You should probably read this book because it is pretty hilarious. If you don’t want to, though – if you’re a wuss about page length and the words Waterloo and Wellington aren’t enough to overcome it – there are some acceptable alternatives about which I will gladly tell you now. While the feature film was TERRIBLE, COMPLETELY SPOILED THE STORY, and didn’t pay attention to ANY of the jokes (shaking my fist at that ruiner, Mira Nair!), the A&E miniseries is really good. Like, really, really good. I could watch it over and over - and have. The other, perhaps even better alternative, however, is the modern retelling of Vanity Fair, The Real Housewives of D.C., starring Michaele Salahi as Becky Sharp.

I mean, really all the Real Housewives are retellings of Vanity Fair – they all tell the same basic story – but D.C. is the only one that implicates all the grandeur of aristocracy and national security, so I think it’s the one that’s so similar it makes me pause for a moment at its awesomeness. I was horrified to hear that there is talk D.C. will be canceled, so I invite you to prevent this tragic wrong and start catching up on all the D.C. Housewives you can get your hands on. Or, you know, write a letter to your local Bravo TV rep, or whatever you do to save a show.

Anyway, for those of you who want substantive information, the story of Vanity Fair, the story of the Housewives of D.C. (and all the Housewives, for that matter), is that somebody throws a party and doesn’t invite one of the girls, and then that girl crashes the party anyway. Then, people fight. The cool thing about the D.C. Housewives is that the crashed party is at the White House, and the people-fighting part involves a congressional hearing. Vanity Fair is the same, but the people fighting are at the Battle of Waterloo at one point. In VF and D.C., the uninvited girl is the truth-challenged social climber, and both have pretty poignant commentaries on wealth and credit, imo.

It's been quite some time since I read this book, to be honest, but I remember vividly that once, while reading this book, I had to put it down and sit for a minute because I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t see the page anymore at this situationally hilarious joke. I still remember the joke, and I still think it is so funny. The Housewives are pretty much like that too. It is tragic that probably the traditional Vanity Fair crowd and the traditional Housewives crowd don’t mix more often. Stories about social climbing are so fun! Even if they are both really long taken in one sitting. They are serials! Don’t try to cram them if you don’t want to. But if you like to hear stories about people who, like, really like to party, these two are the same, but both worth checking out. I guess it depends on whether you feel like picking up a “classic” or saving a show from extinction. Or, if you don’t have a lot of other things going on, or a lot of parties of your own to crash, you could do both! You won’t regret it.

Un buen retrato con muchísima crítica y sarcasmo de la sociedad de los primeros años del siglo XIX, en una Inglaterra envuelta en las Guerras Napoleónicas y en plena carrera imperialista.
El autor no deja títere con cabeza.
Pero me da la sensación de que se me escapan detalles. Es una lectura que en mi caso requerirá una relectura dentro de unos años.

This book might be unique in that it not only claims to have no hero, but in fact has no hero. What it does have is a cast of duplicitous, weak or inane characters, none of whom stir much in the way of either pity, empathy, or affinity. It also has the bad girl to end all bad girls, Miss Rebecca Sharp. I doubt anyone would argue that Becky is not the most interesting character in the book, and while some might admire the good little Amelia, few could actually like her.

Vanity Fair is quite a bit longer than it needs to be and some chapters meander aimlessly, but this, I believe, can be attributed to the method in which it was released. When a book is being presented to its audience in a serial form, it must go on for a prearranged period of time and acquire a certain length. Were it being edited for release as a novel today, I feel sure it would be shortened considerably.

Thackeray breaks the fourth wall constantly, talking to the reader and urging him to see the point he has just made, in a way that can become irritating at times. But, even this conceit works for me for the most part. Toward the end of the book, the narrator explains that he has “just met” the principles, which sent my head spinning, for how could one know all the details set forth in such omniscient fashion if one just had a chance encounter with these people toward the end of their stories? Up to this point, I had accepted the narrator as an all-seeing sort of presence, not a literal acquaintance of the characters, so it was discombobulating to say the least.

Vanity Fair is a moral tale, or more correctly a tale about lack of morals. One wonders if this society actually had any or if everything that passed for morals was pretense.

