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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
Originally published on my blog here in July 2000.
Generally considered Dickens' weakest novel, and certainly consistently his least known, Hard Times is a campaigning work about the conditions experienced by workers in northern English industrial towns. The reason that it is unsatisfactory is not, in fact, hard to see: Dickens did not become involved in his subject in the way that he did in his other novels attacking abuses (such as [b:David Copperfield|58696|David Copperfield|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309281852s/58696.jpg|4711940], [b:Nicholas Nickleby|325085|Nicholas Nickleby|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327984215s/325085.jpg|4993095] and [b:Little Dorrit|31250|Little Dorrit|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311647629s/31250.jpg|80851]). The remedy for the abuses of the rich mill owners was not obvious, and Dickens viewed one potential remedy (organisation of the workers) with deep distrust. So Dickens' campaign here had no definite aim, and so the best that he could suggest was an appeal to the individual philanthropy of the mill owners.
The distance of author from subject has its most obvious repercussions in the characters in the novel, normally one of Dickens' strong points. His plots are usually melodramatic, and characters tend not to develop, but even the small parts are vividly drawn. The most interesting person in the book is Mr Gradgrind, but he is the personification of a secondary target of the novel, the idea that education should just be about "hard facts", the bloodless classification of objects into categories which are meaningless and useless to the average child ("Horse. Graminivorous quadruped..."). Everyone else, particularly the working class, is colourless.
The best pasts of Hard Times are the descriptions of the fictional Coketown in which it is set. These remind the reader that Dickens started out as a journalist. In the end, though, I was quite grateful that Hard Times is one of Dickens' shortest completed novels.
Generally considered Dickens' weakest novel, and certainly consistently his least known, Hard Times is a campaigning work about the conditions experienced by workers in northern English industrial towns. The reason that it is unsatisfactory is not, in fact, hard to see: Dickens did not become involved in his subject in the way that he did in his other novels attacking abuses (such as [b:David Copperfield|58696|David Copperfield|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309281852s/58696.jpg|4711940], [b:Nicholas Nickleby|325085|Nicholas Nickleby|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327984215s/325085.jpg|4993095] and [b:Little Dorrit|31250|Little Dorrit|Charles Dickens|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311647629s/31250.jpg|80851]). The remedy for the abuses of the rich mill owners was not obvious, and Dickens viewed one potential remedy (organisation of the workers) with deep distrust. So Dickens' campaign here had no definite aim, and so the best that he could suggest was an appeal to the individual philanthropy of the mill owners.
The distance of author from subject has its most obvious repercussions in the characters in the novel, normally one of Dickens' strong points. His plots are usually melodramatic, and characters tend not to develop, but even the small parts are vividly drawn. The most interesting person in the book is Mr Gradgrind, but he is the personification of a secondary target of the novel, the idea that education should just be about "hard facts", the bloodless classification of objects into categories which are meaningless and useless to the average child ("Horse. Graminivorous quadruped..."). Everyone else, particularly the working class, is colourless.
The best pasts of Hard Times are the descriptions of the fictional Coketown in which it is set. These remind the reader that Dickens started out as a journalist. In the end, though, I was quite grateful that Hard Times is one of Dickens' shortest completed novels.
slow-paced
informative
sad
medium-paced
charles dickens' is a socialist in the same way that pepsi is coke — identical at a glance, but upon closer inspection...
I enjoyed this Dickens novel, and liked the call to action at the end, although parts of the ending left me a little unsatisfied. Tom was a brat, and I am beyond annoyed about his escape from justice. I can see how the system failed him and it's not _all_ his fault, but even so, he needed to take way more ownership of his poor choices/actions. Louisa was twisted by that system of pure facts too, but we saw redemption and humanization with her! Several of the twists were predictable, but still well written. Due to the shorter length, I didn't get quite as attached to these characters, although Sissy and Rachael are both people I'd want to be friends with in real life.
Took me 36 years to read a Dickens novel. It felt like it took that long. And it did.
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes