What a riveting book! The cast of characters so very interesting. A good example of how greed and naivety can effect people's lives. A definite must read classic.

I finish the book and wonder how to best convert the muddy puddle of my impressions into some-kind of a coherent rich picture of a review.

Well what is is, imagine an exhibition of of George Cruikshank's drawings or of those of Gilray perhaps, there is wit and fun, but after a while , maybe they are a little wearisome. In this it reminds me of when I was a student and sometimes, not knowing any better I'd read The Economist, eventually I noticed whatever country or problem was discussed the analysis was the same: slash public spending, liberalise markets and open them to foreign trade as you open a person's chest for open heart surgery, and be smug. Then I moved on to Private Eye for a while - here the message was aside from the staff and readers of that journal that everybody is stupid and stupidly commits stupid acts, everything always has been stupid, everything always will be. This I felt was worse, because it was also depressing. About that time I suppose I also read Vanity Fair for the first time  unless I didn't, its hard to tie these things down sometimes, it was before I had a computer let alone be introduced to Goodreads.

Again it is a classic, perhaps, at least in English, the classic moral sandwich book - a wafer of morality on either side of an oozing filling of vice and stupidity and greed indeed a vanity fair, maybe even vanity fayre.

Then again one might say it is an English War and Peace a family saga structured around the Napoleonic wars, with characters questing for self actualisation, except as satire rather than the seeking to satisfy the reader emotionally.

It is maybe an ancestor of Bonfire of the Vanities a slice of life in which everybody is reprehensible or ridiculous to varying degrees.

There is problem in terms of the book as a moral sandwich, in that the title would suggest that we are in the moral universe of Pilgrim's Progress hurrying through the vanity fair, shunning its sinners seeing only the self inflicted misery, however the author does not seem to wearing John Bunyan's shoes, his attitude to vanity fair is a relaxed amusement and from the first he suggests to the readers of the novel attitudes to the characters and their doings that don't really fit into the world of Pilgrims Progress instead he suggests that the reader can be sympathetic or amused. Of course by moving the story into the recent past, he is not suggesting that such dreadful goings on that place in Victorian society - oh no, it is the people of the reign of George IV who were so foolish and louche! The problem with laughing at the characters is that author has chosen the barrel and selected his fish, watching him shooting them for eight hundred pages, well I return to my original point.

Vanity Fair like so much nineteenth century novels was written for publication in instalments in a magazine, Thackeray earned himself a handsome £60 an issue (for about eighty printed pages) this was very good for him, the reader however can easily imagine sitting down with a sharp knife and a pot of glue and revealing the slim novel that may be struggling instead it to get out. It can be very droll and amusing as I hope the excerpts quoted below give some idea, it can also go on a bit, and if certain sections were not there would I have missed them?

The other problem about the weakness of the moral wafer is that we are left cheek by jowl with Thackeray. I read somewhere  but have forgotten where and so am unsure if this is true or just speculationthat Thackeray dropped early on the ever smiling Sambo the black servant and the 'amusingly' named Miss Swartz daughter of a German-Jewish father and a black Caribbean mother on account of reader criticism, I don't know if he was Racist as such, or it was more a case that all non-English people were inherently ridiculous in his opinion, indeed when Dobbin's regiment is posted to India his chief danger is that he may end up getting married to an Irish girl (steady the Buffs), though at least she isn't Roman-Catholic (for the benefit of the ladies and gentlemen at the back, smelling salts will be passed round), having said that if you are going to read it, don't read this edition, get this one or another with Thackeray's original illustrations - Glorvina looking at Dobbin across the dance floor is particularly fine. The flip side of this is if you've ever wondered where this British empire thing is in the British novel, it is mostly hiding out in vanity fair: the intrinsic humour of mixed race children, exotic servants, fancy shawls and foods  i>'Oh I must try some, if it is an Indian dish,' said Miss Rebecca. 'I am sure everything must be good that comes from there.'
'Give Miss Sharp some curry, my dear,' said Mr Sedly, laughing
Rebecca had never tasted the dish before.
'Do you find it as good as everything else from India?' said Mr Sedley.
'Oh, excellent!' said Rebecca, who was suffering tortures with the cayenne pepper.
'Try a chilli with it, Miss Sharp,' said Joseph, really interested.
'A chilli,' said Rebeeca, gasping. 'O yes!' She thought a chilli was something cool, as its name imported, and was served some. 'How fresh and green they look!' she said, and put one in her mouth. It was hotter than the curry; flesh and blood could bear it no longer. She laid down her fork. 'Water, for Heaven's sake, water!' she cried. Mr Sedley burst out laughing (he was a coarse man, from the Stock Exchange, where they love all sorts of practical jokes).(p.61), I quote at length because this is a good taste  ha, ha (sorry) of Thackeray's humour - Miss Sharp trying here to ingratiate herself  ie snare herself a husband with Sedly Junior - just back from a spell in India with the east India company, here for once Miss Sharp out done by an even sharper meal I think it is pretty funny, but if you don't then I warn you fair and square this is about as good as it gets but my sense of humour is fair cruel, I am still amused at the memory of my father complaining about my greatgrandfather urging him to pick up a rabbit which then scratched him, admittedly this particularly funny because my father was still indignant twenty years after the event, mind you I'm still amused and they're all dead now, (especially the rabbit)

