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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
charles dickens isn’t for me. maybe i’ll finish it in the future
This is a book that I made a mistake in listening to it as an audiobook. I plan on going back and reading it as a physical book at some point in the future. From what I got from the book, I think I will like it.
Reading Dickens' works has always reminded me of committing to all existing seasons of a long-running television show. This has never been more true than in the Pickwick Papers, his first major work collected into novel form.
Do not sit down to read this as you would a regular novel. This is episodic writing and it is long. But if you view each chapter as that week's installment, as the original audience did, it becomes a much more manageable read.
As television shows can attest to, having such a long-running story brings its unique challenges. At times, the plot lags. New episodes seem unnecessary and characters return that you have a hard time remembering from their original appearance.
And yet, Mr. Pickwick is such a lovely creation and the cast of characters surrounding him so entertaining, on the whole, that this is a lovely read. As the book closes and everyone settles into new forms of livelihood, mostly thanks to Pickwick's generosity, I nearly shed a tear. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, especially Mr. Pickwick himself, even though I had been anticipating the end of the book for quite some chapters.
Though I will never meet Mr. Pickwick in real life, I feel honored to have known him through the pen of Dickens and am ever grateful and edified for the experience.
Do not sit down to read this as you would a regular novel. This is episodic writing and it is long. But if you view each chapter as that week's installment, as the original audience did, it becomes a much more manageable read.
As television shows can attest to, having such a long-running story brings its unique challenges. At times, the plot lags. New episodes seem unnecessary and characters return that you have a hard time remembering from their original appearance.
And yet, Mr. Pickwick is such a lovely creation and the cast of characters surrounding him so entertaining, on the whole, that this is a lovely read. As the book closes and everyone settles into new forms of livelihood, mostly thanks to Pickwick's generosity, I nearly shed a tear. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, especially Mr. Pickwick himself, even though I had been anticipating the end of the book for quite some chapters.
Though I will never meet Mr. Pickwick in real life, I feel honored to have known him through the pen of Dickens and am ever grateful and edified for the experience.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Who needs a plot when you have wit?! This is less a novel more a series of continued vignettes disguised as a narrative, and I really liked it. It's essentially "Three Men in a Boat" but 950 pages long.
Tom gazed at the chair; and, suddenly as he looked at it, a most extraordinary change seemed to come over it. The carving of the back gradually assumed the lineaments and expression of an old shrivelled human face; the damask cushion became an antique, flapped waistcoat; the round knobs grew into a couple of feet, encased in red cloth slippers; and the old chair looked like a very ugly old man, of the previous century, with his arms a-kimbo. Tom sat up in bed, and rubbed his eyes to dispel the illusion. No. The chair was an ugly old gentleman; and what was more, he was winking at Tom Smart. [...]
'"What the devil are you winking at me for?"
'"Because I like it, Tom Smart," said the chair; or the old gentleman, whichever you like to call him. He stopped winking though, when Tom spoke, and began grinning like a superannuated monkey.
'"What the devil are you winking at me for?"
'"Because I like it, Tom Smart," said the chair; or the old gentleman, whichever you like to call him. He stopped winking though, when Tom spoke, and began grinning like a superannuated monkey.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I adored this book!
It's my first foray into reading Charles Dickens and I plan on reading all his novels this year.
I feel like The Pickwick Papers was the perfect introduction.
This review is going to mostly be a brain dump of my feelings and reactions to the book.
Firstly - things I found less appealing:
To begin with I found the narrative style - as if relating the contents of personal papers - a little hard to engage with. It felt like there was a distance between the reader and the characters and sometimes the tone of the early narration came across as somewhat cynical and as if they were gently making a fool of Mr Pickwick and friends. As the book progressed I feel the narrator's voice withdrew into the background somewhat and I felt more directly connected to Mr Pickwick and co.
Also the interjected stories were not that interesting to me. I enjoyed them individually and they helped vary the tone of the book and give it some texture but I feel like the book would still hold it's own without them.
Secondly - things I loved:
I really enjoyed Dickens' descriptions of places and people. When describing the Inns in London or Dingley Dell, I could build a comprehensive picture in my mind and I appreciated this.
Dickens is fabulous at naming people! Particular favourites were Lady Snuphanuph and Lord Mutanhead, Count Smorltork etc - just wonderful and evocative of their person!
As the book progressed I felt that the portrayal of all the relationships deepened. Whereas at the beginning Pickwick and co felt like they were being portrayed in a humourous and superficial way, I felt like as the book went on it emerged that there was true regard and friendship between the Pickwickians and particularly between Sam and Mr P. Their relationship was the star of the book for me.
I appreciated the satirising of politics and the processes of the legal system, as well as the portrayal of the debtors prison and the fates of those therein.
Overall to me it was the theme of friendship that stuck out.