At one point, Thackery compares the behavior of these persons to a mermaid and her tail:
Those who may peep down under waves that are pretty transparent and see it writhing and twirling, diabolically hideous and slimy, flapping amongst bones, or curling around corpses; but above the waterline, I ask, has not everything been proper, agreeable, and decorous, and has even the most squeamish immoralist in Vanity Fair a right to cry fie.

I believe he is trying to impress upon his reader that this is a world of pretense, a world that cares more for appearance than it ever could for virtue. Indeed, we watch Becky Sharp navigate this society in the most unscrupulous way possible, and we cannot help feeling that her flaws and shortcomings are more about survival than evil.

And, there seems to be a particular emphasis on women and their relationships to one another:

I am tempted to think that to be despised by her sex is a very great compliment to a woman.

and

As they say, the persons who hate Irishmen most are Irishmen; so, assuredly, the greatest tyrants over women are women.

It does indeed seem that it is the fairer sex, who are proposed to have the gentler hearts, the nurturing instincts and the sweeter dispositions, who wield the knife most cruelly. The men, while equally dissipated, seem somehow more gullible and unaware than hateful or manipulative.

I had a hard time deciding what rating to give this tome. I did enjoy it and found myself caught up in the story at times. There were also moments when I might have laid it aside and never picked it up again without the slightest hesitation. It is not the best of Victorian literature to me...it has none of the power of Eliot, none of the charm of Dickens, and none of the atmosphere of Hardy. In short, it cannot be ranked with the best of its time, but it cannot be dismissed either. I could not help feeling sorry for Thackeray, knowing that he suffered in comparison to Dickens in his lifetime and will continue to do so throughout literary history.

I am happy to have read Vanity Fair at last. There are surely some important ideas addressed and some things of value that can be taken away from it, but it is not the kind of book that pleads well to be read again.

Това, което от съвременна гледна точка не разбрах съвсем, е като че ли умишленото опростяване и отрицание на Беки Шарп в края на книгата. И някак преекспонираната награда на пълната наивност и доживотна безпомощност на Амелия. Наивност и доброта без здрав разум и понякога твърда ръка често са безполезни и още по-често - мачкани. Но за викторианските писатели това е идеалът, дори за сладкодумния и остроумен Текери. Просто “добрата” героиня в дните на кралица Виктория е наивна, всеопрощаваща и абсолютно безпомощна.

"Vanity Fair" is set in England, in the years around Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. However, William Makepeace Thackeray's portrait of human nature isn't limited to any time or place. The novel is made up of nothing but super-rigidly-defined cliques; complicated rules about who is allowed to talk to whom, when, where, and for how long; small levels of popularity subdivided into types; and a bunch of people who are constantly trying to reach the top of the heap and avoid becoming social pariahs. No wonder I’ve loved this book as a teenager… it sounds just like highschool!

In a nutshell, “Vanity Fair” is the story of two young women whose lives take them in and out of every segment of English society, each of which can be mocked and displayed for laughs in turn. But what's more important than the plot is the style of the novel: its bitter and caustic humor. And it really does have something for everyone to laugh at: snobby merchants, greedy social climbers, illiterate aristocrats, nosy servants, evil nobles, macho soldiers, bossy women, bumbling men, British people, German people, Belgian people, and every other kind of group of humans that can be crammed in.

What sets this aside from the novels of its time is that it's not about very nice people. These are people who make disliking them so easy -- which makes them, all the more, interesting. I sensed that Thackeray got into everything he ever witnessed or suspected about human motives. It's a profoundly skeptical book. He pits worldliness against goodness with no illusions about which quality usually triumphs. Put it this way: In a Dickens novel, a small boy rescued from the torments of a bully will almost certainly grow up to be an exemplar of kindness and gentleness. The same boy, in Thackeray, grows up to be a snob and a rotter, and hateful to the friend who saved him from the bully. Multiply those incidents into a panorama that stretches nearly the entire height of early 19th century English society, and you have an overwhelmingly coherent and devastating satiric vision. And in the midst of it all is Thackeray's protagonist: the scheming, status-seeking Rebecca “Becky” Sharp.

A poor orphan of low birth, Becky is a born hustler and almost sociopathic striver who manages to raise herself to the upper limits of high society and wealth -- only to see her achievements crumble under the weight of her bad deeds. Evil temptress or misunderstood woman ahead of her time? You be the judge. "Vanity Fair" is inevitably a feminist tale, because Becky will not be kept down. But there's another way of looking at the story which doesn't preclude the feminist treatment, and which seems potentially richer: its inescapable revelation that in 19th century England, a woman had to be a genius to achieve success -- or even to fight life to a draw.

