The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding – 3 Stars (Rounded up)

[Hannah]

This is the book that has been on my TBR the longest, and if I had not been given a push to read it for a Fat Summer Read, I’m not sure I would ever have got around to it. The book tells the story of Tom, whose parentage is unknown for the majority of the book, as he is sent to London to make his own fortune. The writing style and themes are very much of its time, being published in 1749, and it had a gentle humour throughout that I mainly enjoyed. It was rather long-winded at times, so that I just wanted the flowery languages to be toned down many times, and whilst the story started well, it quickly became a bit of a story of him just chasing women. There was one part of this book that I had a real problem with, though it is a plot that I have seen used in other books of this time (view spoiler)[when one woman was set up by a relative to be raped by a Lord, with this being seen as a bit of mischief rather than a crime (hide spoiler)]. Following this, I began to feel uneasy whilst reading the rest of the book, as I was always wondering whether something similar would occur again. I’m happy to have finished the book, but it did leave a bit of a sour taste behind.