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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

pick

I‘ve delayed this review, because how do you possibly review this 950,000-word tome? Here goes! In college I proclaimed the 18th century my least favorite era of English literature. In grad school, it turned out to be my favorite professor‘s area of expertise. Still, I vowed not to read another 18th century novel if I could help it (Tristram Shandy was quite enough). Apparently 20 years is sufficient distance for me to give the era another shot.⤵️

BarbaraJean The #Clarissa buddy read gave me the push I needed to read this epistolary monster in mostly real time. And it was a delight to discuss (i.e. rant about) it each week. I wouldn‘t have read this without the camaraderie of the group to keep me going, but the weekly chats also immeasurably increased my enjoyment of the book. Ultimately I‘m glad I read it, and not just for the bragging rights. It was fascinating to read for a greater understanding ⤵️ 14mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) …of the book‘s influence on later writers, but I also really wanted to know how things turned out: to see the villains punished, and to find out the fate of all the characters. The individual voices were so distinct—it says a lot about Richardson‘s skill as a writer, and his usage of the epistolary format, that I was able to picture each of the characters so clearly, and that they all evoked such strong emotion! ⤵️ 14mo

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) Never mind that the emotions evoked often consisted of rage and disgust. 😂 Thank you to @Lcsmcat for leading the buddy read and spurring the group on to completion of this chunkster! @Amiable I‘m counting it as my #UltimateChunkster for the #ChunksterChallenge2023 because it‘s LONGER than War & Peace. 😁 Cheers to all us learned slatterns! 14mo

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Amiable It is longer! When I set up the challenge this year, I picked “W&P” as the ultimate chunkster because that‘s the one most commonly cited as an example of a “huge book” that intimidates readers. I was hoping to encourage people to tackle that one specifically, mostly for the sense of accomplishment. I think “Clarissa” deserves its own badge of honor—or at least, we do for getting through it! 😄 14mo

Amiable And also —great review! I agree with everything you‘ve said. 14mo

Daisey Great review! I agree with all you had to say about this book as well, especially Richardson‘s skill in evoking emotions in the reader. 14mo

Lcsmcat You said it perfectly! Thanks for joining us on this journey - I‘m not sure I‘d have pushed through without you all, and I know I wouldn‘t have had as much fun. Learned Slatterns unite! 14mo

35 likes7 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

so-so

I can‘t give this a pick, because it was so difficult to keep going at some points and dragged interminably in many places. Yet, I can appreciate what Richardson accomplished with this story and thought it used the epistolary format very well. It was frequently slow and repetitive, but it also made me feel connected to the characters as well as developing strong reactions to their choices and words as well.

#SerialReader #1001books #Clarissa

Currey Congratulations Daisey! It was great reading with you and the whole group. 1y

AnnR 👏👏👏 1y

Amiable Thanks for sticking it out to the end! So glad to have been a part of the #Clarissa crew. 1y

Daisey @Currey @AnnR @Amiable Thank you! Yes, it was so much better to read this together. I don‘t think there‘s any way I would have made it without the accountability of the group and a schedule for checking in and discussion. 1y

52 likes4 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

pick

I knew going in some of the plot (it is after all almost 300 years old) but there was still much (1781 pages worth!) to take in. While I vacillated on how to rate it, I‘m glad I stuck it out to the end. I loved thinking about Richardson‘s impact on later authors like Jane Austen. And was disturbed by how little has really changed in regards to men‘s treatment of women. It was easy picture most of the characters ⬇️

Lcsmcat ⬆️ in suits and ties instead of perruques and shoe buckles. My favorite character was Anna, although even she frustrated me at times. And Richardson amused me with his so-obvious insecurities about his writing and the public‘s & critic‘s response to it. 1y

AnnR Well done! 👏 1y

Megabooks Awesome job! 1y

Amiable I‘m so proud of all of us for tackling this chunkster to the ground! 1y

38 likes4 comments

Lcsmcat @hazel2019, @jerdencon, @annececilie, @tamra, @amiable, @daisey, @sarabellym, @llwheeler, @liz_m, @slategreyskies, @covertocovergirl, @librarybelle, @localtxlibrarian, @cewilf, @dd42500, @hilded, @bookwormM, @mamareading, @jewright, @lauraisntwilder, @leahbergen, @jenniferp, @rubyslippersreads, @currey, @theelliemo, @barbarajean, @thebookhippie, @arubabookwoman, @ginakbutler 1y

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

We did it! Time for final thought on #Clarissa as we all gain back hours in our reading lives. Thanks for keeping me company for this marathon. I may post some quotes below, but Richardson‘s whining wasn‘t how I was feeling this week. How are you feeling about the futures he gave each character? About his answers to the critics? (Especially as regards the length! 😂) Glad you read it, or sorry?

Tamra Congratulations! 🎉 1y

Librarybelle I am very far behind but have enjoyed reading the thoughts of everyone. It‘s my goal to be completed by the end of the year. Thank you for hosting! 1y

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Lcsmcat @Librarybelle You can do it! Feel free to tag me if you post your thoughts. I‘m glad to have finished, but I‘ll be thinking about this one for a while. 1y

Lcsmcat Some quotes: this one says so much about Richardson! “For there is an injustice in being moved at the afflictions of those who deserve to be miserable.” (Who gets to decide?…) 1y

Lcsmcat R insulting his readers: “A few observations are thrown in by way of note in the present edition, at proper places to obviate this objection, or rather to bespeak the attention of hasty readers to what lies obviously before them.” 1y

Lcsmcat R insults his critics: “The author thinks he ought not to prescribe to the taste of others; but imagined himself at liberty to follow his own.” 1y

AnneCecilie I‘m glad you initiated this and that I joined in. I never would have read it otherwise. Off course it got too long at times, but I‘m glad I read it. I will never look at a rake in the same way again. They always comes up in romance novel/ series with a certain romantic air around them, but after reading about Mr Lovelace, I will no longer look at them in a romantic way. 1y

Jerdencon Thanks for taking us on this trip! @Lcsmcat I never would have read it otherwise even if it felt like homework some weeks! Lol 1y

Jerdencon As for how he played out everyone‘s lives - I think I was most happy that Clarissas brother was so miserable! He deserved it - although I wish Lovelace had a more miserable ending. And I‘m glad Belford and Charlotte ended up together. 1y

Lcsmcat @AnneCecilie Thanks for joining in! I agree that, while his idea of the “perfect woman” felt preachy, his depiction of a rake/libertine felt spot on. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon Yes! James deserved to be miserable. I felt he was the catalyst that set the evil in motion. And it did feel like work some weeks, but I‘m glad I stuck with it. 1y

Amiable I wasn‘t sure at first, but I ended up being glad that I read this one. I grew to appreciate Richardson‘s writing strategy and how he skillfully used the epistolary format to tell multiple sides of the story. It‘s funny —today I was reading another book and had a brief flash of “wait, I have to log at least 10 pages of Clarissa first!” I‘m not used to my freedom yet. 😄 1y

Amiable Thank you, @Lcsmcat, for hosting and keeping us on track! 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I‘ve had that same reaction! I feel a little untethered. 😂 I haven‘t posted a review yet because I was waiting for today‘s discussion, but I have gone back and forth on a rating, but always glad we stuck with it and finished. 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat The bragging rights alone are worth it! 😀 1y

BookwormM Glad I read it so now I never have to read it again 🤣🤣this group definitely made it easier 1y

Lcsmcat @BookwormM 😂🤣😂 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable We need those “Learned Slattern” T-shirts! 1y

Jerdencon @Amiable that was me this morning - I was like let me catch up but I didn‘t have to! @BookwormM I am so glad I never have to read Richardson again too! Lol 1y

TheEllieMo I‘m glad I read Clarissa, it was tough going at times just because the story took such a long time to move forward, but I feel a sense of accomplishment at having finished. I completely lost interest in the Postscript though, I felt Richardson was being awfully pompous, though I did agree with him that a man like Lovelace having a conversion would be improbable (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo Pompous is a very good description of Richardson! It really got to be funny to me how he answered each criticism so pedantically. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat Thank you for leading us along and thank you to the whole group for persevering and making reading this chunkster barely doable. Could not have done it without you! 1y

Daisey @Lcsmcat Thanks so much for leading this read. I‘m glad to have accomplished it and there are definitely aspects I could appreciate, but it‘s also one of the hardest books I‘ve ever kept reading and I don‘t think I‘ll ever actually recommend it. As for the characters‘ endings, I thought most were appropriate and enjoyed reading that section for the most part. 1y

BarbaraJean I‘m glad I read it for multiple reasons—understanding its influence on later authors, bragging rights, the group experience—but also, I DID want to know how things turned out: to see the villains punished & to see where everyone ended up. Each character‘s voice was so individual: it says a lot about Richardson‘s skill that I could see each of these characters so distinctly. @Amiable I was definitely impressed at his usage of the epistolary format! 1y

BarbaraJean The future of Clarissa‘s family was satisfying in some ways, but also, her parents dying fairly soon, and her siblings having miserable marriages felt a little too on the nose. Anna‘s future was a little disappointing, but expected. I need Anna fanfic!! @TheEllieMo YES—pompous is exactly the word I‘d use for the Postscript! R's answers to the critics were annoying (protesting too much?!), and it all felt far too self-congratulatory. 1y

BarbaraJean I‘m SO glad you initiated this. I loved the reading support from the posts & discussions along the way. That kept me going & immeasurably increased my enjoyment of the book. I wouldn‘t have read this without the buddy read, and wouldn‘t have enjoyed it nearly as much without our weekly rants! @Lcsmcat @Amiable I‘m dying for a “Learned Slattern” shirt! Any graphic designers out there? Or anyone savvy with quick online methods for t-shirt designing? 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Clarissa‘s parents dying so soon did feel a little too easy, didn‘t it? Like R couldn‘t figure out how culpable they should be and therefore how miserable they deserved to be. Thanks for joining us on this journey! I wouldn‘t have kept going without you all and the input each week! 1y

TheBookHippie Thank you so much for leading and the group effort. I‘m glad that although difficult at times it stretched us to be uncomfortable … these atrocities still happen to women and to see it in print has hopefully helped women feel seen. As for the author I find him to be an arrogant prick 😵‍💫😅😅😅💙😂🤣😝. The literature influence, bragging rights and solidarity we gained is something I am so proud of! Go us! 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

pick

DONE 🙌🏼 It feels like being released from a hostage situation (and maybe I have Stockholm syndrome?) but I‘m calling #Clarissa a pick. The epistolary format, while making this book even longer than a straight narrative, allows the reader to see a situation from multiple angles and perspectives. I felt ALL the feels: anger, disgust, fear, sadness, impatience, compassion. A 275-year-old book that can still do that deserves its “classics” status.

