually finished the book. And I had to force myself to do it. It's really repetitive. Pamela keeps saying the same things over and over and over again, and she ends up coming off as pretty snotty.

However, I did keep reading, and not out of some sense of obligation for class. I kept reading because I was fascinated by Pamela's insistence on writin More...

I do try to keep in mind when I read a book this old that conventions were very different in its time, on many levels. I do think there is a certain charm here (though the characters are a bit flat) and some nice passages. However, I do have to object to the length as a first thing. I have no problems with long books and have read many much longer that I wouldn't trim a word of, but that is not the case here. The only reason I object to a 500 page book from Mr. Richardson is that he only had mat More...

I set myself to read this because although I was an English major, it was never assigned, and because Abigail Adams had read it.
I understand the modern sensibilities that make most of the reviewers here turn up their noses. But...
I particularly enjoyed:
the suspense - will she succumb, will he change his mind, what will his friends say, will his sister be reconciled to it - which is quite well maintained even though by reading the preface you KNOW the outcomes.
the analysis of Mr. B on why marria More...