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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
While I had never even heard of The Pickwick Papers until i looked up books by the author, this book brought me back, once again, to unfinished reading high school reading assignments. I recall getting bogged down in Great Expectations. I'm not sure if I ever finished reading it. So I wasn't really sure what to expect with this book.
Well it turns out, at least based on this book, that I am a Dickens fan.
The Pickwick Papers was apparently a regular series that was published in installments, which explains both the episodic nature of the stories as well as just how LONG it was. I will admit that there are parts of the book that I glossed over a bit in my audiobook listening, and the length combined with the way parts did drag a bit (and the week i took off during a vacation) all added up to this book taking me 3 weeks to read), however I really enjoyed so many things about it.
For starters, despite being Dickens' first published stories, The Pickwick Papers definitely contain some of what I understand to be the Dickensian hallmarks, and I loved these things. There was the hilarious grifter/actor Alfred Jingle who is about as much of a foil to the protagonists as the book contains, there the always loyal cockney man-servant Samuel Weller who is my favorite character (and I would argue not far behind Pickwick himself as a lead protagonist, and just a host of other colorful and VERY British characters.
Pickwick is the always proper gentleman that any victorian british novel must surely contain, and the members of his Pickwick Club are just the bumbling and troublemaking, hijinx creating sidekicks one should have. But Sam is the one I was drawn to. I can't help but wonder whether he, or the characters he spawned, are the inspiration for a character like Burt the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, who was undoubtedly my first exposure to the type (even if he was so very disneyfied) Sam was smart, loyal, courteous when called for but rough and tough when appropriate, but always with a good heart.
The plot, as part of a serial, was meandering at times, and didn't always engage me, but overall i really enjoyed and appreciated the stories that were told. I would call myself an anglophile and that certainly helped.
The story is essentially about a successful businessman (pickwick) who in his later years has formed a club where he takes young men of society under his wing, and in the book they decide to travel to areas of the countryside and smaller towns outside of London, staying in various lodgings, and then report back to London society about their experiences and findings. They end up getting in all kinds of funny situations along the way, often involving, grifters, duels, love-interests, and various misunderstandings.
One of the club members Nathaniel Winkle is constantly in trouble because of his boasts about things he actually has no experience in. I appreciated that that character is really universal and timeless, as were many other elements.
Meanwhile, speaking of time, I realized partway through the book that it was actually published only 10 years before Jane Eyre which I recently read, and It was really interesting reading it with this in mind, thinking about the differences and similarities of a satirical and comedic book like this from early to mid 19th century England compared to the sensationalist romantic novel Jane Eyre from the same place and time-period.
I will definitely look forward to visiting or revisiting other works of Dickens in the future.
Well it turns out, at least based on this book, that I am a Dickens fan.
The Pickwick Papers was apparently a regular series that was published in installments, which explains both the episodic nature of the stories as well as just how LONG it was. I will admit that there are parts of the book that I glossed over a bit in my audiobook listening, and the length combined with the way parts did drag a bit (and the week i took off during a vacation) all added up to this book taking me 3 weeks to read), however I really enjoyed so many things about it.
For starters, despite being Dickens' first published stories, The Pickwick Papers definitely contain some of what I understand to be the Dickensian hallmarks, and I loved these things. There was the hilarious grifter/actor Alfred Jingle who is about as much of a foil to the protagonists as the book contains, there the always loyal cockney man-servant Samuel Weller who is my favorite character (and I would argue not far behind Pickwick himself as a lead protagonist, and just a host of other colorful and VERY British characters.
Pickwick is the always proper gentleman that any victorian british novel must surely contain, and the members of his Pickwick Club are just the bumbling and troublemaking, hijinx creating sidekicks one should have. But Sam is the one I was drawn to. I can't help but wonder whether he, or the characters he spawned, are the inspiration for a character like Burt the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins, who was undoubtedly my first exposure to the type (even if he was so very disneyfied) Sam was smart, loyal, courteous when called for but rough and tough when appropriate, but always with a good heart.
The plot, as part of a serial, was meandering at times, and didn't always engage me, but overall i really enjoyed and appreciated the stories that were told. I would call myself an anglophile and that certainly helped.
The story is essentially about a successful businessman (pickwick) who in his later years has formed a club where he takes young men of society under his wing, and in the book they decide to travel to areas of the countryside and smaller towns outside of London, staying in various lodgings, and then report back to London society about their experiences and findings. They end up getting in all kinds of funny situations along the way, often involving, grifters, duels, love-interests, and various misunderstandings.
