Finished: Vanity Fair (Thackeray). A really good, and very looonnnngg book! I can see why it is on the Top 100 list, but I just need to decide if it's on MY Top 100 list. At 950 pages, it was super wordy...and I mean in the descriptive way. Of course, that's one of the big reasons it's considered one of the great novels. The detail and depth which Thackeray goes into when expounding on the lives and doings of the British upper classes in the early 1800's is mind-boggling. And, he does much of it with names of people and places that were supposed to be a humorous satire of the times. I don't always get those jokes, because, well...I didn't live back then when it was first published. Anyway....he's brilliant in his writing, but as always, I prefer much more dialogue and action than I do so much intense description and tangent-taking to describe different social people who had nothing to do with the story. However, I would venture to say that Vanity Fair will make it onto my Top 100 books list. Thackeray titles the book Vanity Fair, or The Novel Without a Hero...but I beg to differ. I consider Major William Dobbin to be the epitome of a hero. Does a hero have to be good-looking and the lady-charmer? The story begins with the teen aged young ladies, Amelia Smedley and Rebecca Sharp graduating from Miss Pinkerton's Academy for Young Ladies and arriving at Amelia Smedley's manor. Amelia has grown up well off and in the upper class. Becky has grown up poor, the daughter of an artist and a stage dancer, who are both deceased. She had been at Pinkerton's on scholarship. She is the focus of much of the story...her personality, her ability to take advantage of anyone and everyone to propel herself up the social ladder. She hoodwinks nearly everyone in the story at one time or another with her charm, wit and personality. She appears to genuinely care for people, but in reality, she cares only for herself. Amelia is the opposite, almost to a sad degree. She's the sweetest, truest, sappiest of people. She's been "engaged" to fellow socialite, George Osbourne, since childhood and they are well on their way to marriage. However, the good-looking, charming, self-centered George has become quite full of himself and turned into a dandy. George's best friend, confident, and protector, the not-so-good looking William Dobbin, is always there to guide him in the right direction....and he's also helplessly in love with Amelia. Amelia, though, only has eyes and a heart for George. Even when George has a wandering eye and questions getting married, Dobbin is there to strongly encourage him to tow the line. When the Smedley's loose all their money and become destitute, George's horrible father, who owes much of his own success to Amelia's father, forbids George to marry Amelia. When George breaks it off, Amelia becomes so despondent that Dobbin feels like she is at death's door. He convinces George that he should do the right thing and marry the girl who he's been promised to his whole life...the girl who has totally given him her heart. So, George defies his father and marries Amelia. George's father is furious and disinherits him. George and Amelia spend a few weeks of happy bliss on their honeymoon trip until the reality of having no money sets in on George. They truly do love each other...but then George's eye is caught by the wicked Becky! Becky, who had become a governess for crotchety, uncouth Sir Pitt Crawley's young daughters from his second marriage, had then fallen for Sir Pitt's careless, cavalier, charming, free-spirited, much in debt from his shenanigans, younger son from his first marriage, Rawdon Crowley. Rawdon is someone who actually COULD have been a hero in the story, but the author clearly wanted to show him in a very weak light so Becky could be pushed to the forefront. Anyway, Rawdon is in line and favor to inherit his rich aunt's money when she dies, as she adores his unruly ways. She even falls in love with Becky, like everyone who meets her does. But...when Becky and Rawdon elope, the aunt has a hissy fit because she believes that Becky is too beneath Rawdon's station. So....the aunt disinherits Rawdon. Rawdon and Becky continue to spend what they don't have, living on credit, and charming people out of money, or in Rawdon's case, winning money from people at billiards. When Becky and Rawdon run into Amelia and George on their honeymoon trip, Becky is already thrusting herself higher into society by flirting with all the officers. They are all in Brussels in the days before Napoleon's big march to regain his former power. George, Rawdon and William Dobbin are all in the military and expect to be called to battle any day. Becky sets her sights on turning George's eye, and she succeeds. He actually asks her to run away with him, but then when they all find out the men will be called out the next morning to fight, George has a crisis of conscience and falls into Amelia's arms and declares his love. The battle that follows is the famous Battle of Waterloo. Only two of the young men come home alive. Meanwhile, Amelia shows anger for the first time in her life and estranges  herself from Becky, who she used to see as a close friend. Amelia knows that Becky had set her charms on George. George is the one who is killed in battle, and Amelia is devastated.  However, Amelia is pregnant! And, for that matter...so is Becky! Baby George brings Amelia back to life, and she loves him more than anything in her life. Poor Dobbin who is always there for her and the baby, is still on the back burner and she never even glances his way romantically. He knows she'll never love him the way he does her. Becky, who goes hot and cold with Rawdon, seems to love him at times, but grows tired of him and just wants to climb higher and higher in society. Her baby son, Rawdon, is just something to get in her way. She instantly puts him out to a nurse and doesn't give him a second thought. :-(  Becky meets up with the Marquis Steyne, who she charms, and who takes her under his wing to propel her to new social heights...of course, at the expense of her relationship with Rawdon and her own son. It's so sad to see Becky ignore her little son as he grows older, though, Rawdon become a really good father! He loves spending time with his son, but he's so whipped by Becky that he does what she says most of the time, including sending the boy off here and there. Dobbin, knowing he hasn't a chance with Amelia, leaves town for over ten years. He makes sure, however, that Amelia and little George have a small income. However, Amelia's father puts them in dire straights once again and the family falls into dire poverty. ok, it's impossible to recap this 950 page book, lol. In any event, Dobbin does swoop back into town and declare his love for Amelia, but she still rebuffs him because of her love and duty to her dead husband. Dobbin, however, grows really close to the young Georgy. After a couple more years, Dobbin has finally had enough of being Amelia's lapdog...especially when she forgives the lying, scheming, opportunist Becky, who is back in the picture after being left by Rawdon, who finally grew some pride and dumped her when he walked in on her in a compromising position with Steyne. Becky has cried on Amelia's shoulder that the evil Rawdon ripped her own little Rawdon out of her arms and kept him from her, when in reality, Becky dumped her son long ago. When Dobbin can't convince Amelia of Becky's lies, and when Amelia is angry with Dobbin for his opinion, Dobbin finally tells her he's done! Finally, he shows some self-respect! He hops a ship back to England (they've all been in Germany), and soon, it's Becky of all people who convinces Amelia that George was never half the man that William Dobbin was, and that she should jump at the chance for true love. Amelia realizes that she does love Dobbin, and with Georgy's happy approval, writes and begs him to come back. Dobbin comes back and marries Amelia, making the three of them a family...and adding to the family with a baby daughter of his own. :-) I stand by my original statement...to love Amelia unconditionally all those years, and stand by not only her husband and friend, but then his widow and son, makes him a hero in my book! There is so much more to the book besides just the story of these young folks, but I can't possibly detail it all. Though Amelia, Dobbin and little George get their happy ending, I can't say that all the characters do. Still, in all....it was a very good book. :-)