Book Review
Jul. 24th, 2004 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariVanity Fair
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Vanity Fair is a wonderful and witty book. Thackeray pretty effectively skewers the greed and selfishness of early 19th century upper class society. Unlike the work of Austen or Bronte, Vanity Fair contains almost no genuinely good or unselfish people. Money and social status are the sole determinants of how people relate to each other and whether a person is respected or scorned. And yet it's not a book that leaves you feeling unhappy or negative about the world and the people in it. Thackeray has a sly wit that makes it very engaging and entertaining. It's not a "doesn't this suck" critique; it's more of an "aren't they ridiculous" critique.
The story centers mainly around Becky Sharp, an orphan of humble beginnings who rises to the very top of British society only to have a catastrophic fall. Becky is a shrewd, intelligent, ambitious woman who pursues her goal of social and monetary advancement with ruthlessness and cunning. She is not necessarily the most admirable of women, and yet I couldn't really dislike her. Sure, she is most often motivated by greed and selfishness, and rarely displays or feels any genuine sentiments towards anyone. But so are most of the other people in the book. In fact, several of them are even worse. Becky isn't doing anything the people around her aren't also doing. It's just that without a family to back her up or act as a smokescreen, Becky must be much more conniving in her own right. No one schemes for her, so she must scheme only for herself. The only times I really disliked Becky was when she was shitty to Amelia, the other main female character and one of the only true, good, genuine people in the book. Amelia shows true, unselfish friendship towards Becky, and Becky cannot recognize that.
Not that Amelia is a completely admirable character, either. Yes, she is one of the few people who is virtuous, motivated by true and good feelings for others rather than selfishness and greed. However, Amelia thoroughly lacks a spine. She gets trampled all over by almost everyone in the course of the novel, and takes it lying down pretty much the whole way. Much as Becky fails to recognize friendship and genuine feeling when she sees it, Amelia fails to see it when she is treated unfairly or to know who is deserving of her regard and who is not.
There is a film version of Vanity Fair coming out in September, starring Reese Witherspoon as Becky and directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). I've seen previews, and it looks like it will be quite good. I admit that reading about the movie and seeing the trailers is what motivated me to read the book. I wanted to be familiar with the novel before I saw the movie.
by William Makepeace Thackeray
Vanity Fair is a wonderful and witty book. Thackeray pretty effectively skewers the greed and selfishness of early 19th century upper class society. Unlike the work of Austen or Bronte, Vanity Fair contains almost no genuinely good or unselfish people. Money and social status are the sole determinants of how people relate to each other and whether a person is respected or scorned. And yet it's not a book that leaves you feeling unhappy or negative about the world and the people in it. Thackeray has a sly wit that makes it very engaging and entertaining. It's not a "doesn't this suck" critique; it's more of an "aren't they ridiculous" critique.
The story centers mainly around Becky Sharp, an orphan of humble beginnings who rises to the very top of British society only to have a catastrophic fall. Becky is a shrewd, intelligent, ambitious woman who pursues her goal of social and monetary advancement with ruthlessness and cunning. She is not necessarily the most admirable of women, and yet I couldn't really dislike her. Sure, she is most often motivated by greed and selfishness, and rarely displays or feels any genuine sentiments towards anyone. But so are most of the other people in the book. In fact, several of them are even worse. Becky isn't doing anything the people around her aren't also doing. It's just that without a family to back her up or act as a smokescreen, Becky must be much more conniving in her own right. No one schemes for her, so she must scheme only for herself. The only times I really disliked Becky was when she was shitty to Amelia, the other main female character and one of the only true, good, genuine people in the book. Amelia shows true, unselfish friendship towards Becky, and Becky cannot recognize that.
Not that Amelia is a completely admirable character, either. Yes, she is one of the few people who is virtuous, motivated by true and good feelings for others rather than selfishness and greed. However, Amelia thoroughly lacks a spine. She gets trampled all over by almost everyone in the course of the novel, and takes it lying down pretty much the whole way. Much as Becky fails to recognize friendship and genuine feeling when she sees it, Amelia fails to see it when she is treated unfairly or to know who is deserving of her regard and who is not.
There is a film version of Vanity Fair coming out in September, starring Reese Witherspoon as Becky and directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). I've seen previews, and it looks like it will be quite good. I admit that reading about the movie and seeing the trailers is what motivated me to read the book. I wanted to be familiar with the novel before I saw the movie.