The joy of the novel I fear lies most in the side characters and the sketches of the hunting, shooting and boozing parish priest and his boxing gin drinking son (I guess also bound for the clergy  sobriety after-all is generally preferred in most other professionstown before the Great Reform Act 1832 which sent two people to parliament but which might have one or up to a handful of voters, perhaps all controlled by one family  to rent out a seat in a Parliament, which brings in a few pennies.

A problem is that Thackeray's principal characters can never develop there always has to be some angle or several angles at which they are ridiculous and mocked by the author. Interestingly (from my point of view) Thackeray's conception seems Wordsworthian - the child is the father of the man admittedly in part because the child remains a child - I think I recall one of his drawings of his characters as children but flopping about in adult clothes to underline that idea - but then getting back to the moral sandwich idea you might ask where the adult is in the book - but there isn't one, this is a book resolutely without a hero. But digressing back to my digression I digress to Thackeray criticising Goethe's Elective affinities, which for Thackeray is morally dangerous, however we may feel psychologically much more sophisticated .

Rereading I felt a little more sorry than I remembered from previously for Becky Sharp as she comes across as the most intelligent - but in the way of tv cartoon villains - she knows her end desire, and she knows what she can do do, but she can't see that there is no road between the two. All the characters are so completely conditioned by their childhoods that there is no possibility of growth they are doomed to be slaves of satire forever, Dobbin so whipped and beaten as his name invites in childhood, that as an adult he has to visit the same on himself For native speakers of British English it is impossible to see anybody called "Dobbin" as a hero, but perhaps one needs to be over a certain age now to know that  particularly since it is a long while since Brian Cant was on the TV . Obviously Becky Sharp is your girl if you love the idea of always having the last word witty come back, more cutting than the world hairdressing championships, plainly in the contemporary world she'd be the leading edge CFO keeping a financial empire just about afloat by lending money to herself, currencies moving through jurisdictions like planes landing and taking off at an international hub airport. We get to enjoy her wheelings and dealings and then her comeuppance, yet I feel post  vindication of the rights of woman and Jane Eyre that her fatal fault is that she is too French because your French woman of course, unlike an English woman is never a mother, sure, sure she make give birth and all, that but they are hopelessly compelled to be floozies at them there soirées what they has in France, while your English woman, she'll have none of that, devote herself to her babies she will because she's a mother, and if she don't, you scratch her she'll be no Englishwoman but foreign o some sort French most probably like this here Becky Sharp with her French mum, it's all in the blood of course so it can't be helped but there you go. Biology is destiny. Ancestry is destiny. But it is all for laughs, the problem with satire is I feel sometimes the line between humour and a horrible world view, as with the treatment of non-English characters above, can be pretty fine  but then I am humourless except when it comes to people eating chillies imagining they will be delightfully cooling  as to be fair, their name implies, or being indignant over having been scratched by rabbits twenty years previously


"Everybody is striving for what is not worth the having!" (p.563)


On the rereading I found less funny than I remember, though I suppose it is just possible that the book has stayed the same while I have grown less tolerant, it doesn't seem to me to be the kind of book that requires multiple readings or which grows and grows in the rereading, I did this time notice the tightness of the London geography - still, amusing, but if you are going to give it a go - get yourself an edition with the original illustrations!

