The author of Vanity Fair intended a novel without a hero, according to wikipedia. At first protagonist Becky Sharpe seems like a heroine - a smart, strong-willed woman aiming at success - but her flaws soon become apparent, and they are many. And most of the people she meets are either no better, or better but much dumber.
Becky is neither all bad nor all good, although her bad qualities are sometimes very, very bad. To me it seems Becky is doing her best in a society in which the only option for a woman - no matter how smart - to achieve upward mobility is through marriage, and Becky is a character who should be wheeling and dealing but instead spends her time on seduction and plotting. (I don't know if that's how she comes across in the book.)
Olivia Cooke is wonderful as Becky (she has a cheeky, sardonic quality reminiscent of Phoebe Waller-Bridge), and the rest of the cast is excellent.
Highly recommended.
