Barry Lyndon: The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (Oxford World's Classics) by William Makepeace Thackeray Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Barry Lyndon: The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (Oxford World's Classics)
Book Review: A novel without a hero.
Summary: 5 Stars
Like De Foe, Thackeray recorded the "autobiography" of his hero, Barry Lyndon, Irish adventurer, originally Barry Redmond, who became a chance soldier in the British and Prussian armies during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). After his adventures as a soldier and a spy, he becomes a professional gambler and faithful companion of the Chevalier de Balibari. Together they cheat the most famous courts of Europe with their "skill" at cards and build up a substantial fortune to add to their fame. The gambler gives up his days of adventure-seeking after conveniently "falling in love" with the Countess of Lyndon just after her extremely wealthy husband dies. His downfall comes soon after. Highly recommended for the historical novel lover.
Book Review: Barry Lyndon, the not so lovable rogue
Summary: 4 Stars
Following in the footsteps of Fielding and Smollett, William Thackeray attempts to relate the tale of a lovable rogue, Redmond Barry, in the picaresque style. Narrated in the first person, distinctly unlovable Barry is the classic `unreliable narrator'. Born into insignificant Irish gentry the vain, narcissistic and self-deluding Barry is forced to flee from his native Ireland at the age of fifteen after apparently killing a man in a duel. First joining the British army and then pressed into the Prussian army during the Seven Years War he fights a few battles, deserts and then travels around Europe hobnobbing with the imbecilic European aristocracy and passing his time womanising, gambling and amassing a fortune. He finally returns to Ireland, cons and marries a rich widow and becomes Barry Lyndon. His downfall, when it comes, is not only inevitable but welcome because, rumbustious fun as the novel undoubtedly is, the incessant boasting and name-dropping eventually become somewhat tiresome.
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