Her foil, Amelia Sedley, is also compelling. While Becky is self-reliant and action oriented, with a scheme or two always on the backburner, Amelia is dependent on the kindness of the next stranger to come around the corner. If you want to get fancy about it, she entirely lacks agency. In almost any other novel, she would be the heroine, and her sad-sack ways would be disguised a little better so that instead of coming across like a lump of nothing she would seem like a paragon of femininity. You know the drill: dainty, small, semi-pathetic, and needing some white-knight rescue action. Here, though, we are shown exactly what happens when you take those supposed ideals of femininity to the extreme -- you get Jell-O in human form.

Thackery's narrator, who's telling a "true" story based on the accounts of the principal characters he has met, satirizes early 19th century British and European culture (class, religion, education, business, war, tourism, etc.) so as to expose human vanity in general. He is keenly honest about their failings, yet you don't get the feeling that he despises people for their weaknesses. He tells the story almost as if he is a fond old uncle, slightly detached, amused at the foibles of, but still having affection for, his characters.

“Vanity Fair” is a very long novel, written in serialization. Sentences are complex and very long, florid, and decorative. There is a lightness in its tone, even when your emotions are being tugged a bit. The book may not be uplifting --but it’s certainly entertaining, thought provoking, and often moving. After reading this again, I could still say that this must be the most decorous, savage novel ever written -- and it's one of a handful of books I’ve encountered to describe an honest vision of the world.

"But as we are to see a great deal of Amelia, there is no harm in saying, at the outset of our acquaintance, that she was a dear little creature. And a great mercy it is, both in life and in novels, which (and the latter especially) abound in villains of the most sombre sort that we are to have for a companion so guileless and good natured a person. As she is not a heroine, there is no need to describe her person; indeed I am afraid that her nose was rather too short than otherwise and her cheeks a good deal too round and red for a heroine..."

I just chose this passage randomly out of the first few pages of the novel to illustrate how much I love Thackeray's voice. He himself is the best character in the novel. To use theatre terminology, he definitely breaks the 4th wall into the story quite frequently. Reading it is rather like watching the play, but with periodic pauses for the playwright to jump up on stage and offer his commentary upon the action, and also upon his perceptions of the feelings of those watching his creation. (Thackeray himself terms the "Vanity Fair"- his comment on society in general- a sort of play.) This might sound annoying to some, but, really, it isn't. If you're already reading the book critically... I suppose it could also be compared to reading a chunk of a book for class and then stopping to discuss your reactions with a professor determined to make you see things beyond the surface and expose whatever prejudices you might have against the book. I loved debating with Thackeray in interpreting scenes and actions. The margins are filled with my disagreements or indulgence of his point of view. And I almost never write in books. It was irresistable in this case.

It is as interesting trying to draw a portrait of Thackeray's character as it is the rest of them. He is sometimes defensive, sometimes judgemental of his audience, at times quietly insightful, at times ironic, at times as gleeful as a child at some trick he believes he's played upon us. You can just see him cackling over his writing, clapping his hands when he thinks of something good and scribbling away furiously into the night. He makes the tale seem brightly, urgently alive just in the sheer immediacy of his feeling and force of personality.

Right. As to the story itself? Very solid, old fashioned tale of love, war, betrayal, money, family. All the standards for an epic. But in the way it is executed, it is anything but standard. Particularly for its time. It was subtitled, "the novel without a hero," by Thackeray. It is a book filled with, as the best are, very grey characters with motivations and actions sometimes very hard to fathom. The epitome of this is of course Becky Sharp, the main character if not the "heroine," of the piece. Capable of both acts of great kindness and selflessness, and sheer, naked cruelty when it suits her, it is hard to either condemn or praise the woman in the end. I grew to root for her anyway, though. She's awful, she really is, but she does seem to learn by the end of the book. She changes, progresses, and all while getting everything she's ever really seemed to want. She's ambitious and cutthroat, but manages to do well in a world that tries to slap her down at every turn. (Not that she doesn't deserve it sometimes, I will admit.) There is also a more standard, sweeping love story for those of you in it for the more conventional aspects. The above described Amelia is involved in that plotline.

