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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have started this book many times over the years (I don't know exactly how long it's been on my TBR, but I do remember asking for and receiving it for my birthday 14 years ago, so at least that long), but never got very far. But now having finished it, I think it was because it just wasn't the right time and now really was.
This is my 5th Dickens novel and while I have complained of his verboseness in some of his other works, this is not one of them (which can be surprising with its hefty length). This book tells and long, but exciting tale of David's whole life.
Basically, I've heard this book talked up for over a decade, and it deserves all the praise it has received. I just loved it. Also 10/10 would recommend the audiobook read by Richard Armitage--with just how long the book is, his reading and voices for the characters really helped keep me invested in the lives of David Copperfield and all the people around him.
This is my 5th Dickens novel and while I have complained of his verboseness in some of his other works, this is not one of them (which can be surprising with its hefty length). This book tells and long, but exciting tale of David's whole life.
Basically, I've heard this book talked up for over a decade, and it deserves all the praise it has received. I just loved it. Also 10/10 would recommend the audiobook read by Richard Armitage--with just how long the book is, his reading and voices for the characters really helped keep me invested in the lives of David Copperfield and all the people around him.
Why did it take me so long to read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens? David Copperfield shares his life story from birth on as he recounts his experiences.
The cast of characters are so well thought out and depicted. There are characters you love, some you like, some you aren’t supposed to like, some you love to hate, and then there are Uriah Heep and his mother and Mr. Murdstone and his sister. There are no words for the emotions they bring out in you as you read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The characters are so well-developed that I felt like they were friends. The atmosphere is so well written, from the descriptions of the English countryside, the seaside, and inside the city itself. It was like I was there with them.
The friendships, the romance, and the kindness offset by the conniving and evil of the antagonists along with those that have their hearts in the right place but just take advantage of everyone around them.
I wouldn’t say there is a “plot” so to speak as it is written as an autobiography of the fictional character, so the plot would be him living his life.
4.5 stars
The cast of characters are so well thought out and depicted. There are characters you love, some you like, some you aren’t supposed to like, some you love to hate, and then there are Uriah Heep and his mother and Mr. Murdstone and his sister. There are no words for the emotions they bring out in you as you read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The characters are so well-developed that I felt like they were friends. The atmosphere is so well written, from the descriptions of the English countryside, the seaside, and inside the city itself. It was like I was there with them.
The friendships, the romance, and the kindness offset by the conniving and evil of the antagonists along with those that have their hearts in the right place but just take advantage of everyone around them.
I wouldn’t say there is a “plot” so to speak as it is written as an autobiography of the fictional character, so the plot would be him living his life.
4.5 stars
I wrote a whole review and Goodreads, in its infinite bugginess, crashed and ate it like Gips gnawing on a ruffled sleeve.
I initially meant to read this as a lark, a primer to Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, but after reading a few pages I realized that it’s for good reason this is considered Dickens’s masterpiece. I loved every minute of it, its Victorian grandiosity and pomposity. I loved the characters, now after over 150 years understood to be the flattest of archetypes, written by Dickens’ pen as memorable, spirited heroes and villains I won’t forget anytime soon.
What surprised me more than the story and characters was how political this book is. Dickens clearly desired to inveigle his readers to take a position, one way or another, in the more controversial societal norms of his time, from the institutions of marriage to education to the law to prisons, there was nothing, through Copperfield’s naive narrative, he wasn’t pushing to reform in some way. That he was able to deftly maneuver between hifalutin dialogue, swift plotting, and political satire, is a testament to Dickens’s brilliance.
I initially meant to read this as a lark, a primer to Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, but after reading a few pages I realized that it’s for good reason this is considered Dickens’s masterpiece. I loved every minute of it, its Victorian grandiosity and pomposity. I loved the characters, now after over 150 years understood to be the flattest of archetypes, written by Dickens’ pen as memorable, spirited heroes and villains I won’t forget anytime soon.
What surprised me more than the story and characters was how political this book is. Dickens clearly desired to inveigle his readers to take a position, one way or another, in the more controversial societal norms of his time, from the institutions of marriage to education to the law to prisons, there was nothing, through Copperfield’s naive narrative, he wasn’t pushing to reform in some way. That he was able to deftly maneuver between hifalutin dialogue, swift plotting, and political satire, is a testament to Dickens’s brilliance.
I had started this book before, but I finally started AND finished it. It was well worth the effort.
I read this book slowly over many months to savor the language and the delightful characterizations. Although Dickens broaches many serious issues, from child labor to byzantine government systems to crushing loss, he intersperses many humorous moments throughout. I felt such affection for David and his loved ones - hard to pick my favorite, but it's probably Aunt Betsy - that after nearly 900 pages, I wanted more!
Listen - I don’t mean to be hard on this book, but it’s a 34 hour audio book with no plot. I am clearly not a big lover of completely character driven novels, so this was just not for me. Hoping I feel differently about Demon Copperhead, which is next up.
“I had considered how the things that never happen, are often as much realities to us, in their effects, as those that are accomplished.”