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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Haven't read Dickens in a long time and don't think I ever read this one. With an endless stream of fascinating, quirky, engaging characters (David Copperfield being the least interesting), it was the best book I've read in a long while. Such a pleasure to find an accessible, really long book that you can't put down!
Probably not my favorite Dickens novel, but it's worth reading. It moved more slowly and was less compelling than other Dickens stories I've read.
I'm halfway through this novel - page 450 or so, and it should've ended about 50 pages ago, maybe even 100 pages ago. Still, there's another 400 pages to be read. Dickens was paid by the word, indeed...
David Copperfield is not an easy book to read, in many ways. It took me a while to read it, with a couple of breaks for other books, but I am glad that I stuck with it.
The story, told in first person by David Copperfield, begins with David's birth and ends around his middle age. There are many characters throughout, and I often had some difficulty keeping them all straight, perhaps due to my start and stop reading. David's father died before his birth and and he is very close to his mother and Peggotty, her maid. A few years later, David's mother remarries and is overcome by her new husband and his sister, neither of whom like David, who is sent away to school. Though David has some difficult times, in some ways, he is also lucky in the people he meets, many of whom become life-long friends.
At times, the narrative seemed overly long and detailed to me, but all in all, I enjoyed the reading. There are sad parts to the story, but also many amusing parts.
Having not read David Copperfield previously, I wanted to read it prior to reading Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead. Kingsolver has said that Dickens provided the outline for her book. David Copperfield was Dickens' eighth (of fifteen) novel and it is said that he referred to the book as "a favourite child." It is also said to be his most autobiographical work.
"But the peace and rest of the old Sunday morning were on everything, except me." (165)
"Never. . .be mean in anything: never be false; never be cruel. Avoid these three vices . . . and I can always be hopeful of you." (200)
". . . I had (and have all my life) observed that conventional phrases are a sort of fireworks, easily let off, and liable to take a great variety of shapes and colours not at all suggested by their original form." (514)
"The man who reviews his own life, as I do mine, is going on here, from page to page, had need to have been a good man indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic and perverted feelings constantly at war within his breast and defeating him. I do not hold one natural gift, I daresay, that I have not abused. My meaning simply is this, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well: that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have been thoroughly in earnest." (528)
"There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose." (576)
Not quoted here due to length, but there is a beautiful description of a hike in Switzerland on page 709.
". . .that the darker tyrant he has lately been, the more ferocious is his doctrine." (726)
"By and by she put her other hand on my shoulder; and so we both sat, looking into the past, without saying another word, until we parted for the night." (730)
The story, told in first person by David Copperfield, begins with David's birth and ends around his middle age. There are many characters throughout, and I often had some difficulty keeping them all straight, perhaps due to my start and stop reading. David's father died before his birth and and he is very close to his mother and Peggotty, her maid. A few years later, David's mother remarries and is overcome by her new husband and his sister, neither of whom like David, who is sent away to school. Though David has some difficult times, in some ways, he is also lucky in the people he meets, many of whom become life-long friends.
At times, the narrative seemed overly long and detailed to me, but all in all, I enjoyed the reading. There are sad parts to the story, but also many amusing parts.
Having not read David Copperfield previously, I wanted to read it prior to reading Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead. Kingsolver has said that Dickens provided the outline for her book. David Copperfield was Dickens' eighth (of fifteen) novel and it is said that he referred to the book as "a favourite child." It is also said to be his most autobiographical work.
"But the peace and rest of the old Sunday morning were on everything, except me." (165)
"Never. . .be mean in anything: never be false; never be cruel. Avoid these three vices . . . and I can always be hopeful of you." (200)
". . . I had (and have all my life) observed that conventional phrases are a sort of fireworks, easily let off, and liable to take a great variety of shapes and colours not at all suggested by their original form." (514)
"The man who reviews his own life, as I do mine, is going on here, from page to page, had need to have been a good man indeed, if he would be spared the sharp consciousness of many talents neglected, many opportunities wasted, many erratic and perverted feelings constantly at war within his breast and defeating him. I do not hold one natural gift, I daresay, that I have not abused. My meaning simply is this, that whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well: that whatever I have devoted myself to, I have been thoroughly in earnest." (528)
"There can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose." (576)
Not quoted here due to length, but there is a beautiful description of a hike in Switzerland on page 709.