"He derived at that moment, more pride and luxury of feeling from the disinterested attachment of his humble friends, than ten thousand protestations from the greatest men living could have awakened in his heart."
So I was delighted with this book and look forward to more Dickens in my life!
It's my first foray into reading Charles Dickens and I plan on reading all his novels this year.
I feel like The Pickwick Papers was the perfect introduction.
This review is going to mostly be a brain dump of my feelings and reactions to the book.
Firstly - things I found less appealing:
To begin with I found the narrative style - as if relating the contents of personal papers - a little hard to engage with. It felt like there was a distance between the reader and the characters and sometimes the tone of the early narration came across as somewhat cynical and as if they were gently making a fool of Mr Pickwick and friends. As the book progressed I feel the narrator's voice withdrew into the background somewhat and I felt more directly connected to Mr Pickwick and co.
Also the interjected stories were not that interesting to me. I enjoyed them individually and they helped vary the tone of the book and give it some texture but I feel like the book would still hold it's own without them.
Secondly - things I loved:
I really enjoyed Dickens' descriptions of places and people. When describing the Inns in London or Dingley Dell, I could build a comprehensive picture in my mind and I appreciated this.
Dickens is fabulous at naming people! Particular favourites were Lady Snuphanuph and Lord Mutanhead, Count Smorltork etc - just wonderful and evocative of their person!
As the book progressed I felt that the portrayal of all the relationships deepened. Whereas at the beginning Pickwick and co felt like they were being portrayed in a humourous and superficial way, I felt like as the book went on it emerged that there was true regard and friendship between the Pickwickians and particularly between Sam and Mr P. Their relationship was the star of the book for me.
I appreciated the satirising of politics and the processes of the legal system, as well as the portrayal of the debtors prison and the fates of those therein.
Overall to me it was the theme of friendship that stuck out.
"He derived at that moment, more pride and luxury of feeling from the disinterested attachment of his humble friends, than ten thousand protestations from the greatest men living could have awakened in his heart."
So I was delighted with this book and look forward to more Dickens in my life!
A small group of gentlemen with the leisure and resources to do whatever they choose, and without having anything particular to do, accompany Mr. Samuel Pickwick on his adventures to explore the more curious portions of the world — as long as they are not more than a two-day stagecoach drive from London, and there is assurance of a comfortable inn at their destination. There follow 57 chapters of silliness, in which Dickens alternately lampoons and lovingly illustrates personalities and customs — some truly absurd — of laborers, lawyers, medical students, journalists, coachmen, servants, businessmen and the idle and pretentious sub-aristocracy of the 1820s (supposed period of the Pickwick Club) or '30s (the novel began to appear in 1836).
Young Dickens (then 25) was invited to write text to accompany comic sketches of sportsmen by illustrator Robert Seymour, and at first he seems to have had no clear idea of how to develop it nor anything about the characters beyond the funny names he assigned them and the physical appearance that Seymour had given them. After the first installments, Seymour (who had a history of mental problems) committed suicide, but by that time Dickens' narrative inventions had already taken priority, so that instead of the text following the sketches, the sketches had to illustrate the new text, as other artists (R. W. Buss, briefly, and then Hablot Knight Browne, "Phiz") succeeded Seymour. Among the more memorable episodes is Pickwick's unequal litigation with the shyster lawyers Dodson and Fogg and Pickwick's subsequent sojourn in debtors' prison because he refuses to pay the obviously unjust sentence of costs and compensation for a breach of promise he never made (brought by a hysterical widow who mistook the overly-polite Pickwick's inquiries about lodgings as a proposal to marry). The story eventually becomes clear and the characters more clearly defined, especially Pickwick's cockney manservant Sam Weller, the quick-witted scoundrel Jingle, and Sam Weller's marvelously drawn coachman father, full of false wisdom mispronounced, generous and well-disposed to all but ready to fight for honor and justice when he thinks these have been offended.
Especially delightful to any of us in the trade are Dickens' wry comments on the craft of writing. There are many, including the nearly-illiterate Sam Weller's efforts to compose a love letter. But I'll quote only one, near the end (Ch LVII) of this long serial, which is an observation on the work itself: "It is the fate of all authors or chroniclers to create imaginary friends, and lose them in the course of art. Nor is this the full extent of their misfortunes; for they are required to furnish an account of them besides." In this, his first long work of fiction, Dickens has succeeded to the delight of many thousands of his contemporaries and to generations ever since.
