Barry Lyndon (Paperback)

by William Makepeace Thackeray (Author)
Key Phrases: police minister, Lady Lyndon, Castle Brady, Castle Lyndon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
(in full The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esquire) Historical novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in Fraser's Magazine in 1844 as The Luck of Barry Lyndon: A Romance of the Last Century. The book was published in two volumes in 1852-53, and it was revised ("with admissions") as The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. in 1856. The novel concerns the life and times of the title character and narrator, a roguish Irishman. The fast-flowing satirical narrative reveals a man dedicated to success and good fortune. Born Redmond Barry, he leaves his homeland after shooting a man in a duel. He becomes a soldier of fortune and later works as a professional gambler. Remade as a man of fashion, he courts a wealthy widow, marries her, and assumes her aristocratic name of Lyndon. He mistreats both her and her son and spends and gambles away her money, but eventually she extricates herself from the alliance. By the novel's end he is in jail, cared for by his mother. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Not the best known, but by some critics acclaimed as the finest of Thackeray's works

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Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Echo Library (September 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1406808466
• ISBN-13: 978-1406808469
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,150,056 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Satirical novel about a rascal's rise and fall., December 7, 1998

By	Charles Reilly (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (Hardcover)

Having seen the movie "Barry Lyndon" by Stanley Kubrick years ago, I was taken aback by this book which is so markedly different than the 1975 film. In the book, Lord Bullingdon is actually the hero, where Kubrick presented him merely as a cowardly cad. Redmond Barry (later as Barry Lyndon)deserves all the evils that befall him and his first person narrative is quite humorous especially when blaming everyone for his own shortcomings. Unfortunately, the ending leaves one a bit unsatisfied, quite like the dismal end of Mr. Lyndon himself. This novel is not on the level of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair", but fun to read nonetheless.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book on one man's rise and fall., March 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Barry Lyndon (Hardcover)

Here, in this relatively obscure work, Thackeray is at his ironic and satiric best. Modern critics lightly dismiss the book as a piece of journalistic hack work, but it is much more than that. Redmond Barry, later Barry Lyndon, chronicles in a fairly sophistocated and always lighthearted manner his rise from a poor Irish country boy to the astral heights of polite English society from 1750-1820. Mr. Barry is always Machievellian in his way, and is quick and efficient with his sword. He is Odysseus, Holden Caulfield, Don Juan, and Nabokov's Humbert Humbert merged. In a word, he is very, very entertaining and very, very good. The book's only glaring flaw is it's belabored and uninspired ending. But it is much worth reading to watch Redmond Barry when young

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Satirical novel about a rascal's rise and fall., December 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. (Hardcover)

Having seen the movie "Barry Lyndon" by Stanley Kubrick years ago, I was taken aback by this book which is so markedly different than the 1975 film. In the book, Lord Bullingdon is actually the hero, where Kubrick presented him merely as a cowardly cad. Redmond Barry (later as Barry Lyndon)deserves all the evils that befall him and his first person narrative is quite humorous especially when blaming everyone for his own shortcomings. Unfortunately, the ending leaves one a bit unsatisfied, quite like the dismal end of Mr. Lyndon himself. This novel is not on the level of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair", but fun to read nonetheless.