3.68 AVERAGE


Dickens, el maravilloso Dickens; con tan sólo 24 años describió la vida como ningún centenario con todo su camino recorrido podría hacerlo.
funny lighthearted slow-paced

beagley's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH

Reading The Pickwick Papers, I had in mind a re-write. Rewrite the whole damn thing, scene by scene, with a different sense of purpose... or any sense of purpose at all.

Yes, the writing shows great promise, yes you can feel the Dickensian Dickensishness coming together. It feels good! There's that genius we know and love! He defines situations and attitudes that are relatable to a 40-year old technical writer living in 2016... astonishing.

But there's a problem with Pickwick Papers—it has no unifying purpose or theme, and you don't particularly care about the fate of the characters either. With neither of those pieces in place, The Pickwick Papers is a series of strung together farcical adventures. Some work, some don't. You don’t get to the end of one of these adventures and feel edified. But that’s fine, right? It’s Jeeves and Wooster? Not quite.

The Pickwick Papers is one of the greatest authors of all time getting his first big break and trying out a bunch of different things, doing them for the first time, more or less successfully.

When viewed in the scope of his later work, bits like the wandering actor’s bedside death scene seem a bit vacuous, pointless. Why is that there? What’s it for? Gravitas? To fill pages? Who knows? Dickens felt like writing it, so he fit it into his ongoing paid job, in the frame of the Pickwick ramble. The book has one of these every three or four chapters... the preacher tells at Wurdle’s house. Sure, a fine little morality tale? But what is it for? To lend context to Jingle’s betrayal? Eh. Not really. It doesn’t fit. It doesn’t have to fit.

And then Dickens tries a satire of politics, visiting a town in the midst of an election. It feels spot on, clever, pointed, etc. But what's it for? I don't particularly love or need any of the characters in this book to succeed or fail, and the overriding theme is completely new and unrelated to what came before, so why would I care about the outcome, or the victories or defeats of the folks involved? I wouldn't.

The Pickwick Papers was a phenomenon in its time... it is much better then Cats, but I'm not going to read it over and over. If people were entertained (they were), then Dickens was successful (he was). But I don't need to read it to the end.

I only read the first half, but I did get to see Sam Weller in action. Yes, Sam Weller is wonderful whenever he speaks. Maybe I should have finished just to read all the Weller bits.

Did this as an audiobook which I would recommend. I don’t always know exactly what as happening but was very funny!
challenging funny lighthearted slow-paced

 Took me six years and a few attempts before I finally was able to keep reading this and not put it down. Dickens' first effort, it's a bit rough in places, but all of the elements of his later great works are there -- inventive language, plenty of unforgettable characters, laugh-out-loud humor, and biting social commentary. And of course considerable length. Although it occasionally dragged, overall it was an enjoyable romp. 

I held off on reading this for years and years, thinking it was going to be boring and dry...which was absurd. Almost as absurd as every single occurrence in this book. I love you Dickens...you make me giggle.

I love Dickens, but this wasn't a favorite. I found it fairly tedious.
adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fantastic