Also? This book has the best, the longest, the most throughly researched and detailed description of the battle of Waterloo that you are likely to find. A huge chunk of the book is devoted to that day and the reaction to that day, and it is as epic a war novel as one could hope to find for that space of time.

In some ways, I feel like Thackeray was trying to encompass his century as a whole, not just the very specific time of the Napoleonic wars. He deals with class, money, ambition, war, roles and rights of women, questions of morality, and times that inevitably change and change again, pushing the old world and the old ways into ever faster irrelevance. Just as the 19th century did. I think Becky Sharp might well be a fitting symbol of the whole century: she wants to rise high in society, she wants as much money as she can get her hands on, she wants the appearance of morality (but doesn't much care for the actuality), she is from the lower class and spends the book working her way up the ladder tooth and nail through representatives of the "old guard," at any cost to herself or others. And yet, she still holds sentimental feelings for Amelia, for her husband, she does what she thinks is best for her son (however controversial that might be and at whatever cost in pride), and she cannot quite bear to be completely alone.... I don't know. I'm really just remembering things I wrote down when I read this over two years ago, re-piecing together theories, so I hope you'll forgive me if they're a wee incoherent.

There is more to it than that, but I do not think that any review of reasonable length can encompass everything in this book, particularly when I've already rambled about my favorite things for so long, and things are already this disorganized. Fitting, I suppose, in such a merrily chaotic book. So I'll just leave you with the quote that I think explains and drives much of the action and is one of the major points of the novel:

"Vanitas Vanitatium! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or having it, is satisfied?"

"Which of us is there can tell how much vanity lurks in our warmest regard for others, and how selfish our love is? ... He [Mr. Osborne] firmly believed that everything he did was right, that he ought, on all occasions, to have his own way, and like the sting of a wasp or serpent, his hatred rushed out, armed and poisonous, against anything like opposition. He was proud of his hatred, as of everything else; always to be right, always to trample forward and never to doubt: are not these the great qualities with which dullness takes the lead in the world?"

Its author calls VANITY FAIR "a novel without a hero," which is true enough - as the above excerpt suggests, this story contains many vain, stupid, and selfish men and women, a few well-meaning but ultimately still stupid and selfish characters, and one deliciously wicked anti-heroine in the person of the infamous Becky Sharp. However, the book's true power, its driving force, and the quality that has made it an enduring literary classic is not to be found in any of its discrete characters but in its gloriously irreverent, unbridled, bitingly cynical assessment of "Vanity Fair" itself, that imaginary place that is a cypher for the "polite society" of the time.

While the novel may not have a hero, it does have a plot, and as this centers on the final battle of the Napoleonic Wars at Waterloo, the plot includes many patches of color, excitement, and even a dash of tragedy. However, the vast majority of the book is a "drawing room drama" that follows the peregrinations of Becky Sharp, a wily, artful orphan determined to do what was so near-impossible for one in her position in that era and climb the rungs of the social ladder. The lengths she will go to in order to achieve her goals provide much of the spice and verve of this most entertaining story. It is a particularly long story, however, which does meander and digress quite often, but there is always something to make these digressions enjoyable.

As beguiling and unique as Becky is, she is ultimately only the vehicle that allows the author/narrator to poke unashamed fun at the conceit, greed, and vapidity of high society. Thackeray takes the tongue-in-cheek social observations of Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and completely unmasks them, heightens them, and unleashes them almost entirely without mercy on the customs, manners, and institutions of "Vanity Fair." Education, the professions, the peerage, all aspects of love and marriage, and, most especially, the getting and keeping of money are lampooned in the liveliest manner, providing great entertainment as well as the most cutting insights. In the end, Thackeray may have done his job the tiniest bit too well - it would be so interesting to know what he would make of the proposition that perhaps the act of authorship is the greatest vanity of all.

My experience with "Vanity Fair" has led me to settle on a 3.5-star rating. While I approached this classic with high expectations, I couldn't shake the sentiment that it is quite a bit longer than necessary. The extended length occasionally tested my patience, and I found myself yearning for a more concise narrative.

Despite the length, I must acknowledge that within the extensive storyline, there are undoubtedly important ideas and valuable takeaways. Thackeray's exploration of society and human nature does provide moments of brilliance, and I appreciate the depth of thought embedded in the novel.