Quando una frottola è accettata per verità, siete costretti a fabbricarne un'altra per tener su quella: e così il cumulo delle vostre bugie circolanti si moltiplica inevitabilmente, e il pericolo di essere scoperti cresce di giorno in giorno.

Questo libro è il classico romanzo dell'Ottocento, così abbondante, dispersivo, con un narratore invadente e che abbraccia la vita dei protagonisti a 360 gradi. Ma quante cose ha da insegnare questa immersione nella mondanità dell'alta borghesia europea! C'è una forte contrapposizione fra le due protagoniste Becky e Amelia, ma nessuno esce illeso dalla fiera delle vanità. Ciò che ho apprezzato maggiormente è che non c'è una distinzione netta tra la bontà e la cattiveria. Non è una lotta fra l'angelica Amelia e la diabolica Becky. Seppur il giudizio su quest'ultima è nettamente sfavorevole, Becky è essenzialmente il frutto della sua educazione. La differenza fra Becky e le gran dame che incontra è la posizione sociale. Lei infatti non accetta passivamente il suo destino di povertà, ma lotta per ottenere tutte quelle cose che le hanno insegnato a desiderare. Il giudizio sprezzante di Thackeray è infatti sulla società della vanità nel suo insieme, e non sul singolo individuo. Le due protagoniste pur non mutando il loro carattere vengono apprezzate o disprezzate in relazione alla posizione sociale che occupano in quel momento. Se la vanità di Becky ferisce in modo più aperto, quella di Amelia d'altro canto non fa meno danni... Legata a un falso ideale di principe azzurro che non esiste e non è mai esistito, allontana chi la ama trincerandosi dietro una coltre di solitudine.
Leggendo assistiamo a uno spettacolo che va in scena quotidianamente anche nelle nostre vite.
Perché non ha mai fine la giostra della Fiera delle vanità. È tutto un turbine di paure, ansie, brame... Era in piedi nel passato come nel presente, e oggi o domani andremo sempre in cerca di modi di piacere, di bugie per patinare la nostra immagine. Ma la vanità non appartiene solo a chi è frivolo; non ha a che fare solo con le cose mondane; è un sentimento che ci coinvolge tutti, possiamo essere vanitosi anche della nostra moralità e persino dei nostri errori... Ci leghiamo a un'immagine che abbiamo di noi e la sbandieriamo con vanità, appunto, diventando ciechi di fronte a ciò che di buono ci passa davanti ma è al di fuori dei nostri schemi. Possiamo solo sperare che qualche momento di lucidità ci colga e ci ridia un senso della realtà più onesto, aperto e sincero, rendendoci più liberi, sereni e magari anche felici...

خیلی کتاب و دوست داشتم، خیلی هم طول کشید بخونمش و تمومش کنم نزدیک ۲ هفته طول کشید ولی خیلی خوب بود، اولش فکر میکنی از رمان های تکراری عه ولی بعد از این که اول داستان که یه کم خسته کنندست میگذره داستان جذاب میشه، درباره پول، طمع، کینه هست این که چطوری آدما به خاطر پول خودشون و میفروشن،
داستان طبقه مختلف از جامعه است ، داستان افراد عادی( کتاب معروف شده به داستانی که قهرمان نداره) . بعد از خوندن کتاب فیلم Vanity fair سال ۲۰۰۴ برای کشور انگلیس و ببینید ، کتاب قشنگ بهتون میچسبه.

Estou compradora deste livro: alguém tem para venda?
Li uma versão livre da Romano Torres. Gostei tanto que necessito a versão integral (em português), urgentemente.
Obrigada.

In the pantheon of English literature, William Makepeace Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" stands as a towering achievement, a sharp and sprawling satire of early 19th-century British society. Awarding it a five-star rating is an acknowledgment of its brilliance as a social commentary, its rich tapestry of characters, and its enduring relevance.

Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," subtitled "A Novel without a Hero," offers a panoramic view of upper-middle-class society during the Napoleonic Wars, exploring themes of greed, social climbing, and the fickleness of fortune. The novel is anchored by two memorable characters: Becky Sharp, the cunning and charmingly ruthless social climber, and her foil, the gentle and kind-hearted Amelia Sedley.

Thackeray's masterful storytelling is evident in his rich, detailed narrative and his use of irony and humor to critique the society of his time. The novel's title, drawn from John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," serves as a metaphor for the superficial, morally bankrupt high society of London and the battlefields of Europe where much of the story unfolds.

One of the most striking aspects of "Vanity Fair" is its complex female protagonist, Becky Sharp. She is both a product of her society and a rebel against its conventions, using her wit and charm to navigate a world dominated by men and class hierarchies. Her moral ambiguity makes her one of the most interesting and enduring characters in Victorian literature.

Despite its length and the depth of its social critique, "Vanity Fair" remains highly readable. Thackeray's narrative style is engaging, filled with asides and comments directly to the reader, which gives the novel a modern feel. The episodic structure, reflecting its original serial publication, keeps the narrative dynamic and varied.

However, it's important to note that the novel's portrayal of certain social attitudes, particularly in terms of gender and colonialism, reflects the period in which it was written. Contemporary readers may find some aspects dated or uncomfortable. Nevertheless, these elements also provide valuable insight into Victorian society and the historical context of the novel.

In summary, "Vanity Fair" is a masterpiece of English literature, offering a critical, yet entertaining, portrayal of 19th-century society. Its enduring appeal lies in Thackeray's incisive social commentary, rich characterizations, and the novel's capacity to provide a window into the mores and attitudes of Victorian England. This five-star rating celebrates not only the novel's literary merits but also its lasting significance in the canon of great literature.

‘Vanity Fair’ is a witty satire, full of nasty but true social commentary in a not entirely fictional world of early 19th-Century English society. I was delighted by the book and laughed out loud several times. I think it is a terrifically fun and interesting novel, but there are a couple of negatives for modern readers. The one BIG negative of the book is it is about 1,000 pages long, depending on the print edition. A small negative, to me, is the archaic florid overwriting style, but after all, it was written several centuries ago. My recommendation is read it anyway, even it you have to buy a bigger dictionary (or use Google) and use a ruler to read the dense sentences. (When I was a young child, I read books like this with rulers as well as writing out the sentences on lined notepaper. I was a nerd, but I haven’t changed much, gentle reader, which I suppose is a warning to those following my reviews.)

The story is a 360-degree look at the author William Makepeace Thackeray’s London, focussing on its class divisions and its rules of upper-class society in the years of 1815 to 1847. Several generations are followed, determined by their relationship and proximity to two young girls: poor but clever amoral Becky Sharp, and innocent pious middle-class Amelia Sedley. They meet in a girls’ finishing school, Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies. Their lives entangle for a couple of weeks after they graduate, but due to some fateful circumstances, the girls’ lives take completely different paths. After several decades, their lives intersect again in an amusing scene when Becky and Amelia are middle-aged widows. Both women end up surprising themselves when the serendipitous encounter causes each of them to step away from the internalized rules of behavior each had adopted to live. Basically, for one minute, they are simple human beings without the encrusted veneer of class and social discriminations. It changes everything, and nothing.

None of the characters are heroic. Everybody is a victim of the personality and talents and beauty they were born with and of the social class and gender they were born into. Basically, no one wants to be poor and everybody wants to be richer than they are. One of the characters with little interest in money is shown to be a fool because she is overly dependent on conventional piety and good-looking surface beauty and class. Another is a failure because she cannot resist making fools of everyone she meets, throwing personal safety and honor to the vagaries of the four winds, despite her useful knowledge a sucker is born every minute. I could go on, because every single character, of which there are at least 50 or so of interest, are idiots and foolish, true to real life. I am positive some characters will strike readers as recognizably much like real people they know, and other characters will cause readers to recognize their own brand of ridiculous idiocy. Of course, some readers are oblivious to their own faults, or simply have not lived long enough, and they will not recognize themselves at all. Amelia is the character who I was most like until I was about 44 years old (except very poor), I am sad to reveal. Hopefully, I will not disappoint too many people who never knew this about me, but at the same time, it is what it was. Currently, I am a bitter bitch. It is what it is.

