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heyimaghost's review against another edition
4.0
This is my second time reading Martin Chuzzlewit, and I have to say I both enjoyed it more and less this time. I remember when I read it the first time, I really didn't care for the America bits, despite always being happy to encounter Mark Tapley again. This time, I looked forward to those bits but was so often bored by the Jonas storyline and so often infuriated with Pecksniff, that I found them difficult to read. So upon further consideration, I changed my ranking from five to four stars. I think everyone recognizes that this is a flawed novel, but all of Dickens' novels are flawed, especially his early novels.
I feel like his biting criticism of people's flaws is never with sharper teeth than in this novel. He doesn't seem angry, but his strikes against society are each powerful, deep, and true. His attacks against American exceptionalism and hypocrisy are still as strong as they were nearly two hundred years ago, and I can see how they would've been upset about it. But as he points out, Americans are always complaining about the state of the country, but as soon as someone criticizes it--Well, we're the greatest country on the planet and don't you forget. I especially liked Mark Tapley's encounter with a former slave. It was a particular thing of disgust for Dickens, and he comes back to the hypocrisy of a country claiming to be the home of liberty while defending certain human beings being viewed as property many times. He also attacks America's tendency to use liberty as an excuse to bully, which we still see quite a lot today. Another running joke, that I didn't notice the last time I read it, was Americans constant tendency to correct Martin on facts about England, which is funnily enough, still a common trait. But to any Americans taking offence and thinking Dickens was too harsh towards our homeland--well, let the man speak for himself: 'As I had never in writing fiction had any disposition to soften what is ridiculous or at home, so I then hoped that the good-humoured people of the United States would not be generally disposed to quarrel with me for carrying the same usage abroad.'
And now I want to talk about plot details that will spoil pretty much the whole latter half of the book, so if you haven't read the book, stop now.
Spoilers ahead.
Seriously, I don't even need to warn you on a book this old, but I'm doing it as a courtesy.
I want to talk a bit about Tom Pinch and Mercy Pecksniff.
First off, I saw a complaint earlier that I never really thought of, but couldn't stop thinking of as I reread this novel. Martin Chuzzlewit is not the protagonist. Neither one is. Tom Pinch is the real hero of the novel. Dickens of course knew this, as he chose to end the novel, not describing Martin and Mary's later life with the closing paragraphs, but to talk of Tom Pinch at his organ. I'm also almost certain, there are more pages devoted to Tom Pinch to both the elder and younger Martin Chuzzlewits.
Partly for this reason, but also simply because Tom Pinch deserves more than he got, I find his ending somewhat disappointing. I felt this way the first time I read it. Of course Martin will end up with Mary, but if that's the case, why did Dickens write Pinch as being in love with her? Just to show his selflessness in never making any advancement in that area, but always being a faithful friend to both, suffering in silence and without complaint. If that's so, isn't Tom more worthy of Mary? But of course, Dickens needed to make a redemption arch for Martin, but it seems poor rewards for a character who never needed a redemption, who was always good. He seems to be saying with his words it's a good thing to be selfless and noble, but he says with his characters and his plotline, it's better to be selfish and to see the error of your ways.
Now on to Mercy Chuzzlewit, née Pecksniff. Her storyline is a bit more difficult to unpack. Her marriage to Jonas Chuzzlewit was bound to be tragic, and upon first meeting her, her sister Charity, and her father, I felt like it serves her right. But when we find her after the marriage has taken place and she realizes that her pet name of 'griffin' for Jonas was all too accurate. I don't remember any particular moment when Jonas actually lays a hand on her, but her change in attitude of a cheerful, sprightly thing to a subdued and anxious woman speaks for itself. And while she was admittedly less grating than her sister, she was as haughty and hypocritical as her father could've wished before her marriage. Afterwards, she shows no amount of joy, but she shows sympathy and pity and even unselfish love towards Tom Pinch when she encounters him later and towards the commonly forgotten and often abused old clerk of Jonas's father, Old Chuffey, her only friend in a house where she is belittled and, yes, abused. (I could speak about the abuse of Chuffey and also of his revelations that redeemed the character of Jonas's father somewhat in my eyes, but I feel like I'm growing long-winded.) Dickens shows in the novel through Martin and through Mercy that suffering can bring sympathy with our fellow man, and teach us humanity. And while I agree with that, there was always something I didn't like about Mercy's story. I'm probably reaching for this, but it occurred to me the first time I read it. I don't really like the idea that the redemption of a haughty young woman is to be abused by her husband. I don't think Dickens was trying to say that. Still, there's a part at the end when she's speaking to Martin Chuzzlewit the Elder that she says, 'I wouldn’t recall my trouble such as it is and has been—and it is light in comparison with trials which hundreds of good people suffer every day, I know—I wouldn’t recall it to-morrow, if I could. It has been my friend, for without it no one could have changed me; nothing could have changed me. Do not mistrust me because of these tears; I cannot help them. I am grateful for it, in my soul. Indeed I am!' I know there is a part when Martin says a similar thing regarding his and Mark's illnesses in America, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I also don't like that her happy ending is the live a secluded life as a widow.
