3.5/5
The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue is a fun and light coming-of-age novel following Monty on his Grand Tour of Europe with his best friend Percy and sister Felicity.
Mackenzi Lee's writing is the highlight of the novel. Gentleman's Guide is written in dialect, which took me a moment to adjust but allows Lee to stretch her writing in interesting and fun ways, and to create beautiful lines. Lee is able to capture Monty's own flaws which is hard to do from first person. She reveals Monty's selfishness and his privilege through his interactions with other characters and subtleties in the narration. It's so much fun to watch meaningful exchanges occur between other characters while the depth of the interaction flies over Monty's head, leaving him with a feeling that he has missed something. Lee also captures Monty's vulnerability, his fear, and the depth of his emotions, even if those emotions aren't the ones he should be feeling. She made me sympathize with selfish, arrogant Monty, and she had me rooting for him to get what he wanted even though he already has everything a person could want right at his fingertips.
The events of the novel are wild and lighthearted. They're not the most realistic but they're fun. Gentleman's Guide is an adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's a character-driven book, and the characters are complete and well-developed. They complement one another, and I was invested in all three of them.
Overall, Gentleman's Guide was sweet, charming, and fun. It's lighthearted, and also has three-dimensional characters and beautiful lines. I would highly recommend fans of coming-of-age stories or those looking for a not-so-serious book to pick it up.
No comments:
Post a Comment