You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
sad
slow-paced
So very long. I'm sorry--this was bout an old curiosity shop? And it started with a first-person narrator and then suddenly got handed off to a third-person narrator? And why, exactly, was I to care very much about Nell or her grandfather?
I didn't hate this, and it served to pass the time (six weeks!), but really I don't think I would have stuck with it if I didn't want to read everything Dickens had written.
I didn't hate this, and it served to pass the time (six weeks!), but really I don't think I would have stuck with it if I didn't want to read everything Dickens had written.
The plot of this book was not as cohesive as some of the other Dickens novels I have read. The characters and events seem relatively loosely connected, and the ending was pretty tragic. Not sure I would really recommend it, but it was ok.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just took me seven years to read! haha - I like Dickens in film form, but his writing leaves something to be desired, in my way of thinking. Detailed descriptions go on for pages and I wonder why I should even care about most of the characters. Yes, they play into the story, but at least in this book there was little exciting or interesting about the story in the way it was laid out. But I didn't want to leave it unfinished! However, sometimes it was fun to read aloud with a British accent.
The plot is a little thin, but the characters are all so delightful that it hardly matters.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I promised myself that I would read at least 50 pages before giving up. I made it to 51, which covers the first six chapters. The first three are almost unreadable. They are narrated by a character who is intrigued by what he sees but refuses to ask any pertinent questions and is the kind of infuriating old timey character who can tell who is good and can be trusted and who is bad and will never be redeemed simply by glancing at their face. In these chapters, it is wall-to-wall waffle with almost no discernible plot. Then Dickens gets tired of this and decides to write the rest of the book in third person. I realise this change came about because the work was originally serialised, but couldn't he have rewritten it for when it was published in novel form? So the story greatly improves when it moves into third person; there's much less waffle and events and characters seem to wake up a little bit. However, we spend these three chapters in the company of Mr Quilp who is so ridiculously grotesque and evil that I really couldn't bear to read more about him. I hoped perhaps the book might end with Mrs Quilp murdering everyone. So, loath to continue with a 600-page story that started off as boring and then headed into unpleasant if I had no idea if my efforts would be rewarded, I took a quick peruse of Wikipedia. Turns out that the plot and characters seem to continue to suffer from 'Dickens changes his mind as he goes along serialisation' and damn, does it not have a satisfactory ending, so, um, pass.
Amazing
A fantastic tale. The title is quite misgiving. It's a great tale of Quilp, the venomous dwarf, whose devious intentions create for a great yarn, and even better villain. Dickens is at his humorous and poetic best.
A fantastic tale. The title is quite misgiving. It's a great tale of Quilp, the venomous dwarf, whose devious intentions create for a great yarn, and even better villain. Dickens is at his humorous and poetic best.