The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is a bit of a ridiculous story.
It’s about two young men in the upper class, one is Monty, who is a scoundrel and a rake, and the other is Percy, who is his dutiful best friend. They go on a Grand Tour of Europe before they can take the next step (college, job, etc). Felicity, Monty’s sister, joins them, so they can drop her off to finishing school. This is historical fiction, so we’re talking the time when black people were mostly slaves. Percy is of the upper class, just like Monty, but he’s dark-skinned. There’s racism, slurs, sexism, homophobia, and much more in the book, but it was all handled appropriately and the main character learned all about it as he went, since he seems to be completely blind to it all.
This book is about the main characters, Monty and Percy, coming to terms with their feelings for each other and trying to escape from their horrid future prospects. Monty, who narrates the story, is a very unlikable character. I wanted to strangle him for the first half of the book, but then he started to redeem himself (there’s a lot beneath the immature and selfish surface, thank God). I didn’t like the miscommunication aspect, but I think it was appropriate in this particular story for many reasons.
The boys are lovely. I rooted for their relationship the whole time, even when I hated Monty. I think this was due to the authors’ mastery of storytelling. Most of all, I was impressed how the author managed to dig deep inside every character and show us their fears, even though something ridiculous was happening at the same time. I think the line between humor and serious introspection is thin, and the author managed to give both sides appropriate care and importance. The story made me laugh and cry and fear and love… all of it.
I really enjoyed Monty fighting with himself the whole time, to become a better person. It was shockingly realistic because most of the time he failed. I think this is one of those rare unlikable-character-gets-redeemed stories that usually fail to land, but this one did.
Overall, I loved this book. It was a crazy adventure through Europe that made me laugh many times. Everything that happened was so fun and unlikely, but also very heart-warming in unexpected places. I didn’t expect the three of them to fall into so much trouble so often (the way Monty got them into trouble and out of trouble was proper hilarious). It was utterly satisfying, to see how they handled it, to learn more about Monty, Percy, and Felicity as they went along on their journey. There was alchemy and pirates and mystery, and it was all worth it. A roller coaster of ludicrous adventure peppered with true moments of fear and longing in a time that doesn’t permit those things. Aw.
If you want a story about two young gentlemen who live in difficult times, whose queerness and blackness and illnesses stand in the way of happiness, and who find themselves in so many ridiculous and dangerous situations on their Tour of Europe… then proceed. You’ll get both the heavy and the light in one unforgettable package.
-Reviewed by Violeta Nedkova
