THANK FUCK IT'S OVER

I'm sorry; especially towards the end of this book I was seriously contemplating poking out my eyes so I'd have an excuse for failing to finish it. With characters that are either entirely obnoxious or those that are unbelievably "virtuous"

Spoiler

(Evelina being mOvEd tO cOmPaSsIoN for Sir Clement when he wOeFuLlY explains his schemes genuinely made me furious---girl this man essentially threatened to assault you on like three separate occasions jesussss)

, every single interaction in the book becomes such a pain to get through---and oh my god there is so much to get through. Pointless interactions abound, the cast is bloated and universally boring, and the themes of the novel are so 18th-century that I'm going to pull a Porcia and swallow a hot coal.

TLDR: Horrendous. Read the Cliffnotes or something.

1.25/5 stars