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3.33 AVERAGE
3.33 AVERAGE
was supposed to read this for class but the plot is not compelling enough to me so idc anymore. not sorry
challenging
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:
Yes
Takes a while for things to get moving and most of the characters have the typical exaggerated attributes you expect with Dickens, but such attributes stand out even more as a result of the pace. Some comedic moments, would possibly benefit from an audio book as the humour does feel rather dependent on tone. Think of everything you know about Dickens and his writing and you'll probably find it in this novel.
inspiring
reflective
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:
Yes
"It seemed as if, first in her own fire within the house, and then in the fiery haze without, she tried to discover what kind of woof Old Time, that greatest and longest-established Spinner of all, would weave from the threads he had already spun into a woman. But his factory is a secret place, his work is noiseless, and his Hands are mutes."
Well, thanks to my dear friend Crystal for giving me this one. It's been a while since I've read Dickens-the last time was probably A Tale of Two Cities in high school. I respect him as an author, but I don't have--or at least didn't--have any special affection for him. Great Expectations has always seemed a bit too overblown. Yet, my lack of attention to him is no doubt a result of my finding him tedious as a homework assignment. And from reading his prose again, I can see how it was that way for me. Alas, here we are in a new era, one in which I am no longer a petulant idiot in high school (Okay I wasn't that bad, but it was a good transition).
Hard Times is a great example of how great an author Dickens can be. And I say that not having read some of his more exceptional works. It's short and punchy without falling into cliches. It's got a cast of colorful and interesting characters that find plot lines to follow without creating an overdramatic web of intrigue. Perhaps the most masterful thing about it is how effortlessly it demonstrates how a country/city/family's way of life and personal philosophy molds its young people into the social and political roles it has available for them. And we're not talking about a surface level thing, but in the most fundamental way possible. This might be the greatest weakness of the book-that it too explicitly ties the characters' motivations, actions, and behavior to their sociopolitical position in life (I'm using "political" here in the broadest possible sense). But the problem with that as a weakness is that in real life it is absolutely true! So it's not so much a weakness as a hard truth you'd rather not have thrust in your face while reading a book that you're probably looking for some kind of break from reality in reading. Worry not! unless you're living in post-industrial England, or you really feel like being self-examining gadfly (yes, welcome my friends) it probably not that hard to take the story in its context. And so my contention here is that the potentially weakest thing about the book is in fact one of its more masterful aspects. What ho!
So what about those characters? Yes yes, they all manage to be excellently crafted products of their upbringings and social stations, but also very alive and vibrant personalities. We've got the old aristocrat with the Roman nose Mrs. Sparsit (oh yes they all have delightfully Dickensian names, the most hilarious of which is the circus master Mr. Sleary who has a lisp and is perpetually Mr. Thleary-Oh Dickens you rascal!), the novus homo Bounderby who huffs and puffs with hair like our own dear Trump, Harthouse the apathetic young aristocrat who has some hilariously indolent lines, Gradgrind the fact-committed administrator who learns the errors of his ways from his children expressing the moral dearth of what an obsession with facts can do (an obsession, I might point out, that is exactly the sort of product of the socioeconomic conditions of the times I spoke of above), Blackpool the honor-logged proletariat, some women who embody charity of heart (maybe Christian altruism-I think I read that in someone else's review), and the horse-riding circus folk who close the novel with virtue and joy in their hearts despite being deemed low-class.
Dickens has crafted the plot fairly closely and it arcs in three parts like a carefully composed symphony. Seriously, you could like graphically map out the themes. But none of that particularly detracts from the reading. The only thing that really got me was Stephen's dialect wore on me to read. But I'm just being lazy, really.
The funniest moment, aside from the various reversals, had to be a conversation between Mrs. Sparsit and Harthouse where they trade ever more increasing exaggerations of themselves where Harthouse becomes more and more indolent and Sparsit becomes more and more disdainful. Both aloof in that humorously aristocratic way. Anyway! I had a laugh.
