Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
I was very invested in this until the very end-- Dickens is a wonderfully descriptive writer, especially in the darker, less sentimental novels he wrote in the fifties, and the sketches of the dysfunctional family lives of the Clennams and the Dorrits are keenly observed and ring psychologically true. Someone with a less sentimental streak, though, would have recognized that William Dorrit is obviously the central figure of the novel, as Dickens doesn't really know what to do after his and Merdle's deaths. Pretty much every plot point in the denouement, additionally, is badly judged— the Clennam plot terminates in an excessively complicated exposition dump featuring an illegitimate child, an improbable entailment, and the identical twin of a minor character who is introduced after already being dead for most of the book— after which the main villain politely dies offscreen. And that's only the half of it— why have Clennam lose not only his but Doyce's money gambling on Merdle? Why force Little Dorrit to nurse him back to health, doting on him the way she doted on her father? Why make Tattycoram plead with Mr. Meagles to take her back? It's all unconsidered and in some respects even weirdly cruel, and that's why thus far this has to register as my least favorite Dickens. However, "least favorite Dickens" is still pretty good!
This took an age to read, I was waylaid in the kafkaesque circumlocution office for far too long. Not my favorite Dickens (that would be David Copperfield) but I am glad I've finally read it. Amy Dorrit, the Little Dorrit of the title is a retiring self-sacrificing young woman, who was born in the Marchelsea Prison for debtors, where her father was incarcerated. There is a lot about imprisonment in the book, Dickens himself knew debtor's prisons all too well, his father having been imprisoned for debt. As with all Dickens novels there is a cast of colorful characters, there are many rogues and villains. There are travels in France, Switzerland and Italy but the book returns to London, a city well known in Dickens' writings. I have far more to say about this book, but I'll stop here for now to process what I have just read.
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i did not like this book when i read it, although there are certain aspects of it that have stuck with me & that i’ve referenced/channeled in my own work
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Love Dickens, as always... This one was more convoluted than others; I'm still not sure why Little Dorrit ended up in the letter/will at the end as opposed to someone else. Many characters just took away from the plot as well, being too much of a distraction.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I know what I am getting when I open the cover of a Dickens novel, and have to gather up a certain amount of endurance to make it through to the end. His brilliant writing and wit carry me along despite impatience with many characters who are caricatures, as well as his view of the perfect woman, who is selfless and ever loyal to her doltish family. I learned about the ways of debtors' prison in the Victorian era, a cruel but oddly benign institution.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No