One of the club members Nathaniel Winkle is constantly in trouble because of his boasts about things he actually has no experience in. I appreciated that that character is really universal and timeless, as were many other elements.
Meanwhile, speaking of time, I realized partway through the book that it was actually published only 10 years before Jane Eyre which I recently read, and It was really interesting reading it with this in mind, thinking about the differences and similarities of a satirical and comedic book like this from early to mid 19th century England compared to the sensationalist romantic novel Jane Eyre from the same place and time-period.
I will definitely look forward to visiting or revisiting other works of Dickens in the future.
i cut it close but i did it!!
i finished before the liveshow!!!
i thought this book was alright
some of the little stories and poems sprinkled throughout were really fun tho!
"An Ode to an Expiring Frog" and the madman story
also, the Ivy Green poem were some of my favs
oooooh also the man chair story
that was fun
my enjoyment was definitely tampered because I read Pickwick like a novel when it was originally serialized so reading the chapters back to back definitely felt a little repetitive and annoying after a while
i like tolstoy better than dickens purely based on the fact that i prefer books with a more serious tone objectively i don't know who is the better but subjectively i like Tolstoy better
glad to have more dickens under my belt but the portrayal of women was bad unsurprisingly
i get what time period it was written in but I'm reading it in modern-day as a woman so excuse me for being bothered by the portrayal of women. yes, it was written like two centuries ago but I'm reading it now and it annoyed me.
this also had a lot of commentary on issues in society while also lowkey being funny so props to dickens for making me chuckle out loud a couple of times
if you don't know what I'm referencing when I'm talking about a liveshow and Tolstoy in this review I just wanted to let yall know that I'm participating in the Dickens vs Tolstoy read-along hosted by Emma from emmie and Carolyn from Carolyn Marie Reads. There is a 4-year plan that I am way too excited for lol
this was the second pick for the book club. We read it in February and March
The first pick was Childhood, Boyhood, Youth By Tolstoy which we read in January
The book pick for April and May is War and Peace which I realized abbreviates to WAP
yes i giggled
leave me alone
anyway, i lowkey think that dickens is overhyped but we will see. hopefully, as i keep reading his later works I actually find a new favorite. hoping great expectations and our mutual friend won't disappoint me because I have high hopes for both.
i finished before the liveshow!!!
i thought this book was alright
some of the little stories and poems sprinkled throughout were really fun tho!
"An Ode to an Expiring Frog" and the madman story
also, the Ivy Green poem were some of my favs
oooooh also the man chair story
that was fun
my enjoyment was definitely tampered because I read Pickwick like a novel when it was originally serialized so reading the chapters back to back definitely felt a little repetitive and annoying after a while
i like tolstoy better than dickens purely based on the fact that i prefer books with a more serious tone objectively i don't know who is the better but subjectively i like Tolstoy better
glad to have more dickens under my belt but the portrayal of women was bad unsurprisingly
i get what time period it was written in but I'm reading it in modern-day as a woman so excuse me for being bothered by the portrayal of women. yes, it was written like two centuries ago but I'm reading it now and it annoyed me.
this also had a lot of commentary on issues in society while also lowkey being funny so props to dickens for making me chuckle out loud a couple of times
if you don't know what I'm referencing when I'm talking about a liveshow and Tolstoy in this review I just wanted to let yall know that I'm participating in the Dickens vs Tolstoy read-along hosted by Emma from emmie and Carolyn from Carolyn Marie Reads. There is a 4-year plan that I am way too excited for lol
this was the second pick for the book club. We read it in February and March
The first pick was Childhood, Boyhood, Youth By Tolstoy which we read in January
The book pick for April and May is War and Peace which I realized abbreviates to WAP
yes i giggled
leave me alone
anyway, i lowkey think that dickens is overhyped but we will see. hopefully, as i keep reading his later works I actually find a new favorite. hoping great expectations and our mutual friend won't disappoint me because I have high hopes for both.
Trigger warnings: nothing that I can think of, but I also found huge chunks of this INCREDIBLY boring so it's possible I missed something when my eyes glazed over...
I knew literally nothing about this when I put it on my Classics Club list back in 2014. And to be honest, I still feel like I know nothing about this. It was Dickens' first novel, and while there are definitely moments of brilliance shining through, I found huge chunks of this to be incredibly dull.
It's essentially a series of short stories about the same characters over the course of two years, so there's not a massive amount of plot going on. Some of the characters were standouts and there were definitely moments of Dickens' classic humour shining through.
But for the most part? I...just didn't really care.
I knew literally nothing about this when I put it on my Classics Club list back in 2014. And to be honest, I still feel like I know nothing about this. It was Dickens' first novel, and while there are definitely moments of brilliance shining through, I found huge chunks of this to be incredibly dull.
