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Description
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Thackeray's upper-class Regency world is a noisy and jostling commercial fairground, predominantly driven by acquisitive greed and soulless materialism, in which the narrator himself plays a brilliantly versatile role as a serio-comic observer. Although subtitled 'A Novel without a Hero', Vanity Fair follows the fortunes of two contrasting but inter-linked lives: through the retiring Amelia Sedley and the brilliant Becky Sharp, Thackeray examines the position of women in an intensely exploitative male world. Read more
Publisher : Wordsworth Editions Ltd; Classic Edition (January 4, 1998)
Language : English
Paperback : 720 pages
ISBN-10 : 1853260193
ISBN-13 : 93
Item Weight : 15.2 ounces
Dimensions : 5.12 x 1.42 x 7.87 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #316,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #8,414 in Classic Literature & Fiction #88,872 in Genre Literature & Fiction
#8,414 in Classic Literature & Fiction:
#88,872 in Genre Literature & Fiction:
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Top Amazon Reviews
Excellent book. Challenge to read.
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024 by Paulina Phillips
A great book!
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2023 by Just Me
My local theatre is doing a play based on Vanity Fair. So I wanted to re-read the book before it opens. Book arrived early, in great shape, and was a terrific (though long) read. Thank you very much!
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2019 by Mary M. McCue
“Vanity Fair” by William Thackeray is one of the best satirical novels I have read to date. Full of intellect and a well thought out criticism of British culture in the 19th century, “Vanity Fair” is a must read for any budding feminist and satirist. As was common in this time period, the story started out as a serialized set of stories, published in twenty parts between January of 1847 and July of 1847. This does lead to Thackeray writing extremely long phrases, filled with colorful language and elaborate explanations of everything. People were paid by the word in this time, so it’s understandable why this was done. It can be a tedious read, but once you get use to the language, you should be fine. The story follows Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley as they grow up in Britain as each of their lives change and grow from when they left their school. Amelia, the mild mannered, respectful girl, fits right in with the role of women in this time period. Becky is the complete opposite and is regarded as the anti-heroine in the story. She is manipulative, ambitious, and practically independent. The two contrast beautifully, and their differences are emphasized when it’s shown how each girl feels about how they end up in their lives. The two main characters in this novel, Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley, are both well fleshed out for their purposes in the novel. Becky is witty and manipulative; she wants what she wants and will do anything to get it. Amelia is the perfect girl of the 19th century, but she’s unhappy. She gets autonomy over her emotions and they aren’t invalidated for the way they feel, something uncommon in this time period from male writers. I personally was able to relate to Becky in many ways, especially her ambition. If you have never done any research on the novel or the author or the time period, the plot can be highly unexpected. However, no matter if you have no experience in this style of writing or have a doctorate in satirical Romantic writing, the story is intriguing all the way through. If you’ve ever read “The Taming of the Shrew”, this novel will interest you. Both stories involve two girls, one more independent and headstrong, while the other is more docile and fits more into the societal mold of the time. However, Vanity Fair can clearly be seen as a criticism and a feminist novel, while Shrew is blurred. That leads for an interesting comparison to the two, one that I invite other readers to think and ponder over! The novel is a satire. That much is obvious. It address societal issues, the way women are treated being a major one, and spins it in a way that you can’t passively think about. It requires in-depth thought and focus. When reading this, it is important to keep in mind that the culture of the world was different from today, and that characters like Becky, although she is painted as a protagonist in this, is unusual and her being an outcast would not look as positive as it does in this novel. If you’re a person who likes satires, feminism, or really long descriptions of everything, this is the novel for you.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2017 by major fashionista
Decent paperback version at an excellent price. Unabridged. This review refers to the physical book, not to the text.
Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2019 by RIRN
Good read.
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2021 by Michael A Racanelli
A classic you might have forgotten. A quick and fun read. Characters come to life
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2019 by Candice brenner
There's a chapter in this classic 1848 English novel titled "A Cynical Chapter." I would venture to say that the whole novel could be classified with this subtitle; it's a most cynical and satiric look at English society at the time, in particular, and at the essential nature of human beings, in general. The actual subtitle of the novel is "A Novel Without a Hero," and that's also very accurate, as it soon becomes apparent that all the characters are guilty in varying degrees of human failings. Not one character escapes Thackeray's cynical analysis and comes out as entirely admirable. Some are foolish and self centered, some are shallow and self deluded, some are hypocritical, and some turn out to be what we now term as sociopaths. The central character, Becky Sharp, is the most despicable, and yet she is the most interesting. She is smarter, more manipulative, more pragmatic, more self-aware. She has the attractiveness of many a subsequent literary and cinematic anti-hero; we perhaps secretly admire her even while realizing her guilt, just because she is successful in winning the game. (This human tendency -- to admire the winner -- is an additional testament to the accuracy of Thackeray's assessment of human nature.) The plot follows Becky, the daughter of an impoverished artist and a Paris dancer, as she strives to advance her fortunes and her position in society, mainly through the seduction of various men. The secondary plot follows Becky's kind (and naive) friend Amelia, whose good qualities are obscured by her blind devotion to an ideal rather than to a reality. This is undoubtedly one of the most well executed novels in the English language, accomplishing flawlessly its goal of a realistic examination of human motivations and failings. Thackeray was a contemporary of Charles Dickens, and the contrast is immediately apparent. Dickens specialized in idealized good characters and blacker-than-night bad characters. In Thackeray, all the characters are pictured in varying shades of gray. This is yet another novel which I re-evaluated after many years between readings. When I read this in my twenties, I perceived it as excessively cynical. Now, I believe it to be an accurate depiction of the human condition.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2014 by gammyraye