I don't know how to solve these problems. Maybe Tom could've ended up with Mercy. Maybe Dickens could've written it so Tom was always secretly in love with Mercy, but she treated him disdain all the time she knew him (as she did already in the novel). After her troubles taught her the value of a good person such as Tom--and such as Chuffey, for that matter--and after Jonas kills himself to escape conviction and execution, a romance could've blossomed between them. It's just a thought.
Well, that's all I should really say. There's so much more to unpack in this novel, but I think I've said all I could say that might not have been said elsewhere.
I feel like his biting criticism of people's flaws is never with sharper teeth than in this novel. He doesn't seem angry, but his strikes against society are each powerful, deep, and true. His attacks against American exceptionalism and hypocrisy are still as strong as they were nearly two hundred years ago, and I can see how they would've been upset about it. But as he points out, Americans are always complaining about the state of the country, but as soon as someone criticizes it--Well, we're the greatest country on the planet and don't you forget. I especially liked Mark Tapley's encounter with a former slave. It was a particular thing of disgust for Dickens, and he comes back to the hypocrisy of a country claiming to be the home of liberty while defending certain human beings being viewed as property many times. He also attacks America's tendency to use liberty as an excuse to bully, which we still see quite a lot today. Another running joke, that I didn't notice the last time I read it, was Americans constant tendency to correct Martin on facts about England, which is funnily enough, still a common trait. But to any Americans taking offence and thinking Dickens was too harsh towards our homeland--well, let the man speak for himself: 'As I had never in writing fiction had any disposition to soften what is ridiculous or at home, so I then hoped that the good-humoured people of the United States would not be generally disposed to quarrel with me for carrying the same usage abroad.'
And now I want to talk about plot details that will spoil pretty much the whole latter half of the book, so if you haven't read the book, stop now.
Spoilers ahead.
Seriously, I don't even need to warn you on a book this old, but I'm doing it as a courtesy.
I want to talk a bit about Tom Pinch and Mercy Pecksniff.
First off, I saw a complaint earlier that I never really thought of, but couldn't stop thinking of as I reread this novel. Martin Chuzzlewit is not the protagonist. Neither one is. Tom Pinch is the real hero of the novel. Dickens of course knew this, as he chose to end the novel, not describing Martin and Mary's later life with the closing paragraphs, but to talk of Tom Pinch at his organ. I'm also almost certain, there are more pages devoted to Tom Pinch to both the elder and younger Martin Chuzzlewits.
Partly for this reason, but also simply because Tom Pinch deserves more than he got, I find his ending somewhat disappointing. I felt this way the first time I read it. Of course Martin will end up with Mary, but if that's the case, why did Dickens write Pinch as being in love with her? Just to show his selflessness in never making any advancement in that area, but always being a faithful friend to both, suffering in silence and without complaint. If that's so, isn't Tom more worthy of Mary? But of course, Dickens needed to make a redemption arch for Martin, but it seems poor rewards for a character who never needed a redemption, who was always good. He seems to be saying with his words it's a good thing to be selfless and noble, but he says with his characters and his plotline, it's better to be selfish and to see the error of your ways.
