In this comic and sharply incisive satire of excess and affectation, beautiful young Evelina falls victim to the rakish advances of Sir Clement Willoughby on her entrance to the world of fashionable London. Colliding with the manners and customs of a society she doesn’t understand, she finds herself without hope that she should ever deserve the attention of the man she loves.
Published: 1778
Published Edition: May 2012
Publishers: Penguin English Library
Genre: Classic
Pages: 500
Goodreads Star Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Review
This book has been on my TBR list for about three or four years and I have been very curious about it as well.
This book follows a young countrywoman named Evelina, she was sent to London to be taken care of and enter into society, she recounts her days in London to her adoptive father Reverend Villars. The entire book is formatted into a diary/letter format which makes it look like you are prying into other peoples business but not only that you are seeing the world from the perspective of Evelina, so the way how she describes events. they are very exaggerated.
I decided to pick up the audio thinking I would be a good idea to jump back and forth but instead I felt the audiobook was very helpful. And while listening to the book, it threw me back to romantic comdies in the 2000s. Especially with the character of Sir Clemont who gain a strong affection towards Evelina and pursued her in a very bad and innapropriate way, it felt very cringy and clingy. But one of the things about this book, it felt very much like Austen but this book came out before any of Austen, so you could call this pre-Austen. There was so many similar aspects of characters that were very similar to some characters in Pride and Prejudice but it had the flare of over the top, a lot more than what Austen written.
I gave this book 5 stars because I just couldn’t imagine a brilliant book that could inspire Jane Austen but also have the most brilliant way of writing to make me wanting to know more. I read this book very quickly and I am grateful with the audiobook because I wouldn’t be able to finish it so quickly.
📚📚📚
I do have to say the third time lockdown has done a brilliant job for my motivation to read. Although my sleep pattern has definitely changed, I’m roughly getting a total of 10 hours of sleep and most of it is during the day because I am having difficulty sleeping during the night.
I hope your days are going well.
Happy Reading xx
DreamingAndReading 