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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
2,5/5⭐️
Leider war das Buch nicht wirklich was für mich.
Der Anfang war gut, der komplette Hauptteil hat mich verwirrt und gelangweilt und der Schluss war ok, aber irgendwie übertrieben.
Ich hab zu keinem der Charaktere wirklichen Zugang gehabt und musste mich recht durchquälen.
Schade.
Leider war das Buch nicht wirklich was für mich.
Der Anfang war gut, der komplette Hauptteil hat mich verwirrt und gelangweilt und der Schluss war ok, aber irgendwie übertrieben.
Ich hab zu keinem der Charaktere wirklichen Zugang gehabt und musste mich recht durchquälen.
Schade.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Murder
Moderate: Sexism, Antisemitism, Classism
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
I’ve read a lot of Dickens, and I can easily say that this is one of my favorites. It read so differently than some of his later novels, which are big and expansive and weighty. I love those books, too. But this book has a lightness to it that isn’t found in some of his later books. This was his second novel, so I do wonder if, as he aged, he lost some of his belief in humankind’s ability to be full of mercy and kindness and forgiveness. This book, despite its truly awful murder scene and abusive treatment of children, manages to make me believe that we might be able to make the world a better place by embracing the love and charity that Dickens so clearly believed could make a difference in society.
I read this book aloud to my eleven-year-old. She gives the book 4.5 stars "because he killed the dog. How dare he." I agree with her rating, but I'm going to knock off that half star because of the gross caricatures some of the characters became (especially Fagin, aka "the Jew"... yuck) and because I felt it dragged in parts. But overall we found it to be a funny, poignant, and masterful work of literature. Dickens is always worth reading. Oliver Twist may not be as good (in my opinion) as David Copperfield, but it's a delightful and important read that has been a great starting point for good conversations with my daughter.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
one of those books where I just couldn't wait to be done with it - it's agonizingly long, too satirical for my tastes, and also ~yikes~ @ the anti-semitism in Fagin's being called "the Jew" for 95% of the book
also, the romance subplot between Precious Chaste Teenage Girl and Virtuous Son was boooooooring - I was more interested in knowing how two people raised together like siblings could fall in love with each other, 'cause that's more of an interesting story than "I lahve you so much but I'm ~a shameful orphan~ so I must sacrifice my happiness for your Reputation and Honor in Life" because boringgg
mostly I had had a lot of eye-rolling moments at the characters, and even though Dickens has His Moments re: social reformation for the poor, satirizing men drunk on their own power (Mr. Bumble's subplot was by far my favorite), and descriptions, I couldn't stand 400+ pages of stock characters bumbling about in search of a plot (ok, there was a plot, but it was wildly unwieldy - a victim of the system of publishing novels in serial form, fine, but I still didn't like it)
Spoiler
I did dig Nancy's death scene and the downfall of Sikes, though, that was pretty well donealso, the romance subplot between Precious Chaste Teenage Girl and Virtuous Son was boooooooring - I was more interested in knowing how two people raised together like siblings could fall in love with each other, 'cause that's more of an interesting story than "I lahve you so much but I'm ~a shameful orphan~ so I must sacrifice my happiness for your Reputation and Honor in Life" because boringgg
mostly I had had a lot of eye-rolling moments at the characters, and even though Dickens has His Moments re: social reformation for the poor, satirizing men drunk on their own power (Mr. Bumble's subplot was by far my favorite), and descriptions, I couldn't stand 400+ pages of stock characters bumbling about in search of a plot (ok, there was a plot, but it was wildly unwieldy - a victim of the system of publishing novels in serial form, fine, but I still didn't like it)
This book took me longer to read than [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1222897284s/656.jpg|4912783], which took me 20 days, off and on. This particular book took 41 days. True, in those 41 days I read 32 other books, but the point is that I almost didn't finish this book.
I almost didn't finish it because the first 24 chapters were so… mean. I looked up as many college reading lists as I could find to see if anyone really thought Oliver Twist was important enough to read about. He was. And besides… it's supposed to be a classic. It must have some good qualities!
And it does. Past Chapter 24, everything starts getting steadily better, and in the end, instead of hating it like I thought I would, I actually liked it.
I almost didn't finish it because the first 24 chapters were so… mean. I looked up as many college reading lists as I could find to see if anyone really thought Oliver Twist was important enough to read about. He was. And besides… it's supposed to be a classic. It must have some good qualities!
And it does. Past Chapter 24, everything starts getting steadily better, and in the end, instead of hating it like I thought I would, I actually liked it.
I read this book in class a few years ago and it was really good.Good topics to discuss and a classic
Somewhere closer to 3.5 than 4 stars.
It chugged along rather nicely at first, although I didn't like to picture the beatings and starvation too clearly. Certain characters, such as Mr. Bumble in his pomposity, were much more interesting to imagine than pathetic Oliver taking punches. However, once we came to Chapter 15 I almost tossed the book aside because I was so sad and frustrated with what happened. Almost, but I didn't.
It chugged along rather nicely at first, although I didn't like to picture the beatings and starvation too clearly. Certain characters, such as Mr. Bumble in his pomposity, were much more interesting to imagine than pathetic Oliver taking punches. However, once we came to Chapter 15 I almost tossed the book aside because I was so sad and frustrated with what happened. Almost, but I didn't.