Clarissa, or, The History of a Young Lady in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 10, 2013 Suvi rated it liked it

Shelves: novels, 1700s, _great-britain, cities_london

Clarissa is one of the longest novels in the English language. Even the full title is staggeringly long: Comprehending The Most Important Concerns of Private Life, And particularly showing The distress that may attend the Misconduct both of parents and children, In relation to Marriage. I can't remember why and when I was inspired to read this (possibly a curiosity towards controversial classics?), but I knew it wasn't going to be easy. It sure wasn't, but it was still somewhat rewarding, and I' Clarissa is one of the longest novels in the English language. Even the full title is staggeringly long: Comprehending The Most Important Concerns of Private Life, And particularly showing The distress that may attend the Misconduct both of parents and children, In relation to Marriage. I can't remember why and when I was inspired to read this (possibly a curiosity towards controversial classics?), but I knew it wasn't going to be easy. It sure wasn't, but it was still somewhat rewarding, and I'm quite satisfied that I finished the whole thing. Kind of like after a long walk: you're tired and at home you just fall on the couch, but soon you'll feel better and you remember all the beautiful scenery you had seen along the way.

Lovelace believes that virtue cannot be found in any woman, because his first love betrayed him, and it seems he avenges this betrayal on the whole gender. His twisted perception of love is more like an astonishingly persistent and obsessive desire to conquer a virtuous angel. Clarissa is like a caged bird captured by a lion and taken into his dark cave. Then again, sometimes the reader gets tricked the same way as Clarissa, when you start to think that perhaps Lovelace truly loves Clarissa and wants to make amends, but doesn't know how to express his love other than by hurting her.

The biggest problem is - not surprisingly - the length. The story progresses devastatingly slowly. My initial thought was to read a letter or two a day, but I had to change my pace. The story didn't simply seem to get anywhere, but I still wanted to know the ending without checking Wikipedia or skipping the pages.

I liked Lovelace as the crook, and the themes seemed to be surprisingly heavy, especially towards the ending and after all the marriage stuff at the beginning. Clarissa may annoy some people with her virtuousness, but I kind of liked her when she stood up for herself and stayed true to her principles, even though her angelic personality were emphasized a bit too much. An epistolary form also gives a chance to interpret things between lines, since all the characters aren't given the chance to tell their side of the story. However, the page count eats away most of the good qualities of the novel, because the pacing is just god-awful. Richardson would have needed a good editor. His contemporaries didn't seem to mind though, since this was a bestseller in its time (readers even travelled to the places where the story was set), but these days Clarissa as it stands pleases only a few.

During the days between finishing this and writing a review in my blog, I found out there is a radio play from 2010 with Richard Armitage. Of course I had to try, because I love Armitage's voice and I can follow radio plays better than audio books. All the actors were great in their roles, but Armitage completely stole the show with his smouldering interpretation of the snake Lovelace. I could listen to him every night whispering in my headphones. Anyway (:D), I'm glad I listened to the production, because it also enhanced my understanding of the novel (I admit, I shed a couple of tears at the end). It kind of condensed the story into a nice package, whereas reading the book felt like Richardson had come up with a some sort of fiendish strategy to exhaust the reader. Despite the novel's easy English, my eyelids kept drooping every once in a while.

Nice thick classics are great to sink into, but I have my limits. So I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without a big warning sticker, but if the story interests you, the Armitage production can be found here. If you like it and you're courageous enough, you can move on to the actual thing. Now that I think about it, I think I liked this far more than what it felt like in the middle of the reading project. Since the radio play was worth at least four stars, but the book just two, I'm making a compromise and will give this three. Despite the slow pace, I liked the themes, the characters, the plot, and there was just that "something" that classics usually have.

At some point I'm going to check out the Sean Bean miniseries, but for now I'll lay this depressing tale to rest and move on to other interesting stuff. Don't worry, Lovelace, we'll meet again. ...more

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Jun 10, 2025 Karen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I started reading this book as a buddy read, but I found that after a while, I had trouble putting it down, and I wanted to keep reading. This is a long, tragic story about a virtuous young woman (18), finds herself in the clutches of a vile man, and who really bluntly wants nothing more from her than sex. As we know back in the 18th century, having sex outside of marriage would ruin a woman.

So why should we read this 1748 epistolary novel? Most likely Jane Austen and the Victorians read this w ...more

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Oct 17, 2009 Lindsey Z rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the first competely epistolary novel I've ever read and I loved it. The letters kept me in suspense with what would happen next. The friendship between Anna and Clarissa is admirable and inspiring and the character of Lovelace as intriguing and complex as characters get. I would have given this book 5 stars, but there were stretches of time without Clarissa's perspective (the one I found most interesting and relatable to me)-particulary the rape scene; and some letters seemed unnecessary ...more

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