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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN: 9780140437539
ISBN: 0140437533
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 912
Publication Date: 2002-02-26
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics

Among the vibrant cast of characters who scheme and scramble for life's prizes in this entertaining saga, no one is better equipped than Becky Sharp, Thackeray's supreme creation. Brilliant, alluring, and ruthless, she defies her poverty-stricken background to climb the social ladder, while her sentimental companion Amelia longs only for caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamour of English society during the Napoleonic wars, military and domestic battles are fought and fortunes are made and lost. Amid the fast-paced comic action stands Dobbin, a true gentleman in a corrupt world, whose unrequited love for Amelia brings pathos and depth to Thackeray's epic satire.

This edition includes a new introduction, a chronology of Thackeray's life and works, a select reading list, and an appendix containing parodic material Thackeray cut from the 1853 edition.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Original "Gone With The Wind"
Review: I read about 2 books per week on average, in English, German or Russian. My favorite book of all time is "Vanity Fair". Why? Because it seems to be the intellectual progenitor of both "War and Peace" as well as "Gone With the Wind," each of which themselves could have been my favorite book. All three epics occur within a major war, all three have main characters involved in massive and famous battles, and all three describe two types of women waiting for their men to survive or perish in battle: the "Scarlett Ohara - Becky Sharpe" prototype and the "Melanie - Amelia" prototype. For me the theme of this novel, and of "Gone With the Wind", is that its the Melanies and Amelias of the world that make life worth living and fighting for (when fighting is truly necessary). In this novel, Becky Sharpe is an anti-heroine in the same way that Scarlett Ohara was. I hope that some author, somewhere, is now writing an epic novel that deals similarly with modern times and the current war.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: the best way to waste three weeks
Review: I read this book for a book report and I originally thought it sounded very interesting. I saw the book (it is MASSIVE, 886 pages) and I decided that I still wanted to read it. I began to read and it starts off very confusing and rocky.

The book is not funny, and not witty, it just has a smart theme. By the end you are pretty well caught up on characters, plot, etc. but it is grossly sad in a realistic kind of way and a big fat waste of time. If you are a scholar or interested in long books or origin/closer look of the behavioral sciences then this might be something you are interested but if you are on the fence about this book, my advice is get out of it while you still can!!!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More fun than a barrel of monkeys!
Review: When reading victorian fiction, with its prim and child-like heroines, I sometimes long for a story about someone who is neither long suffering or innocent. Vanity Fair is the perfect remedy. Becky Sharp probably is the wickedest woman in 19th century fiction and one of the most delightful. Whether facing uncertainties at the battle of Waterloo, or seeking a rich protector, or FINALLY marrying for money (this husband disappears before the money does), Becky is determined to have the kind of life with which she would like to become accustomed. This book is pure pleasure since the reader is always wondering "what is she going to do next." This book cannot be praised too highly.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: One of the 2 or 3 Greatest Novels in the English Language
Review: Hilarious, scathing, wistful, beautiful.

Incredibly modern; the language is as fresh as if Thackeray had penned it yesterday.

A pure delight from beginning to end.

If you're one of those booklovers who reads as much as anthing else in order to get to know the author, in order to sit down and share a beer with him (or her) as it were, then this is your book.

You will come to adore Thackeray, to wish he were your best friend.

In short, if you love Henry Fielding's brand of humor and conversation with the reader in Tom Jones, then you will love Vanity Fair.

This Penguin edition features a brilliant introduction by John Carey, in which he draws comparisons between Vanity Fair and another sumpreme work of art: War and Peace.

In fact he argues that without Vanity Fair, there may never have been a War and Peace.

Ahh, Dobbin. A character that will live in my heart forever.

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