Reviews

A Child of the Jago by Arthur Morrison

jodielk93's review against another edition

A lot better than I thought it would be, with vivid descriptions and a real, gritty world created. You really do invest yourself in these characters, well, you invest yourself in Dicky Perrott, and become like a member of the Jago clan. The ending, however, whilst probably fitting as far as where the book could have gone, leaves the reader feeling rather deflated and unsatisfied.

k_gregz's review against another edition

3.0

Just your usual realist novel that continually likens the poor to rats and exploitatively depicts children's deaths.

jotterthoughts's review

4.0

I thought this book was pretty interesting. I mean, I guessed from the get-go that everything was going to end in absolute tragedy.

They introduced a sickly young child early and I was like, oh, well, she's going to die. And I truthfully assumed that every other member of the family would die also.

It just feels like one of those books. I suppose, if you wanted to squint, you could suggest this is a gritty retelling of any novel that was written in the early Victorian period which seems to look for innate goodness in women and children. It is, however, a similar story to illustrator George Cruikshank's 'The Bottle' -- only about 150 pages longer.

That is to say, things go from bad to worse until everyone is dead or in prison. Some of them are dead AND in prison.

So, that being said, there was still plenty of stuff that I really wasn't expecting. Primarily there's its very lurid depiction of violence and hopelessness in one of London's worst slum. There's no delightful Dickens-esque japes and gambols. There's no escape for Dicky, the main character, whose only hope of rising above a life of poverty

is destroyed by a jealous fellow slum dweller (if we must use Oliver Twist as a comparison, this is our Fagin) who seems bitter to lose one of the children who he's got on his roster of thieves.

It's a very bleak novel, as the story wears on into more and more hopelessness.

Ultimately, if I had to sum this up I'd say it's a good read for anyone who's a fan of Victorian literature. Imagine Oliver Twist, but every single character is Bill Sikes.

jodielk93's review

A lot better than I thought it would be, with vivid descriptions and a real, gritty world created. You really do invest yourself in these characters, well, you invest yourself in Dicky Perrott, and become like a member of the Jago clan. The ending, however, whilst probably fitting as far as where the book could have gone, leaves the reader feeling rather deflated and unsatisfied.