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Vanity Fair Penguin Classics William Makepeace Thackeray John Carey 9780141439839 Books

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Vanity Fair Penguin Classics William Makepeace Thackeray John Carey 9780141439839 Books

My first attempt at reading this, years ago, ended with me giving up in the first chapter or two. This time I stuck with it and was rewarded with a greatly entertaining and amusing book. One thing I would recommend is to get a version with plenty of footnotes, because there are many things that need some explaining after 150 years!

The Kindle version Vanity Fair - Full Version (Illustrated and Annotated) (Literary Classics Collection Book 44) had plenty of footnotes, the most I could find in any Kindle version. Without them I would have been lost at times as to the meaning of certain references. There are also some typos, but not enough to destroy reading enjoyment. Also, this version has the original illustrations by the author.

Highly recommended!


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Vanity Fair Penguin Classics William Makepeace Thackeray John Carey 9780141439839 Books Reviews

Slogging through this supercilious, muddled mess of a novel took a supreme effort. Reeks misogyny on every page. Full of superfluous badinage that does nothing to advance the story. Not funny. Spectacularly mean spirited. Excessively lengthy for no reason. Maddeningly tedious. It’s easy to discern that Thackeray respects no one, but his hatred of women is the overwhelming takeaway of this boring, repetitive “satire.” The story itself is thin, but the reader’s attention is continually diverted and disturbed by the writer’s compulsion to expound upon his prejudices and personal opinions, particularly on the uselessness, superficiality, vindictiveness and inferiority of women.

Don’t bother reading this book unless you are required to do so. Thackeray is an accomplished writer who, at least in this book, wastes his gift. I’ve read many, many classics and this only one I would not recommend.
This is not a review of the novel which is a masterpiece despite the reviews of a few people who didn't like the book. The fact that you don't like the book or understand the importance of the book does not mean it's not a masterpiece. I am reviewing the Barnes and Noble edition which is listed under annotated versions if you search that way. There are many brief references throughout the book---maybe on 30%-40% of the pages. They are very brief. I give this edition four starts because the Penguin edition has many more and they are more thorough. The Penguin is out of print but used copies can be found if searched for. This edition is fine and superior to those editions without such references but not as good as the Penguin.
For years I had been putting off reading Thackeray's magnum opus, "Vanity Fair." Not that I dreaded reading it-in fact, quite the contrary, as I knew that what awaited in its pages was surely a treasure trove of wit. But since it is lengthier than your average novel (800+ pages in the Penguin edition), I waited to read this, choosing to reserve it for a time in my life when I could do so uninterrupted and with the utmost leisure. This set the stakes quite high, and I had my apprehensions that perhaps they were a bit too high. (I've been disappointed before with a handful of other books that I had put off reading but which ended up not being what I had expected.) Wow, did Mr. Thackeray ever deliver! This book was absolutely worth the wait and, in fact, exceeded my expectations!

The novel chronicles the fortunes and mishaps of two childhood friends, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharpe one a hopeless romantic, the other an incorrigible opportunist. Come along with them on their unforgettable journey (or puppet show, as Thackeray would have us view it) as they graduate from charm school, marry, endure the Battle of Waterloo, bear children and much more! Of course, no Victorian novel of this magnitude would be complete without a diverse cast of supporting characters the dutiful Capt. Dobbin, the narcissistic civilian Jos Sedley, the petulant and slowly-dying Miss Crawley, the reproachable Lord Steyne, the vociferous Mrs. Peggy O’Dowd and many others.

For Thackeray, each character fits squarely into the ambient setting which he calls Vanity Fair, in homage to Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress,” a place meant to satirize pre-Victorian England (and its successors). Vanity has two distinct meanings here, which Thackeray so carefully weaves together. On the one hand, the people of Vanity Fair are vain in the sense of being egotistical. Their ego requires satisfaction whether by a position in society, or wealth, or the love of a woman; as they strive to attain one or more of these, they must conceal their object-in-view from everyone else. It is this other sense of “vanity” that Thackeray satirizes; i.e., futility. All these attempts at conniving, dissembling, and then arriving at one’s end never yield long-term happiness.

Thackeray’s style is inimitable and perhaps may best be described as playfully sardonic. He is rarely ever serious and uses hyperbole to no end. This style sets him apart from his contemporaries. Where Hardy is tragic, he is realistic; where Eliot is subtly deprecatory, he is outwardly so; where Dickens longs for Christianity, he revels in being a heathen. And of course, one of the most recognizable devices in his writing is the tangent, never without purpose and always without apology. Some of these may be readily skipped over but some are worth reading, if only to get a good laugh. Indulge Thackeray in some of these and you will not be disappointed!
303. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (Novel-E Book-Fiction) 5* Originally “The Novel Without a Hero”, which more or less is about the gist of it, as even the character Colonel William Dobbin is not without some flaws. The author certainly is a loquacious writer and no doubt his mind was muddled at times and certainly his pen hand cramped with the volume of pages of this work. Published as a 19 volume series between 1847-1848, it's meant to reflect early 19th century society of England, told with wit and satire. As the reader follows the lives of Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp, we don't have to wait long to determine each ladies character, Amelia being naïve and Rebecca unscrupulous and rather ruthless at times. Their paths cross many times during the course of the narrative and not always in a good way. I thought it was an excellent story and well written which I thoroughly enjoyed. “Ah, Vanitas Vattatum! Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? Or, having it is satisfied? -come, children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out” William Makepeace Thackeray and thus ends Vanity Fair.
My first attempt at reading this, years ago, ended with me giving up in the first chapter or two. This time I stuck with it and was rewarded with a greatly entertaining and amusing book. One thing I would recommend is to get a version with plenty of footnotes, because there are many things that need some explaining after 150 years!

The version Vanity Fair - Full Version (Illustrated and Annotated) (Literary Classics Collection Book 44) had plenty of footnotes, the most I could find in any version. Without them I would have been lost at times as to the meaning of certain references. There are also some typos, but not enough to destroy reading enjoyment. Also, this version has the original illustrations by the author.

Highly recommended!