Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
It took me a long time to finish this book, but not because it wasn't well written or any interesting read. This book handles a lot of themes. Fortunately, they are themes that I agree with and it was a very eye-opening reading experience to see Dickens' handle and deal with the concepts of imagination, Fact, capitalism, and the de-humanizing pitfalls that ride in on the coattails of industrialization. Truly, this book won me over as a Dickens fan. As a writer, Hard Times is a class in and of itself in how to weave a handful of dynamic characters in and out of a single narrative and how to use them individually to tell a single truth. This was a great read and a very important one.
#DickensBuddies - May 2018 #HardTimesWithDickens buddy read on IG.
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I'm sad to give this such a low rating when it's such a name in literary history and on top of that, to be honest: I skimmed most of it.
The premise of the story really didn't interest me and I found my focus slacking after every 10 pages I read.. There was just so much unnecessary description and language that it made it a task to read this book, instead of something to do for fun and I'm glad I have finished it.
I am not yet giving up on Charles Dickens, as this is one of his less popular works and the goodreads rating shows that there are more people who weren't overwhelmed with excitement by this one, so I will be picking up A Christmas Carrol next; let's hope this brings more enjoyment :)
Also discussing this one in class this semester, so I hope that makes me like it more!
The premise of the story really didn't interest me and I found my focus slacking after every 10 pages I read.. There was just so much unnecessary description and language that it made it a task to read this book, instead of something to do for fun and I'm glad I have finished it.
I am not yet giving up on Charles Dickens, as this is one of his less popular works and the goodreads rating shows that there are more people who weren't overwhelmed with excitement by this one, so I will be picking up A Christmas Carrol next; let's hope this brings more enjoyment :)
Also discussing this one in class this semester, so I hope that makes me like it more!
Turns out even writers in the 19th Century weren’t fond of rich guys.
Dickens shows us the lives of several characters in Coketown, from a father who teaches strict belief in fact and will brook no wonder in his children, to children themselves who lead tortured lives because of this theory of education, to a blustering banker who is always too happy to brag about his humble beginnings, to a handful of the humble but good working folk of the town. Their lives intermesh in various ways over the course of several years.
Although there's barely one character in the novel whom I could think of without a good eyeroll, Dickens still weaves a tale that I couldn't resist following through to the end. I love that the wicked don't necessarily get their comeuppance, and the happiness due the good guys isn't completely pure - the complexities of the plot see to that - and despite my misgivings at the beginning, I'm glad that I stuck with it and quite enjoyed it by the end.
Although there's barely one character in the novel whom I could think of without a good eyeroll, Dickens still weaves a tale that I couldn't resist following through to the end. I love that the wicked don't necessarily get their comeuppance, and the happiness due the good guys isn't completely pure - the complexities of the plot see to that - and despite my misgivings at the beginning, I'm glad that I stuck with it and quite enjoyed it by the end.
I really enjoyed this. I think it was a great introduction to Charles Dickens as it was his first full-length novel I read. The language was witty and humorous, characters - interesting and well-developed. I also loved the idea of the novel which basically that our feelings and facies are an important part of us and should never be neglected.
My only criticism would be that I wanted the character of Sissi to be present on pages more and developed more and deeper. To me, she felt almost like a shadow next to all the other so well done characters and her figure in the book is actually very important and significant. But that would be my only problem.
All in all, I absolutely loved reading this book and would highly recommend it!
My only criticism would be that I wanted the character of Sissi to be present on pages more and developed more and deeper. To me, she felt almost like a shadow next to all the other so well done characters and her figure in the book is actually very important and significant. But that would be my only problem.
All in all, I absolutely loved reading this book and would highly recommend it!
Seems silly to give Dickens a rating! How can you rate genius?
No tenía muy claro qué esperar cuando lo empecé; sin embargo, para ser un clásico -que Dios sabe que me resulta imposible soportarlos– me ha resultado muy entretenido y ameno. Tal vez la trama no sea brillante, pero logra mentener el interés del lector, lo cual en mi caso ya es todo un logro. Destacar el estilo, que me ha sorprendido muy gratamente.
No dudo en volver a leer algo más de Dickens en un tiempo no muy lejano.
No dudo en volver a leer algo más de Dickens en un tiempo no muy lejano.
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes