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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
The Pickwick Papers was not written to be a novel, does not aspire to be a novel, and cannot be read as a novel. It is also not an anthology, a travelogue, or a fix-up—though it has elements of each. No, what it most resembles is a TV show.
Seriously. There’s even a Christmas special.
What I mean by this is that, instead of a plot, The Pickwick Papers has a series of episodes, which cover almost as many genres as there are pages. The main thread—the adventures of Mr. Pickwick and company through the English countryside—is a sort of pastoral comedy, but Dickens, drawing from Don Quixote and The Canterbury Tales, interpolates it incessantly with ghost stories, penny dreadfuls, swashbuckling yarns, contes cruels, and even a smattering of poetry.
This is not because the book is meandering or tangential. It is simply that, without an overarching narrative, there is no more reason for Dickens not to divagate from the Pickwickians than there is for him to work his pen elsewhere, for he abandons nothing in doing so. What we gain in return is a work that is highly funny (if not consistently so), beautifully written (if not quite up to Dickens’ best), and sometimes moving (if not for the reasons that it should be).
Still, no matter how witty and inventive it may be, The Pickwick Papers has nothing to bundle itself together. Unlike Don Quixote, which has unifying themes and recurring tropes, or The Canterbury Tales, which has a framing device and a panoramic perspective, the episodes of The Pickwick Papers have nothing in common, save for various running jokes and subplots.
But this is, after all, merely a debut. One of the greatest writers of the century had a long way to go before his oeuvre would evolve into the label of its own, “Dickensian,” and was only just beginning to cultivate its unmistakable elements—polluted cityscapes and pleasant countryside, corrupt lawyers and honest tradesmen, florid eloquence and glottal Cockney.
The Pickwick Papers, as Dickens in embryo, has all the shortcomings of prenatal development. Yet it is also Dickens in a wildly different form than anything else he would come to write, and that alone makes it worthy to imbibe.
Seriously. There’s even a Christmas special.
What I mean by this is that, instead of a plot, The Pickwick Papers has a series of episodes, which cover almost as many genres as there are pages. The main thread—the adventures of Mr. Pickwick and company through the English countryside—is a sort of pastoral comedy, but Dickens, drawing from Don Quixote and The Canterbury Tales, interpolates it incessantly with ghost stories, penny dreadfuls, swashbuckling yarns, contes cruels, and even a smattering of poetry.
This is not because the book is meandering or tangential. It is simply that, without an overarching narrative, there is no more reason for Dickens not to divagate from the Pickwickians than there is for him to work his pen elsewhere, for he abandons nothing in doing so. What we gain in return is a work that is highly funny (if not consistently so), beautifully written (if not quite up to Dickens’ best), and sometimes moving (if not for the reasons that it should be).
Still, no matter how witty and inventive it may be, The Pickwick Papers has nothing to bundle itself together. Unlike Don Quixote, which has unifying themes and recurring tropes, or The Canterbury Tales, which has a framing device and a panoramic perspective, the episodes of The Pickwick Papers have nothing in common, save for various running jokes and subplots.
But this is, after all, merely a debut. One of the greatest writers of the century had a long way to go before his oeuvre would evolve into the label of its own, “Dickensian,” and was only just beginning to cultivate its unmistakable elements—polluted cityscapes and pleasant countryside, corrupt lawyers and honest tradesmen, florid eloquence and glottal Cockney.
The Pickwick Papers, as Dickens in embryo, has all the shortcomings of prenatal development. Yet it is also Dickens in a wildly different form than anything else he would come to write, and that alone makes it worthy to imbibe.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There is no genius like that of Charles Dickens. He was that beam of sunlight amongst the gray shadows of this world that he wrote about in this book. He may be famous for his opening lines, but to me, the two things that Dickens most excelled at were his characters and the second half of his books. Which may sound strange, but in my opinion, while the first half of any of his books is really good reading, the second half is, well, genius. The way he intricately wove all of these seemingly disparate storylines together and brought them all to a completely satisfactory ending - wrapping up every characters' journey with a thoroughness that leaves no lingering questions in the reader's mind - it's pure magic. I'm so glad that he was cherished so highly for his gifts while he was still alive - it would have been sad to me to think that he spent his life not knowing how much joy he brought to the lives of others, or how powerfully his words served to show us just what good humanity can do, if only we are filled with a little charity and love for our fellow man.
3,5. Por fin lo terminé!! En general ha sido una lectura agradable pero en mi opinión tiene un ritmo irregular. Algunos capítulos me han resultado muy divertidos y otros me han aburrido, lo cual sumado a que lo he leído bastante espaciado en el tiempo hace que la nota baje.
No es un mal libro, al contrario, pero seguramente se disfrute mucho más leyéndolo de seguido.
No es un mal libro, al contrario, pero seguramente se disfrute mucho más leyéndolo de seguido.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-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
Great Victorian serial nonsense. Warms the heart and makes one laugh, but points off for focusing on the plights of rich white men.
The Pickwick Papers is a long, rambling tale of comic adventures. While there is no particular plot to speak of, Dickens presents a bevy of richly drawn characters, and emphasizes the best qualities of all of them, without neglecting the human tendency to go astray at times.
Given that it was originally published as a monthly serial, there is some inevitable padding (particularly in the "Introduced Stories") that could easily have been dropped to shorten the long text, but that's a small quibble in the larger scope of a narrative that epitomizes the clever and the droll. The author's use of the mock solemn voice is wonderful and often quite amusing, and keeps the story moving forward at a brisk pace.
Perhaps most interesting is the transformation of Pickwick himself over the course of these pages. At the book's opening, this gentleman is something of an innocent and a figure of fun, but by the end of the tale, he has become the personification of gentility and generosity. Dickens handles the evolution of this characterization well, and uses it to deliver a book that is ultimately much more than comic.
Given that it was originally published as a monthly serial, there is some inevitable padding (particularly in the "Introduced Stories") that could easily have been dropped to shorten the long text, but that's a small quibble in the larger scope of a narrative that epitomizes the clever and the droll. The author's use of the mock solemn voice is wonderful and often quite amusing, and keeps the story moving forward at a brisk pace.
Perhaps most interesting is the transformation of Pickwick himself over the course of these pages. At the book's opening, this gentleman is something of an innocent and a figure of fun, but by the end of the tale, he has become the personification of gentility and generosity. Dickens handles the evolution of this characterization well, and uses it to deliver a book that is ultimately much more than comic.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No