Yvette's review
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (Modern Library Classics)
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Yvette's review
Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero (Modern Library Classics) by William Makepeace Thackeray
Yvette's review
rating:
The only reason I didn't give this a 5-star review is because it is too long and a bit repetitive. Whereas other Victorian novels keep you turning pages, there were whole chapters I could probably have done without in Vanity Fair.
That said, it's a brilliant story, turning the world of social status on its ear, and creating a most endearing wench of a main character in Becky Sharp. I can see how Becky was the prototype on which Margaret Mitchell based her Scarlett O'Hara--Becky is the original witty, sharp-tongued, unscrupulous social-climber who is still somehow incredibly attractive (though not at all beautiful) and charming.
There is the usual Victorian cast of characters: the chaste maiden in distress in the form of Amelia; the gallant-but-poor sufferer of unrequited love in Capt. Dobbin; the pompous, cowardly, over-stuffed fool with a heart of gold in Jos; the oh-dear-do-you-think-you're-god's-gift good-looking scoundrel in George Osborne... Still, they are in essence t...more
That said, it's a brilliant story, turning the world of social status on its ear, and creating a most endearing wench of a main character in Becky Sharp. I can see how Becky was the prototype on which Margaret Mitchell based her Scarlett O'Hara--Becky is the original witty, sharp-tongued, unscrupulous social-climber who is still somehow incredibly attractive (though not at all beautiful) and charming.
There is the usual Victorian cast of characters: the chaste maiden in distress in the form of Amelia; the gallant-but-poor sufferer of unrequited love in Capt. Dobbin; the pompous, cowardly, over-stuffed fool with a heart of gold in Jos; the oh-dear-do-you-think-you're-god's-gift good-looking scoundrel in George Osborne... Still, they are in essence t...more
