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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast. Some men, like bats or owls, have better eyes for the darkness than for the light. We, who have no such optical powers, are better pleased to take our last parting look at the visionary companions of many solitary hours, when the brief sunshine of the world is blazing full upon them."
And so ends the last Dickens' novel that I will read for the first time.
He wrote it when he was twenty four.
And so ends the last Dickens' novel that I will read for the first time.
He wrote it when he was twenty four.
I've been reading the Pickwick Papers as part of a project - reading in installments as they would have appeared when the story was first published. This has taken just short of two years, and while it has been an interesting experience, I'm not sure this was the best way to read this novel. Rather than a continuous story, the Pickwick Papers is more of a series of vignettes, and this meant that there were times when I found it really hard to keep up momentum with the monthly breaks. While funny and entertaining, this novel really isn't as compelling as Dickens' later works, nor are the characters so well crafted. Perhaps it is easier to enjoy the book read in one go.
What an immense delight to read, especially for the sheer joy of storytelling it exudes throughout. A novel *and* a ragbag of entertaining and unrelated stories at the same time. Not a perfectly balanced and well-polished masterpiece but a novel that reads very much like it was written – as it was – on the fly, with an exhilarating sense of improvisation as it changes shape and direction in your hands.
This is all the better seen and experienced in this excellent Penguin edition, which takes the text of the first serial publication as its basis rather than any of the later editions where Dickens cleaned up some of the anarchic energy and exuberance that so crucial to the book’s unlikely but utterly charming success – as excellently explained in Mark Wormald informative and inspiring introduction. A really exemplary edition of a delightful novel, in my view.
This is all the better seen and experienced in this excellent Penguin edition, which takes the text of the first serial publication as its basis rather than any of the later editions where Dickens cleaned up some of the anarchic energy and exuberance that so crucial to the book’s unlikely but utterly charming success – as excellently explained in Mark Wormald informative and inspiring introduction. A really exemplary edition of a delightful novel, in my view.
I always enjoy Dickens and this did not disappoint. Originally published as a newspaper series so you can read a chapter or 2, read something else, and come back to read more. Delightful characters, funny and sad at different times. One chapter included a 'story' very much like the Christmas Carol! A book I will remember fondly and pick up again sometime.
Not my favorite Dickens, but not the worst either. Totally not meant to be taken in all at once.
Dickens' first major work, and the pacing is a bit odd for a modern reader unused to serialized fiction--events rather jump forward in leaps and sometimes it's clear Dickens himself has no idea where this is all going. Early chapters have a weird tendency to be full of jollity and sly humor and then out of nowhere to launch into a character narrating a Tragic Tale of Social Woes. When Mr. Pickwick's sturdy loyal manservant Sam Weller arrives on the scene things start to flow more naturally, and when Dickens hits on the idea of throwing Mr. Pickwick into debtor's prison he finally figures out that showing your characters undergoing woes is much more effective than having characters narrate sentimental sob stories. Filled with fun characters--Mr. Pickwick and Sam are earnest and sweet and adorable, his friends are hapless, and the wonderfully-named charlatans and swindlers they run into are delightful--gentle satire and hilarious comedic moments.
5/5 stars
10/10 recommended
The funniest book in 1836 is still the funniest book in 2019. Interlaced with anecdotes of various degree of seriousness and humour the main storyline brings to life the amusing adventures of the Pickwick Club. The club is made up of gentlemen Samuel Pickwick, Nathaniel Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass and Tracy Tupman. The star of the novel is undoubtedly Mr. Pickwick, but the sharp-witted Sam and the cunning Jingle steal the spotlight in a major part of the novel. Characters are skillfully crafted to exhibit their personas that come out in amusing ways. Their complex personalities are spilled in their dialogues. This alloy of complexity and humour is what makes the characters so appealing.
The 800-page novel is interlaced with anecdotes dealing with adventure, ghosts, madness, death and life. These anecdotes gives insight into the contextual story of the moment; often one can get a taste of the brilliance of Dickens in weaving plots that we would love so much in his future novels. This depth in plot is what yields an important, focal outcome. Tragedy mixes with comedy to produce divinity. Long after you’ve turned over the last page you’ll reminisce about the Pickwick Club and its shenanigans.
10/10 recommended
The funniest book in 1836 is still the funniest book in 2019. Interlaced with anecdotes of various degree of seriousness and humour the main storyline brings to life the amusing adventures of the Pickwick Club. The club is made up of gentlemen Samuel Pickwick, Nathaniel Winkle, Augustus Snodgrass and Tracy Tupman. The star of the novel is undoubtedly Mr. Pickwick, but the sharp-witted Sam and the cunning Jingle steal the spotlight in a major part of the novel. Characters are skillfully crafted to exhibit their personas that come out in amusing ways. Their complex personalities are spilled in their dialogues. This alloy of complexity and humour is what makes the characters so appealing.
The 800-page novel is interlaced with anecdotes dealing with adventure, ghosts, madness, death and life. These anecdotes gives insight into the contextual story of the moment; often one can get a taste of the brilliance of Dickens in weaving plots that we would love so much in his future novels. This depth in plot is what yields an important, focal outcome. Tragedy mixes with comedy to produce divinity. Long after you’ve turned over the last page you’ll reminisce about the Pickwick Club and its shenanigans.
As someone who loves the classics, I really struggle with Dickens. I know I should adore his work but I just can't. They are overlong, and there is a reason for that, but the length tends to take away from the story, at least for me.
I was hoping for something great with this lesser-known Dickens novel. But the book is slow and plodding and even the intermittent humour, which is absolutely lovely, can't keep me interested in the miasma of characters and minor plots.
I was hoping for something great with this lesser-known Dickens novel. But the book is slow and plodding and even the intermittent humour, which is absolutely lovely, can't keep me interested in the miasma of characters and minor plots.
