Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens, 1838)

(831 pages) 

Written early in Dickens's career - shortly after Pickwick, Oliver.

Uncle Ralph Nickleby - venal, Scrooge-like

Title character's father dies of "broken heart" after wife-induced speculation ruins the family financially.

Nicholas - the title character- seems pretty prone to scuffles.

Cheeryble Bros as sort of a deus ex machina; they can fix things!

Newman Nogg - Ralph's assistant, does not share Ralph's meanness.

Schoolmaster - Squeers - keeps showing up.  Not nice.

Minor item - description of promoting a muffin company at beginning of book - pitch-perfect as to how it's still done.

Uncle Ralph Nickleby - great dialogue, lots of good lines.

Chesterton's idea about weakness of female leads (especially Kate).  Mother of Nicholas/Kate a garrulous ditz, I tended to skip passages whenever she started talking.

But overall the characters were entertaining per Dickens usual (meaning unusually good) capabilities.

Lots of characters, lots of plot threads, a lot to wrap up in the final pages.  He does it masterfully.

The Old Curiosity Shop (Charles Dickens, 1841)

(555 pages)

I was much interested in this particular Dickens work - partly because of the descriptions in his biography of readers in America - as installations of the serialized book reached American shores, supposedly crowds on the waterfront were shouting "What happened to Little Nell?"

But in the story arc, I found Little Nell a bit flat.  And her grandfather a bit annoying.

Swiveller - an unexpected role!  The schoolmaster plays a key role.  The "small servant" at the law firm, also.  Kit (and his mother), Barbara (and her mother).

The dwarf (Quilp) - drove a lot of action; mostly comic character.  Nell's unkind brother.  The two lawyers aren't very nice.

I read this immediately after the Joseph Conrad novel described below.  OK the two authors are going for different things.  But the difference in character-drawing is so striking.  Dickens characters often one-dimensional, but he's effective at driving a plot using this.  Conrad characters so much more balanced, complicated.  

These are just enjoyable reads.

Our Mutual Friend (Charles Dickens, serialized 1864-65)

(832 pages)

Miserly old man (Harmon) makes fortune in dust business; breaks family bonds; creates odd incentives in his will; events follow.

Hexam and Riderhood families - working out a rough life on the waterfront - heavy stories.  Charlie Hexam getting a chance at education; Lizzie getting a chance; the schoolmaster is intense.  The honest public house owner.

Wilfer family - mother and younger daughter (Lavinia) - effectively comic (Bella is older daughter favored by Harmon the original old dust man).  Wilfer father a "cherub."

Boffin family - loyal to Harmon; somewhat reminded of the Bleak House character (the guy who ran the shooting gallery).

John Rokesmith.

Lawyers Mortimer Lightwood and Eugene Wrayburn.

Inspector - reminds of Bottle from Bleak House.

Wegg - the "man of letters" - reading Decline and Fall to Boffin - not a nice person, but presented in an amusing way.  Interested in contents of the dust mounds, enlists Venus.

Would-be aristocrats receive a lot of shots; lawyers not very well thought of, either.

Jewish character involved in money-lending business, portrayed sympathetically

I enjoyed throughout except for one significant oddity (weakness) in the plot (G.K. Chesterton's note (included as an Appendix) explains what happened, but don't check that until after finishing the novel).   Notwithstanding - recommended.

[Gift from Paul Jr & Nedda]

Bleak House (Charles Dickens, serialized 1852-53)

(989 pages)

Famous novel built around the fictional interminable chancery case Jarndyce v. Jarndyce.

Dickens masterful at painting scenes . . . early/favorite example is the three spending an evening at Jellyby's (interested in Africa, children bouncing 'round the premises, unkempt) - perhaps not an obviously entrancing scene, but he makes it so

Tulkinghorn counsel for Dedlock (Chesney Wold); Ms. Dedlock recognizes handwriting, Tulkinghorn investigates, opium-taker dead

distantly related to Jarndyce of Bleak House, his niece Ada, her cousin

Esther as Ada's companion; raised by aunt; placed for a few years at a school for governesses where she thrived

Jellyby a do-gooder in London

some other do-gooder near Bleak House; she visits the brickmaker's family, where infant dies

so many threads left dangling until the end, but it works

interesting to think of the serial approach

divided between Esther's narrative and "regular" writing

little things that give a sense of life in those days . . . I appreciate . . . on the journey with Mr. Bucket (who turns out to be a significant character), Esther gets cold and wet . . . including from the need for passengers to alight and walk up slippery/slushy hills when horses struggled

Esther, her guardian, and Dr. Woodcourt as idealized characters

long, but well worth reading - I enjoyed this a great deal

Charles Dickens - A Life (Claire Tomalin, 2011)

Lots of folks recommend reading biographies, but I typically don't even pull them off the shelf (to use outdated terminology).   (So it makes some sense that the "biography" tag in the box at left only leads to about 15 hits - though I do admit to liking most of that group quite a bit).  I do like biographies more if the author is using the life-story primarily as an interesting perspective to illustrate the times in which the "biographee" was living.

That's a long way of saying I didn't enjoy this book very much.  I signed it out because of several glowing reviews.  And it did provide some information about 19th century London.  But I far preferred this biography and its setting in 18th century London.  And I just don't care all that much about what the research has uncovered about Dickens's specific doings, his marital problems, his girlfriend, whatever.

Not news, but amazing to think about:  the wealth of characters that he created, and his overwhelming popularity (especially in Britain and in the U.S. (notwithstanding a rocky initial visit)).  A couple factors that contributed to the popularity:  (1) his evident sympathy for the working classes; and (2) the decision to serialize his novels - making them cost-accessible to all. 

Something I hadn't thought about until this author mentioned it:  the difficulty of writing serialized novels - authors generally have the freedom to go back and revise, or to write sections entirely out of sequence.  Dickens, typically needing cash, was on deadline - he simply had to make the books work from installment to installment.  Even when not necessarily knowing exactly where the book was headed, how critical or public reaction to an installment might suggest changes, etc.

I didn't know that he was under cash pressure even after starting to make very good money as an author.  Grew up poor; father in debtor's prison at some point; never really accumulated capital; ended up supporting his father, his brothers, his sons, his ex-wife, his girlfriend and some of her family, etc.  He had to work very hard, right up until time of his death.

Pickwick Papers made his reputation.

Later in life, he did amazing readings from his works - scripted to his strengths, not taken directly from the books - a great way to make money, huge audiences, tremendous responses.

Met royalty, presidents, top literary folks from his era.

I (and others who know more about this than me) think that many (some?) of his characters and story lines today come across as "over the top".  Certainly hasn't impeded popularity.

A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens)

Somehow I had missed reading this book all these years, and finally finished it on Wednesday. I can understand why the story has had such staying power – memorable characters set against the French revolution. The plot lines involve all sorts of links and coincidences among a group of folks, and sometimes this felt a bit forced. I think the story would have worked fine without all the links; for example, Madame DeFarge with her knitting would have been a great character without the link that is revealed in the last part of the book. The Sydney Carton stuff at the end is quite nicely done. It’s all nice, though more melodramatic than would be acceptable today.

Dickens does a great job communicating the atmosphere in France in the days of the Terror (at least as someone who wasn’t there writing for readers who weren’t there either). He describes some of the perks enjoyed by the nobility over the years at the expense of the peasantry in a way that explains some of the ensuing butchery on a more visceral level. Details about the story are here.

I didn’t really appreciate how popular Dickens was, and is. Read this for more.

Hard Times (Charles Dickens, 1854)

Charles Gradgrind insisting on "facts" to his children; Josiah Banderby exposed.