Now on to Mercy Chuzzlewit, née Pecksniff. Her storyline is a bit more difficult to unpack. Her marriage to Jonas Chuzzlewit was bound to be tragic, and upon first meeting her, her sister Charity, and her father, I felt like it serves her right. But when we find her after the marriage has taken place and she realizes that her pet name of 'griffin' for Jonas was all too accurate. I don't remember any particular moment when Jonas actually lays a hand on her, but her change in attitude of a cheerful, sprightly thing to a subdued and anxious woman speaks for itself. And while she was admittedly less grating than her sister, she was as haughty and hypocritical as her father could've wished before her marriage. Afterwards, she shows no amount of joy, but she shows sympathy and pity and even unselfish love towards Tom Pinch when she encounters him later and towards the commonly forgotten and often abused old clerk of Jonas's father, Old Chuffey, her only friend in a house where she is belittled and, yes, abused. (I could speak about the abuse of Chuffey and also of his revelations that redeemed the character of Jonas's father somewhat in my eyes, but I feel like I'm growing long-winded.) Dickens shows in the novel through Martin and through Mercy that suffering can bring sympathy with our fellow man, and teach us humanity. And while I agree with that, there was always something I didn't like about Mercy's story. I'm probably reaching for this, but it occurred to me the first time I read it. I don't really like the idea that the redemption of a haughty young woman is to be abused by her husband. I don't think Dickens was trying to say that. Still, there's a part at the end when she's speaking to Martin Chuzzlewit the Elder that she says, 'I wouldn’t recall my trouble such as it is and has been—and it is light in comparison with trials which hundreds of good people suffer every day, I know—I wouldn’t recall it to-morrow, if I could. It has been my friend, for without it no one could have changed me; nothing could have changed me. Do not mistrust me because of these tears; I cannot help them. I am grateful for it, in my soul. Indeed I am!' I know there is a part when Martin says a similar thing regarding his and Mark's illnesses in America, but it just doesn't sit well with me. I also don't like that her happy ending is the live a secluded life as a widow.
I don't know how to solve these problems. Maybe Tom could've ended up with Mercy. Maybe Dickens could've written it so Tom was always secretly in love with Mercy, but she treated him disdain all the time she knew him (as she did already in the novel). After her troubles taught her the value of a good person such as Tom--and such as Chuffey, for that matter--and after Jonas kills himself to escape conviction and execution, a romance could've blossomed between them. It's just a thought.
Well, that's all I should really say. There's so much more to unpack in this novel, but I think I've said all I could say that might not have been said elsewhere.
laefe's review against another edition
5.0
Dickens aveva la capacità, con le sue storie e con i suoi personaggi, di far entrare il lettore dentro le sue pagine, e Martin Chuzzlewit non fa eccezione: l'incantesimo è più potente che mai! Sfido chiunque a non empatizzare sin da subito con il povero Tom Pinch dal cuore d'oro, o a non considerare sin da subito nella cerchia degli amici più stretti l'allegro (fin troppo!) Mark Tapley!
Insomma, l'ennesimo capolavoro di Dickens, in un'ottima edizione Adelphi impreziosita dalle bellissime illustrazioni di Phiz.
Insomma, l'ennesimo capolavoro di Dickens, in un'ottima edizione Adelphi impreziosita dalle bellissime illustrazioni di Phiz.
jplassman's review against another edition
3.0
Slow start and the section where young Martin and Mark Tapley travel to America is excruciatingly dull. It picks up at the end, though, and there are moments of brilliance in even the slowest parts.
musicdeepdive's review against another edition
4.25
A strong return to form for Dickens after his last two serials, even if the U.S. detour serves laughs more than it does actual story development. The plotting and subsequent undoing of said plots is quite intricate and Tom Pinch is a lovely character. Not quite a top-flight Dickens novel but a recommended read all the same.
mrswythe89's review against another edition
4.0
Reread. Martin Chuzzlewit is one of my favourite Dickenses; I love (and invariably start rereading at) the part where Martin falls ill in an American swamp and becomes a better person. Also I adore Mark Tapley.
Things I noticed about the book that I hadn't noticed before:
1. Gosh, that's a lot of vitriol against America. I am touched by Dickens's postscript, in which he takes pains to emphasise how great Americans were on his second trip there, and which he says "so long as my descendants have any legal right in my books, I shall cause to be republished, as an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine in which I have referred to America", as "an act of plain justice and honour". Go Dickens.
