Eliza Haywood
First of all, I want to apologize for taking so long on this post. I had a hard time finding this book and I ended up having to buy the textbook edition and it took like two weeks to get to my house. I read some list books in between but I will not blog about those until we reach them chronologically. So on with the book.
This novel is divided into three parts which were published at different times. At first, I liked this novel. It is written in a very Jane Austen-like style which I loved. It also had a relatively interesting plot line. Granted, it had a very big build up for an abrupt ending, but I still enjoyed the first part. The second and third parts, however, were just ridiculous.
This book is about Count D'Elmont who has "fatal attractions" which pretty much means that you will fall in love with him whenever you first see him which hinders a lot of the characters, particularly his wife. D'Elmont marries Alvoisa and then falls in love with another woman and they both whine about it for the rest of the book. This novel opens you up to a world where no one cares about anything but looks, women are stupid and senistive, and people kill other human beings and don't give it another thought. There is little to no characterization and everything is extremely over the top. This is the kind of junk book you would read as a guilty pleasure. In my opinion, it has no place in a list of classics.
RATING: **---
Interesting Facts:
My theory is that this is on the list because it was written by a woman. The book is not exactly feminist and I have not enjoyed the female writers at all so far. Way to represent, ladies...
This was one of the most popular books of its time along with Robinson Crusoe.
There are numerous references to both Metamorphoses and Oroonoko so you can feel really cool if you have been reading these books chronologically.
1 comment:
I think I liked this one better than you did, Amanda. I found it hilariously funny, especially the ending of part two.
It is true that there is along way to go for these women, but given what they were up against it their day, these are some pretty pro-active girls.
Post a Comment