I no longer need rulers, but I still occasionally copy out sentences I enjoy (and to be honest, ones I can’t understand). However, age has given me an appreciation of books with insightful intelligence, and ‘Vanity Fair’ is one of those.

Quotes from the book I really really liked:

“I have no other moral than this to tag to the present story of "Vanity Fair." Some people consider Fairs immoral altogether, and eschew such, with their servants and families: very likely they are right. But persons who think otherwise, and are of a lazy, or a benevolent, or a sarcastic mood, may perhaps like to step in for half an hour, and look at the performances. There are scenes of all sorts; some dreadful combats, some grand and lofty horse-riding, some scenes of high life, and some of very middling indeed; some love-making for the sentimental, and some light comic business; the whole accompanied by appropriate scenery and brilliantly illuminated with the Author's own candles.”

Thackeray, William Makepeace (2009-08-17). The Collected Works of William Makepeace Thackeray: 18 Novels and Short Stories (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 7246-7251). Halcyon Press Ltd.. Kindle Edition.


“Although schoolmistresses' letters are to be trusted no more nor less than churchyard epitaphs; yet, as it sometimes happens that a person departs this life who is really deserving of all the praises the stone cutter carves over his bones; who IS a good Christian, a good parent, child, wife, or husband; who actually DOES leave a disconsolate family to mourn his loss; so in academies of the male and female sex it occurs every now and then that the pupil is fully worthy of the praises bestowed by the disinterested instructor.”

Thackeray, William Makepeace (2009-08-17). The Collected Works of William Makepeace Thackeray: 18 Novels and Short Stories (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 7300-7303). Halcyon Press Ltd.. Kindle Edition.


“Honest Jemima had all the bills, and the washing, and the mending, and the puddings, and the plate and crockery, and the servants to superintend. But why speak about her? It is probable that we shall not hear of her again from this moment to the end of time, and that when the great filigree iron gates are once closed on her, she and her awful sister will never issue therefrom into this little world of history.”

Thackeray, William Makepeace (2009-08-17). The Collected Works of William Makepeace Thackeray: 18 Novels and Short Stories (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 7314-7316). Halcyon Press Ltd.. Kindle Edition.


“"Oh, excellent!" said Rebecca, who was suffering tortures with the cayenne pepper. "Try a chili with it, Miss Sharp," said Joseph, really interested. "A chili," said Rebecca, gasping. "Oh yes!" She thought a chili was something cool, as its name imported, and was served with some. "How fresh and green they look," she said, and put one into her mouth. It was hotter than the curry; flesh and blood could bear it no longer. She laid down her fork. "Water, for Heaven's sake, water!" she cried. Mr. Sedley burst out laughing (he was a coarse man, from the Stock Exchange, where they love all sorts of practical jokes). "They are real Indian, I assure you," said he. "Sambo, give Miss Sharp some water." The paternal laugh was echoed by Joseph, who thought the joke capital. The ladies only smiled a little. They thought poor Rebecca suffered too much. She would have liked to choke old Sedley, but she swallowed her mortification as well as she had the abominable curry before it, and as soon as she could speak, said, with a comical, good-humoured air, "I ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts in the cream-tarts in the Arabian Nights. Do you put cayenne into your cream-tarts in India, sir?" Old Sedley began to laugh, and thought Rebecca was a good-humoured girl. Joseph simply said, "Cream-tarts, Miss? Our cream is very bad in Bengal. We generally use goats' milk; and, 'gad, do you know, I've got to prefer it!”"

Thackeray, William Makepeace (2009-08-17). The Collected Works of William Makepeace Thackeray: 18 Novels and Short Stories (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 7595-7604). Halcyon Press Ltd.. Kindle Edition.


