Reviews

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

sarahbc93_'s review against another edition

1.0

Oh my god. Kill me now. I’ve never wanted to throw a book out the window more than this one.

The book is 601 pages long, this could easily have been trimmed down to 400 ish. I can’t stand many of the characters, in fact the only one I like is Major Dobbin.

The spilt of the narratives didn’t seem fair, we spent 90% of the book with Becky and the rest with everyone else. Which wasn’t great.

All in all, I’m never going to read this again.

chlopen's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

mutable_me's review against another edition

3.0

I wouldn't call this my favorite victorian novel by any means, but I've always been fascinated by the trick Thackeray pulls on the reader here. Despite his proclamation of the text as "A Novel Without A Hero", over the course of the sprawling narrative of the crafty, amoral Becky Sharp and her somewhat boring victorian-stock-heroine schoolmate and former friend Amelia Sedley, I had begun to read Vanity Fair as a standard Dickensian tale of misadventures and tragedy barreling towards a somewhat contrived, happy resolution. Imagine my surprise then, arriving at the conclusion, whereupon (without revealing too much!) Thackeray pulls the rug out from under the reader, revealing that Becky is every bit as bad as we've imagined her, and that even the supposedly heroic characters are flawed and perhaps not so noble after all.

That said, for all the fun comedy bits and Becky's place as one of the most interesting victorian female protagonists, like many satires the book is perhaps just a bit too cynical for its own good. While Thackeray performs some clever tricks with his reader's expectations, when all is said and done he still plays primarily to the staid middle-class victorian morality one would expect from a novel of this vintage, and that is somewhat disappointing.

villagebi's review against another edition

challenging funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

hwillis1642's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

h_martin's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

safiyamreads's review against another edition

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

linwang77's review against another edition

challenging funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I watched this book years after seeing the miniseries adaptation. It was really satisfying bc the book goes into so much more detail and the plot continues beyond what you see in the show. The most fascinating part was the equal parts contempt and respect that the author writes about Becky with—I would have expected an older historical novel like this to basically be completely contemptuous of a character like hers and revel in her humiliation. But, there was something like a grudging respect for her pluck, wit, and determination that seemed much more modern. Similarly, I would’ve expected a book like this to prop up Amelia in a very Virgin Mary vs Becky’s Madonna type foil dynamic. But, while the author praises Amelia’s goodness and purity, he also sometimes not so subtly scorns her simple mindedness, blind trust, and rigid morality. In this sense, the tone is just so modern in that women can’t win whether society deems them as sluts or prudes. And, I like how he applies a pretty equally scornful view of the male characters in the book. There are obviously still class, racial, and gendered biases displayed, but much less than I would’ve expected. So much of the dialogue abt English society and their petty squabbles and proud airs is so similar to the culture wars of today. Overall, he praises their virtues and laughs at their faults; he says the book has no heroine or hero, but he makes you still care abt these silly, vain people.

buttonluke's review against another edition

2.0

Between all of the meaningless blather, Vanity Fair failed to get my attention. It rambled on to many different subjects and took way too long to get into a conflict. I have to admit that I didn't finish it, but that wasn't from trying...I spent a good month trying to pick it up and get past certain parts. What I accomplished, was to reach the middle of the book without any significant advancements in anything. Maybe I'll try to read it at a later date. And so, maybe my review is a little premature, but the first part was enough to keep me away for a little bit.

angharadmiller's review against another edition

funny tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0