Review: The Rise and Fall of Becky Sharp by Sarra Manning

A hilarious contemporary retelling of the classic society novel, VANITY FAIR, featuring the irrepressible Becky Sharp

Beautiful, brilliant, ruthless – nothing can stop Becky Sharp.

Determined to leave her poverty-stricken roots behind her, Becky Sharp is going to take every opportunity offered to her to climb to the top. Whether it’s using her new BFF Amelia Sedley to step up into the rarified world of London’s upper classes, or seducing society’s most eligible bachelors, Becky Sharp is destined for great things – at any cost…

From London to Paris and beyond, the world is there for Becky’s taking – even though some people are determined to stop her along the way…

Review: I have never read Vanity Fair, or seen the movie/TV adaptations but I went into this novel and loved it anyways. I was hooked into it right from the word go. I loved the concept of Big Brother contestants, or any reality TV contestants for that matter and where are they now. This book also deals with what its like to be a celebrity on social media, what being insta-famous looks like and what that can mean to the person in question as well as those around them. This book also deals with issues of strong women and how they are perceived in society. What girl power looks like in concept and reality and what can happen when women support, or don't support each other-what's not to love?

Becky is a really interesting character, she is not someone who you will always be on the same side as but you really do warm to her and she is a truly intriguing person to read about. Another thing that I really loved about her is how how determined she is, she really will stop at nothing to better herself and I admired that about her, it was brave. It does obliviously alienate people and sometimes hurts people she cares about but the determination is definitely admirable. Becky is also incredibly manipulative, whilst this is a fairly negative quality, it really does take brains and guts to use this manipulation to get you where you want to be. 

The structure of this book is also really interesting and refreshingly different. The book takes pace over quite a large span of time compared to other commercial fiction books on the market and I enjoyed getting to see the characters in more than one time frame, to see where are they now and where are they 3 years from now. This book also follows one of the other Big Brother contestant Amelia and how her life has been affected after the programme ends. It covers her relationship with Becky but also how her life changes and I really enjoyed a minor character being followed in this way. 

I loved this book, I want to end with one of my favourite quotes from the book and also to urge you to pick this one up now, you are definitely in for a great read and just an all round good time: 'I've met enough strong, ambitious women who'd be admired and promoted a hell of a lot quicker if they were men. But because they have tits and two X chromosomes, they get called bitches.'

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US