Tom Jones
Reviews
I only read Books I, III, IV, V, and IX, as they were the only parts required in my syllabus. I very much did not wish to unduly persevere in my acquaintance with this work. I'll begin with saying that this is not a tremendously bad book, but there is nothing much of interest to me, personally, in it. Mr Fielding wrote well enough, but LORD every page is just him smugly praising himself on how much better and superior he was to his peers and other novelists. CUT IT OUT, HENRY. CUT IT OUT. You don't have to make sweeping considerations on Human Nature at every turn. You can just write the novel without embedding your own commentary in it. Also: “Mr Jones, of whose personal accomplishments we have hitherto said very little, was, in reality, one of the handsomest young fellows in the world.” [extensive flashback to the thousand times we have been told and told and told again how incredibly handsome Tom was] okay, sure