". . .that the darker tyrant he has lately been, the more ferocious is his doctrine." (726)
"By and by she put her other hand on my shoulder; and so we both sat, looking into the past, without saying another word, until we parted for the night." (730)
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a delicious book.
It tells the story of a life, with the richness typical of Dickens. There are so many characters, and the storyline gradually becomes richer and richer. My favourite thing was the use of language: when David is a child, the language and behaviour is that of a child: really a child, not just how adults perceive children or remember childhood. I knew - or hoped I knew - how it was going to end from about halfway through, and I was so glad that it ended in a way that befitted everyone.
My favourite characters apart from Davey C were the Micawbers for their dignity. Dora and Uriah were really fantastically put together. I wish Dickens was capable of internal monologue and description like twentieth century writers: I think that would have made this perfect. As it was, the characters were just the tiniest bit flat. They were rich and interesting, but lacked the full three dimensions. There were lots of examples where action wasn't realistic, but was just an attempt to be funny.
Oh, I forgot - this book is incredibly, wonderfully funny.
It tells the story of a life, with the richness typical of Dickens. There are so many characters, and the storyline gradually becomes richer and richer. My favourite thing was the use of language: when David is a child, the language and behaviour is that of a child: really a child, not just how adults perceive children or remember childhood. I knew - or hoped I knew - how it was going to end from about halfway through, and I was so glad that it ended in a way that befitted everyone.
My favourite characters apart from Davey C were the Micawbers for their dignity. Dora and Uriah were really fantastically put together. I wish Dickens was capable of internal monologue and description like twentieth century writers: I think that would have made this perfect. As it was, the characters were just the tiniest bit flat. They were rich and interesting, but lacked the full three dimensions. There were lots of examples where action wasn't realistic, but was just an attempt to be funny.
Oh, I forgot - this book is incredibly, wonderfully funny.
Me ha costado acabarlo. Unas 1000 páginas tiene. Es mi segunda novela de Dickens después de 'Historia de dos ciudades' y me ha gustado menos.
Disfruté mucho todo el principio, cuando era niño, pero a partir de la mitad se me hizo cuesta arriba. La principal crítica es que él pasó de ser protagonista a ser un mero espectador de casi todo lo que les pasa a otros. Pero lo peor para mi fue el anticuado y ñoño tratamiento que les da a los personajes femeninos jóvenes. Me sacaban de quicio casi todos ellos, muy especialmente Dora y Emily. Me suponía un gran esfuerzo leer sus partes. Se nota que el escritor es varón, ya que escritoras coetáneas a Dickens (Bronte, Gaskell) tienen grandes personajes femeninos.
Eso sí, es un gran escritor. Hay ironía, humor y poesía en muchos pasajes. Y también grandes personajes, como el de la tía, la niñera Pegotty, el señor Dick o los Micawber.
Volveré a leer otro Dickens, pero creo q más corto, para no agotarme con tanto 'victorianismo'.
Disfruté mucho todo el principio, cuando era niño, pero a partir de la mitad se me hizo cuesta arriba. La principal crítica es que él pasó de ser protagonista a ser un mero espectador de casi todo lo que les pasa a otros. Pero lo peor para mi fue el anticuado y ñoño tratamiento que les da a los personajes femeninos jóvenes. Me sacaban de quicio casi todos ellos, muy especialmente Dora y Emily. Me suponía un gran esfuerzo leer sus partes. Se nota que el escritor es varón, ya que escritoras coetáneas a Dickens (Bronte, Gaskell) tienen grandes personajes femeninos.
Eso sí, es un gran escritor. Hay ironía, humor y poesía en muchos pasajes. Y también grandes personajes, como el de la tía, la niñera Pegotty, el señor Dick o los Micawber.
Volveré a leer otro Dickens, pero creo q más corto, para no agotarme con tanto 'victorianismo'.
I read this along with Demon Copperhead which really changed and deepened my understanding of Copperfield and the systemic poverty cycle that Dickens explored.
It’s a masterpiece. It really examines the underbelly of society and forces the reader to question why and how things are set up for the poor to continually fail.
It’s a masterpiece. It really examines the underbelly of society and forces the reader to question why and how things are set up for the poor to continually fail.