It's essentially a series of short stories about the same characters over the course of two years, so there's not a massive amount of plot going on. Some of the characters were standouts and there were definitely moments of Dickens' classic humour shining through.
But for the most part? I...just didn't really care.
Os Pickwick Papers, ou Os Cadernos de Pickwick, na edição portuguesa, conta a história de Samuel Pickwick, um velhote simpático e generoso, algo pomposo e ingénuo, que decide encetar uma viagem por Inglaterra com os seus amigos, os senhores Winkle, Tupman e Snodgrass, de maneira a ficar a conhecer melhor as gentes e os costumes do seu país, recolher várias histórias e delas dar conta aos membros do seu clube. Pelo caminho, Pickwick e os amigos metem-se em várias situações caricatas, conhecem pessoas de todos os tipos, envolvem-se com a justiça e mostram de que fibra são feitos. É, ainda, a primeira obra de Dickens, aquela que o tornou famoso, uma obra de tal modo adorada que já estava a ser adaptada para teatro antes de terminar e que até chegou a gerar merchandising próprio. A edição da Tinta da China, muito boa, por sinal, inicia a série de livros de comédia coordenada por Ricardo Araújo Pereira. Não poderia começar de melhor forma, este é um livro, verdadeiramente, divertido.
Antes de iniciar a leitura desta obra, o leitor tem de ter em mente que originalmente ela era um folhetim mensal e que a sua estrutura reflecte esta forma. É importante ter isto em mente porque, de outra maneira, poderá ficar com as suas expectativas goradas e a leitura pode-se tornar cansativa. A história é contada como se fosse baseada em factos reais, um apanhado que o narrador fez dos supostos cadernos do clube, já depois de este ter sido extinto, e que tentou organizar. Embora exista algum fio condutor e, no final, as coisas fiquem bem rematadas, não há um enredo coerente, a narrativa é episódica misturando momentos de comédia situacional pura com pequenos contos tragicómicos que tanto podem envolver cadeiras falantes como situações de violência doméstica. O início é algo lento, só comecei verdadeiramente a apreciar o humor e a distinguir as personagens quando já tinham passado umas boas 60 páginas e confesso que a meio comecei a perder a coragem e que tive de fazer um esforço para avançar, mas a culpa não é tanto do autor como da forma como o livro nos chegou às mãos.
Dizia alguém pelos comentários do Goodreads que ler este livro é um pouco como ver as modernas sitcoms e eu concordo em absoluto. Os Pickwick Papers não foram pensados para serem lidos de enfiada, mas ao longo de vários anos. Claro que nada nos impede de o lermos numas semanas, mas deparamo-nos, necessariamente e de forma mais evidente, com a repetitividade das situações e das piadas e com uma certa previsibilidade, que podem tornar a leitura aborrecida, porque não há aquele espaço de um mês ou semana para nos deixar com saudades e vontade de ler mais. As personagens, com a excepção do Sr. Pickwick e do magnífico, Sam Weller, que aparece mais à frente, e ninguém me convencerá que não é um proto-Sam do Senhor dos Anéis, são também bastante superficiais, mais caricaturas do que verdadeiras pessoas, e não têm verdadeira evolução. Mas esses são traços típicos da comédia, mais interessada em criar situações cómicas do que em fazer evoluir as personagens. As mulheres, em especial, as poucas que são relevantes, são particularmente atreitas a cair no estereótipo e são vistas, assim como a ideia do casamento, de uma forma muito negativa, de um modo que não consegui perceber exactamente se era um comentário de Dickens ou se foi simplesmente incapacidade ou desinteresse do autor em escrever mulheres de uma forma positiva...
Podia queixar-me de mais algumas coisitas, mas, no geral, o prazer que tive a ler este livro foi muito maior do que qualquer inconveniente que a sua extensão tenha provocado, mesmo que por vezes o tivesse de pôr de parte por não estar com cabeça para ele. A escrita é maravilhosa, Dickens tem algumas passagens de uma expressividade que nos deixa encantados e inebriados, como por exemplo quando fala sobre o Natal e a sua magia, ou quando descreve as paisagens inglesas durante o mês de Agosto. Mas a sua escrita é também acutilante, irónica, teatral e cheia de humor e vi-me, frequentemente, a rir alto enquanto lia, porque as situações que ele cria são verdadeiramente engraçadas. O Sr. Pickwick é amoroso (Fernando Pessoa chamava-lhe "uma das figuras sagradas da história mundial. Por favor, não se alegue que nunca existiu" e eu concordo) e Sam Weller é brilhante, o verdadeiro Sancho Pança para o Dom Quixote de Pickwick, uma comparação desde o princípio me apeteceu fazer, uma vez que me parece que este livro tem algo de quixotesco na sua própria estrutura. É, igualmente, incrível ver a versatilidade de Dickens, particularmente evidente na diversidade de contos que criou, como se estivesse ainda a experimentar os seus limites e a começar a desenvolver capacidades que foi aperfeiçoando na sua obra posterior. O problema maior é, como disse, que tudo se começa a tornar um pouco repetitivo a meio, por causa do seu formato e estrutura. Por isso, quem quiser ler o seu primeiro Dickens talvez esteja melhor a começar com uma obra com um pouco mais de enredo e um pouco menos de páginas.
