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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
I found the book to be overlong but I attribute that to the fact that it was a serial first. I probably should have read/listened to an abridged version. Just like Les Mis I was struck by how little has changed in society in the last 185 yrs since it was published. Society is still not kind to poor people or children (at least in certain countries). Also if you do try to make a better life, the crabs in the barrel will always try to bring you back down.
Oliver seems to disappear as a character about half way through the book and becomes an object that other people worry over. Story is okay, not great.
An excellent book and very readable. Life for poor people sounded very miserable and the book really brought it to life.
I didn’t absolutely hate it, but I wish we spent more time with Oliver instead of hearing about Fagin’s cronies and their shenanigans. It started off really strong and then I just got way too bored.
Also contained a shocking amount of antisemitism. Oof.
Also contained a shocking amount of antisemitism. Oof.
This book told a good story but the vocabulary and writing was so pompous that it was hard to figure out what was going on in it. It's a story about the dark underbelly of London, and so one would expect the vocabulary and tone to be low but instead it seems pompous. Also often Dickens tries to mimic accents for his characters in such a way that it simply becomes impossible to know what they are trying to say and reading it is painful. I guess it comes from a time when people were experimenting with how to write popularly, but some of those growing pains are obvious in this book. Still I'm glad I read it, especially having recently watched the musical Oliver! and not expecting the second half of the book.