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, Jerdencon, Lcsmcat, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, LeahBergen, AnneCecilie, Tamra, CoverToCoverGirl, Currey, BookwormM, JenniferP, Liz_M, GinaKButler, arubabookwoman, TheEllieMo, jewright

Amiable Thanks to the #Clarissa crew for keeping the forward momentum over the past 10 months! I couldn‘t have finished it without you all. 🙂 #ChunksterChallenge2023 (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat Congratulations! “Hostage situation” is an excellent metaphor - also that disaster you see coming, but can‘t stop and can‘t look away from. Looking forward to our final discussion on Saturday. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 1y

Daisey Congratulations! I agree a lot with your review. This book definitely made me think and feel a lot of emotion. That says something about Richardson‘s skill as a writer. 1y

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IndoorDame 👏👏👏👏👏 1y

AnnR 👏🎉 1y

Tamra Woot!!! 👏🏾 A hostage release is always cause for celebration! 😆 1y

Simona 👏👏👏Big, massive congratulations 👏 👏👏 1y

batsy Nice review! That's kind of how I felt when I read it. 1y

Bklover Wow! I am very impressed!! Enjoy your freedom😉😊 1y

Ruthiella 👏👏👏 1y

Jerdencon It feels so good to be done with it! And completely agree with your review! 1y

Meshell1313 🙌 1y

BookwormM 🎉🎉woo hoo enjoy your freedom 1y

TheLudicReader Impressive accomplishment. 1y

CoverToCoverGirl I bow down to your endurance. I gave up early on. Congratulations!!🎊🎉 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

And that‘s a wrap! What a journey—thank you to @Lcsmcat & the #Clarissa crew for keeping me going through all nine volumes and countless internal (and sometimes external) tirades against Lovelace & the Harlowes. I don‘t even know how to review this tome, so I‘m going to give it a bit before I try! I‘ll just be over here basking in this achievement, looking forward to our final discussion, and wondering where I can get my Learned Slattern t-shirt.

Ruthiella Congratulations! That‘s quite an achievement. 👏👏👏 1y

AnnR 👏👍🎉 1y

Librarybelle Congratulations! 1y

Daisey Congratulations! I‘m completely unsure about how to rate this as well. 1y

Lcsmcat Congratulations! You did it! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

✅ Done!

I need to think about this a bit more and will probably wait for this weekend‘s discussion to post a final review, but I finished reading Clarissa this evening! It‘s one of the hardest books I‘ve pushed myself to keep reading, but I can also see its merit, so rating and reviewing is tough.

#Clarissa #SerialReader #1001books

AnnR 👍👏 Well done! 1y

Lcsmcat Congratulations! I‘m waiting on my review too, but we have earned the t-shirt for sure! 😂😂 1y

Daisey @AnnR @Lcsmcat Thank you! 1y

Amiable Hooray! 💃🏻🕺🎉 1y

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Jerdencon

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘m DONE!!!! Thanks to @Lcsmcat for taking us on this journey! @hazel2019, @jerdencon, @annececilie, @tamra, @amiable, @daisey, @sarabellym, @llwheeler, @liz_m, @slategreyskies, @covertocovergirl, @librarybelle, @localtxlibrarian, @cewilf, @dd42500, @hilded, @bookwormM, @mamareading, @jewright, @lauraisntwilder, @leahbergen, @jenniferp, @rubyslippersreads, @currey, @theelliemo, @barbarajean, @thebookhippie, @arubabookwoman,

Lcsmcat Congratulations! I‘m eager for Saturday‘s wrap up discussion. 1y

Librarybelle Congratulations!! 1y

AnnR 👏👏👏 1y

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BarbaraJean Woohoo!!! 🎉👏🏼🥳 Congratulations! 🍾🥂 That last line, though… 😂 (edited) 1y

Amiable 🙌🏼💃🏻🕺👯‍♀️ 1y

TheEllieMo 👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼 🎉 🥳 1y

Daisey Congratulations! I just finished as well! Looking forward to the final discussion this weekend. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Supposedly this is Anna talking about #Clarissa, but I think it‘s Richardson being jealous 😁 and as I‘m distantly related to Jonathan Swift, I couldn‘t resist this quote. But the story is done, and all that‘s left is the shouting, as they say. Are you satisfied with Lovelace‘s death? His last minute repentance? What about Col. Morden - did he do the honorable thing, or did he let L. tempt him into behavior he‘ll regret?

Lcsmcat And if you‘ve stuck it out this far, Congratulations- only one more week! Then you too can wear a “Learned Slattern” t-shirt! (edited) 1y

Amiable While I was hoping for Lovelace‘s demise, the whole scene—after nearly 2,000 pages of minute details —felt anticlimactic to me. 1y

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Lcsmcat @Amiable I agree. I would have liked to hear it from Morten‘s point of view instead of introducing a totally new character at the end. Also, I think Morden would have very mixed feelings about the outcome which didn‘t get explored much. 1y

Amiable Anna‘s letter to Belford this week was my favorite, especially her lament about the expectations placed on women that limit their options: “Why must I be teased into a state… when now I can do as I please, and wish only to be let alone to do as best pleases me? And what does my mother say? ‘Anna Howe, you now do every thing that pleases you; you now have nobody to control you; you go and you come; you dress and you undress; you rise and ⬇️ (edited) 1y

Amiable You go to rest, just as you think best; but you must be happier still, child!‘ —As how Madam? ‘Why, you must marry, my dear, and have none of these options, but in everything, do as your husband commands you.‘” 1y

Amiable Anna was born into the wrong century, for sure. But it‘s interesting that a male author in 1748 could zero in so exactly on such domestic frustration and anguish experienced by women of the time. (edited) 1y

Jerdencon @amiable exactly! @Lcsmcat excited to finally finish this up! 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I wonder how much Richardson actually understood of women‘s frustration, given how he characterized Anna as ungovernable and too full of spirit. But he did let her be that way without dying a horrible death so 🤷🏻‍♀️ 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat Exactly. The universally acknowledged “perfect” woman is the one who dies. So what does that say? Not sure—my brain is numb after 1,700+ pages! 😄 1y

TheEllieMo @Lcsmcat whilst not in any way wishing this novel was any longer (😉), I too would have like more of an exploration of a Morden‘s feelings; he would perhaps have felt that justice had been served, but at the same time he want against his dear cousin‘s express wishes. 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable I‘d like to think there was a bit of a feminist lurking in Richardson. The “fallen women” suffered terrible deaths, the “perfect woman” died, albeit peacefully, while the troublesome woman, though mourning her friend, is happy 1y

Daisey @Amiable @Lcsmcat I agree that I would have preferred to read this final scene from Morden‘s perspective. As it was, the duel and death were anticlimactic after all these pages. I also have come to appreciate Anna so much more since the beginning of the book. 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo Good point! I like your theory. 1y

Currey @Lscmcat @TheEllieMo Yes, I do think that Richardson giving Anna a happy ending was at least a touch of positive, but it was not the happy ending she asked for, it was only the conventional happy ending. 1y

TheBookHippie @TheEllieMo I hope so, that‘s the most wonderful way to look at it too. 1y

TheBookHippie @Amiable numb brain!!! 1y

Amiable @TheEllieMo @Daisey @currey I feel like Anna is a Jane Austen girl stuck in a Clarissa world. (edited) 1y

TheBookHippie So anticlimatic!!! After hoping so long for his demise… That‘s it?! That‘s all we get? Surely the reader deserves more, even if it is more pages 😵‍💫😅🤦🏻‍♀️🤪 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable “Austen girl stuck in a Clarissa world” Yes! And I feel like JA read this and thought “That‘s not the way I would write it” and then did better. 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I too wished for more gruesome details (or a more gruesome death) for L. And I wanted him to die true to nature rather than claiming last minute repentance. Guess that makes me a bad person? 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey @TheEllieMo True, Anna gets the traditional happy ever after instead of what she said she wanted, but I don‘t think she‘s facing an unhappy life. 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I was hoping for the exact same thing. 🤣♥️ 1y

AnneCecilie I must admit that I was just happy about Lovelace not being able to destroy any more lives. At the beginning I was a little skeptical towards Anna and hope that the gossipy nature of the first letter was just to help the reader into the story, and that proved right. Anna turned out to be a true friend and I think she get the best end she could hope for in the society she lived. 1y

BookwormM Well that was not much bang for your a book an almost friendly civilised duel not what I wanted for Lovelace and Morden broke his word to that most excellent of women so that wasn‘t good either. Would have preferred a coaching accident where only L is injured and dies a lingering death 😈 1y

BarbaraJean I figured this is how it would end, but still, I was not at all satisfied with L's death and “repentance.“ (I mean, we all know how his previous repentance went, so... the only reason this lasted is that he died.) And I was frustrated with Morden taking L's bait. Of course, L absolves himself by insisting he worded it in such a way that Morden could have taken it differently, but given their personalities, it all seemed very inevitable. 1y

BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo @Daisey I agree, I would have preferred to hear the duel from Morden's perspective. There easily could have been an additional letter from him to Belton--what's another few pages at this point?! There would be a lot to explore there, with him so expressly going against Clarissa's wishes, and I don't think it would take a whole lot of pages to at least acknowledge what must have been a moral conflict for Morden. 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable @TheEllieMo Anna's feminism was striking. I don't think Richardson was at all a feminist--but he does have Anna make a compelling argument in favor of female agency & freedom. Anna is definitely more interesting! Maybe R's views on women are a bit more complex than I was assuming, given Clarissa's end. I still think he couldn't get out of the dilemma presented by C's “ruined“ honor. She had to marry or die, and L was a scoundrel, so... 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable @Lcsmcat I LOVE the idea of Anna being “a Jane Austen girl stuck in a Clarissa world“! I think that's spot on. Especially realizing Austen would have read this. (Also I think we have another awesome t-shirt idea there...) 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean We could make millions off the t-shirt rights! Or at least hundreds. 😀 1y

Liz_M I was hoping Lovelace would die slowly, agonizingly of syphilis, first losing his looks and then his mind 1y

Lcsmcat @Liz_M That would have been so much better! 1y

Daisey @Liz_M Yes, this would have been an appropriate way to finish him off! 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

“…for what can be more disgraceful to a woman than either, through negligence of dress, to be found a learned slattern; or, through ignorance of household-management, to be known to be a stranger to domestic economy?”

Now I really really want a sweatshirt that says “Learned Slattern.”
#Clarissa

LeahBergen 😆😆 1y

Lcsmcat Me too! I‘m not a graphic designer, but if I were . . . 1y

Amiable I highlighted that line, too! “Learned slattern” is my new favorite phrase. 😄 1y

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AnneCecilie

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I never got around to post a weekly forecast last, but this is how the week went, #BookReport

I‘m still buddy reading Clarissa, but I can see the finish line now

I finished Learned by Heart and The Sum of Us

I‘m currently reading How to Find Love in a Bookstore and listening to 3rd book in the children‘s series about Granny and her grandchildren.