I read that this is one of Dickens more controversial works because some people love it, others hate it. I think it's pretty good, but I can't quite give it 5 stars. The Blackpool story line lack a certain something for me, even though it was solid enough. The lack of star is purely a matter of enjoyment for me so don't take it personally Dickens! The fact that he is able to get everything together, that the story is so concisely written yet substantial at the same time-these things are enough for me to convince me of the quality of Hard Times.
I did enjoy following along with the plot and I liked Gradgrind's realization of his great error to his children and that he was able to overcome it. Louisa was the star of the novel for me. And poor Tom, a tragic figure plagued by vice. Their sibling relationship was a pretty gripping account, though Tom made a farce of it. The very point of the novel! Truly.
One lingering thought I had was that I wish Sissy Jupe had made a turn around on Bitzer for chasing her around as a child. Because he was a dick and he deserved a comeuppance. But I guess since her circus-family pulled one over on him and made him look bad that will have to satisfy me. I did like how Sissy embody the figure of charity and generosity-it's always nice to read such characters, if I'm not being too sentimentally optimistic.
Who would I recommend this to? Any Dickens fans out there. This has gotta be the shortest of Dickens' work (or close to it) so if you're into Dickens, you've gotta read it. Plus it's really well-done-even more reason to. Otherwise it's got all the hallmarks of a good Dickens book and being short, it's easy to recommend more generally. Although, if you're gonna read Dickens and you haven't made much of a foray down that path, there are certainly more famous books that one ought to read by the man. Almost certainly. I will not here repeat the books by him that I haven't read that I should have read but that I will continue to feel guilty about not having read and will remain so until I will have read them. Such is my fate and the fate of all readers cursed like me! Alas and alack! Heu heu! Etc.
Oh and if you think Dickens is a tough author or something, he's not bad at all, give this one a stab. If you hate it, I guess you'll know. Happy reading!
Here are two excellent quotes that spoke to me:
Harthouse, trying to impress Louisa (this whole stage in the novel is wrenching because Harthouse is pitiable but his predatory gaze on Louisa is rather unseemly-disgusting, in a word-and yet he gets his just desserts. However, I find the indolent aristocrat he represents to be rather humorous and his various turns of phrases and mannerisms tickle me.)-
"I have not so much as the slightest predilection left. I assure you I attach not the least importance to any opinions. The result of the varieties of boredom I have undergone is a conviction (unless conviction is too industrious a word for the lazy sentiment I entertain on the subject) that any set of ideas will do just as much good as any other set, and just as much harm as any other set. There's an English family with a charming Italian motto. What will be, will be. It's the only truth going!"
Louisa to Sissy, earnestly grappling with having suppressed her true nature and the loss of her potential-
"First, Sissy, do you know what I am? I am so proud and so hardened, so confused and troubled, so resentful and unjust to everyone and to myself, that everything is stormy, dark, and wicked to me. Does not that repel you?"
"No!"
"I am so unhappy, and all that should have made me otherwise is so laid waste, that if I had been bereft of sense to this hour, and instead of being as learned as you think me had to begin to acquire the simplest truths, I could not want a guide to peace, contentment, honour, all the good of which i am quite devoid, more abjectly than I do. Does that not repel you?"
"No!"
Well, thanks to my dear friend Crystal for giving me this one. It's been a while since I've read Dickens-the last time was probably A Tale of Two Cities in high school. I respect him as an author, but I don't have--or at least didn't--have any special affection for him. Great Expectations has always seemed a bit too overblown. Yet, my lack of attention to him is no doubt a result of my finding him tedious as a homework assignment. And from reading his prose again, I can see how it was that way for me. Alas, here we are in a new era, one in which I am no longer a petulant idiot in high school (Okay I wasn't that bad, but it was a good transition).