2. The food! The food! Dickens loves describing food. I get so hungry reading him, even though it is vile British food that I am not a big fan of.
I wonder why the sexism in Dickens doesn't bother me as much as it does in Heinlein. More obvious objectification of women in Heinlein? Or is it just that I was younger and more happy to ignore these things when I first started reading Dickens?
Things I noticed about the book that I hadn't noticed before:
1. Gosh, that's a lot of vitriol against America. I am touched by Dickens's postscript, in which he takes pains to emphasise how great Americans were on his second trip there, and which he says "so long as my descendants have any legal right in my books, I shall cause to be republished, as an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine in which I have referred to America", as "an act of plain justice and honour". Go Dickens.
2. The food! The food! Dickens loves describing food. I get so hungry reading him, even though it is vile British food that I am not a big fan of.
I wonder why the sexism in Dickens doesn't bother me as much as it does in Heinlein. More obvious objectification of women in Heinlein? Or is it just that I was younger and more happy to ignore these things when I first started reading Dickens?
austenheroineinprogress's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jenn756's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a big fan of Dickens. I love the fact you can immerse yourself in his world - the fantastic range of characters, the satisfying descriptions. I'm unusual insofar as I love a good description, one that's so vivid you can smell the manure on a city street or shiver alongside the driver perched on a carriage travelling on a country road. Dickens does this better than anyone.
Having said all that I don't think it's one of his best. All Dickens have rambling plot lines and insipid heroines, but you tend to forgive him for that, but maybe this one was even more rambling than normal, and `little Ruth' was even more irritating a heroine (though she didn't turn up until the second half of the book, true.)
It has a foray into the US and Dickens is scathing here in his satire. I think he hoped that in the New World you would leave behind all the inequalities and cruelties of the old one, but you don't of course - in fact with slavery it was even worse, if that were possible. He portrays a brutal aggressive country - though he did revise his opinions in a later visit apparently. The US episode doesn't fit in very easily with the rest of the plot.
There's some brilliant characters - Mrs Gamp, the oily Mr Pecksniff, Jonas Chuzzlewit and his father, in fact as normal the better characters have minor roles and the major characters are somewhat dull. Dickens hints (or at least doesn't go into brutal detail) of the misery of domestic violence, and how a Victorian woman was trapped once her marriage vows were made.
It still has a joyousness however that characterised his earlier novels. The social commentary is not as sharp, and the blistering attacks on poverty are not there yet, but it is still more of a satire than a light comedy.
Having said all that I don't think it's one of his best. All Dickens have rambling plot lines and insipid heroines, but you tend to forgive him for that, but maybe this one was even more rambling than normal, and `little Ruth' was even more irritating a heroine (though she didn't turn up until the second half of the book, true.)
It has a foray into the US and Dickens is scathing here in his satire. I think he hoped that in the New World you would leave behind all the inequalities and cruelties of the old one, but you don't of course - in fact with slavery it was even worse, if that were possible. He portrays a brutal aggressive country - though he did revise his opinions in a later visit apparently. The US episode doesn't fit in very easily with the rest of the plot.
There's some brilliant characters - Mrs Gamp, the oily Mr Pecksniff, Jonas Chuzzlewit and his father, in fact as normal the better characters have minor roles and the major characters are somewhat dull. Dickens hints (or at least doesn't go into brutal detail) of the misery of domestic violence, and how a Victorian woman was trapped once her marriage vows were made.
It still has a joyousness however that characterised his earlier novels. The social commentary is not as sharp, and the blistering attacks on poverty are not there yet, but it is still more of a satire than a light comedy.
gjmaupin's review against another edition
4.0
It took forever (& I read others in the meantime), but there's something serialized about it that makes it better to stretch out over time. Not my favorite, and kind of melancholy, but the fellow could write a yarn.
lindseysparks's review against another edition
2.0
I have now read every Dickens novel! Wish I had picked a better one to end on. This just didn't hold my interest, even with the bits in America.
bryce_is_a_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
Arguably the greatest comic drunk scene of all time.