Cinfhen

Cinfhen I bailed on the new Donoghue - how did you find it???? (edited) 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Anna‘s smart mouth is a welcome interruption of Lovelace‘s self-centered whining and Richardson‘s preaching! Will she marry Hickman in the next tow weeks? (That‘s all that‘s left!) Or will she and Belford bond over their grief for the incomparable #Clarissa? Inquiring minds want to know. 😂

Jerdencon I have a feeling Anna is going to ditch Hickman and end up with Belford. And Lovelace back to his old self - ugh- really hoping his boat sinks on his trip! (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon A sinking boat would take others with him. I‘m hoping an aggrieved husband in France kills him. 1y

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TheEllieMo Anna and Belford - that‘s a possible twist I hadn‘t considered! She does seem very resolutely anti-marriage, though, so I suspect, as she seems to be a woman of means, that she will remain single. As for Lovelace, he still thinks he has done no wrong. His basic defence seems to be “well, yes, I raped her, but she wasn‘t conscious, so it‘s not like a did any damage to her honour, so what‘s the problem?”🙄 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat oh he should die that way in a duel is good too! Ughhhhhh. 1y

TheBookHippie Let‘s hope Anna stays single 🤷🏻‍♀️ if she has enough money, this book doesn‘t make anyone want to marry. 1y

Amiable I‘m ready to be done with this book now. Can we be done with this book now? 😫 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable 😂 I confess I may read ahead just to finish faster! 1y

Currey @Amiable With you on that. 1y

BarbaraJean I highlighted this passage, too! Anna is fantastic. My guess is that she comes around to Hickman in the end…I mean, Richardson is writing this, after all. 🙄 I‘m eager to see Lovelace get SOME comeuppance at this point. Death by duel with disgruntled husband or wasting away by venereal disease are top of my list! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Oooh, wasting away from an STD would be perfect- but how many chapters would that add? 😂 1y

BarbaraJean @TheEllieMo Just when I think Lovelace has used every possible “defense,” he comes up with another new excuse. I think the new ones this week were “But she wasn‘t conscious so it didn‘t count” and “It was Widow Sinclair‘s fault” 🙄😡 1y

BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat Maybe the epilogue and postscript will give us a glimpse of the future? A girl can dream… 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable I must admit, it‘s been hard picking up the book this week 1y

TheEllieMo @BarbaraJean what I find really sad is that a certain breed of men still, today, blame women for the men‘s behaviour😔 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean That and “but I, who hate marriage, was willing to marry her and make it all better.” 🙄 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo @aimiable There was an awful lot of preaching in this section! But the end is in sight! We can do this! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean I hope the epilogue is hopeful! 🤞🏻 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Those parts at the end of various letters where Richardson just summarizes OTHER letters? I‘m like, holy schnitzel, how much longer could this thing have been if he included THOSE too?? 1y

Amiable @TheEllieMo It seemed for a hot minute that Lovelace may finally have seen the error of his ways and was truly remorseful—but no! He manages to snatch defeat from the hands of victory once again. 😖The dude deserves the worst that Richardson can throw at him. 1y

BarbaraJean @TheEllieMo Oh, absolutely. It‘s infuriating how familiar/current Lovelace‘s excuses sound. 1y

Amiable @Jerdencon @Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean I am too impatient to wait for Lovelace to die of an STD. How about a duel where he‘s shot in the stomach and doesn‘t die immediately but lingers in excruciating pain for several days? I mean, the karma bus rolled right over Mrs. Sinclair and Capt. Tomlinson. It has to be on the highway headed full speed towards Lovelace. 1y

Amiable @Currey We‘re SO close! Why do these last 60 pages feel like an eternity? 😬 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable Belford uses their deaths to warn Lovelace, so I‘m hoping that the fates of Sinclair and Tomlinson are a foreshadowing that L‘s deserved end is on its way. I was actually a bit frustrated by the hot minute where L seemed truly remorseful, because I didn‘t want him to reform and live happily ever after! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Me too! I did NOT want Lovelace to reform, even if he lived a miserable life. (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable @Currey Maybe because there‘s not much action? It‘s reminding me of the beginning. 1y

Jerdencon @amiable I agree - I‘ve been trudging through Letter 55 which is just pages and pages of how amazing Clarissa was - I just need it to move on 1y

BarbaraJean @Jerdencon I saw how long letter 55 was and it deterred me from reading ahead this week!! 1y

LeahBergen I was wondering about those two getting together, too! And I appreciate ANY passages that aren‘t about the saintly character of Clarissa by this point. 🤢 1y

Lcsmcat @LeahBergen That trope is getting old isn‘t it? 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I made it to the 95% mark according to Serial Reader today with my lunchtime reading! We will finish this book and soon!

#Clarissa #SerialReader #ReadAndEat

TheBookHippie 🎉🎉🎉🎉 1y

AnnR 👏👏👏 1y

60 likes2 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Three quotes today, because I‘m loving Col. Morden. He has James‘s number for sure. I also loved how Anna, when she came to say goodbye to #Clarissa wouldn‘t see her family. So, the will‘s been read - thoughts? Is Morden correct that C wounded her family by her generosity? What about the “paper” that was to be given L if he insisted on seeing her body? Or, to shift gears, how did C‘s attitude to “her poor” go down with you?

Currey @Lcsmcat I chuckled at “vixen for her virtue” this week… I don‘t think she intended to hurt her father but nevertheless did. The “her poor” was a bit much. The Poor‘s Fund for those in need of temporary assistance was fine, but the bifurcation from temporary to those who are too lazy to get themselves out of poverty does not reflect my understanding of the economics of that time… 1y

Currey I did like the fact that she attempted to take care of Mrs Norton and that she more or less left nothing to her siblings 1y

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BookwormM I personally got bored with reading the will I rather wish she had left it all to the cats 🤣🤣liked the observation that Belford was best executor as he would follow her wishes whereas her family would disregard it. 1y

BarbaraJean I think Morden was exactly right about the will wounding her parents, even though she didn‘t intend hurt. That‘s why it hurt—she was generous in the face of severity, and they are self-aware and soft-hearted enough (at this point) to feel keenly how little they deserve Clarissa‘s honoring them as parents. @Currey I also was SO gratified to see she did not leave anything significant (financially speaking) directly to her siblings! ⤵️ (edited) 1y

Jerdencon @Currey I was glad she didn‘t give anything really to her brother and sister. And her brother still trying to control things. He‘s so annoying. 1y

BarbaraJean (Cont‘d) The siblings‘ petty grasping over her library, the money left to Mrs. Norton, etc. absolutely exposes their hypocrisy. I was worried how the will would go & was pleasantly surprised that it did not gratify the siblings one bit. The responses were everything. From showy grief & mourning to “no, that should be mine” once the will was read. 🙄 @BookwormM The observation about a non-family executor was spot-on! Still impressed by Belford. 1y

TheEllieMo @Currey I highlighted the “vixen in her virtue” line, mostly because I was annoyed at the way Mowbray was painting Clarissa as the cause of some downfall of Lovelace 1y

TheEllieMo I think Morden was correct about the will wounding her parents. A quote that stood out for me this week was from her mother: “What a barbarous parent was I, to let two angry children make me forget that I was mother to a third — to such a third!” 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo I loved that quote too! Finally she recognizes her complicity. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon @Currey @BarbaraJean I loved the way she treated her siblings, particularly her brother. She kind of said “if you shape up Dad might leave it to you when he dies. But only if.” 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey The “deserving poor” trope annoyed me, even though I know it was the way of that class and that era. 1y

arubabookwoman I've been following along occasionally with the group read but was mostly reading on my on, faster than scheduled. i finished volumes I-VII in June and have not been able to force myself to pick up the final two volumes. Why? Once it became apparent Clarissa was going to die (almost as if she had willed herself to die) I didn't want to go on. I'm not sure whether I was viewing it as a cop out, or thinking it was just "of its time."???????? 1y

arubabookwoman Can anyone help me find a reason to pick this up again? 1y

arubabookwoman If I'm reading some of today's comments correctly, perhaps some of her family might get their comeuppance? 1y

Lcsmcat @arubabookwoman I‘m enjoying her family getting some amount of comeuppance, but I‘m not sure that‘s reason enough to finish. For me, seeing how Richardson‘s work influenced later writers is fascinating. And I‘m also stubborn and want the bragging rights. 😀 1y

TheBookHippie @BookwormM ARISTOCATS!!!! 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I‘m in it for the bragging rights !!! 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat I too am more fascinated by the impact this book has had on other writers since it was published than I am by the book itself! 1y

Amiable @TheEllieMo That was one of my favorite lines from this week! Although it didn't make me like Mrs. Harlowe any more. Too little too late, lady! 1y

Amiable @Jerdencon I have my fingers crossed that in the epilogue her brother will die a slow, painful death by bubonic plague. :) 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat @thebookhippie Re: bragging rights -- do we have an agreed-upon total number of pages for this behemoth? I'm reading the Kindle edition, which is 1,783 pages. That total matches up with the same edition on Goodreads and also on Storygraph. And it also matched the approx 50 pages per week schedule. Is the paperback different? Do we want to settle on a page count? I want to include it in the #ChunksterChallenge2023 reports. (edited) 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean I was also disgusted by the quick pivot from “how the world must suffer from the loss of this beautiful soul!“ to “why is cousin Hervey getting so much stuff?“ These people are the literal worst. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable @TheBookHippie My ebook has 1,783 pages too. 1y

TheBookHippie @Amiable mine is a penguin classics paper back 1532 however the print is smaller than in my Les Mis penguin by far 🤷🏻‍♀️😅 it is says to have the most words of any book published in English I would say that‘s true. @Lcsmcat my ebook is also 1783 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie @Amiable I think, given what we‘ve been through since January, we claim the most pages any edition allows. Is there a Large Print edition out there we can commandeer? 😂 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat LOL! 😄 Or we record it as “1,783 pages that felt like 4,000” (edited) 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat oooooo large print!!! 1y

TheBookHippie @Amiable yes. Accurate. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable Yes! 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

“This collection having run into a much greater length than was wished, it is proper to omit several letters…”

This, on page 122 of volume 9. NOW he decides to omit letters… 🙄 😂 🤣 #Clarissa

Amiable Ha! I had the same thought! 😄 1y

Lcsmcat 😂🤣😂🤣😂 1y

BookwormM 🤣🤣so true 1y

TheBookHippie 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Now that we‘re only about 170 pages from the end, of course I just found this! Did any of my fellow #Clarissa reading buddies know this challenge was happening on TikTok this year? I don‘t use that social app so it escaped my attention.