“Otherwise you might fancy it was I who was sneering at the practice of devotion, which Miss Sharp finds so ridiculous; that it was I who laughed good-humouredly at the reeling old Silenus of a baronet--whereas the laughter comes from one who has no reverence except for prosperity, and no eye for anything beyond success. Such people there are living and flourishing in the world--Faithless, Hopeless, Charityless: let us have at them, dear friends, with might and main. Some there are, and very successful too, mere quacks and fools: and it was to combat and expose such as those, no doubt, that Laughter was made.”

Thackeray, William Makepeace (2009-08-17). The Collected Works of William Makepeace Thackeray: 18 Novels and Short Stories (Unexpurgated Edition) (Halcyon Classics) (Kindle Locations 8446-8450). Halcyon Press Ltd.. Kindle Edition.

I could fill up a 600-page book with quotes from Vanity Fair which highly entertained and amused me, gentle reader! I’ll quit while yet having given you a taste of the droll humor with which the author indulges. I may have been most like Amelia in my youth, but at present Becky Sharp is the character I find most inspirational. I suspect I am no longer a good person, like Becky, too. However, I DO like children and animals, so I have not quite gone entirely to the dark side.

; p

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.

Αφού απογοητεύτηκα από μια σειρά αποτυχημένων αναγνωστικών επιλογών, σκέφτηκα να στραφώ σε κάτι σίγουρο. Σε ένα βιβλίο που είχα διαβάσει πολλά χρόνια πριν. Να ξαναδιαβάσω το Πανηγύρι της Ματαιοδοξίας του Thackeray. Nα ξανασυναντήσω την πανούργα Μπέκι Σαρπ και την γλυκιά κι αθώα Αμέλια Σέντλεϊ ( εκνευριστικά αθώα μερικές φορές).
Ο Thackeray μας αφηγείται την ιστορία των δύο γυναικών, μια ιστορία γεμάτη έρωτες και φιλοδοξίες, προδοσίες, φτώχεια, πλούτη , πολλά οικογενειακά μπλεξίματα και πολλά άτιμη κοινωνία άλλους τους ανεβάζεις κι άλλους τους κατεβάζεις στα Τάρταρα. Και κάθε τόσο σταματάει την αφήγηση και γυρνάει στο κοινό του, σε μας, μας κλείνει το μάτι και μας λέει τη γνώμη του για τα καμώματα των ηρώων του και την άποψη του για την κοινωνία. Κυρίως για τις ανώτερες τάξεις της κοινωνίας που η Μπέκι Σαρπ παίζει στα δάχτυλα για ένα μεγάλο διάστημα, ζώντας αεριτζιδικα και εκμεταλλευόμενη την χαζομάρα και την ματαιοδοξία των μελών της. Το ύφος του είναι καυστικό, κυνικό, με πολύ χιούμορ και απολαυστικό.
Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε για να εκδοθεί σε συνέχειες από εφημερίδα κι αυτό δυστυχώς φαίνεται. Υπάρχουν κάποια κομμάτια αρκετά κουραστικά που σε κάνουν να θες να πηδήξεις σελίδες. Κάποιες περιγραφές παιχνιδιών που έπαιζαν στα μεγάλα σαλόνια ας πούμε.
Αυτό όμως δεν μειώνει ούτε την αξία του βιβλίου ούτε την αναγνωστική απόλαυση και είναι ένα βιβλίο που το ευχαριστήθηκα πολύ και τις δύο φορές που το διάβασα.

"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.

This 19th century satirical novel centres around the lives and loves of schoolfriends Amelia Sedley and Rebecca (Becky) Sharp as they seek to make their way in a male-dominated world. While Amelia is mild-mannered, somewhat naive and sees the good in everyone, Becky is willing to lie and cheat her way through life, making use of men as best she is able to. This earns Becky somewhat of a reputation as her fortunes fluctuate up and down throughout the course of the book. The author himself acts as narrator and a somewhat satirical observer of the Regency society and its strict social etiquette, poking fun at the hypocrisy exhibited by many of the featured characters. There are some wonderful character names, for example the political attache Tapeworm and the Lord Transparency and his Transparent family, that serve as identifiers of the characters themselves and are quite amusing. Overall, although I was reading this book in short segments due to its length whilst also reading other books, it was a very enjoyable read - 8.5/10.

