Review of 'The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (Penguin Classics)' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
At 800 pages of wordy text, it was a struggle to get to the end of this book, and a relief when I finally managed it. It did seem to get easier as I progressed, although whether that is due to the text getting better or I that I got used to the style, I wouldn't like to day.
Being published in 1745, it is one of the earliest books in English that is recognisable as a novel. It is clear that in the 60 years since that publication date and Jane Austen's first novel, there had been a lot of developments in literature, not to mention society. Tom Jones' text is very wordy, very flowery and Fielding can take several pages to convey something which Jane Austen or one of the Brontë's could have managed in a few lines, or sometimes even to say almost nothing at all. I …
At 800 pages of wordy text, it was a struggle to get to the end of this book, and a relief when I finally managed it. It did seem to get easier as I progressed, although whether that is due to the text getting better or I that I got used to the style, I wouldn't like to day.
Being published in 1745, it is one of the earliest books in English that is recognisable as a novel. It is clear that in the 60 years since that publication date and Jane Austen's first novel, there had been a lot of developments in literature, not to mention society. Tom Jones' text is very wordy, very flowery and Fielding can take several pages to convey something which Jane Austen or one of the Brontë's could have managed in a few lines, or sometimes even to say almost nothing at all. I don't mean that in a negative way, it is just a different style that belongs to a different age.
The book is worth reading for a number of reasons. It helps you understand how literature in English has evolved. It gives interesting insights into how society of that time was different (and similar!) to modern England. The flowery language has a certain charm of its own.