Link to article in the Washington Post: https://wapo.st/3RmDqD2

rubyslippersreads, Daisey, Jerdencon, Lcsmcat, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, LeahBergen, cewilf, AnneCecilie, llwheeler, Librarybelle, Tamra, CoverToCoverGirl, lauraisntwilder, slategreyskies, Currey, BookwormM, JenniferP, hilded, Liz_M, GinaKButler, arubabookwoman, TheEllieMo, mamareading, jewright, Hazel2019, LocalTXLibrarian, dd42500

Lcsmcat I hadn‘t seen this. I‘m not on TikTok either, but one of my daughters is. 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat I loved this quote from the article: “Once you‘ve read it, you join a fairly small club of other people who‘ve made it all the way through.” We‘re going to be members of a fairly exclusive club! 😀 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I‘m thinking that may be the best part of having read this doorstopper! 😂 1y

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TheBookHippie 🤣 no I‘m past the age of TikTok but we are almost members of a fancy club 🤣♥️📖 1y

BarbaraJean Thanks for sharing this article! I hadn't seen this challenge (I'm not on TikTok, either), but I love knowing that it's happening! I wonder if the TikTok challenge was (like us) prompted by this being a year where our dates/days align with those in the book. They started on Jan. 12, which is the first letter, and they're reading in chronological order. @Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I too am looking forward to being a member of this exclusive club!! 1y

LeahBergen I‘m not on TikTok either and I can‘t WAIT to be finished with this behemoth. 😆😆 1y

Librarybelle No! I did not realize this, though I am not on TikTok! 1y

Jerdencon I‘m on tik tok and haven‘t come across this - guess there are others like us! I am glad we are almost done and proud of myself for making it this far! 1y

48 likes8 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

We saw it coming, but still. And we have four more weeks of letters? Lovelace‘s reaction (and Mowbray‘s!) left me fuming. And the too late change of heart of her family, too. NOW you decide she‘s not lying? If I weren‘t reading this on my Kindle throwing might have been involved. 🙄 #Clarissa

TheEllieMo Lovelace is making it all about him and his woes (which is standard for him, to be fair); Mowbray is the complete opposite of Belford, a rake without remorse - and blaming Clarissa for Lovelace‘s current behaviour! 1y

TheEllieMo I can‘t help agreeing to a point on one comment from Lovelace, though: “her departure will be owing rather to wilfulness, to downright female wilfulness, than to any other cause.” Clarissa had so many offers of help, but turned them all down and starved herself. 1y

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Jerdencon Everyone except Belford made me mad in this section - her family, Lovelace -all of them. I‘m curious to see how this is going to play out. 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo I agree that Clarissa contributed to her own death, but I wonder if there were implications that we don‘t see with the modern eye. Like, did he give her an STD, or did she get cholera or something when she got thrown in jail? As oblique as the “announcement” of her death is, I can‘t help wondering if my modern eyes are missing something. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon This section made me angriest yet. Lovelace‘s outrage was such a necessary plot point that somehow that was less angering than his current behavior and her family‘s nonsense. 1y

BookwormM I am puzzled by what else can be going to happen given Clarissa is gone. 1y

Daisey @Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo don‘t tend to think it is a physical illness because of the doctor‘s responses. If we were meant to believe there was another underlying cause, I think he would allude to it. I also hate to think she is willfully causing her own death, but in her experience, this level of weakness is the only thing that has kept Lovelace from pursuing her. It is her only escape. (edited) 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat @Daisey I also can‘t imagine what the next 200 pages will bring but remorse on everyone‘s part. Perhaps they all catch some horrible disease and die too! That would be fitting but not likely. I agree with Daisey that it was not a physical illness. I suspect that the understanding of disease back then made dying of a broken heart something that could happen without out and out willfully starving oneself but really do not know. 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat As for health I was thinking the same - did she get a blood infection or the like from internal wounding. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 1y

TheBookHippie @Currey Shakespeare would kill them all off perhaps, we won‘t get that satisfaction I‘m afraid. 1y

Lcsmcat @Daisey The doctor might allude to it, but “medical” terms have changed so much. Tuberculosis used to be referred to as “wasting away” for example. So I just wonder if 21st century readers are missing something or if she really just decided that life wasn‘t worth living since she had been “dishonored.” 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey @Daisey I‘m hoping for a horrible death for L and bankruptcy and spinsterhood for Arabella. If that makes me a horrible person, then 🤷🏻‍♀️ 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat she could have just given up… 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie She could have. I used to think dying of a broken heart was romantic nonsense, but my grandfather died less than 2 weeks after my grandmother basically because he wanted to. They‘d been married 73 years and he didn‘t want to be apart. Not that C died of love. I‘m just saying that the whole “will to live” thing is real. 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I‘ve seen it to many times during my geriatric nursing career. 1y

Amiable I‘m with @TheEllieMo @Currey and @Daisey in believing Clarissa withered away on her own will. A number of letters had no delicacy about speculating on her possible out-of-wedlock pregnancy, so I feel like it would have been mentioned if she had a physical injury or illness that would have resulted from the rape. 1y

Amiable Her options appeared to be marry Lovelace and “legalize” the rape, or die. The former option was not palatable to her, so she opted for the latter. Had her family forgiven her “sins” and provided a third option, I don‘t think she would have chosen death. But that would be a less interesting book, I imagine. 😀 (edited) 1y

Amiable I‘ll admit I did choke up a bit at the scene where Clarissa is nestled into Mrs. Smith‘s arms in her final moments so she could imagine she was being embraced by her mother. It made me hate the Harlowes and their too-late-and-too-insincere change of heart at the end even more. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable That scene really brought home just how young Clarissa was, didn‘t it! Still just a child, really. 1y

Lcsmcat So re: cause of death, the article @Amiable linked to on her post said “Clarissa” is an operatic tale of sibling rivalry, feminine virtue, prostitution, drug-induced rape, anorexia, insanity and duels to the death” Do you think Clarissa had anorexia, which is after all a disease of regaining control and often afflicts teenagers? 1y

BarbaraJean @TheEllieMo I‘m with you on Clarissa‘s refusal of help. I do think it might have been different if her family had believed her and provided their support, or if Anna or Mrs. Norton had been allowed to come to her—I think any of that would have given her the will to live. But I read this as absolutely Clarissa‘s choice to die. The doctor said as much, very early on—that it was in her own power to get better. @Daisey @TheBookHippie @Currey @Amiable 1y

BarbaraJean @BookwormM @Currey I also don‘t understand how we still have four more weeks of letters!! I am SUPER interested to read her will (although I think I‘m going to find it infuriating). And I foresee plenty of book-throwing feelings will be induced by her family‘s insufferable grief and “forgiveness” now that her death has “exonerated” her in their eyes. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘ve been saving this from my “Clarissa” reading for #weirdwordswednesday : “Megrim.” An old-fashioned word for depression or migraine.

Which, come to think of it, is a perfect word to use to describe the #Clarissa reading… 🧐😀

CBee

dabbe How do you feel about this long, long novel? Well, I've got the me-grims, to be sure! 🤩🤣🤗 1y

Amiable @dabbe It feels pretty grim, to be sure! 😃 1y

CBee @Amiable the more I see posted about this book, the more I know I won‘t be reading it 😂😂 Gives me the megrims just thinking about it 😂🤓 1y

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Amiable @CBee I actually don't COMPLETELY hate it. It's kind of grown on me over the months. Like a fungus. 😃 I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm glad I read it. (Almost! We have about 4 more weeks and then we are DONE!) Thanks to @lcsmcat 1y

Lcsmcat An excellent word both for and from Clarissa! Having read Richardson‘s Pamela I kind of knew what I was getting into, and the bragging rights will be real. But will I ever reread it? Life‘s too short! 1y

CBee @Amiable like a fungus 😂😂😂 1y

Daisey A perfect word to go along with Clarissa! I am absolutely claiming bragging rights when we finish this and never reading it again. 1y

40 likes7 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

A little backyard Sunday morning reading

#Clarissa #SerialReader #epistolary #1001books

AnnR Nice photo, with the reflection. 🌿 1y

Daisey @AnnR Thanks, I may have spent a little too much time figuring out how to get the words and the reflection to both show up. 1y

56 likes2 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Richardson is preaching through Anna now, but I can‘t disagree with him on this point. #Clarissa is “dying by inches” to quote Stephen Sondheim, and Lovelace is as implacable as ever, calling everything he did to her “a mere jest” and calmly explaining that if he‘s unhappy of course he must abuse his servants. 🙄 Even 5 more weeks is not enough time to redeem him in my opinion.

BookwormM I liked Morden‘s contribution telling the Harlowes how it is 1y

Lcsmcat @BookwormM Yes! It was good to see that Clarissa wasn‘t wrong about his being on her side in the end. But I still have to ask what took him so long! Even in the 1700s one could travel between France and England faster than that. 1y

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BookwormM But then the story would be so much shorter and Richardson needs to make his money 🤣🤣 1y

Amiable Lovelace is detestable, yes. But my ire this week is directed at the Horrible Hard-Hearted Harlowes. That letter where Cousin Morden describes his meeting with the family! I can't stomach them. Why do they all allow James to dictate their feelings and actions? When he said “if ever my sister Clary darkens these doors again, I never will,“ the correct answer should have been “Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out!“ 1y

Amiable I cheered Morden's retort: “That (James) wants to be taught the difference between courage and bluster, and it is happy for him, perhaps, that I am his kinsman, though I am sorry he is mine.“

(edited) 1y

Amiable Even Brand, that pompous arse, understands the dynamic. While I get an instant headache when I start reading his “letters“ and “thoughts,“ his remark about the Harlowes rings true: “Let me tell you, 'by-the-by,' that they had carried the matter against her 'so far,' that I believe in my heart they were glad to 'justify themselves' by 'my report,' and would have been 'less pleased' had I made a 'more favorable' one.“ 1y

Amiable Curious, too, about why Morden is the only one who is willing to presume that Clarissa was innocent until being proved “guiity.“ Why was everyone else in her life so quick to assume the worst of her, if she has been the true model of a perfect woman for 18 years? 1y

Amiable Although Clarissa has tested my patience as well. She is embracing the idea of death as though she is in love with it. She says she isn't doing anything to hasten Death's arrival, yet when the doctor tell her she should live a few more days she is disappointed. At one point Belford reports she says “to me, who have had so gradual a weaning-time from the world .. I dwell on, I indulge (and strictly speaking, I enjoy) the thought of death.“ (edited) 1y

Amiable And again, as much as Lovelace makes my skin crawl, he can see Clarissa's actions and intent: “She'll persuade herself at this rate, that she has nothing to do, when all is ready, but to lie down, and go to sleep, and such a lively fancy as hers will make a reality of a jest at any time.“ I had to highlight his instructions to Belford: “Tell, therefore, the dear creature that she must not be wicked in her piety.“ 1y

Daisey @Amiable Yes, Brand‘s letters are tortuous to read, but he gets it exactly right in that comment about the family. I am so glad Morten is finally here and making an effort for Clarissa, but he does move so slowly. Even now, I wonder why he waits to communicate with her more directly. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I highlighted Morten‘s retort too. Another reason I wish he had arrived sooner. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I think Brand has always understood, but (and this will come out more next week) he reminds me so much of Mr. Collins from P&P. 1y

