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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
This book turns out to be the pinnacle of Victorian entertainment. There's a lot of steam, drinking, and travel, but not a lot of the simmering rage against social injustices that fuels Dickens' later works (although there is still some). I was halfway through when I googled the history and discovered that it was his very first work, at the age of 24. So the author wasn't the academic, beardless Charles Dickens we see in pictures, but rather a young lad called Charlie. I'd had the impression it was written by a younger person, so that made a lot of sense.
The novel is a very gentle comedy and Pickwick is involved in numerous escapades of hilarity and farce. And yet behind the humor, Dickens shows how these are just ordinary everyday events that happen to us all. At one stage Pickwick loses his hat in a gust of wind. Dickens describes vividly Pickwick's chase of it and describes all the pitfalls of a portly man doing so. He says to chase too hard will see the chaser accidentally step on the hat, and too slow is to lose it altogether. It has the feel of farce but we see this in our daily lives. Even though it's a fun story, the harsh realities of the Victorian era can't be denied. Back then, if you didn't find some way of looking out for yourself and planning for your future, you starved. People made such a big deal out of money because it was a big deal. There was no such thing as welfare payments or government support. Poorhouses and debtor's prisons were places of nightmares. It's easy enough for us to sit back and judge Jingle and Job as villains, but when you look at where they find themselves throughout the course of the story, you can see why they'd do the deeds they did. I'm sure it was the same need that drove lots of boys to become bushrangers in colonial Australia. It's easy to choose to be honest when you don't face a slow, agonizing death.
Overall I enjoyed the first of Dickens' novels but I have two issues with it. I found it a touch too long. Sure it was initially published as a serial but as a combined work the 900 pages by about the 700-page mark were too much. I struggled with the last 200 pages as it all began to feel a bit the same. I put it down for a week and then finished it off but I still think it too long. Maybe some of the stories that Pickwick listens to could be edited out for brevity sakes. The second thing that really did annoy me after a while was Dickens use of the word 'ejaculated'. The characters were almost every page 'ejaculating their words. Using that word continuously really got to me. It is a long novel but I think with Dickens command of the English language he could have inter-posed ejaculated more often with something else. I just couldn't escape what else that word connotes!
The novel is a very gentle comedy and Pickwick is involved in numerous escapades of hilarity and farce. And yet behind the humor, Dickens shows how these are just ordinary everyday events that happen to us all. At one stage Pickwick loses his hat in a gust of wind. Dickens describes vividly Pickwick's chase of it and describes all the pitfalls of a portly man doing so. He says to chase too hard will see the chaser accidentally step on the hat, and too slow is to lose it altogether. It has the feel of farce but we see this in our daily lives. Even though it's a fun story, the harsh realities of the Victorian era can't be denied. Back then, if you didn't find some way of looking out for yourself and planning for your future, you starved. People made such a big deal out of money because it was a big deal. There was no such thing as welfare payments or government support. Poorhouses and debtor's prisons were places of nightmares. It's easy enough for us to sit back and judge Jingle and Job as villains, but when you look at where they find themselves throughout the course of the story, you can see why they'd do the deeds they did. I'm sure it was the same need that drove lots of boys to become bushrangers in colonial Australia. It's easy to choose to be honest when you don't face a slow, agonizing death.
Overall I enjoyed the first of Dickens' novels but I have two issues with it. I found it a touch too long. Sure it was initially published as a serial but as a combined work the 900 pages by about the 700-page mark were too much. I struggled with the last 200 pages as it all began to feel a bit the same. I put it down for a week and then finished it off but I still think it too long. Maybe some of the stories that Pickwick listens to could be edited out for brevity sakes. The second thing that really did annoy me after a while was Dickens use of the word 'ejaculated'. The characters were almost every page 'ejaculating their words. Using that word continuously really got to me. It is a long novel but I think with Dickens command of the English language he could have inter-posed ejaculated more often with something else. I just couldn't escape what else that word connotes!
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-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
This book should not have taken me this long to read, honestly. You must be wondering why I gave five stars to a book that took me just over three years to finish. Let me preface it by saying that I was taking my father's advice on how to read this book. It's his favorite (and his father's favorite before him; I actually got my copy from my grandfather with a very sweet note written on the inside of the front cover). He had told me to just read a little at a time. However, as you can see from my reading history, I ended up becoming quite, quite distracted by other books. I did want to finish reading The Pickwick Papers this summer, though. And I have.
I actually really enjoyed this! The humor was right up my alley and the characters were all truly lovable (especially the eponymous Mr. Pickwick). This book was such a comfort to read. I know that people usually tie Charles Dickens with literature that truly cast attention on the horrible lives most people led in Victorian England. However, this one was so lighthearted and funny! It did still contain oppressive institutions that were commonplace in Victorian England such as debtor's prisons and the terrible life therein. However, unlike his heavier novels, The Pickwick Papers seemed to only dip its metaphorical toes into the darker parts of Victorian England.
I do want to reread this book (and take much, much less than three years to do it this time!), so I will probably be updating my little blurb here when I do!
One of the funniest books I've ever read. Dickensian society run riot. The Pickwickians and their feckless leader run the gamut of early 19th Century English countryside and class. Some of the references may be meaningless to a modern reader, but the illustrative nature of Dickens' language will carry you through any difficulties in understanding.
First read in high school (1968?), assigned, I think.
I’m gonna DNF this one. It’s pretty unbearable trying to get through it. The characters annoy me. The situations are absolutely ridiculous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is such a cute, sweet and homely story.
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's been ten years since the last time I read Pickwick Papers! Still not my favorite Dickens by a long shot, but I do find it interesting to watch Dickens figure out how to write a novel in real time.
2024 edit: Five years later, I'm bumping up my rating a bit because you can see the seeds of Dickens's best work in the debtor prison chapters, and also it made me laugh while in the clutches of existential political dread, which isn't too shabby for an almost 200-year-old book.
2024 edit: Five years later, I'm bumping up my rating a bit because you can see the seeds of Dickens's best work in the debtor prison chapters, and also it made me laugh while in the clutches of existential political dread, which isn't too shabby for an almost 200-year-old book.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is Dickens first published novel and his funniest. We got a group of friends lead by Samuel Pickwick, who get into mischief and collect stories. It doesn't follow a traditional plot and has stories within stories and that I gotta admit through me off. I wasn't as interested in those other stories. Pickwick is a lovable and means well, but he gets himself into trouble a lot. The best character is Samuel Weller, Pickwick's, loyal to fault, servant. He has unusual perspective on things and has an endearing relationship with his father, along with Pickwick. I struggle with reading his dialect, because he doesn't speak "proper" English but that's more a me thing. Of course, being one of his early novels female characters are lackluster.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I have heard a lot of people complain that there isn't really a plot to this, but it didn't bother me. The characters are so well written, and Dickens is so humorous that I was happy just to read about their everyday lives. I loved this, and will definitely read more Dickens.