Enter Mr Solmes
Clarissa read-along: Letters 7 & 8
Dear friends,
We’re finally back to reading again and I’m excited to hear what you all think. In the weeks we’ve been away, I’ve been thinking about how immersive reading in ‘real time’ feels. We’re getting a genuine sense of the ebb and flow of Clarissa’s life; a real feel for how long and mundane some of these trips to friends and neighbours - that appear in so many novels of the time - could actually be. It also helps us contemplate just how incensed Clarissa’s family are - they’ve been seething and scheming for the entire time we’ve been carrying on with our everyday lives. A long time not to see reason.
It’s completely unjust, as Clarissa is eager to observe. She might lay her innocence on a bit thick at times, but I’m enjoying her sarcasm and acid tongue:
“They drive on here at a furious rate. The man lives here, I think.”
She’s talking about Mr Solmes, and the plot is firmly afoot to marry the pair off. I have to admit I’m a little intrigued as to what’s so detestable about him. So far we know he’s, “very illiterate,” for a gentleman and incredibly dull. But there has to be more.
Over the next seven days we’ll be reading letters 9-17. Letter 13 is out of sequence but as Richardson has chosen to order the letters in this way, I plan to read it on the same day as letter 12. Letter 17 is undated, but I’ll read it alongside letter 16.
Hope you’re all enjoying the book so far. Let me know your thoughts! How do you feel about reading in ‘real time’ so far? Why does Clarissa’s family feel so outraged? And what do you think about Mr Solmes? Could it be that Clarissa’s family see such a detestable partner as a kind of punishment for her?
In case you missed it, you can watch Abigail’s video about the first six letters here:
Featured image is The Vigor Family by Joseph Highmore, 1744