Throughout the journey, I did find pockets of enjoyment and moments where I was thoroughly caught up in the unfolding drama. The intricate storytelling and character development, at times, proved to be compelling.

In essence, "Vanity Fair" offers substance and addresses significant ideas, but its extended length may not align with every reader's preferences. While I expected a bit more, I still recognize the novel's merit and value the aspects that drew me into its complex and multifaceted story.

welcome to...JANITY FAIRBRUARY.

i'm going to read this huge scary book for the next two months (i.e., january and february), one chapter a day, trying all the while not to run away in fear as per my project long classics directive.

on that note, did authors from old times know it was possible to write something that wouldn't take future readers three months, a huge amount of confidence, and the energy of an eleven year old with a sugar rush to read?

just wondering.


CHAPTER I: CHISWICK MALL
whenever characters in books prepare for a journey with a bit of hard cheese and bread, or crackers and an apple, or (in this case) seed-cake and a bottle of wine i get so jealous. that sounds so much more appealing than my $6 bottle of water and protein bar from an airport hudson news kiosk.


CHAPTER II: IN WHICH MISS SHARP AND MISS SEDLEY PREPARE TO OPEN THE CAMPAIGN
oh i love a deceitful schemer...i think this becky sharp and i are going to get along just great.


CHAPTER III: REBECCA IS IN PRESENCE OF THE ENEMY
poor rebecca is trying to nab a rich husband and all she got for her trouble was a spicy food-based prank.


CHAPTER IV: THE GREEN SILK PURSE
both of our protagonists have found promising beaux, so something better go wrong fast. we're only 5% in! i'd die of boredom before we're a third through.


CHAPTER V: DOBBIN OF OURS
it doesn't matter how many books i read, i will always be a sucker for any bullied kid. easiest way to win my sympathy.


CHAPTER VI: VAUXHALL
i'm not sure what "knock up" implied in 1847, but i'm going to go ahead and guess it wasn't the same meaning as today. unless rebecca's target is planning on getting the archbishop of canterbury pregnant.


CHAPTER VII: CRAWLEY OF QUEEN'S CRAWLEY
okay, rebecca has struck out with jos. sorry to becky, but i'm thrilled. i think she has a long, full, happy life of scheming ahead of her.


CHAPTER VIII: PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
this chapter concludes with six paragraphs warning us about the crazy old sinners we're going to fearfully read about in the next 900 pages. don't threaten me with a good time, william.


CHAPTER IX: FAMILY PORTRAITS
i gotta say, thackeray really lets himself have fun in these closing sentences. the end of this chapter is about how it must rock to have a rich aunt.


CHAPTER X: MISS SHARP BEGINS TO MAKE FRIENDS
i took a solid long weekend off this project, and now i'm rested, restored, and ready to get back at it. (just kidding. i spent a weekend eating takeout and watching football with my siblings and my brain feels like a lump of play-doh. let's see what happens.)


CHAPTER XI: ARCADIAN SIMPLICITY
this is a chapter made up purely of the most elegant sh*t-talking.


CHAPTER XII: QUITE A SENTIMENTAL CHAPTER
oh, our poor amelia is down bad. the secondhand embarrassment of witnessing an intense crush reverberates throughout time.


CHAPTER XIII: SENTIMENTAL AND OTHERWISE
well, george osborne appears to be the original f*ckboy.


CHAPTER XIV: MISS CRAWLEY AT HOME
honestly it's no surprise feminism took so long to come into itself. back in the day women were so frail they'd develop days-long debilitating illnesses from eating too much at a lobster-based lunch. i wouldn't fall over myself to hand over the right to vote either.

WAIT PLOT TWIST?


CHAPTER XV: IN WHICH REBECCA'S HUSBAND APPEARS FOR A SHORT TIME
well, i was debating whether to spoil this million year old book for you, but then the chapter title decided to do it for me.


CHAPTER XVI: THE LETTER ON THE PINCUSHION
well becky. you've gone and done it now: made everyone in a family so enamored with you that you received multiple marriage proposals from within it and ran off with one of them. well call me a crawley because i'm obsessed.


CHAPTER XVII: HOW CAPTAIN DOBBIN BOUGHT A PIANO
now amelia is ruined and becky's life rocks. oh, the games we play.


