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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
medium-paced
If you've always thought, like me, that Dickens in his novel, Hard Times, gives a caustic, damning protrait of rampant 19th century capitalism, you'd be wrong.
But he is terrifically satirical, and successfully so, on those in the period who advocated an education based on Facts, with an emphasis on the capital 'f'; Mr Thomas Gradgrind is singularly and obsessively a passionate advocate and insisting of facts, to the detriment of any other reading, of any emotional experience or development. As he says at the outset of the novel, 'In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir; nothing but Facts!' And so his children become ghosts of their potential selves, encyclopedic but, in his daughter Louisa's case, without any sort of integrated self (mind, body, spirit, heart), and Thom, his eldest son, who, while always an adherent of factsl, is dishonest, amoral, uncaring, selfish. But through the course of the novel, you see a journey, the conclusion of which is Gradgrind's eventual awareness of the devastating impact on his family as a result of his obsession, and his mea culpa and understanding that enables a new, liberated engagement with his daughter.
While Dickens is is more an advocate of the societal status quo, hating to see the boat rocked, he does conjure a dark picture of Coketown, the industrial epicentre of mills and belching, incessant smoke from their chimneys, and the automated, lacklustre lives of its workers.
As you would rightly expect of Dickens, it has some terrific characters, some monstrous, some intense, some forlorn but determined.
While Mr Gradgrind is both monstrous and intense for most of the novel, and Louisa is intense, there is the outrageously enjoyable puffed up buffon and capitalist, Josiah Bounderby, with his endlessly, boomingly loud voice bragging of his supposedly hard childhood (which proves to be a massive falsehood), and his absurd characterisation of all workers as wishing to 'feast on turtle soup and venison, served with a golden spoon'. And as for integrity and forlorn, we have Stephen Blackpool, a downtrodden worker deeply moral and honorable - heartbreakingly, he loves another, while being married to a drunken wreck of a woman - despite the awfully painful demands made on his good nature, and integrity with spirit, in the form of Mr Sleary, the wonderful owner of a travelling circus (though hith lipth doth get tirethom at pointh).
For the comeuppance alone of Gradgrind (by his daughter), and the demolition of Facts as a model of education, and that, too, of Bounderby (shamed publicly by his mother, who unwittingly reveals him to be a grotesque hypocrite and liar regarding his past), it is well worth the read. Just don't expect some sort of scathing critique of the system... Also, I should add, the Penguin edition has a deeply thoughtful, unashamedly Marxian introduction by the academic and David Craig (1969 Penguin Classics edition, though this may now be out of print).
But he is terrifically satirical, and successfully so, on those in the period who advocated an education based on Facts, with an emphasis on the capital 'f'; Mr Thomas Gradgrind is singularly and obsessively a passionate advocate and insisting of facts, to the detriment of any other reading, of any emotional experience or development. As he says at the outset of the novel, 'In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir; nothing but Facts!' And so his children become ghosts of their potential selves, encyclopedic but, in his daughter Louisa's case, without any sort of integrated self (mind, body, spirit, heart), and Thom, his eldest son, who, while always an adherent of factsl, is dishonest, amoral, uncaring, selfish. But through the course of the novel, you see a journey, the conclusion of which is Gradgrind's eventual awareness of the devastating impact on his family as a result of his obsession, and his mea culpa and understanding that enables a new, liberated engagement with his daughter.
While Dickens is is more an advocate of the societal status quo, hating to see the boat rocked, he does conjure a dark picture of Coketown, the industrial epicentre of mills and belching, incessant smoke from their chimneys, and the automated, lacklustre lives of its workers.
As you would rightly expect of Dickens, it has some terrific characters, some monstrous, some intense, some forlorn but determined.
While Mr Gradgrind is both monstrous and intense for most of the novel, and Louisa is intense, there is the outrageously enjoyable puffed up buffon and capitalist, Josiah Bounderby, with his endlessly, boomingly loud voice bragging of his supposedly hard childhood (which proves to be a massive falsehood), and his absurd characterisation of all workers as wishing to 'feast on turtle soup and venison, served with a golden spoon'. And as for integrity and forlorn, we have Stephen Blackpool, a downtrodden worker deeply moral and honorable - heartbreakingly, he loves another, while being married to a drunken wreck of a woman - despite the awfully painful demands made on his good nature, and integrity with spirit, in the form of Mr Sleary, the wonderful owner of a travelling circus (though hith lipth doth get tirethom at pointh).
For the comeuppance alone of Gradgrind (by his daughter), and the demolition of Facts as a model of education, and that, too, of Bounderby (shamed publicly by his mother, who unwittingly reveals him to be a grotesque hypocrite and liar regarding his past), it is well worth the read. Just don't expect some sort of scathing critique of the system... Also, I should add, the Penguin edition has a deeply thoughtful, unashamedly Marxian introduction by the academic and David Craig (1969 Penguin Classics edition, though this may now be out of print).
The last 5 pages: 5 stars
The rest of the book: 2 stars
Maybe it was the point, but everyone was so two dimensional until the end, and it's really hard to be invested in characters like that for a whole book.
The rest of the book: 2 stars
Maybe it was the point, but everyone was so two dimensional until the end, and it's really hard to be invested in characters like that for a whole book.
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's not often that I want a book to be longer, but this book could have been a tad longer with a bit more character development and I might have given this 4 stars. It's still a Dickens novel and therefore quite worth the time. This is Dickens mocking the Industrial Revolution and full of characters who are not as easily defined as "good" or "bad" as in some of his other novels. The rich vs poor themes still resonate today.
Writing: 3.63
Story: 3.56
Overall: 3.6
Personal rating: 3.4
Story: 3.56
Overall: 3.6
Personal rating: 3.4
It was wonderful to read this book and teach it to students and then travel to Preston, England in person the following week!
take a shot every time mr. bounderby says “i am josiah bounderby of coketown”
what an insufferable character.
what an insufferable character.