The start of 2022 has been rather busy so we took two months to complete the January book pick. What a wild ride this one was and only two us finished the 800+ page beastie.
The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling was written in 1749, so I was kinda lucky to have just come off a Victorian literature class in the Fall semester to take up this one. Phew.
First off, this is not a book you take with you to read at the beach. It requires patience and attention to catch all the nuances and subtext. I personally was not a huge fan of the book, but I can see why it appears on many a classics lit list. There ended up only being three of us in the meeting for this book, but it ended up being a productive discussion nonetheless.
The narrator is very present throughout the whole novel. Every 'book' is prefaced with a chapter on the narrator's musings, thoughts, criticisms and theoretical or theological writings. These chapters can get tedious, but on pg. 191 (Chapter 1, Book V) the narrator says that the reader "may pass over these, in which we profess to be laboriously dull, and begin the following Books, at the second Chapter." I had to flag it because I laughed. But I didn't skip them, I made sure I read the whole book.
One of the best parts of the novel is the halfway point when, under coincidental circumstances, a bunch of the characters in the story all end up at the same inn in Upton. A series of truly ridiculous events happen and I was left shaking my head going, "What just actually happened?!" I'm still thinking about those chapters! Like, just, WHAT?
The second half of the book picked up the pace and there was not as much preamble, it was mot straight to the point and events at hand. There is a twist in this book that is set up in the beginning and revealed right before the end. I did not see the reveal of the twist coming. I had a completely different scenario envisioned. But, as we discussed in the meeting, if you know the twist and look back, all the signs to the truth were actually there and hinted at.
I also learned there is a BBC adaptation of this book from the 1990s. Apparently it is quite good, but I have not watched it yet. Rumor has it that it is a much more fun thing to watch all the escapades of the characters than to read about it. Guess we'll see.
