The Good Soldier vs Vanity Fair: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Married people, British, British and irish fiction, Friendship, Social life and customs, History
The Good Soldier
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This is the saddest story I have ever heard. We had known the Ashburnhams for nine seasons of the town of Nauheim with an extreme intimacy - or, rather with an acquaintanceship as loose and easy and yet as close as a…
Vanity Fair
“WHILE the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's academy for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat horses in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and wig, at the rate of four miles an hour.”
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No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class ladder. Her sentimental companion…
Side by side
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Good Soldier is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 12 for Vanity Fair.
- Vanity Fair has the widest readership — 135029 ratings behind its score.
- The Good Soldier reaches further in scholarship and criticism — cited 33 times.
- Vanity Fair runs the darker storyline; The Good Soldier stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Good Soldier | Vanity Fair | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.7 (2553) | 3.8 (135029) |
| Hardcover | 3.3 (45) | 3.6 (111) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (86) | 4.0 (22) |
Reception
| The Good Soldier | Vanity Fair | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 2553 | 135029 |
| Editions | 355 | 200 |
| Citations | 33 | 15 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 53121 | 182818 |
| Reading it now | — | 7681 |
| Written reviews | 2553 | 5313 |
| Wikipedia attention | 3082 | 14116 |
| Pages | 162 | 699 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The Good Soldier or Vanity Fair?
Vanity Fair has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Vanity Fair 3.8/5, The Good Soldier 3.7/5).
Which is shorter to read: The Good Soldier or Vanity Fair?
The Good Soldier is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Good Soldier (162 pages, ≈ 3 h 00 m); Vanity Fair (699 pages, ≈ 12 h 57 m).
Which is harder to read: The Good Soldier or Vanity Fair?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The Good Soldier: Challenging; Vanity Fair: Demanding.
Have both books been made into films?
The Good Soldier: no film adaptation on record; Vanity Fair: 5 film adaptations.