Amiable @Daisey I wonder if it‘s because Morden, like everyone else, doesn‘t believe Clarissa is really as sick as she is? Because what healthy person just ups and dies at 19 for no reason other than a broken heart (except in novels, I mean)? Morden was a rake in his past (which is why he understands Lovelace) so he probably doesn‘t believe in the broken-heart diagnosis. (edited) 1y

Currey @Daisey It is one of the few times I agreed with Lovelace. Clarissa is willing herself to die. It is a perfect revenge on Lovelace but a bit much on the piety scale. 1y

TheEllieMo Lovelace is still detestable, believing he has done nothing wrong; Clarissa is starving herself in martyrdom, even though Morden is at last here and willing to help; Brand is obsequious but I find his ‘letters‘ ‘amusing‘. The only person coming out with any kind of integrity at the moment is Belford 1y

Amiable @TheEllieMo I feel like Richardson is using Belford as a counterpoint to Lovelace— he‘s a rake who has seen the error of his ways and has been saved and reformed thanks to exposure to and guidance from a good woman (Clarissa). He‘s like the “what could have been” version of the story. 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable yes, you‘re spot on. 1y

Currey @TheEllieMo Exactly 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I agree. And I appreciate his doing so rather than preaching at us some more. 😂 (edited) 1y

BarbaraJean @BookwormM @Amiable I'm glad Morden stands up for Clarissa, but I was infuriated by the family meeting. James berating everyone for any sympathy for Clarissa, Arabella being moved by C's letters then telling everyone that‘s just C's “talent.“ Then the greed!! Arabella is worried C will die and leave everything to Anna, and Mrs. Harlow basically says the family would've “softened“ if C had made “concessions“ regarding her grandfather‘s estate. 🙄 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable Brand really does have the measure of the Harlowes. They're determined to believe the worst of C to justify their treatment of her. And I'm SO over C's obsession with death. Bringing the coffin into her room was so over the top it's almost comic. Then the hypocrisy of Mrs. Harlowe's comment to Mrs. Norton that if C were to die, her “error would be quite forgotten.“ Richardson is pushing death as the path of redemption for lost “virtue.“ 1y

BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat @Amiable Brand completely understands the dynamic because he's just as self-serving as the Harlowes. And YES—Brand definitely reminded me of Collins. His comment about Clarissa, if she lives, wanting to keep a chaplain close by…and his little insinuations and assumptions about how it could be him and where that might go. Ugh. 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Did it sound to you like Clarissa had written her will to leave her estate to the family? I wasn‘t sure based on what she wrote in her letter about it. I will seriously throw this book against the wall if that horrid family makes out financially after she dies! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Brand makes me cringe, but, like Uriah Heep of David Copperfield, he‘s very aware of what‘s going on and how to turn it to his own advantage. 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable It sounded to me like she did. I just double-checked, and in letter LV, to Anna, she describes her method of writing her will as: “putting myself in my relations' places, and, in the greater points, ordering my matters as if no misunderstanding had happened.“ So... yeah. I think book-throwing is in order if she dies. (You and me both.) 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Ugh. That‘s what I thought too, but I was hoping I misunderstood what I read. 😖 Those people should not be rewarded for their terrible behavior. 😡 1y

Jerdencon @Amiable I thought the same thing about the brother saying he will leave and never come back - go! @Lcsmcat I‘ve said that before about it taking forever for morden to come too. 1y

Jerdencon And I have to say this prolonged “death” of Clarissa is bugging me. I half think she‘s faking it… 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon Such a soap opera! Richardson is really milking it. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

It‘s a gorgeous night on the back patio for some melancholy, overwrought 18th-century literature. #Clarissa

Tamra Overwrought - perfect word! 1y

Amiable @Tamra I have to try to get my head and my vocabulary into the proper era each time I start reading these letters. 😀 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

As sorry as I am to give Lovelace more air, I think this may be the author‘s response to his fans. #Clarissa was released in installments and was the talk of its day. I wonder if Richardson was getting pressure from readers to have our girl take him to court?

Liz_M If nothing else, Clarissa was certainly getting pressure from "friends" and family to prosecute Lovelace 1y

BarbaraJean Oh, that‘s interesting—I hadn‘t thought about this being a response to readers clamoring for Lovelace‘s prosecution! But that makes sense. As much as I don‘t want to agree with Lovelace, ever, I agree that Clarissa would likely fare poorly against him in court. For as much as everyone who talks to Clarissa calls her an angel, a paragon of virtue, etc.—Lovelace is too slippery, too effective as a manipulator. 1y

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TheBookHippie @BarbaraJean I agree with you. She is no match for him. 1y

TheEllieMo @Lcsmcat I hadn‘t picked up on that, but now you mention it, it makes sense. And I agree, @BarbaraJean, Lovelace would definitely be able to swing a jury in his favour - just look at all the “woe is me, look how much I‘m suffering!” he does! I must admit this week‘s reading for me has been all about Mr Brand and the absolute pomposity of his letter! The style of it came as a bit of light relief in an otherwise very dark story 1y

TheBookHippie I forget while reading how originally people received this. I bet there was outcry! As there should be. 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean I'm also puzzzled and saddened by how quickly Clarissa's family and some friends (at least at first -- even Anna Howe was a doubter) were to believe the worst of her. If her family -- who should know her best -- would not serve as character witnesses, what hope would Clarissa have to prevail in court? Especially in that time period. (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo @BarbaraJean Lovelace could totally swing a jury his way. His looks, social class, and skill in manipulation would ensure he got off even today, not to mention back then! 1y

Amiable I also hadn't known that Richardson published these letters in installments. I did read that in later editions of his book he added the footnotes to further explain his rationale for the various plot twists. He must have really gotten beat up by readers for what he put Clarissa through! :) 1y

Amiable @theelliemo I wanted to pitch the book against the wall while reading that letter from Mr. Brand to Clarissa's father! Ye gads, the use of quote marks and italics to report on her “behavior“ drove me nuts. I could literally picture him talking with excessive air quotes: “My friend's wife is of the opinion that all is not 'as it should be' ... morning prayers is made the 'pretence' and 'cover' for 'private assignations' ...“ I wanted to punch him! (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable @TheEllieMo Brand‘s letter 🤬 I heard it all in the voice of Tucker Carlson “I‘m just asking” Sheesh! 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable Absolutely—if even Anna was taken in, and Clarissa‘s family believes the worst, she doesn‘t have much hope of the jury taking her word for it. it‘s still infuriating to me how easily people are taken in by Lovelace when they‘re willing to think the worst of Clarissa at the drop of a hat. 1y

BarbaraJean @TheEllieMo @Amiable @Lcsmcat Ugh, that letter from Brand was hilarious (all the quotation marks and the pompous Latin quotes!) but also so awful. I couldn‘t believe how biased he already was. Basically: “her landlady spoke too highly of her, so I immediately went to find someone who didn‘t know her so I could poison them against her.” 🤬 Isn‘t Brand the clergyman the family enlisted to forcibly marry her to Solmes because Lewen wouldn‘t do it? 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Yes, I think he was! Props, though, to Belford for directly confronting the “friend“ and the “friend's wife“ (yes, I am purposely waving my hands around with air quotes!) to tell them, hey, I'm standing right here -- so go ahead and insult me to my face! Of course they retracted their “observations.“ (edited) 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable Yes! Go Belford! I was also impressed that the “friend” and “wife” (complete with air quotes here as well!) acknowledged that they didn‘t really know what they were talking about and had since found out better about Clarissa. They actually seemed remorseful. Or “remorseful.” 😂 1y

Jerdencon Omg - the letter from Brand and his grammar was funny! I know it‘s probably unlikely but want Clarissa to end up with Belford and Lovelace to go to jail or at least lose all his money! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean Belford has really stepped up in this section. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

A quote from the Rev. Dr. Lewen because I don‘t want to give Lovelace‘s whining any more air, and because it‘s a different voice. Buy even he seems to be laying all the responsibility on our #Clarissa! Not blaming her for what happened, but telling her to fix it or she‘s guilty of harming the next woman L decides to rape. Sheesh! Also, does anyone else find Richardson‘s prose harder to get through when he gets preachy, or is it just me? 🙄

Lcsmcat Also, I‘m at the final day of a conference today and then will be driving home so, as they said on SNL back in the day “Talk among yourselves” and I‘ll chime in when I can. 🙂 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat It is not just you. Richardson puts some of his preaching into Clarissa‘s voice when she is correcting Anna‘s behavior or even when defending herself. It makes her decidedly less appealing when she is correcting but I appreciate her defending herself. It beats “woe is me”. 1y

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Amiable I continue to be amazed that -- given the time period, when women had so few legal rights-- people keep urging Clarissa to prosecute Lovelace. While I agree with Dr. Lewen that doing so may help prevent Lovelace from raping another woman, his tone is more “it has to be you because you are society's ideal of the perfect woman, so YOU are trustworthy and believable.“ Which is both a huge compliment to Clarissa and an unfair burden. ⬇️ (edited) 1y

Amiable And also an insult to other women. Although I could have missed his point-- maybe it also has to do with the fact that Clarissa has Lovelace's letters to Belford, where he expressed his evil plans in excruciating detail. So she has proof that it wasn't consensual and that she was drugged and held down. 1y

TheBookHippie It‘s very preachy and even with all her assets to make a good witness she won‘t be believed -not much has changed and the law wasn‘t on her side. I do appreciate something other than the woe is me narrative but I‘m not sure the author has captured what her voice would actually be like in reality …🤷🏻‍♀️ 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable Does Dr. Lewen know she has the letters? (I can‘t remember who knows what.) But yes, he lays it on a bit thick about her perfection. Which seems like another burden on C‘s shoulders. 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey Much less appealing! 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I think Clarissa is not portrayed as a real person, but more of an ideal. So there cannot be a real voice. 1y

TheBookHippie @Lcsmcat I agree I think I just wish it was real 🙃 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie We can live and hope. 😏 1y

Jerdencon I agree with everyone- and at times I find myself skimming a lot of the letters when they don‘t move the plot along… 1y

BarbaraJean YES about the preachiness, whoever's voice he puts it in and even if I agree! Clarissa's exhortations to Anna feel that way, as well as Belford's to Lovelace. @Amiable I was also surprised that she's being pressured to prosecute. Even a “paragon of virtue“ like Clarissa wouldn't be believed--her family doesn't believe her and I think that would carry a lot of weight against her. Definitely agree about that being a backhanded compliment as well! 1y