CHAPTER XVIII: WHO PLAYED ON THE PIANO CAPTAIN DOBBIN BOUGHT
low stakes, sweet, boring, barely even a question. sounds like the world's first cozy mystery.


CHAPTER XIX: MISS CRAWLEY AT NURSE
it's kind of wild that aunts have had such a bad reputation as nosy / overbearing / annoying throughout time. justice for aunts! all of mine are cool.


CHAPTER XX: IN WHICH CAPTAIN DOBBIN ACTS AS THE MESSENGER OF HYMEN
oh my god. i mean. i don't even want to make a joke! it's too easy. i'm all about the chase.


CHAPTER XXI: A QUARREL ABOUT AN HEIRESS
i think i might be a bad person. whenever i read one of these 19th century classics about being in love with someone with no fortune while being romanced by someone with 10,000 pounds a year, i'm like...i'd be at least a LITTLE tempted.


CHAPTER XXII: A MARRIAGE AND PART OF A HONEYMOON
honeymoon is one of those words that doesn't seem as old as it is. there's something outrageously 1950s about it.


CHAPTER XXIII: CAPTAIN DOBBIN PROCEEDS ON HIS CANVASS
just rolling around london, being yelled at for telling people your best friend married your crush. this is almost as bad as the horrific boarding school bullying. war will be fine compared to this.


CHAPTER XXIV: IN WHICH MR. OSBORNE TAKES DOWN THE FAMILY BIBLE
note to self for future betrayals: immediately find a large fancy bible, cross out the person's name within its pages (aside: may have to write the name and then cross it out), find your will (aside: may have to write one), crumple it up, throw it in a nearby fireplace (aside: locate fireplace), and write a new will (aside: look up how to write a will).


CHAPTER XXV: IN WHICH ALL THE PRINCIPAL PERSONAGES THINK FIT TO LEAVE BRIGHTON
going straight from a poolside vacay to war. it's what george osborne deserves.


CHAPTER XXVI: BETWEEN LONDON AND CHATHAM
sure, amelia seems very boring and annoying and generally a bad hang, but there is no character in these pages worse than GEORGE. bring me back to becky already.


CHAPTER XXVII: AMELIA JOINS HER REGIMENT
i expected this to be facetious, but no. we've shipped the girl straight off to war.


CHAPTER XXVIII: IN WHICH AMELIA INVADES THE LOW COUNTRIES
i'm going to be honest with you: england and france being at war a decade into the nineteenth century...it feels a little late. leave that behavior in the 1700s. it's time for you guys to team up and rebrand as the world's good guys.


CHAPTER XXIX: BRUSSELS
if george has 100 haters i'm one of them. if george has 1 hater it's me. if george has no haters i'm dead.


CHAPTER XXX: THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME
at this point we should take bets on who won't make it back from war. of course i personally want george dead, rawdon would be the most plot-convenient passing, and dobbin is the only one i personally need to survive. watch it be him.


CHAPTER XXXI: IN WHICH JOS SEDLEY TAKES CARE OF HIS SISTER
i have to admit, i doubted amelia. i did not expect she could square up against becky and survive.


CHAPTER XXXII: IN WHICH JOS TAKES FLIGHT, AND THE WAR IS BROUGHT TO A CLOSE
the whole war was like one chapter long. one chapter that was filled with sentences like "surely we shall never forget..." and "a story we have all heard countless times and never made sense of..." william, not even wikipedia can help me sort this one out.


CHAPTER XXXIII: IN WHICH MISS CRAWLEY'S RELATIONS ARE VERY ANXIOUS ABOUT HER
i have been punished for my crimes of sh*t talking amelia to becky's benefit by being subjected to a full chapter about becky's in-laws when the biggest event of the book so far just happened to amelia.


CHAPTER XXXIV: JAMES CRAWLEY'S PIPE IS OUT
make that two chapters.


CHAPTER XXXV: WIDOW AND MOTHER
spoiler alert for this unbelievably old book: george is dead. that's what happened earlier. sorry amelia but i used to pray for times like these.


CHAPTER XXXVI: HOW TO LIVE WELL ON NOTHING A YEAR
this is the kind of budgeting advice that i'm looking for.