First things first: Don't get this edition! I recently attended my college reunion. Whilst ambling idly around the green lawns of that hallowed institution, I had chance to encounter my most distinguished and beloved professor of English. Exalted that I happened to be dandling Thackeray's baby on my knee (instead of the glossy monthly version of Vanity Fair, as is more common with me), with sparkling eyes and an enchanting smile I thrust my copy before his erudite and discerning nose. "My favorite novel!" the learned man exclaimed in raptures; however his face then fell as he flipped through my humble off-brand edition. "I had not," he informed me, "got the proper one." He went on to explain that Thackeray had devised a large number of amusing illustrations, which are reprinted in certain -- infinitely more desirable and impressive -- editions.

"But why, good sir," I wept, "do they then publish editions such as these, deprived of pictures and designed to lead astray and to ruin the reputation of unfortunate, innocent wretches such as I?"

"Because they're stupid," the scholar pronounced, and left me gazing sadly at my inferior edition.

That said, I managed to enjoy my (pictureless) experience of Vanity Fair immensely! This is the best novel I've ever read on the topic of money. It's also got maybe the most wonderful and fascinating narrator in English literature, which is no small feat considering there's some virile competition.

Vanity Fair is supposed to be, as its title says, A Novel Without A Hero, and much fun is derived figuring out if this claim is true. In Vanity Fair, characters tend to be ruled either by love or money; by ruthless self-interest or slavish sacrifice to unworthy others. Thackeray's narrator slyly presents these modes and their virtues alongside society's supposed and actual values, forcing the reader to ask herself who, in this Fair, could possibly be called a true hero?

Of course, for this reader, the answer was clear: while there are some who may neither love nor delight in the antics of Becky Sharp, they're not in my social circle and would "cut" me rudely, should our open carriages happen to pass in the Park. Despite some superficial similarities, Becky Sharp is no odious Undine Spragg, and I can't imagine not cheering for this anti-heroine. Like the narrator, Becky's got the number of every character in Vanity Fair, and she illusionlessly proceeds based on this sound intelligence. Unlike even the noble Wm. Dobbin, Becky has no blind spots or weaknesses in judging character, and so she is that rarest of creatures: a truly charming realist who loves to have a great time. As Thackeray takes pains to remind us, Becky's not a pure cynic: she appreciates goodness in people, and doesn't begrudge others the virtue that she lacks. She is thoroughly lovable in her wickedness, as the best of us are.

What a great novel! All its considerable dramatic tension comes directly from its incredible characters -- Which will taste Success? Who shall be faced with Ruin? Will Becky triumph? Will Dobbin rally? Will Amelia ever grow a pair (or will she, one wonders hopefully, please drown herself in the Thames)? -- and from the brilliant commentary and manipulations of the narrative voice. As I said above, it's a novel focused on the topic of money, and is the best of these of any that I've ever read. Obviously, it's a comic novel, and is very funny; but it's also great literature, so beyond being funny, it's true.

O brother-wearers of motley! Are there not moments where one grows sick of grinning and tumbling, and the jingling of cap and bells? This, dear friends and companions, is my amiable object -- to walk with you through the Fair, to examine the shops and shows there; and that we should all come home after the flare, and the noise, and the gaiety, and be perfectly miserable in private.

I cried three times while reading Vanity Fair! If you think that's pathetic, wait until you see how often the female characters in here fall to weeping. You might play a drinking game while reading Vanity Fair, and take a swig of brandy-and-water each time a character starts to cry; perhaps it might be a two-person game, in which one player drinks to the sincere and awful blubbering of dopey neurotic Amelia, while another takes a sip for each of "our little adventuress" Becky's crocodile tears. Or maybe, following the book's milieu, it wouldn't be based around drinking but instead a highly risky and addictive game of chance. There was an unholy amount of gambling in Vanity Fair, and indeed this vice seems to have been to moneyed Regency (?) England what crack cocaine was to impoverished 1980s American urban centers.

Anyway, this book was great and I definitely do recommend it. I know I said that going forward I was going to make a greater effort to start quoting from the source, but I've got things to do, and anyway, it's all so choice that I hardly know where to start. Just go read it yourself -- but remember! Get the one with the pictures!