BarbaraJean Now that I've agreed with the problems inherent in her being pressured to prosecute... on the other hand, I found Lewen's encouragement to do so (especially in the quote above) a bit refreshing. It felt vindicating that Lewen believes her, and that he's encouraging her to stand up for herself. A bit #BelieveWomen, if you will. I don't agree with his guilt trip or the idea that she's to blame for future victims if she doesn't speak up, but still. 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean It would be nice (if not helpful to the plot) to hear Dr Lewen apply some of that pressure to Clarissa‘s family. Maybe get them to believe and support her before he asks Clarissa to stand up in open court. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I stumbled across a book called “Haiku U: From Aristotle to Zola, 100 Great Books in 17 Syllables“ by David M. Bader. As promised, the book includes haikus that summarize the plots of 100 classic works (FYI, the one for “The Canterbury Tales“ is hysterical!). This was the haiku for “Clarissa.“ It made me snort. I thought the rest of my #Clarissa reading buddies would also appreciate. 😃

Daisey, Jerdencon, Lcsmcat, TheBookHippie, BarbaraJean, AnneCecilie, Kristelh, Currey, BookwormM, TheEllieMo, jewright

IndoorDame 👏👏👏👏 1y

TheBookHippie 😅🤣👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 1y

Lcsmcat This is perfect! 😂🤣😂🤣 1y

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BarbaraJean 😂😂😂 1y

AnneCecilie 🤣🤣🤣 1y

Currey So so perfect 😂 😂 1y

BookwormM Brilliant 🤣🤣 1y

Daisey Thanks for sharing! 😂 😆 1y

jewright That about sums it up. 1y

Jerdencon That is great! 😂 1y

Aimeesue 😂 1y

LeahBergen 🤣🤣 That sums it up to a “T”! 1y

TheEllieMo That‘s brilliant! 🤣🤣🤣 1y

TheBookHippie That is 🎯 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I have to agree with Belford here - not marrying Lovelace is a reward! And what about L‘s ranting about his letters being shared? What a spoiled toddler! #Clarissa

Currey @Lcsmcat I wondered at Lovelace becoming ill and how that might turn the plot. It does not seem as if it will prompt him to true repentance. (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey I wondered how sick was he really, and how much was it part of his pouting over his disappointment. 1y

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Currey @Lcsmcat All the letters from the family in this section were very frustrating….more of the same: “you did this to us” (and yourself and we know you are just faking being ill). Her sister is the worst but the uncles too. Thank heaven for Mrs Norton 1y

Daisey I think Lovelace‘s complaints about Belford sharing extracts from his letters was the most frustrating aspect for me in this section. Really? After he stole and rewrote letters coming to Clarissa, he‘s going to complain about this! 1y

Lcsmcat @Daisey Exactly! He has no room to complain and yet he‘s all victim all the time. 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey I have no hope for the Harlowe family ever becoming decent human beings. 1y

TheEllieMo Lovelace is a typical narcissistic bully, he‘s happy to dish it out but can‘t take a dose of his own medicine! I have come to truly hate him 1y

TheBookHippie @TheEllieMo EXACTLY. 1y

TheBookHippie I don‘t think there‘s a redeemable bone in Lovelace body 😵‍💫. Is pathological narcissistic a thing ?! I agree with @Daisey his complaining is unfathomable after all he‘s done .. 1y

Amiable My favorite line was where Belford tells Lovelace “I‘m sorry you‘re sick, but if you‘re going to die it‘s too bad you didn‘t do it four months ago before you raped her.” 🙌🏼 I‘m starting to wish Belford and Clarissa would get together. 1y

Amiable And how terrible was Lovelace in letter 13? Where he barges into Mrs. Smith‘s —even though Belford told him explicitly to stay away — and proceeds to run roughshod over the poor people trying to keep Clarissa safe. If I didn‘t already hate him this would be the final nail in his coffin. (edited) 1y

BarbaraJean I really wanted someone to respond to his being sick the same way people are responding to Clarissa: “We have no sympathy for you because we know it's not as bad as you're claiming it to be.“ 😂 @Daisey @TheEllieMo YES!! The nerve he has to complain about how bad things are for him, when he's inflicted so much worse on others and his own “difficulties“ are entirely the consequence of his own actions. 1y

BarbaraJean Obviously it's not the worst thing he's done by far, but I wanted to punch him in the face over this week's visit to London: his insistence on traipsing all over the house to find Clarissa, plus his ridiculous antics in the shop and his self-satisfied account of how he won everyone over. His narcissistic entitlement is infuriating. I'm with @TheBookHippie - if pathological narcissism is a thing, he has it! 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable I‘ve been warming to Belford for some time, he has come to see that that libertine life is not a moral one. I am harbouring hopes that he will ask Clarissa to marry him 1y

Amiable @TheEllieMo I don't see much of a future for Clarissa, to be honest. She seems to have embraced the idea of death a little too much. I know she said at one point that she wouldn't do anything to hasten it, but she appears to be wasting away anyway. Whether it's because she isn't eating or because she has convinced herself that death is the only option for her at this point ... I don't know. I don't like the vibes. I hope I'm wrong. 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable I fear you may be right 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable meant to reply to this one earlier as well; I found that scene difficult to read because I was just hating Lovelace‘s behaviour so much. What an absolute ****. But credit to Richardson for writing a character I feel real emotion for! (edited) 1y

BookwormM I am appreciating the shorter letters and faster pace in this section I was fed up of pages of drivel from Lovelace 1y

jewright @Amiable—I thought this too. He really has no respect for anyone‘s boundaries. He is sure his wants trump anyone else‘s feelings or rights. (edited) 1y

jewright @Lcsmcat—He has taken something to make himself sick before to try invoke sympathy from Clarissa. I had trouble believing he was actually sick here. 1y

Lcsmcat @jewright I know! That‘s why I don‘t trust that he‘s really sick. (Actually I don‘t trust him period.) 1y

Lcsmcat @BookwormM It feels like the pace has picked up again after a slow stretch. 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo I‘ve warmed to Belford too, but I don‘t see him as a match for Clarissa. She needs someone less leadable, I think, to be able to respect her husband. 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean The visit to London was painful to read! And a character defining moment too. No way he will ever sincerely reform! 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable @TheEllieMo I agree about Clarissa being too preoccupied with death. It feels like Richardson is struggling with how to resolve things for her. I'm impressed at the choice to have Clarissa refuse to marry Lovelace, but I have a feeling Richardson's only other option to wrap things up will be her dramatic and tragic death. 1y

Jerdencon @amiable @TheEllieMo I have been thinking she ends up with Belford too - although that may be too far fetched for the time period. 1y

Jerdencon And I was so mad when he barged into the Smiths house - like I was legitimately angry as if he had done it to me!! I just want something bad to happen to him for once. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon Richardson is very good at engaging (manipulating?) the reader‘s emotions. He reminds me of Richard Paul Evans. 😂 1y

Amiable @Jerdencon Me too! I could feel my blood pressure rising as he was stomping through their house! And lying that he had a search warrant! I wanted the constable to show up and drag him out of there. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I know Mrs. Norton is expressing what was believed at the time, but I‘ve never understood the “death is better than rape” philosophy, and I never will. How can people who claim to love her write such letters! #clarissa

TheBookHippie Still true for some peoples beliefs and religions -they believe the person to be ruined- so better to be dead 😡🤬. Honestly so absolutely hateful. 1y

TheBookHippie Also clearly that‘s not love. If they loved her it wouldn‘t be a thought. 1y

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Currey @Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie Also that the guilt was all on her…he did her bodily harm and yet it is she who “let” herself be dishonored 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey @TheBookHippie Yes to all those things. 🙄 And it doesn‘t surprise me from the men - they have an interest in keeping things that way - but from Mrs. Norton it saddened me. 1y

Currey @Lscmcat @TheBookHippie Yes, it saddened me also. 1y

Jerdencon I think it was such a mindset back then - and on some level now too 😔 1y

TheBookHippie @Jerdencon I agree and so very heartbreaking . 1y

Amiable Clarissa's mother isn't any better. It broke my heart when she wrote to Mrs. Norton: “As to her grief, and her present misery, whatever it be, she must bear with it...“ and follows that up with “I am afraid nothing but her being at the last extremity of all will make her father and her uncles and her other friends forgive her.“ 1y

Amiable But even death will not be enough: “For can she think her death, if we should be deprived of her, will put an end to our afflictions? Can it be thought that the fall of such a child will not be regretted by us to the last hour of our lives?” Then she laments about how hard it is for the family to go out in public with “the general cry against us abroad wherever we are spoken of.” They are more upset about what others think of them, not about her. (edited) 1y

Amiable I can't believe I'm going to agree with Lovelace abut anything, but he does have a point about how Clarissa too has bought into the “death is better than dishonor“ mindset. He writes: “A death desired merely from worldly disappointments shows not a right mind, let me tell this lady, whatever she may think of it ... the silly dear's harping so continually upon one string, dying, dying, dying, is what I have no patience with.“ I hear you, Lovelace. (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable Her mother‘s letter is awful. How did Clarissa come from such horrible people! And yes, it‘s annoying that Clarissa seems to have given up, but I think she‘s just exhausted and has no more energy to fight. 1y

BookwormM 🤬the patriarchy and those who allow it to continue. This kind of attitude is how we end up in Gilead. That said I am seeing a note of positivity in the latest Clarissa letters. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat I am reading Dangerous Liaisons, a book that learned a great deal from Richardson‘s Clarissa. In it the footnotes specifically say Clarissa was given opium to put her to sleep before the evil deed. My other read is about the pacific island of Nauru where there was no stigma attached to having premarital sex. In fact they had no word for “virgin”. How we developed a culture where untouched was the definition of honor is mind boggling 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey I can see how Dangerous Liaisons learned from Clarissa, but I‘d never thought about it that way. But yeah, different cultures have very different ideas about taboos and mores. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘m still not going to quite get caught up by this weekend, but I‘ve made it to 75%, so I‘m celebrating that! 🎉

Reading another of Lovelace‘s long letters has me wanting to throw the book (actually my phone) again. He seems to have no concept of the harm he has caused, and he‘s cruel even to those he considers his closest friends. I so want Belford to truly turn on him before this is all over.

#Clarissa #SerialReader

BarbaraJean Reading any of Lovelace‘s letters makes me want to throw the book (my Kindle)! I‘m not sure if it‘s that he has no concept of the harm he‘s caused or if he just doesn‘t care. He‘s so self-involved it doesn‘t seem to make a difference. But yay for 75%!! 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean @Daisey These past two weeks with Lovelace's letters juxtaposed against several other voices really hammers home just how much I hate listening to him spin his “side“ of the story. It's a stark and jarring contrast. 1y

AnnR Congratulations making to the 75% mark! 1y

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Lcsmcat It really pounds home the “this is the bad guy” message to see his letters next to others‘ voices! @Amiable And @BarbaraJean I think he‘s the definition of a psychopath! 1y

Lcsmcat It‘s a major accomplishment for us all to have gotten this far without destroying books, devices, and any man within reach. 😂 Congratulations @Daisey ! 1y

jewright I‘m at 76% now. I‘m so annoyed. Did you get to the letter from Clarissa‘s mom yet? It also really annoyed me. (edited) 1y

Daisey @BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat @Amiable Thanks! I‘m glad I‘m not the only one wanting to throw it so often. I also agree the contrast seems to make his letters even worse. 1y

Daisey @Ann_Reads Thanks! This is definitely the kind of book where the daily cheers from Serial Reader are appreciated. 1y

Amiable @jewright I read that letter last night -- her mom is a piece of work! Although I'd love to meet Clarissa's sister alone in a dark alley. 😒 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘m still behind in my reading of Clarissa, but I‘m making progress (Volume 7 Letter 20 this morning). I appreciate that we‘re hearing from more voices again now, and although I don‘t know how much to trust Belford, I am enjoying his perspective. After Lovelace‘s whining about his pain of waiting to hear about Clarissa, I was amused by Belford‘s response.