CHAPTER XXXVII: THE SUBJECT CONTINUED
okay. so the answer is mostly to take advantage of poor people. i guess i don't know what i expected.


CHAPTER XXXVIII: A FAMILY IN A VERY SMALL WAY
i have to say...i don't have as much interest in the amelia / dobbin will they won't they as i would like.


CHAPTER XXXIX: A CYNICAL CHAPTER
me if i was a chapter.


CHAPTER XL: IN WHICH BECKY IS RECOGNIZED BY THE FAMILY
as she should! not because it's the right thing (it's not) or she deserves it (she doesn't), but because from a narrative perspective i'm a proponent of becky getting everything she wants.


CHAPTER XLI: IN WHICH BECKY REVISITS THE HALLS OF HER ANCESTORS
okay. i have been holding this in but i can keep the secret no longer. confession: i am not enjoying this book like i thought i would. i can't believe we're past halfway.


CHAPTER XLII: WHICH TREATS OF THE OSBORNE FAMILY
never mind. for some reason this chapter and the last won me right back over. jinxed it.


CHAPTER XLIII: IN WHICH THE READER HAS TO DOUBLE THE CAPE
now dobbin has to race from india to england to try to prevent amelia from getting married. some romcom tropes never change.


CHAPTER XLIV: A ROUND-ABOUT CHAPTER BETWEEN LONDON AND HAMPSHIRE
the fact that becky's main opp is her eight-year-old son? she is just built different.


CHAPTER XLV: BETWEEN HAMPSHIRE AND LONDON
i will confess that 600 pages into this book, i do not know what the plot is. but that's okay. there are worse things.


CHAPTER XLVI: STRUGGLES AND TRIALS
controversial opinion, but...amelia's mom is right. kinda crazy that amelia is hoarding all this money to buy her son new christmas clothes when they're about to be evicted and also could be rich if she was willing to hang out with him less.


CHAPTER XLVII: GAUNT HOUSE
i was under the impression that dobbins was racing across eurasia like it was an airport in a rom-com but we haven't heard from him in like 4 chapters. maybe the commute just takes 6 weeks in a steamboat or something.


CHAPTER XLVIII: IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THE VERY BEST OF COMPANY
i love becky and her waterproof blush and her fake crying and her incomprehensible finances and her schemes.


CHAPTER XLIX: IN WHICH WE ENJOY THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT
now i'm just having a blast. i hope we never hear from amelia again.


CHAPTER L: CONTAINS A VULGAR INCIDENT
well, the chapter name got me excited, but it was really just us hearing from amelia again. she shipped her son off to grandpa's.


CHAPTER LI: IN WHICH A CHARADE IS ACTED WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT PUZZLE THE READER
sorry, i was completely taken aback by what constitutes "charades" here. count me puzzled.


CHAPTER LII: IN WHICH LORD STEYNE SHOWS HIMSELF IN A MOST AMIABLE LIGHT
are rawdon junior and george junior going to be school buds? is that what we're building toward here? i'm having fun but i'm still at a loss.

and now rawdon senior is locked up.


CHAPTER LIII: A RESCUE AND A CATASTROPHE
becky's downfall? and dumb old RAWDON is the one to bring it about??? i don't believe it. my girl will come back stronger than ever (and then maybe fall again, i don't know, we have a fair number of pages left).


CHAPTER LIV: SUNDAY AFTER THE BATTLE
if i was about to die in a duel and my last meal was "some devilled kidneys and a herring," the duel would be canceled. i'd take myself out.


CHAPTER LV: IN WHICH THE SAME SUBJECT IS PURSUED
i would hope so! if we went back to amelia at this point i would completely freak out.

rawdon senior has been shipped off to the colonies, rawdon junior is essentially an orphan, and becky is for all intents and purposes single and childless. where do we go from here??? to amelia's boring plotline i would imagine.


CHAPTER LVI: GEORGY IS MADE A GENTLEMAN
it is clear to me that this 19th century eleven year old was making more than my 2025 salary in yearly allowance.


CHAPTER LVII: EOTHEN
well, dobbin is here, and it turns out he's been wearing a lock of amelia's hair that he bribed a maid to take while she was sick with fever this whole time. now i'm even less invested in this love story.


