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A review by paintedverse
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
5.0
Tom Jones is a kind of story that I pour out my heart to. I haven't read something so agreeable and sweet and pleasing in a very long run. It demands patience, not only because of the number of pages, but also because of the gentleness that Fielding has shown for even in portraying something immodest. I am glad that I didn't leave the journey unexplored. I had an urge to, but I pushed myself a little everyday. It took three months for me to get convinced that I need to read this and another (almost) two months to finish reading it. Ultimately, like all journeys, it ended, and how agreeably has it ended.
Tom Jones is widely acknowledged to be one of the first English novels. The greatest challenge for me was its writing style. Who was I fooling? I should have accepted from the beginning that this is not the conventional writing style. Afterall, it was published long back in 1749. Tom Jones tells the story of a solitary hero, a vagabond, who, though he has Mr Allworthy as his family member, the most agreeable of all fellows, undertakes a journey and carries the social stigma everywhere. Though I felt that he lacks certain 'virtue' for which he is often considered worthy of admiration, but this too, I can let pass. Afterall, who, among us, is entirely faultless?
The narration of this novel can't remain untouched. It is a tangle of many styles. The authorial interventions are many, but it adds on to establishing a firmness in the plot. Like everything that is a part of this novel, the narrator is quite agreeable. With a pleasing disposition, he lets the reader use their imagination while also instigating a few emotions in the journey. While, on the one hand, there are characters who are full of concealment and debauchery, on the other hand, there are characters who can easily be said to be the embodiment of virtue.
I can't stop myself from gushing over the fact that even though I had wanted to leave it in between, I didn't. Damn -- it counts as one of the best decisions of my life.
Tom Jones is widely acknowledged to be one of the first English novels. The greatest challenge for me was its writing style. Who was I fooling? I should have accepted from the beginning that this is not the conventional writing style. Afterall, it was published long back in 1749. Tom Jones tells the story of a solitary hero, a vagabond, who, though he has Mr Allworthy as his family member, the most agreeable of all fellows, undertakes a journey and carries the social stigma everywhere. Though I felt that he lacks certain 'virtue' for which he is often considered worthy of admiration, but this too, I can let pass. Afterall, who, among us, is entirely faultless?
The narration of this novel can't remain untouched. It is a tangle of many styles. The authorial interventions are many, but it adds on to establishing a firmness in the plot. Like everything that is a part of this novel, the narrator is quite agreeable. With a pleasing disposition, he lets the reader use their imagination while also instigating a few emotions in the journey. While, on the one hand, there are characters who are full of concealment and debauchery, on the other hand, there are characters who can easily be said to be the embodiment of virtue.
I can't stop myself from gushing over the fact that even though I had wanted to leave it in between, I didn't. Damn -- it counts as one of the best decisions of my life.