Chegado quase ao fim do seu livro, no momento em que nos conta o destino de cada personagem, Dickens brinda-nos com esta frase maravilhosa: "Muitos dos homens que se misturam com o mundo e que chegam à idade madura são fadados para fazer muitos amigos e perdê-los segundo o curso natural das coisas. Todos os escritores ou cronistas são fadados para criar amigos imaginários e perdê-los segundo o curso da arte." Posso dizer que também eu, enquanto leitora, senti que me despedi de amigos ao acabar este livro. Deviam existir mais Srs. Pickwicks no mundo.
Antes de iniciar a leitura desta obra, o leitor tem de ter em mente que originalmente ela era um folhetim mensal e que a sua estrutura reflecte esta forma. É importante ter isto em mente porque, de outra maneira, poderá ficar com as suas expectativas goradas e a leitura pode-se tornar cansativa. A história é contada como se fosse baseada em factos reais, um apanhado que o narrador fez dos supostos cadernos do clube, já depois de este ter sido extinto, e que tentou organizar. Embora exista algum fio condutor e, no final, as coisas fiquem bem rematadas, não há um enredo coerente, a narrativa é episódica misturando momentos de comédia situacional pura com pequenos contos tragicómicos que tanto podem envolver cadeiras falantes como situações de violência doméstica. O início é algo lento, só comecei verdadeiramente a apreciar o humor e a distinguir as personagens quando já tinham passado umas boas 60 páginas e confesso que a meio comecei a perder a coragem e que tive de fazer um esforço para avançar, mas a culpa não é tanto do autor como da forma como o livro nos chegou às mãos.
Dizia alguém pelos comentários do Goodreads que ler este livro é um pouco como ver as modernas sitcoms e eu concordo em absoluto. Os Pickwick Papers não foram pensados para serem lidos de enfiada, mas ao longo de vários anos. Claro que nada nos impede de o lermos numas semanas, mas deparamo-nos, necessariamente e de forma mais evidente, com a repetitividade das situações e das piadas e com uma certa previsibilidade, que podem tornar a leitura aborrecida, porque não há aquele espaço de um mês ou semana para nos deixar com saudades e vontade de ler mais. As personagens, com a excepção do Sr. Pickwick e do magnífico, Sam Weller, que aparece mais à frente, e ninguém me convencerá que não é um proto-Sam do Senhor dos Anéis, são também bastante superficiais, mais caricaturas do que verdadeiras pessoas, e não têm verdadeira evolução. Mas esses são traços típicos da comédia, mais interessada em criar situações cómicas do que em fazer evoluir as personagens. As mulheres, em especial, as poucas que são relevantes, são particularmente atreitas a cair no estereótipo e são vistas, assim como a ideia do casamento, de uma forma muito negativa, de um modo que não consegui perceber exactamente se era um comentário de Dickens ou se foi simplesmente incapacidade ou desinteresse do autor em escrever mulheres de uma forma positiva...
Podia queixar-me de mais algumas coisitas, mas, no geral, o prazer que tive a ler este livro foi muito maior do que qualquer inconveniente que a sua extensão tenha provocado, mesmo que por vezes o tivesse de pôr de parte por não estar com cabeça para ele. A escrita é maravilhosa, Dickens tem algumas passagens de uma expressividade que nos deixa encantados e inebriados, como por exemplo quando fala sobre o Natal e a sua magia, ou quando descreve as paisagens inglesas durante o mês de Agosto. Mas a sua escrita é também acutilante, irónica, teatral e cheia de humor e vi-me, frequentemente, a rir alto enquanto lia, porque as situações que ele cria são verdadeiramente engraçadas. O Sr. Pickwick é amoroso (Fernando Pessoa chamava-lhe "uma das figuras sagradas da história mundial. Por favor, não se alegue que nunca existiu" e eu concordo) e Sam Weller é brilhante, o verdadeiro Sancho Pança para o Dom Quixote de Pickwick, uma comparação desde o princípio me apeteceu fazer, uma vez que me parece que este livro tem algo de quixotesco na sua própria estrutura. É, igualmente, incrível ver a versatilidade de Dickens, particularmente evidente na diversidade de contos que criou, como se estivesse ainda a experimentar os seus limites e a começar a desenvolver capacidades que foi aperfeiçoando na sua obra posterior. O problema maior é, como disse, que tudo se começa a tornar um pouco repetitivo a meio, por causa do seu formato e estrutura. Por isso, quem quiser ler o seu primeiro Dickens talvez esteja melhor a começar com uma obra com um pouco mais de enredo e um pouco menos de páginas.
