The Way of the World

Wake Up America

Excellent read. Stayed up all night reading! Truth will OUT. Suskind proves it!! Hundreds of Thousands of lives later, Trillions of Dollars later. ALL ON LIES!! NON DARE CALL IT TREASON OR DO THEY!!!

The Way of the World

Author William Congreve manages to capture the plight and candor of the upper class during 17th century England. While there is no real-depth to the characters portrayed in the play, Congreve manages to keep the play comical enough to warrent the attention of the reader. This is play is truely a comedy of manners, as Congreve utilizes subtle Old English dialect to poke fun at the upper-class structure he is writing about. While the quips may not be easily discernable, they are there and as long as the reader does not get bogged down with the language barrier, they are in for an enjoyable read. The plot centers around money and marriage, with Lady Wishfort wishing to be courted by Sir Rowland. While some wish to be courted, others do not, as is the case with Mrs. Millament, who wished not to be married for fear of losing her freedom as a woman. I enjoyed the book, although I have read better, but it is still worth the time and effort to consume. I enjoyed how Congreve subtly hinted at various aspects of life throughout the play (for instance his referral to how marriage was essentially the end of the relationship, or the fire that is present in the relationship). Again, at times the language is a bit hard to discern, and to some the play may seem dry and boring. If you are a fan, however, of British Literature and a fan of a comedy with a twist, then this book will suit you very nicely.

Very Disappointing

The Way of the World by William Congreve could have been a lot better. I did not enjoy reading it at all. I found it to be very boring, difficult to comprehend, and humorless. I could not wait to get to end of the book so that I could literally stop reading it. The book is very complicated to understand, I had to read it twice to get a clear understanding of the plot. It took me a while to figure out who was the good guy and who was the bad guy. In addition to that, the relation between Mirabell and Millamant was difficult to figure out as well. Many of the jokes were not funny and the storyline was uninteresting. Congreve made the book too complex, it would have been much better if the book was less difficult to read. The way of the world is boring. The storyline is terrible and very hard to follow. The jokes make no sense and many of the discussions are ridiculous. I lost interest as I continued to read because the story just seemed to drag along. This book is the worst example of restoration comedy I have ever read and I am not going to recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading good books. The language was hard to comprehend and that is what made the play difficult to follow along with. The plot is not easy to unveil, the jokes are hard to get, and the sarcasm is overlooked because of the complex language Congreve used to express the messages throughout the play. Language is very important in literature and I think William Congreve went overboard by making the language hard to understand in this restoration comedy. If the book was less complicated it would have been more humorous to the readers. I personally did not find many jokes in the play, I found a couple of them but they were not very funny at all. For example, the marriage contract that Mirabell and Millamant created was stupid and unrealistic. The contract was suppose to be hilarious but it exactly very idiotic.In closing, I did not enjoy reading the way of the world. I feel that William Congreve should have done a better job writing it. This is my first time reading one of his books and I do not look forward anymore of his works in the future. I rate this book with two stars because it started out good but I lost interest as the play continued.

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