#Clarissa #SerialReader

Amiable I‘ve enjoyed the Belford letters, too! A welcome respite from Lovelace. 😖 1y

Daisey @Amiable Such a respite, and it‘s nice to see someone actually push back against Lovelace besides Clarissa. I hope that remains the same. 1y

Kristelh You‘re ahead of me 1y

Daisey @Kristelh It‘s tough to catch up and keep up when I never want to read more than a couple letters at a time, but without the group readalong I don‘t think I‘d ever get through it. 1y

Kristelh @Daisey I‘m using librivox to move myself along when it‘s convenient and the middle of the night if not able to sleep I use my paper white. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I thought we could use some comic intervention. We heard from Belford a lot this week. Is his a real change, do you think? Or will it wear off over the next few months left in the book? #clarissa

Currey @Lcsmcat Anna and Arabella‘s letter exchange also provided some relief this week as at least we got to hear some honest response to Clarissa‘s horrible family. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat I believe that Belford is serious in his high regard for Clarissa and his realization that the life of a rake that he and Lovelace have been living leaves real victims. However, he is still communicating with Lovelace as a friend. 1y

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Lcsmcat @Currey I loved Anna‘s letters to Arabella! It was the old Anna back. 1y

Amiable @Currey The back-and-forth between Anna and Arabella was epic —I laughed out loud at how accurately Richardson could write a “bitchy cat fight”! 😄 1y

TheBookHippie I hope 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻. I agree I enjoyed seeing honesty from the ladies letters. 1y

TheBookHippie I have to say I have hope again! 1y

Amiable I definitely appreciate the letter format more and more as I continue reading everyone else‘s opinions of each other. It‘s validating to read that everyone else also thinks Clarissa‘s parents are horrible people for what they did to her. I was starting to doubt my impressions of them, given that they were pretty much right about Lovelace. It was messing with my head! I want to continue detesting them. 1y

BookwormM Loved Anna‘s letters to Arabella they were good fun then Arabella runs to mummy and gets them stopped. I think Belford will stay reformed. Glad that we see Clarissa start to pick herself up again. 1y

Amiable I am also irritated with Clarissa. People want to help her but she keeps refusing them. It‘s starting to feel almost like she has a martyr complex. I know she has been treated horribly and is emotionally damaged, but she is going to starve herself to death. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I‘m with you on Clarissa‘s attitude. Yes, she doesn‘t want to be beholden to anyone who will expect quid pro quo (Lovelace) but Anna? She is surely a disinterested helper. 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable yes, sometimes I do want to just give Clarissa a bit of a shake! I know Lovelace has treated her abominably, but she does have people who genuinely care about her. 1y

Jerdencon The Arabella/Anna letters were great. #i wish Belford would tell Lovelace to f-off but@I think he‘s a little afraid of him. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon I think you‘re right about Belford being slightly afraid of Lovelace. He‘s been following him so long. 1y

BarbaraJean @Currey I agree, I think Belford is in earnest about helping Clarissa & reforming himself. I think it's a combination of factors: he's realized that they've left victims in their wake, and he's also realized that the life he's living is a dead end. (Especially dealing with the death of his father, is it? As well as the woes of their friend Belton with “his Thomasina.“) He keeps reiterating to L that his misdeeds are going to catch up to him. 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable @TheEllieMo Yes, Clarissa is wearing on me now! I was so frustrated when she refused the doctor's offer to help, and when she accepted payment for her “rich suit“ of half of its worth. It's starting to seem like self-sabotage, especially when the doctor keeps saying her recovery largely depends on her own efforts. I don't know that she needs to leave off writing completely, but get some sleep, woman! 1y

AnneCecilie @BarbaraJean I agree with you when it comes to Belford and Lovelace. I think maybe this is the first time Belford is seeing the aftermath of Lovelace‘ games/ behavior. Because this is not the first time Lovelace has done anything like this with terrible consequences. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Richardson describes #Clarissa as resignedly waiting for death, but this exchange makes me hope she‘s absorbed some of Anna‘s spirit.

Amiable I loved that retort to the “ladies!” I also loved that Clarissa put Belford in his place with her pointed questions that basically said, “oh, so you say you admire me so much? Why didn‘t you stop Lovelace, then?” 1y

Amiable When she told Belford: “I find, Sir, that he always had designs against me; and that you knew all along he had. Would to Heaven, you had had the goodness to have contrived some way .. to give me notice of his baseness...but you gentlemen had rather see an innocent fellow-creature ruined than be thought capable of an action which might be likely to loosen the bands of a wicked friendship!“ I was like, did Richardson just say “bros before hoes??“ 1y

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Amiable And I thought Clarissa was sounding stronger, what with uncovering Lovelace's plot threads. But the arrest and prison stint may have been the last straw. It would be ironic if the thing that finally pushed her over the edge was a scheme that wasn't done by Lovelace but was one that was done FOR Lovelace. 1y

Jerdencon It makes me crazy that everyone thinks the answer to her problems is marrying him and im glad she‘s still sticking to her guns about it. Although I have to keep remembering the time period. And I don‘t know why but I feel like Belford may try to take her away and break ties with Lovelace - but could be way off base about that! lol 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon She could do worse than Belford. But I don‘t see her doing that. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I loved that quote too! She‘s much more spirited! And I had that quote of Anna‘s marked but couldn‘t quite use it. (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon “If you would not have the wretch for your own sake; have him you must, for mine, for your family‘s, for your honour‘s, sake! —“ 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat I also thought the quote to Belford was perfect: “you knew and did not tell me, you are almost as bad as he is”. However, I was disappointed in Anna in suggesting that marrying a rapist would be good for her honor. I understand the conventions of the time but how could you hope to have any kind of partnership with someone 100% not trustworthy even if his family is a good one. 1y

Amiable @Currey I‘m disappointed that Anna is pressing Clarissa to marry him, too. I expected better from Anna. Although, again —1748, not 2023. 😖 1y

TheEllieMo @Amiable this is it, it‘s hard to understand from our modern point of view, where we do have more options (although it does feel like misogyny is on the rise again😔). I am so pleased that Clarissa isn‘t having any of it, though (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat @TheEllieMo Very hard to get into that mindset! @Amiable And it feels a bit like as Clarissa gains spirit, Anna is becoming more conventional. 1y

Lcsmcat This morning my husband asked how much longer we would be reading Clarissa because he thinks it‘s affecting my mood. Anyone else noticing an effect on them? I hope I didn‘t ruin 2023 for everyone!!! 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat Yes! It seems that Anna‘s brain is moving closer to accepting a marriage to Hickman, which may be making her settle into conformity and convention. Whereas Clarissa refuses to marry Lovelace and knows that this means she will likely never marry, so she is finally able to speak her mind. Although this almost sounds like we‘re saying being raped set her free. I hate to think that. 😬 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat Not ruining my year! I‘m thankful for the push and the company in tackling this chunkster to the ground! 😀 1y

BarbaraJean @Jerdencon @Currey @Amiable @TheEllieMo I get that Team Marry Your Rapist was big at the time, and I guess when women are considered chattel, then “you break it, you buy it” is the resulting mentality. But I still don‘t get how any caring person could buy into it. Much less Anna. It‘s interesting that Clarissa is so adamant about not marrying L—It‘s far more progressive than I‘d expect from Richardson, but I guess it also keeps the story going! 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable It does feel like we‘re wrestling with it, doesn‘t it? May we come out stronger! 🤼‍♀️ 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean “you break it, you buy it” 😂 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable I would never say being raped set her free—but I would say that she‘s showing remarkable agency in the circumstances that were forced upon her. She‘s chosen to set aside societal expectations in a different way than, say, the Sinclair “ladies” do after they are “ruined.” I wonder if this is what Richardson was driving at—that purity of morals can still be adhered to? It comes across as more progressive to me than that, though. 1y

BarbaraJean @Lcsmcat Also not ruining my year. 😊There are times when I am emotionally incapable of reading one more word from Lovelace, but the pace we‘re taking allows for setting Clarissa aside and picking up something more comforting! And like @Amiable I‘m thankful for the opportunity to read and discuss (and rant about!) this chunkster with the group! 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean @Amiable I like that interpretation, that Clarissa is showing a better (more innocent?) way to deal with the circumstance so many found themselves in, thanks to the Lovelaces of the world. 1y

BookwormM My year is not ruined either small chunks is the way to do this. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat @BookwormM I agree. I could only read this in small chunks with all of your help. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable @BarbaraJean @BookwormM @Currey I don‘t think I would have persisted without y‘all. This is a novel that should come with a support system. 🙂 1y

jewright I had tried to read this about two years ago and gave up, so I‘m super thankful for this group helping me to finish it. 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Clarissa is back, and it‘s good to hear her own voice again! Sorry for leaving us at a cliff-hanger moment, mid letter. I loved the letters C wrote to various people confirming her suspicions about L. We‘re you surprised by how hard on her Anna was? Angry with Anna‘s mother? So many feelings in this section! #Clarissa

Jerdencon I was happy to hear from Clarissa and Anna again….all I was thinking was I‘m so glad Clarissa put most of it together- but I‘m afraid for what L is planning next. And I really wish Anna‘s mother would stop being so thickheaded and let Clarissa come to them. 1y

Currey @Jerdencon Yes, if she could go to her uncle Morden or to the Howe‘s that would resolve so much. I was surprised at the harsh tone of Miss Howe‘s letter. I was very relieved to have Clarissa put together the whole rotten scheme. In particular, I loved the letters to Lovelace‘s relations who Lovelace had hired imposters. 1y

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TheEllieMo Yup, another one here who was happy to hear from Clarissa again, and to find that she‘s pieced everything together. I do still worry that Lovelace will track her down again, though, and given all that he‘s done to her so far, if she were to fall back into his clutches, I dread to think what he may do. I find his behaviour upsetting, because, almost 300 years later, some men (a small minority, thankfully) still behave like that😔 1y