Young Dickens (then 25) was invited to write text to accompany comic sketches of sportsmen by illustrator Robert Seymour, and at first he seems to have had no clear idea of how to develop it nor anything about the characters beyond the funny names he assigned them and the physical appearance that Seymour had given them. After the first installments, Seymour (who had a history of mental problems) committed suicide, but by that time Dickens' narrative inventions had already taken priority, so that instead of the text following the sketches, the sketches had to illustrate the new text, as other artists (R. W. Buss, briefly, and then Hablot Knight Browne, "Phiz") succeeded Seymour. Among the more memorable episodes is Pickwick's unequal litigation with the shyster lawyers Dodson and Fogg and Pickwick's subsequent sojourn in debtors' prison because he refuses to pay the obviously unjust sentence of costs and compensation for a breach of promise he never made (brought by a hysterical widow who mistook the overly-polite Pickwick's inquiries about lodgings as a proposal to marry). The story eventually becomes clear and the characters more clearly defined, especially Pickwick's cockney manservant Sam Weller, the quick-witted scoundrel Jingle, and Sam Weller's marvelously drawn coachman father, full of false wisdom mispronounced, generous and well-disposed to all but ready to fight for honor and justice when he thinks these have been offended.
Especially delightful to any of us in the trade are Dickens' wry comments on the craft of writing. There are many, including the nearly-illiterate Sam Weller's efforts to compose a love letter. But I'll quote only one, near the end (Ch LVII) of this long serial, which is an observation on the work itself: "It is the fate of all authors or chroniclers to create imaginary friends, and lose them in the course of art. Nor is this the full extent of their misfortunes; for they are required to furnish an account of them besides." In this, his first long work of fiction, Dickens has succeeded to the delight of many thousands of his contemporaries and to generations ever since.
Probably 3.5 stars
The Pickwick Papers is a full cast of characters with the mix of buffoonery and chivalry typical in a Dickens' novel. For me, however, the episodic adventures did not provide the substance to allow these characters to capture my heart in the way that [b:David Copperfield|58696|David Copperfield|Charles Dickens|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309281852s/58696.jpg|4711940] does (though Sam Weller comes close).
Still, there is a great amount of goodness in this, Dickens' first novel. Following the mishaps and misunderstandings of Pickwick and his gang is great fun. I loved the Nathaniel Pipkin story (chapter 17), the kissing of all the women under the mistletoe (chapter 28), and especially the visit to Bath and the taking of the waters there. "Nobody's fat or old in Bath! (chapter 35)."
A favorite excerpt:
"There is no month in the whole year in which nature wears a more
beautiful appearance than in the month of August. Spring has many
beauties, and May is a fresh and blooming month, but the charms
of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the
winter season. August has no such advantage. It comes when we
remember nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling
flowers--when the recollection of snow, and ice, and bleak winds,
has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared
from the earth--and yet what a pleasant time it is! Orchards and
cornfields ring with the hum of labour; trees bend beneath the
thick clusters of rich fruit which bow their branches to the
ground; and the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in
every light breath that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the
sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue. A mellow softness
appears to hang over the whole earth; the influence of the season
seems to extend itself to the very wagon, whose slow motion across
the well-reaped field is perceptible only to the eye, but strikes
with no harsh sound upon the ear (pp. 240-41)."
*Also, I couldn't help to think that a certain author took some inspiration from the cricket game, the village of Muggleton, and a Mr. Potter. [a:J.K. Rowling|1077326|J.K. Rowling|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1360953982p2/1077326.jpg], I'm looking at you.
The Pickwick Papers is a full cast of characters with the mix of buffoonery and chivalry typical in a Dickens' novel. For me, however, the episodic adventures did not provide the substance to allow these characters to capture my heart in the way that [b:David Copperfield|58696|David Copperfield|Charles Dickens|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309281852s/58696.jpg|4711940] does (though Sam Weller comes close).
Still, there is a great amount of goodness in this, Dickens' first novel. Following the mishaps and misunderstandings of Pickwick and his gang is great fun. I loved the Nathaniel Pipkin story (chapter 17), the kissing of all the women under the mistletoe (chapter 28), and especially the visit to Bath and the taking of the waters there. "Nobody's fat or old in Bath! (chapter 35)."
A favorite excerpt:
"There is no month in the whole year in which nature wears a more
beautiful appearance than in the month of August. Spring has many
beauties, and May is a fresh and blooming month, but the charms
of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the
winter season. August has no such advantage. It comes when we
remember nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling
flowers--when the recollection of snow, and ice, and bleak winds,
has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared
from the earth--and yet what a pleasant time it is! Orchards and
cornfields ring with the hum of labour; trees bend beneath the
thick clusters of rich fruit which bow their branches to the
ground; and the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in
every light breath that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the
sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue. A mellow softness
appears to hang over the whole earth; the influence of the season
seems to extend itself to the very wagon, whose slow motion across
the well-reaped field is perceptible only to the eye, but strikes
with no harsh sound upon the ear (pp. 240-41)."
*Also, I couldn't help to think that a certain author took some inspiration from the cricket game, the village of Muggleton, and a Mr. Potter. [a:J.K. Rowling|1077326|J.K. Rowling|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1360953982p2/1077326.jpg], I'm looking at you.