choconougat commented on Vanity Fair (Penguin Classics) by William Makepeace Thackeray
This is REALLY LONG (. well no it just takes me a longer period to finish listening, and I couldn't focus on it, and I did a LOT of reflection on myself as to why I couldn't focus on it, aka why I didn't like it very much despite I thought I would.
I thought I would because satire and observation of dyfunctional society is my thing. But no, that is not entirely true; I like pterry's kind of satire and observation because it is true AND there is kindness in the characters' actions to such things. I don't like satire where you stand by and observe and judge and ... not be involved in some way. It just feels a bit cold to me.
In this case, author showed great compassion to Amelia, and to some extent, William Dobbin, which is fair and understandable and the plotline I like …
This is REALLY LONG (. well no it just takes me a longer period to finish listening, and I couldn't focus on it, and I did a LOT of reflection on myself as to why I couldn't focus on it, aka why I didn't like it very much despite I thought I would.
I thought I would because satire and observation of dyfunctional society is my thing. But no, that is not entirely true; I like pterry's kind of satire and observation because it is true AND there is kindness in the characters' actions to such things. I don't like satire where you stand by and observe and judge and ... not be involved in some way. It just feels a bit cold to me.
In this case, author showed great compassion to Amelia, and to some extent, William Dobbin, which is fair and understandable and the plotline I like the most. For Rebecca and Rawden Crawley, there might be some compassion towards Rawden, I don't get enough for Rebecca. Personally, I know Rebecca didn't do good; but I actually don't blame her much. It was to a large degree the society's fault, that she got into the pattern she repeated. It is also sad that when the nobles reject her, they were like the daughter of a dancer and a painter can't be good. But she started it to not be limited as a daughter of a dancer and a painter. She had to charm; she felt the push to beg, steal, borrow or barter, that's something Amelia didn't have to push for.
I do like William leaving after all these years tho! and the coming back! awwww
It is all the society's fault, that's it. (?) No one is a hero, might just be because every one suffers and causes each other pain so everyone only manages to stay afloat (?)
Also, because there are a lot of people in this and they go all around without .. a narrative, I got lost rather easily. It is like how I am with a documentary or history book; although this is how real life is, I couldn't grasp facts very well without a narrative. This is just consistent with me being unable to read history or general nonfiction... I am rather bad at following things without a purpose I can hold on to.