A depraved scoundrel goes on his Grand Tour, what could be better?

 

Maybe it’s just me but if there’s a movie that is so popular that everyone has either watched it or is waiting to watch it, then I don’t want to see it. I’m particularly obstinate on this point. Sometimes I’m right about avoiding them, e.g. I still find Emma Watson’s singing voice grating in the trailer and so there’s no point in watching the movie ever. But there are rare cases of being proven wrong and I find myself a new favourite film which I can never discuss without feeling a bit ashamed of being so unreasonably prejudiced against it in the beginning.

    Mackenzi Lee’s The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is that for me. Back when it came out in 2017, it felt like all the YA readers on goodreads couldn’t stop raving about this book. It was on everyone’s to-read shelf and even if you hadn’t read it and had no intention to whatsoever you still, strange enough, had an opinion about it. So there it was. One of the most popular YA books of the year. Hmm. I immediately wrote it off for having, first of all, a cover that looked like someone made it using a photo-editing app on their iPhone, secondly, a pretentious title that tried to be neo-Victorian, and lastly, insane popularity that I found off-putting.

    Fast forward three years later when it’s covid time and I catch sight of its sequel on goodreads, and suddenly it seemed, well, an opportunity to read something unusual. I thought it would take weeks for me to finish and I would suffer for it but the reality was I devoured the book in two days because it was, ugh, nothing short of spectacular.

    A quick summary: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue follows Henry “Monty” Montague as he travels the Continent on his Grand Tour. It’s so hard to not be a depraved scoundrel when you have naturally gorgeous locks and charms to bewitch both men and women alike. But then it’s not like Monty makes an effort to be otherwise when he’s determined to enjoy his last few days of youthful debauchery with Percy whom he has, well, a bit of a crush on. But trouble follows when Monty steals a puzzle box from the palace of Versailles for fun and soon he has bandits, pirates and corrupt French courtiers chasing after him all over Europe. He’s embroiled in a mystery that threatens to topple the balance between European nations or give him his heart’s desire.

    This entire narrative is one wild ride. It is rife with anachronism and overused adventure tropes. It shouldn’t work but it does because we can’t all take everything seriously and life needs a dose of the ridiculous every now and then. And it’s rather difficult to have just the right amount of the ridiculous. If it’s too much, it’s a circus that just looks sad. If it’s too little, it gets tedious. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtuehas just the right amount. The mix of modern sensibility and faux-Victorian speech, parodic tones and familiar tropes, cutting sarcasm and high emotional stakes...these conflicting elements come together to produce the spectacle that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. As I try to place my finger on what makes it seem so 'recent', I recall that this recipe for postmodern reverie has been done and tested in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Alena Smith’s Dickinson. As their successor, The Guide is just as strong in hitting the parody and emotional notes with equal weight, while not forgetting to provide enough period materials to achieve that historical ambience and a sense of removed distance, which ask you to sympathise with those like you in another time.

    So yes, I have my moments of unreasonable obstinacy that prevent me from watching films or reading books that I would otherwise enjoy immensely. But I also believe that if it is a book that I am meant to enjoy, sooner or later, the time will come. In this case, I am only all too happy to be proven wrong to find there is a lot worth enjoying in this book. I’ll get around to the sequels. But it’ll take some time as I am currently reading Pride and Prejudice, which gives me all the feels. Till then, my gentle reader.