Vanity Fair
Isn't it fitting that I should finish 'Vanity Fair' on the morning of the end of the world?
Thackeray understood people. Which is why there is a whole lot to love about this book, and is also likely why there is such a whole lot to it. I don't mind sprawling Victorian serial epics, usually the richness of the plot, the story, the characters, etc., is enough that the padding is a benefit in itself. Here that wasn't so much the case, especially towards the last third of the book and the very end.
I liked the end, it was very fitting; it's just the entire way in which it was written lacked spark, lacked the Sharp edge (ooh see what I did there?) that made the rest of the book so damn funny. Because it is. Funny, I mean.
Rebecca Sharp is fantastic from her disdainful tossing of a begrudgingly inscribed dictionary back at the gates of her school to her conquest of polite society. Her actions provided with the support of the incredibly dry wit of the narrator show up the hypocrisies and ludicrousness of "society" and the illusion that it is in any way polite.
But Becky Sharp is by no means the only reason to read this book. Thackeray could create a worthy cast of characters to fill his story. and provide a sufficient reflection of our society. I went in spates of loving or hating almost every character. None of them were static. I was impressed with how Thackeray brought out my sympathies for Miss Crawley as her "final scene" in 'Vanity Fair' draws near, or Rawdon through his affection for his son.
The problem was that the very machinations of the world that Thackeray knew and could skewer so well demanded a certain kind of finale to justify all that went before it. Propriety and the establishment had to have some sort of vindication, which is why the last section felt so forced and almost all of the sarcasm and irony is absent. Almost.
So parts may drag, but this book is well worth a read from those who wish to spare the time. Thackeray was an excellent satirist and this whole book built around the metaphor of 'Vanity Fair' is brilliant and I haven't read its equal yet.
