As mysterious and delectable Becky Sharp travels up and down the social latter, the reader is enticed by her lies, manipulations, and scandals. Every character in this charming book is deep and riveting and both loved and hated for their actions, thoughts and habits. Becky, who is the most cunning of them all, is the main character and the one the reader has the most love/hate relationship with. Her betrayals are cruel but understandable. There is no middle ground with Ms. Sharp and the reader has to decide for himself whether she is heroine or villain. ( )

A nice, light read that delves into the minds and motivations of the characters. A wonderful look at Victorian life in the writing style of the time. ( )

This lengthy novel at times tries the reader's patience, but the firey Becky Sharp commands attention to the end.

School chums Amanda Sedley and Becky Sharp come from two different backgrounds: the former from privelege, the latter from poverty thanks to a starving artist father. Amanda is meek while Becky is cunning, and the novel depicts how these two different personalities make their way through life. Amanda falls in love with Osbourne, a handsome scoundrel whose father ruined the Sedleys financially. Becky takes her place befitting her station as a servant in the Crawley household, but is determined to make it to the top any way she can. Her main weapon is flirtation and deceit, and many men are ruined in her wake. Even Osbourne, who sees through Becky, eventually makes himself a fool over her. Amanda remains blindly devoted to her husband while she, meanwhile, is blindly devoted to by Osbourne's fellow soldier Dobbin, a man who is strong when it comes to the military, but an absolute pushover when it comes to Amanda.

Becky Sharp remains one of the most dynamic characters in English literature. Even if her fellow characters were not so weak-willed and wishy-washy, she still would be a force to be reckoned with. Little shames her except the sting of poverty. She's unfaithful, deceitful, and cruel to those who love her, even her own son. She's played the survivor's game for so long that, to the end, Becky Sharp remains her first priority. She's been thrown off the top of the world so many times that you know she always has a trick up her sleeve, a new plan to regain wealth and position. She does not need love because she will always love herself. This makes her a terrifying force among the other, weaker characters.

Sounds awful, right? How can readers like her? Perhaps because Thackeray gives us no other hero, we cling to Becky for her never-say-die attitude. She's the catalyst that finally pushes milquetoast Dobbin and Amanda together, albeit in her usual cruel way. But it's a relief after reading hundreds of pages of Amanda pining for undeserving Osbourne while Dobbin shoots her the puppy-dog eyes. In the end, no character is left with respect for Becky, but she comes out just fine. She was never out for people's respect; she just wanted their money.

On the whole, it's a biting satire of society life, and the things one does to "make it" among its confines. ( )

The book is enjoyable for its wit and irony, cool-headed character depictions, and keen descriptions of 19th century British high society. The narrator, who interposes himself throughout, is delightful, as he sometimes condemns and sometimes laughs at the weaknesses and foibles of the various characters, and philosophizes about life and death. The book is indeed a novel without a hero. The narrator is as unsentimental about the good and virtuous Amelia and Dobbins as he is about the other players, whom he skewers mercilessly. He notes that Amelia is insipid and foolish, and though weak, nevertheless tyrannizes Dobbins as long as she can. Dobbins is “a spoony” who is most effective only when meddling in other’s affairs. Yet it is clear enough that these two -- who are the least susceptible to motivations of pure vanity -- come to the best end. It is a morality play that rings true: those whose desires are of the more simple kind come closest to achieving the good life, while those who are consumed by the pursuit of money, society, and position become pathetic and repulsive as time brings their vices to the fore. ( )

VANITY FAIR follows the adventures of Becky Sharp, beautiful, resourceful, driven, and completely amoral. Becky makes full use of her connections after leaving finishing-school to secure a job as a governess in a seedy household with an established family. She goes on to win the hearts of young and old, provided of course that they have something to offer her. Ultimately, Becky becomes a courtesan on the Continent, living well beyond her means. This, Thackeray's greatest novel, is a delightful journey through the world of early nineteenth-century English manners. Thackeray is a master at pointing out the folly of the good-at-heart and the evil of those with grace and wit. The novels of Thackeray, particularly VANITY FAIR, were great obsessions of C.L.R. James, the Trinidadian author (and another of my favorites), who was reportedly reading Thackeray at eight years old. I love Thackeray for his sharp satire of the petty pretensions of middle-class British society at the time. ( )