A biting and witty satire on English social life and customs during the first part of the nineteenth century, its subtitle is “a novel without a hero,” and it could also be added without heroines. Yet the book’s two central characters, the virtuous but dim and naive Amelia Sedley and the amoral, clever, congenial Becky Sharp both display admirable and distressing qualities as they rise, fall, and rise again in society. One of the great virtues of Vanity Fair is that while it is told in hilarious prose, with short burst of genuine pathos, it was praised by its contemporaries as a thoroughly realistic account of the society that it portrays. ( )

This story is very interesting, and I like main characters, Rebecca and Amelia.
They are very different but both of them are very attractive.

I think this story is a little similar to 'Gone with the Wind'.
But, Rebecca made use of men much more than Scarlet.

Rebecca was not a good lady, but finally she became a kind person. ( )

This review will read a bit strangely as it was a group read and I commented on each "part" as I finished reading it.

Spoilers ahead!~!

I enjoyed this read tremendously and I found much to admire in our little Becky Sharp. She had a lot on the ball and was very quick to know what she needed do in order to attain her wants and needs. Those who pity her need think again.
I found Jos to be a big old baby puss and thought that he needed to "man up". But his character truly suited the narration of the story. I did think that his sister, Miss Amelia's character changed too much in the story line. I quite liked her in the beginning, but throughout the middle part...................
The class levels in Vanity Fair are very much "out there" but strangely I see a lot of the same small ostracizings going on today.
Surprising things happening midway through the book.
What a wonderful hero our Captain Dobbin is turning out to be. I rooted for him the entire way through and for things to turn out nicely for him.
I must say that I found the encouragement of the courting of Miss Swartz by Mr. Crawley, the younger, quite odd for this time period and at the same time found it quite brave of the "younger" to refrain from obedience and follow his heart.
Not only soldiers go to war during this era. Apparently people found battles to be of great entertainment as they followed them and could not get there quickly enough. Amazing more civilians did not die at the front than did.
Miss Amelia is quickly turning to milk toast. Funny, I thought she had more spunk than that and perchance by book's end it will show it's face again.
Well, well, well, our Miss Becky is beginning to show her true colors and her adeptness at using people very much to her advantage. Not that she has not all the way through the book done this, but she does it now with a different attitude and heart.
Jos is off somewhere, most likely in India again doing whatever he does there. Miss Amelia has begun to grow a backbone which I am so glad to see.
Thackeray writes this entire work with his tongue in his cheek and I quite enjoy the result of his efforts. This third part is a bit slow going up until the last chapter. Then things begin to pick up.
My, my, my. Such happenings and carryings on as we should ever see. Things coming together to the benefit of "some". Becky getting her comeuppance and then getting her life back to the order in which she enjoys. Miss Amelia waking up to see the real order of the world, getting rid of her rose colored glasses, coming to her senses and doing what she most likely has wanted to do all along. Poor Jos; such an unknowingly sad life and such a sad demise. Do we dare to think he was poisoned? And William; William finally growing some big kahunas at last and standing up for himself.
Thackeray has written a very enjoyable tete-a tete here and I find I quite liked it. I think it could have been compiled into perhaps 480 pages instead of 680. I loved all the little sketches throughout the book.
I am very happy to have been a part of this group read as I was not familiar with Thackeray in the least. I still don't know that I am but I am interested enough to try something else of his. I do know that without the group read, I would never have picked up this particular book, so thank you all for having chosen it as one of this years reads. ( )

A gem, really. I always thought that this classic was a weird story, but it isn't. It's a beautiful story, with characters that stay with you. Becky, the heroine, is unique in her wickedness and shrewdness. ( )

Quite witty, with barbed humor. ( )