BarbaraJean Anna being so hard on Clarissa was kind of understandable, since from her perspective Clarissa completely ignored her warnings and willingly went back to the “vile house” with L. But you‘d think Anna could have put 2+2 together given who they‘re dealing with. I loved how the first thing Clarissa does is fire off a bunch of letters! I felt particularly gratified by the letters to and from Lady Betty and loved the ones with Mrs. Norton. 1y

BarbaraJean @Jerdencon @TheEllieMo I‘ve been hoping she can avoid L‘s clutches this time, but with 3 more volumes of the book left, I fear that won‘t be the case. Clarissa needs a safe harbor where she has support to keep L away. The harshness from the Howes & her refusal of Mrs. Norton coming to her both make me worry she‘s again setting herself up for L‘s schemes. Although the exposure of his schemes to his own family gives me hope for consequences to him! 1y

TheBookHippie Anna, I understand, but and strangely enough this week I had to tell my daughter (35) to not preach at her friend again - we all know she should leave her situation - instead just leave communication lines open, check in often, invite her out even though you know she‘s going to say no. It was a bit eerie reading this this week for me. I too love that she fires off letters I think it‘s a good sign. I‘m a bit concerned she‘ll go back as well. 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean I was sorry that Mrs. Norton didn‘t insist on coming or on C coming to her. 1y

Lcsmcat @TheBookHippie I‘m sorry your daughter is in that situation. It‘s so hard to watch a friend in danger and not be able to help. 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon @Currey It‘s weird to me how they all seem to think vice is contagious. Even if C had “fallen” through her own fault instead of L‘s treachery, why not help her instead of ostracizing her. 1y

jewright Anna and Mrs. Howe should just let her hide out at their house. Don‘t they have a closet she can write letters in? They can just not tell anyone. I‘m wondering how long she will be away this time. 1y

TheBookHippie @jewright I'm with this solution!! Surely they must have a tiny bit of space for her! 1y

TheBookHippie I hold my breath reading this most days......WAITING for the 'other shoe to drop' so to speak. But WHY can she not go to Anna ? 1y

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shawnmooney

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Sunday morning book and breakfast! My niece made this delicious blueberry muffin. I‘m a couple weeks behind on my reading of Clarissa, but life has slowed down a bit and I‘ve been getting back to at least a few pages a day. I really want to catch up because group discussion (and venting/ranting), as well as determination to finish, is what‘s keeping me reading.

#Clarissa #SerialReader #BookAndBreakfast

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Tired of only Lovelace‘s voice, I‘m opting for Clarissa at second hand. I like her resolve. Can this take a turn for the better now? Please? #Clarissa BTW, I‘ll be in and out of cell reception today so my responses to comments may be delayed.

Jerdencon I agree with you @Lcsmcat it‘s nice to hear something of clarissas voice. And I may be way off base here but I‘m wondering if somehow she is getting some type of mail from somewhere that Lovelace doesn‘t know about or is she just smart enough to start figuring out Lovelaces imposters on her own? 1y

Lcsmcat @Jerdencon I can‘t see how she could be getting mail, the way he has her fenced in. I think she‘s just put 2 and 2 together, given his behavior. 1y

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Currey @Jerdencon I think if Clarissa simply made the assumption that everything that Lovelace does or says is not trustworthy, she would be close to the truth. Therefore she no longer has to untangle his complex plots or figure out who is an imposter or not, she simply doesn‘t believe anything he presents her with. 1y

Currey @Lcsmcat @Jerdencon What is breaking my heart is the loss of connection between Anna and Clarissa? If it was a contemporary novel, Anna would have rode in on a white horse with the - (police, FBI, Scotland Yard, RCMP) by now… 1y

TheBookHippie @Currey I agree. Assume it‘s all false. And I‘m for the white horse Anna! 1y

BarbaraJean @Jerdencon @Lcsmcat I think she‘s definitely putting 2 and 2 together on her own. She‘s intelligent—she‘s just being gaslit and cut off from key information. @Currey Exactly! I think she‘s at that point (or almost)—she‘s starting to see through him, she‘s uncovered some of his machinations, and now she‘s distrusting the rest of it. 1y

BarbaraJean @Currey @TheBookHippie Definitely in favor of an Anna rescue! I‘ve also wondered about Lord M.—since he said he‘d cut off Lovelace in favor of Clarissa if L did wrong by her. That was with the assumption they‘d marry, but I wonder if L‘s family would be incensed enough at him using people to impersonate Lady Betty and Cousin Charlotte in order to dupe Clarissa that Lord M. might actually take action against Lovelace. That‘s a slim hope, though. 1y

Amiable This right here sums up my disgust with this week's happenings: “She had need indeed to talk of falling into the the hands of the only man in the world who could have used her as I have used her ... and I think I have the worst of it by much, since very little has been my joy--very much my punishment. And her punishment, as she calls it, is over: but when mine will, or what it may be, who can tell?“ 1y

Amiable Translation: “Dear Belford: I paid a couple of women to pretend to be my relatives so they could trick Clarissa and dump her back at the brothel, where Mrs. Sinclair helped me drug her so I could finally succeed in my plan to rape her. And now she's crying and upset and angry and is trying to escape and she STILL won't marry me! What's up with that? Why must I suffer so much?“ 😠 (edited) 1y

TheBookHippie @Amiable the translation is 💯 how I feel about it all..🤬🤮 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable EXACTLY. 1y

Amiable @TheBookHippie @barbarajean I was reading a review that said this about Lovelace: “Insofar as he fulfills a type, Lovelace is the novel‘s villain. He also represents the dark underside of the aristocracy, which allows amoral young men to run riot over the country, ruining women as they go. As a representative of the aristocracy, Lovelace shows how exceptional talent is wasted and becomes dangerous when not channeled in a useful way. “ (edited) 1y

Amiable And Clarissa is described thusly: “The character of Clarissa occupies a figurative position, rather than a literal one: she symbolizes an idealized, absolutely pure and moral heroine struggling to maintain her virtue amid the wicked pressures of society. “
So my question now is: what is Richardson saying with Lovelace's conquest of Clarissa? Does evil always triumph over good in the end? I'm depressed reading this book. 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable I marked that passage too 🤮 and love your translation! I‘m not sure Richardson is saying anything anymore other than “I can keep people reading by titillating them and thus sell more volumes.” I‘m disgusted with them both. 1y

Lcsmcat @Currey Let‘s rewrite this to make Anna the white-horse heroine! 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable Those descriptions of Lovelace & Clarissa as characters ring true for me, but I'm with you - it's depressing. It makes sense that Richardson is highlighting a societal problem, calling for a check on entitled, privileged, amoral young men like Lovelace. The rape highlights the depth of L's villainy. But when so much of the narrative is devoted to Lovelace's voice, it feels less like a call for justice and more like titillation. 1y

BarbaraJean A couple passages I marked: “But astonishing! Can the want of a church-ceremony make such a difference! She owes me her consent...“ (It's the want of CONSENT that makes all the difference. Consent is something no woman OWES anyone, you asshole.) And “She will have it now, it seems, that I had the wickedness from the very beginning, to contrive, for her ruin, a house so convenient for dreadful mischief.“ (She claims this b/c it's what you DID 😡) 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Very true —in Lovelace‘s voice, it comes across as an attempt to justify and explain his immorality. To make sense of the senseless. Although —to play devil‘s advocate—I imagine that was the point of writing this in an epistolary format. What is truth when it‘s colored by perception based on each person‘s point of view? Can we as readers ever really know what‘s happened and why? 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable One reason I love first person & epistolary forms is because of the inevitable unreliability of the narrator. Your questions are ones I love to puzzle over with first-person narrators. Maybe that's exactly why we get Lovelace's voice so much. Ironically, it's easier to piece out what actually happened through his justifications. Would Richardson's audience have read Clarissa as less reliable, that she was trying to appear more virtuous? 1y

Lcsmcat @BarbaraJean That‘s a good point. Lovelace justifying makes himself look worse, but through Clarissa‘s voice it might be harder to believe (especially in those days.) 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Yes!! Great point. It‘s sad, really. She needs to have other people validate her impeccable character and goodness. Otherwise it‘d be “methinks the lady doth protest too much.” 😕 1y

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Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

I‘m about to start this week‘s letters. Hoping to hear from someone other than Lovelace, but I‘ve got my wine at the ready just in case.
#Clarissa

tpixie 😊armed with 🍷! 😂 1y

Amiable I‘m almost through this week‘s letters. You‘re gonna need a lot more wine. Like, bottles. 😖 1y

BarbaraJean @tpixie I needed it! @Amiable 😭 Yep. I could only manage two letters last night. Either too much Lovelace or not enough wine. Or both. I think playing a drinking game with Clarissa would be very bad indeed… drunk by the end of the first letter. 1y

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Amiable @BarbaraJean The impending sense of doom that is building every time Lovelace opens his mouth (or rather, his pen) is giving me anxiety. I might also need a bottle of Valium before too long. 1y

Lcsmcat Maybe have a case handy. 🍷 1y

BarbaraJean @Amiable @Lcsmcat Barrels of wine. Casks of wine. Lovelace is vile. 1y

Amiable @BarbaraJean Maybe just buy a vineyard, is what I‘m thinking. 😖 1y

Lcsmcat @Amiable 😂😂 1y

36 likes8 comments

Clarissa: Or, the History of a Young Lady. Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. ... By Mr. Samuel Richardson. In Eight Volumes | Samuel Richardson

Current mood:

On the left, my iPad with my e-book edition of #Clarissa

On the right:
- a book about the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995
- a book about a double murder and cold case crime in Washington
- a book about smallpox
- a book about the assassination of President James Garfield

😖😬😫

CatLass007 Are you reading Clarissa for a class assignment? It‘s 100 hours long on Audible. 1y

Amiable @CatLass007 No, I‘m reading it with the #Clarissa group hosted by @Lcsmcat ! I‘m in my 50s—class assignments are very far away in my rear view window. 🙂 1y

CatLass007 @Amiable How far have you gotten in the story. I‘ve never read the book, I‘m just curious about what percentage of the book y‘all have read so far. 1y

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Amiable @CatLass007 We are just past the halfway point —we started reading it in February and are scheduled to finish in October. 1y

CatLass007 @Amiable Cool. 1y

mcctrish I don‘t know who Clarissa is but if bombings and small pox are more enticing ….🤣🤣🤣 (edited) 1y

Lcsmcat 😂😂 Sometimes I wonder if we took the wrong approach. Maybe we should be speeding through it as fast as we can!!! 1y

Amiable @Lcsmcat I think I would have bailed by now. This way I can bully myself into going on —“it‘s only 50 pages! That‘s nothing!” And then I open the book and Lovelace starts talking. 😖 1y

Amiable @mcctrish EXACTLY 😀 1y

Daisey Somehow I missed this post, but I'm completely feeling it! 1y

Amiable @Daisey Ha ha, right? We‘re all gonna need a drink (or 50) after we finally get through this! 😖😀 1y

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