Reviews for Howard's Art of Computation and Golden Rule for Equation of Payments for Schools, Business C...

The average rating for Howard's Art of Computation and Golden Rule for Equation of Payments for Schools, Business C... based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-11-25 00:00:00 Kendall Niggemyer I’ve given up on Clarissa, a little bit over 60% of the complete and unabridged work, however determined I was to finish it, if only as an object of study by way of English Literature 101 for the Really Engaged Student. It’s been miserable. I have much to say about it and have every intention of editing this spot and adding the many notes I’ve taken along the way. I would like to state for now: thank god for modern editing practices. This story about a misogynistic narcissist enraptured with his own sadistic methods of manipulating a woman he claims to be in love with because of her exceptional beauty combined with her purity and natural nobility of character (no less)—as though that in itself wasn’t an insufferable enough premise—though excusable enough in a genre defining English novel from the mid-18th century, had the added built-in punishing quality of being composed of an endless series of letters that went round and round in circles and over and over again over the same territory before anything ever actually happened about the same insufferable situation; The infuriating Robert Lovelace wanting to have our heroine Clarissa for himself one way or another and honour be damned, while Clarissa was determined to hold on to her much abused virtue. Had the exchanges been cut by half it still would have been an intolerably and abusively long time spent with a prime example of the male you wish had never been born. As it was, I simply had to end this, the longest novel in the English language, for mine and for poor Clarissa’s sake since Richardson obviously didn’t have the decency to, and was only leading his poor helpless lamb into slaughter at a pace so incredibly slow that the movie version would have lasted 48 hours... at least—because filmed in slow motion and with portions further slowed down of course (!) to supposedly teach the contemporary subscribers to this serialized publication a “moral tale”. He did this apparently by responding to his readers begging of him to give them a happy ending by making Robert Lovelace even MORE awful as the novel progressed, and this I cannot even fathom as I was already thinking up creative ways of making his death as painful and prolonged as possible in the first half of the book<\i>. Before Clarissa (BC) I was going to give Pamela a try, but I think I’ve gone right off Richardson, actually. Blame it on Trumpian times and bad timing to pick up such punishing tales.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-09 00:00:00 John Madame I will use Samuel Richardson's own words to sum up my opinion so far of Clarissa: "So little variation! and no concession on either side!" This quote came about 85% through Volume 2, and I couldn't agree more. Volume 2 has been (sadly) Volume 1 repeated with very little of interest added to the plot. Clarissa continues to whine and refuse to marry anyone, and waffles back on forth regarding the character of Mr. Lovelace. Lovelace continues to lurk around the edges, causing problems for everyone and giving hints as to just how evil he really is. Solmes continues to wring his hands while Clarissa's older brother and sister continue to scheme to force their marriage. The parents continue to refuse to see their youngest child. Basically, the lack of plot movement continues, now for a length of pages that would comprise a decent novel in number - if only there was any story here to care about. I will continue to slog through, although I have little hope that Volume 3 will have any more to offer. Not recommended.