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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ok finally a Dickens that I unabashedly love. It’s long, messy, and occasionally loses itself - but that’s part of its charm. So many characters, all perfectly realized. From mains like Micawber or the Aunt to bit parts like Mowcher.
Unlike in prior works I’ve read Dickens does not tie up every single bit into a nice bow. Some things just happen which in other works would’ve been somehow looped inwards into a clockwork novel. I much prefer the messiness here, it’s more real.
Best Dickens work I’ve read at this point.
Unlike in prior works I’ve read Dickens does not tie up every single bit into a nice bow. Some things just happen which in other works would’ve been somehow looped inwards into a clockwork novel. I much prefer the messiness here, it’s more real.
Best Dickens work I’ve read at this point.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
looking at my Goodreads record, I can see that this book took me exactly 365 days to finish, but I didn't read consistently as I found this book not at all suited for spring and summer days. At one point in the story, Copperfield tells his aunt, "it's work enough to read [books], sometimes" and this was definitely a labor of love for me to finish what with the old-fashioned language and the sometimes overly-long tangents, but I found the experience much improved by the light of an evening fire, or wrapped in a blanket in my window-chair with a cup of tea in the afternoons. Mood reading at its finest and once I was properly immersed in David's world, I found delight and humor and humanity in these 800+ pages.
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A deeply compassionate book. 800 pages of seeing the world through Copperfield’s eyes as he grows up means being able to see characters with mental illness, physical disabilities, different extremes of poverty, and “weaknesses of character,” as valuable and heroic. It’s a rare and beautiful thing. While still being very funny. And Great Aunt Betsey Trotwood is one of the best characters of all time and a feminist icon I aspire to be more like in life.
It’s Dickens so it’s very plot-driven and character study-focused, but by the end I found it deeper than it first appeared. His observations sadly remain too relevant and those in power today could learn a thing or two. For example, after Copperfield is invited to observe a fancy new jail that had just been constructed: “I could not help thinking, as we approached the gate, what an uproar would have been made in the country, if any deluded man had proposed to spend one half the money it had cost, on the erection of an industrial school for the young, or a house of refuge for the deserving old.”
It’s Dickens so it’s very plot-driven and character study-focused, but by the end I found it deeper than it first appeared. His observations sadly remain too relevant and those in power today could learn a thing or two. For example, after Copperfield is invited to observe a fancy new jail that had just been constructed: “I could not help thinking, as we approached the gate, what an uproar would have been made in the country, if any deluded man had proposed to spend one half the money it had cost, on the erection of an industrial school for the young, or a house of refuge for the deserving old.”
Just finished reading this. Dickens called it his "favorite child." Wonderful,wonderful characters,including eccentric Aunt Betsey Trotwood, the fawning, writhing Uriah Heep, hilarious Mr. Micawber, and poor, beautiful Li'l Emily.Always lots of social history present in Dickens' writing. Thought to be based on Charles Dickens life.
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My first mega classic. Liked the story, but definitely felt the length.