CHAPTER LVIII: OUR FRIEND THE MAJOR
it would be extremely awesome if at some point in these 1,000 pages amelia could develop a personality trait beyond "obsessive love for someone named george," but it appears we're running out of time for that.


CHAPTER LIX: THE OLD PIANO
dobbin declares his love. amelia is like "i'm actually married. to a ghost, but still." dobbin says okay can i just hang around and look at you sometimes. amelia says for sure. miserable!


CHAPTER LX: RETURNS TO THE GENTEEL WORLD
this is, essentially, a "nice guy who will wait as long as it takes" montage.


CHAPTER LXI: IN WHICH TWO LIGHTS ARE PUT OUT
there have been reconciliations, wills updated and read, last rites, final prayers, fortunes made, lives lost. in other words we're wrapping things up.


CHAPTER LXII: AM RHEIN
quick detour for a german vacation.


CHAPTER LXIII: IN WHICH WE MEET AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE
i suppose it'd be too much to hope for that we finally reconnect with becky, chapters since we last saw her and 4 to go until the end. instead we'll hang out with a guy named tapeworm.

NEVER MIND. I SHOULD NEVER HAVE DOUBTED YOU, THACKERAY.


CHAPTER LXIV: A VAGABOND CHAPTER
sheesh. how the mighty have fallen. becky can't even take a little vacay to rome without getting death threats from her exes.


CHAPTER LXV: FULL OF BUSINESS AND PLEASURE
in so many ways, emmy is no match for becky. girl, you just got played.


CHAPTER LXVI: AMANTIUM IRAE
i haven't been a particular dobbin fan ever since his bullied origin story, but man, amelia. you are just the worst.


CHAPTER LXVII: WHICH CONTAINS BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS
i have to say, i have no idea how old these ladies are. and i've heard it's in poor taste to ask.


OVERALL
this was very long and at points made me very angry, but mostly i had more of a good time than bad. i know all of these characters are supposed to be unlikable, but they are very well fleshed out in the ways they're supposed to be frustrating. moments of humor. moments of romance. in short i recommend it, if you have 400 free hours to spare.
rating: 3.5

Romanzo monumentale per costruzione, dimensione storica e, anche, lunghezza, ma Thackeray da buon vittoriano "obbligato" a pubblicare a puntate è capace di tenere sempre viva l'attenzione. Certo qualche digressione qua e là forse se la sarebbe potuta evitare, ma complessivamente la lettura è scorrevole e interessante.
Il titolo originario avrebbe dovuto essere "Romanzo senza eroe" ed è vero, in quest'opera i protagonisti sono almeno 5 e ognuno di loro a turno ruba la scena agli altri, del resto "La fiera delle vanità" è sicuramente un titolo più bello, letterariamente fondato e altrettanto valido visto che Thackeray ci tiene a ricordare spesso al lettore quanto possa essere sciocca la buona società dell'epoca. Il romanzo ha un chiaro intento morale. I buoni sono buoni (ma anche troppo ingenui e creduloni), i cattivi sono cattivi e quindi meritevoli della punizione eppure... le vicende parallele e speculari di Amelia e Rebecca trovano una strana coincidenza in un finale dal sapore amarognolo che le mette una davanti all'altra.
La forza del romanzo è sicuramente l'azione e la capacità di coinvolgimento del lettore nelle vicende di personaggi che appaiono, però, complessivamente un po' piatti e senza sfumature. In quasi 900 pagine di romanzo, lo spazio per un'analisi psicologica di motivazioni e emozioni è risicata al punto che forse, l'unica ad essere qualcosa di più che una rappresentazione bidimensionale, è proprio Rebecca e anche qui la sua tridimensionalità viene fuori più in quello che l'autore tace e lascia all'immaginazione del lettore che in quello che racconta.
Sorprende, ma a mia opinione azzeccatissima, la scelta di non mostrare la battaglia di Waterloo che, pur essendo uno degli snodi portanti del romanzo, viene liquidata in poche righe molto ben congegnate.

I approached this book with trepidation since it was so long and written so long ago. I was prepared to be burdened and bored but I really enjoyed it. It took me about ten weeks to read, and that was at a very busy time of my life, so it probably would not have taken so long under ordinary circumstances. I especially liked the ending as I expected that a female character would be the character who suffered most because of vanity -- but it was not! I liked this story so much that I might even consider a re-read -- for me, a rarity!

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