Chegado quase ao fim do seu livro, no momento em que nos conta o destino de cada personagem, Dickens brinda-nos com esta frase maravilhosa: "Muitos dos homens que se misturam com o mundo e que chegam à idade madura são fadados para fazer muitos amigos e perdê-los segundo o curso natural das coisas. Todos os escritores ou cronistas são fadados para criar amigos imaginários e perdê-los segundo o curso da arte." Posso dizer que também eu, enquanto leitora, senti que me despedi de amigos ao acabar este livro. Deviam existir mais Srs. Pickwicks no mundo.
3.5
I thought I’d be reading this forever but I’m finally done.
Enjoyed it, classically meandering but I knew it would be. Sam is a legend and I love him.
I thought I’d be reading this forever but I’m finally done.
Enjoyed it, classically meandering but I knew it would be. Sam is a legend and I love him.
Read for The great debate: Dickens vs Tolstoy by the beautiful Emma and Carolyn.
Oh Dickens!
Reading this book was quite the journey! There were moments when I loved it, and there were moments when I didn't.
It was a joy to see the charm of Dickens take shape in this book. His humor was wonderful as expected, and his ability to create unique caricatures was utterly charming!
Although this book didn't have much of a plot, it was very fun to watch all of the different adventures and misadventures unfold.
Since this book was originally serialized, it felt very episodical. At certain points this type of storytelling was exciting and fun, but overall I was missing the structure of one solid plot line.
I feel that the best way to read this book is as if it was in fact a periodical. I think my own enjoyment would have been much greater if I read it that way. Dickens didn't intend for this story to be read as a novel, so I do acknowledge that.
My biggest gripe with this book is that it is VERY (white) male-centric. The women don't really do much except faint, cry, or "become hysterical." They honestly felt like silly objects for the men to have very minor interactions with. This is a common occurrence when reading classics written by men, which is a sad truth. The good thing is that there are many "classic" male authors who do great justice to their female characters. Dickens in-fact created some of the most iconic and complex female characters in literary history, such as Miss Havisham and Estella.
All in all, it was wonderful to read Dickens' first "novel," but I wouldn't recommend starting with The Pickwick Papers if you're new to Dickens.
I can't wait to fully discuss The Pickwick Papers with Emma during our second Dickens vs. Tolstoy debate! The live show will be on Emma's (@emmie) channel on April 3rd at 2pm EST! SO EXCITED!
Reading this book was quite the journey! There were moments when I loved it, and there were moments when I didn't.
It was a joy to see the charm of Dickens take shape in this book. His humor was wonderful as expected, and his ability to create unique caricatures was utterly charming!
Although this book didn't have much of a plot, it was very fun to watch all of the different adventures and misadventures unfold.
Since this book was originally serialized, it felt very episodical. At certain points this type of storytelling was exciting and fun, but overall I was missing the structure of one solid plot line.
I feel that the best way to read this book is as if it was in fact a periodical. I think my own enjoyment would have been much greater if I read it that way. Dickens didn't intend for this story to be read as a novel, so I do acknowledge that.
My biggest gripe with this book is that it is VERY (white) male-centric. The women don't really do much except faint, cry, or "become hysterical." They honestly felt like silly objects for the men to have very minor interactions with. This is a common occurrence when reading classics written by men, which is a sad truth. The good thing is that there are many "classic" male authors who do great justice to their female characters. Dickens in-fact created some of the most iconic and complex female characters in literary history, such as Miss Havisham and Estella.
All in all, it was wonderful to read Dickens' first "novel," but I wouldn't recommend starting with The Pickwick Papers if you're new to Dickens.
I can't wait to fully discuss The Pickwick Papers with Emma during our second Dickens vs. Tolstoy debate! The live show will be on Emma's (@emmie) channel on April 3rd at 2pm EST! SO EXCITED!
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated