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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
funny
reflective
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:
Complicated
Read for the 3rd time (1st time about 20 years ago; second time about 10 years ago — so maybe will read again in another 10 years). I skipped some of the interloping stories. Such a comfortable and funny book and Sam and Mr Pickwick such lovely characters. A soothing end to the year.
It’s pretty unbearable trying to get through it. The characters really annoy me. The situations are absolutely ridiculous 🙄 and I just don’t see the point of the book. Might try again some day but for now it’s a no. So still team Tolstoy at the moment.
2.5★ Feb&March Dickens Vs Tolstoy Book Club Pick.
"It is the fate of most men who mingle with the world and attain even the prime of life, to make many real friends, and lose them in the course of nature."
The Pickwick Papers is a novel about The Pickwick Club who has four members: Mr Pickwick (who is the club's founder), Mr Tupman (proclaimed philosopher), Mr Snodgrass (a poet unable to write poetry) and Mr Winkle (a man who continuously got himself into bother). These four friends embark on different adventures across England, making more friends along the way and ultimately getting into a lot of trouble.
This is Dickens' first-ever novel and it can in no way be described as a plot-driven novel. In the span of 800 pages almost nothing of significance happens - instead only small insubstantial things occur such as chasing a man, just to give up and retire eventually. There was no climax to this novel; things just happened. And I'm not one to say that books with not much plot can't be good, because then usually the novel will instead explore something else through complex characters but this didn't happen either.
The majority of the characters in this book were either uninteresting, predictable or just sucked. Out of what must be close to fifty different characters, I can confidently say I liked two of them. Samuel Weller being one of them and Mr Alfred Jingle being the other. Jingle's character wasn't good as such, but at least he was interesting. He seemed to be the only character who changed over the course of these mere 800 pages even if he wasn't the main character and was only present for about 10% of the novel and what to say about Sam Weller? He was just great. He was a little sparkle of joy in such dry, dull situations. He was witty and funny and I loved him.
Now, you might be able to say that the reason I didn't enjoy this book to the extent that other people did, was because I read the book "wrong"? Dickens published The Pickwick Papers as a serial of stories between 1836 and 1837 and so the audience of the 19th century wouldn't read these chronicles of adventures all in one go over the course of a couple of weeks like I did. They would have read sections and regularly dropped back in with the Pickwickians every month to see what they were up to and how they were getting on. They had a year to grow older with these characters, probably being able to form a much more strong attachment to them than I ever could and I'll admit that that isn't Dickens' fault - it's mine.
"It is the fate of most men who mingle with the world and attain even the prime of life, to make many real friends, and lose them in the course of nature."
The Pickwick Papers is a novel about The Pickwick Club who has four members: Mr Pickwick (who is the club's founder), Mr Tupman (proclaimed philosopher), Mr Snodgrass (a poet unable to write poetry) and Mr Winkle (a man who continuously got himself into bother). These four friends embark on different adventures across England, making more friends along the way and ultimately getting into a lot of trouble.
This is Dickens' first-ever novel and it can in no way be described as a plot-driven novel. In the span of 800 pages almost nothing of significance happens - instead only small insubstantial things occur such as chasing a man, just to give up and retire eventually. There was no climax to this novel; things just happened. And I'm not one to say that books with not much plot can't be good, because then usually the novel will instead explore something else through complex characters but this didn't happen either.
The majority of the characters in this book were either uninteresting, predictable or just sucked. Out of what must be close to fifty different characters, I can confidently say I liked two of them. Samuel Weller being one of them and Mr Alfred Jingle being the other. Jingle's character wasn't good as such, but at least he was interesting. He seemed to be the only character who changed over the course of these mere 800 pages even if he wasn't the main character and was only present for about 10% of the novel and what to say about Sam Weller? He was just great. He was a little sparkle of joy in such dry, dull situations. He was witty and funny and I loved him.
Now, you might be able to say that the reason I didn't enjoy this book to the extent that other people did, was because I read the book "wrong"? Dickens published The Pickwick Papers as a serial of stories between 1836 and 1837 and so the audience of the 19th century wouldn't read these chronicles of adventures all in one go over the course of a couple of weeks like I did. They would have read sections and regularly dropped back in with the Pickwickians every month to see what they were up to and how they were getting on. They had a year to grow older with these characters, probably being able to form a much more strong attachment to them than I ever could and I'll admit that that isn't Dickens' fault - it's mine.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Dickens first “novel” began as a commission to write short, satirical sketches about a private Gentlemen’s Club to accompany comic drawings for serial publication. However, Dickens soon convinced his publishers that this should be the other way ‘round and the drawings should accompany his sketches.
I don’t know if I would have noticed it on my own, but since I knew the history of the book prior to reading it, I did observe that the chapters got longer, the plot more convoluted and the character arcs more apparent as the book progressed. Most importantly, the titular Pickwick starts off as object of ridicule but ends up (along with his faithful servant Sam Weller) being the hero of the book. The notion of satirizing private clubs is eventually dropped and replaced with social critiques of Victorian society which will later be more fully expressed in later Dickens’ novels such as Bleak House and Little Dorrit.
All this makes for a slightly rambley and inconsistent read, but I did enjoy it.
I don’t know if I would have noticed it on my own, but since I knew the history of the book prior to reading it, I did observe that the chapters got longer, the plot more convoluted and the character arcs more apparent as the book progressed. Most importantly, the titular Pickwick starts off as object of ridicule but ends up (along with his faithful servant Sam Weller) being the hero of the book. The notion of satirizing private clubs is eventually dropped and replaced with social critiques of Victorian society which will later be more fully expressed in later Dickens’ novels such as Bleak House and Little Dorrit.
All this makes for a slightly rambley and inconsistent read, but I did enjoy it.
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A