December: Thackeray : Vanity Fair

I hope it's ok that I went ahead and started this. I've been meaning to join in for so long and now that I'm finally reading the right author at the right time, there is no thread!

So I decided to read Vanity Fair, mostly because it's the only Thackeray I've ever heard of. I am both enjoying and despising it. I am enamored with the parts focusing on our main characters, the infamous Becky Sharpe and her friend Amelia Sedley; however, Thackeray insists on continually filling space with digressions where the narrator directly addresses the reader about an entirely different cast of allegedly real people in his own life, muses about politics/morality/fashion/etc.

Also, he never met a minor character who didn't merit a full biographical investigation the first time s/he is introduced, even if the person appears once and is insignificant. A bit of this is ok, even entertaining, but I am finding it really irritating to be so diverted from the fascinating Miss Sharpe and her misadventures.

I had been under the impression, perhaps simplistically, that this was a story about a villain who gets her comeuppance, but so far it doesn't seem like its trending that way. Or if it is, this is one of those stories where the villain is far more attractive and interesting than any other character. Becky's story so far is a bizzare combination of Jane Eyre and Lydia Bennet from Pride and Prejudice & she reminds me very much of Mary Crawford from Mansfield Park in that both women are supposed to be the bad guys but are actually more appealing and vibrant than the good girls in their respective novels.

I'm trying to get through, but am doing a lot of skimming of the digressions at this point. It is amazing to me that readers were able to keep things straight and maintain interest when this was distributed in serial form.

I thought you might like a response! I haven't read VF in decades, but I think you are more or less on the mark that Becky is an appealing villain..... I was just thinking about Thackeray today. I'd run out and grab something to read except I am still reading Middlemarch begun with a group in the beginning of November..... I think I got used to Thackeray being Thackeray eventually, digressions and all. But I do think it limits him, ultimately.

I'm not reading Vanity Fair (instead opting for The History of Henry Esmond) but look forward to any comments. I think Vanity Fair will probably be a popular choice.

By coincidence today I unpacked a couple of boxes of books from the storage unit, and there was my old copy of VF. I was thinking of trying to find a copy of the abovementioned History of HE, but by the time I do it will be January, no doubt. Maybe I should reread VF???? How far along are you, Ms. Price?