Wednesday, April 6, 2022

The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless by Eliza Haywood

 

What can I say about Betsy Thoughtless? She is a gentleman's daughter with two older brothers; she's also an orphan living with one of her trustees, Mr. Goodman, and his wife, Lady Mellasin, and her daughter, Flora. Betsy is pretty and vivacious and comfortably well-off. She's also proud and disdains being told what to do. By anyone. Many handsome young men vie for her attention, both honorable gentlemen and entitled scoundrels. And she enjoys the power her youth and beauty gives her over all of them, playing them off one another for her own amusement. 
"She played with her lovers, as she did with her monkey; but expected more obedience from them."
While not deliberately cruel, she is young, impulsive, self-absorbed and thoughtless. And very definitely NOT ready to marry. This book is a chronicle of her innocent indiscretions and frivolous follies. It's full of little dramas and small tragedies, from duels and assignations, to jealous friends, secrets and lies, and even several attempts at sexual assault. And Miss Betsy Thoughtless is at the center of them all. 
"She had a great deal of wit, but was too volative for reflection; and as a ship without sufficient ballast is tossed about at the pleasure of every wind that blows, so was she hurried through the ocean of life, just as each predominant passion directed."
This book is 600 pages long, which means I'm not even going to attempt to describe all that happens in it to Betsy. I will say that I found it very readable despite its length. Although I thought the plot, what there was of it, did get a little tedious after awhile. I probably would have liked it more if it had been edited down by 300 pages. And I wish I could say I liked Betsy for her spunk and independent spirit, but mostly I found her constant need to be amused at the expense of her gentleman callers, her thoughtless imprudence, and stubborn refusal to listen to the advice of Mr. Goodman or either of her two brothers when it came to her behavior, both tiresome and frustrating.  One thing I did love was all the crazy words like eclaircissement and raillery used throughout. But best of all? This is a book that has been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for years, and I finally get to check it off my TBR list! And since it was first published in 1751, this book also counts as my Pre-1800 Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics Reading Challenge. So, that's a double win! 

Happy Reading!



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22 comments:

  1. Glad you were able to use it to check off some reading goals :)

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  2. Interesting! And I like the sound of the exotic words too. :) It's definitely a chunky one but yay for reading it!

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    1. It is a chunky one. I don't love reading super long books any more, but I really wanted to get this one off my shelf.

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  3. Always nice to check off several challenges with one book! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I suspect I would find Miss Thoughtless a bit too annoying and self-centered to tolerate through 600 pages, but the book does sound amusing.

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    1. It does have some good moments in it! But it was a bit too long.

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  4. 600 pages is so long! Good for you for reading it and getting it to go towards one of your challenges.

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    1. Without that reading challenge I'm not sure I would have made it all the way through. ;D

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  5. Wow, 600 pages! I'm glad it was very readable despite its length. And yay for checking off multiple challenges! :)

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    1. Checking off the challenges was the best part! I just don't love reading super long books any more...I get too impatient to be done.

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  6. I love the feeling you get when you finally read a book that's been on your shelf for years! And this one is such a thick one! I'm not sure my tastes line up with this book, but I do love when a longer book doesn't feel like a chore to read.

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    1. Halfway through this one I was wondering why I bought it in the first place! ;D But I am glad to have finally gotten it read.

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  7. Congratulations on your "wins"! Feels good, doesn't it? But I guess I won't be seeking this one out!

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    1. It does feel good to get this one finished! And I don't blame you for not wanting to rush out and buy your own copy of it. ;D

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  8. I don't mind reading really long books like this one as long as it's a good book.

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    1. And this one had good moments in it....but halfway through I was really wishing I was done.

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  9. Wow...shows my ignorance of 18th century lit. From the title, I would have sworn that this was a present-day farce, a take-off, of books from that period. Not sure that I would ever get all the way through this one.

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    1. Hi, Sam! How are you? I wish this one had been more farcical and fun. And I almost didn't make it through all 600 pages, but I really wanted to get it off my shelf, and to finish that Pre-1800 Classic reading category. So I persisted. :)

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  10. 600 pages would feel longer with a frustrating character. I like fun words and writing, too, so at least there was that, and you get to check off another classic! :)

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    1. Checking off another classic does make me happy. And I'm not sorry I read this book. I'm just glad I never have to read it again. ;D

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  11. The thick volume sounds intimidating to me, lol. Glad that you read it for the reading challenge. :)

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    1. I find books longer than 400 pages intimidating! Luckily this one wasn't too much of a struggle to read. But boy was it long. :)

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