I've just got a few more chapters to go and the verdict is (almost) in: I absolutely LOVE this book, the best novel I've had the fortune to enjoy since reading my beloved David Copperfield.
It's so similar to many of the English novels I've read the last few years: Great characters, lots of scheming and false ambitions, an obsession with status in a highly stratified society, etc. that it's impossible to determine exactly why I've enjoyed this so deeply.
Vanity Fair follows the life of two women, Amelia Sedley and Rebecca Sharp. The virtuous Amelia comes from a prosperous family that loses its fortune and becomes almost destitute over the course of the book. Amelia's husband dies, exacerbating her downward fall from grace.
Becky Sharp follows the exact opposite trendline: She's an orphan child from low-bred parents who made their living as entertainers. She's ambitious and builds up her reputation over the course of the book, but she does it through lies and deception. Ultimately she suffers a precipitous fall near the end of the book as her lies reveals unravel.
Like so many English novels the form is didactic, intended to instruct young women on the benefits of virtue and right living. Amelia suffers greatly through the book, but her virtue wins her rich rewards in the end. Becky climbs to the very top of society, but ultimately ends up in disgrace because she did so on a bed of lies.
But details aside, for some unknowable reason I've developed a deep sense of caring for these characters. Unless things take a precipitous fall in the remaining chapters - like they did for Ms. Sharp in Vanity Fair - this book is the best novel I've read in years.
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