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Vanity Fair
- A Novel without a Hero
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 32 hrs and 18 mins
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Summary
Vanity Fair, with its rich cast of characters, takes place on the snakes-and-ladders board of life. Amelia Sedley, daughter of a wealthy merchant, has a loving mother to supervise her courtship. Becky Sharp, an orphan, has to use her wit, charm, and resourcefulness to escape from her destiny as a governess. This she does ruthlessly, musing: "I think I could become a good woman, if I had £5,000 a year."
Thackeray’s story is set at the time of the battle of Waterloo, in which the Sedley fortunes are lost - and Amelia is back to square one - while Becky rises with contemptuous ease.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Vanity Fair
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mim C.
- 15-03-18
A surprisingly modern novel.
If you could sum up Vanity Fair in three words, what would they be?
Incisive, funny, moving.
What did you like best about this story?
Becky Sharp is a wonderful creation. She's a shameless survivor and improviser in an era of modesty, blushes and bonnets.
Which character – as performed by Georgina Sutton – was your favourite?
Georgina Sutton is brilliant as all the characters- both men and women. Her Joss Sedley is particularly funny.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It made me laugh, cry and gasp.
Any additional comments?
I've listened to a number of Audible books but Georgina Sutton's performance in this thirty-two hour listen is the most impressive that I've come across so far.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Annie
- 25-10-13
Try it!
If you could sum up Vanity Fair in three words, what would they be?
I had read Vanity Fair and had watched the film and television series, but until I listened to this reading, I had never really understood, how funny & 'tongue in cheek' it was!
Just be careful to choose the right reader. I chose one & within minutes couldn't cope with the voice although I had heard them reading other things. It just didn't feel right. Glad that Audible swapped it & that I persevered!
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4 people found this helpful
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- JAMES
- 16-03-14
Brilliant performance
It was quite tricky at first to find a foothold in the story given the nature of its heroin. Georgina Sutton brought life to the innumerable characters however and made sure you couldn't get lost in the crowd!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 17-06-18
A gem
Narration lifts this book from the pages. A tale full of irony, conceit, hypocrisy and love.
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1 person found this helpful
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- SEA, Charente
- 21-10-15
Excellent Recording of a first rate classic
This wonderful tale is enhanced by the narrator who never fails to deliver vocally Thackeray's inimitable characters. Changing seamlessly from narrator to character, Ms Sutton has created a masterpiece of her own. Could not be bettered.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-04-22
“Vanity Fair” and still it goes on!
An old favourite, very well read.
200 years have gone by and we’re still as foolish, worldly, gullible as Thackeray’s characters.
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- FictionFan
- 27-10-21
A satire that's actually funny...
Thackeray's satire of the English gentility during and after the Napoleonic Wars is a rare beast - a satire that is actually funny. His warmth towards his deeply flawed and often ridiculous characters makes them enjoyable to spend time with even when they're behaving at their worst. Becky Sharp is one of the best, if most immoral, heroines in Victorian fiction, putting to shame all those drooping angelic women trotted out by so many authors of the time, especially male authors. And Georgina Sutton's narration is excellent - she creates individual and believable voices for each of the huge cast of characters and brings out all Thackeray's humour, making it as pleasurable to listen to as to read.
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- hamer dodds
- 03-07-20
Entertaining!
This whole book and reading could be thought of as a commentary of today's UK. Just good, if uneasy, entertainment.
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- Bendinello
- 25-05-20
Simply brilliant reading
Well written and brilliantly read. The range of voices is extraordinary! You can SEE the characters esp Joss Sedley.
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- Jill Goodman
- 11-04-20
A marathon.
I have never read Vanity Fair so I downloaded this out of curiosity to see what the original was like. I found it overlong, some of Thackeray’s writing Is too moralistic for our age. I imagine that some of his oddly named characters were caricatures of real people.Some of his comments hold as true today as they did then, however, and parts of it made me smile
The narrator was very good, differentiated between the characters believably, I especially liked the lisp she used for Major Dobbin. I don’t regret listening to this book but once will be enough.
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