Hard Times is a great example of how great an author Dickens can be. And I say that not having read some of his more exceptional works. It's short and punchy without falling into cliches. It's got a cast of colorful and interesting characters that find plot lines to follow without creating an overdramatic web of intrigue. Perhaps the most masterful thing about it is how effortlessly it demonstrates how a country/city/family's way of life and personal philosophy molds its young people into the social and political roles it has available for them. And we're not talking about a surface level thing, but in the most fundamental way possible. This might be the greatest weakness of the book-that it too explicitly ties the characters' motivations, actions, and behavior to their sociopolitical position in life (I'm using "political" here in the broadest possible sense). But the problem with that as a weakness is that in real life it is absolutely true! So it's not so much a weakness as a hard truth you'd rather not have thrust in your face while reading a book that you're probably looking for some kind of break from reality in reading. Worry not! unless you're living in post-industrial England, or you really feel like being self-examining gadfly (yes, welcome my friends) it probably not that hard to take the story in its context. And so my contention here is that the potentially weakest thing about the book is in fact one of its more masterful aspects. What ho!
So what about those characters? Yes yes, they all manage to be excellently crafted products of their upbringings and social stations, but also very alive and vibrant personalities. We've got the old aristocrat with the Roman nose Mrs. Sparsit (oh yes they all have delightfully Dickensian names, the most hilarious of which is the circus master Mr. Sleary who has a lisp and is perpetually Mr. Thleary-Oh Dickens you rascal!), the novus homo Bounderby who huffs and puffs with hair like our own dear Trump, Harthouse the apathetic young aristocrat who has some hilariously indolent lines, Gradgrind the fact-committed administrator who learns the errors of his ways from his children expressing the moral dearth of what an obsession with facts can do (an obsession, I might point out, that is exactly the sort of product of the socioeconomic conditions of the times I spoke of above), Blackpool the honor-logged proletariat, some women who embody charity of heart (maybe Christian altruism-I think I read that in someone else's review), and the horse-riding circus folk who close the novel with virtue and joy in their hearts despite being deemed low-class.
Dickens has crafted the plot fairly closely and it arcs in three parts like a carefully composed symphony. Seriously, you could like graphically map out the themes. But none of that particularly detracts from the reading. The only thing that really got me was Stephen's dialect wore on me to read. But I'm just being lazy, really.
The funniest moment, aside from the various reversals, had to be a conversation between Mrs. Sparsit and Harthouse where they trade ever more increasing exaggerations of themselves where Harthouse becomes more and more indolent and Sparsit becomes more and more disdainful. Both aloof in that humorously aristocratic way. Anyway! I had a laugh.
I read that this is one of Dickens more controversial works because some people love it, others hate it. I think it's pretty good, but I can't quite give it 5 stars. The Blackpool story line lack a certain something for me, even though it was solid enough. The lack of star is purely a matter of enjoyment for me so don't take it personally Dickens! The fact that he is able to get everything together, that the story is so concisely written yet substantial at the same time-these things are enough for me to convince me of the quality of Hard Times.
I did enjoy following along with the plot and I liked Gradgrind's realization of his great error to his children and that he was able to overcome it. Louisa was the star of the novel for me. And poor Tom, a tragic figure plagued by vice. Their sibling relationship was a pretty gripping account, though Tom made a farce of it. The very point of the novel! Truly.
One lingering thought I had was that I wish Sissy Jupe had made a turn around on Bitzer for chasing her around as a child. Because he was a dick and he deserved a comeuppance. But I guess since her circus-family pulled one over on him and made him look bad that will have to satisfy me. I did like how Sissy embody the figure of charity and generosity-it's always nice to read such characters, if I'm not being too sentimentally optimistic.
Who would I recommend this to? Any Dickens fans out there. This has gotta be the shortest of Dickens' work (or close to it) so if you're into Dickens, you've gotta read it. Plus it's really well-done-even more reason to. Otherwise it's got all the hallmarks of a good Dickens book and being short, it's easy to recommend more generally. Although, if you're gonna read Dickens and you haven't made much of a foray down that path, there are certainly more famous books that one ought to read by the man. Almost certainly. I will not here repeat the books by him that I haven't read that I should have read but that I will continue to feel guilty about not having read and will remain so until I will have read them. Such is my fate and the fate of all readers cursed like me! Alas and alack! Heu heu! Etc.
Oh and if you think Dickens is a tough author or something, he's not bad at all, give this one a stab. If you hate it, I guess you'll know. Happy reading!
Here are two excellent quotes that spoke to me:
Harthouse, trying to impress Louisa (this whole stage in the novel is wrenching because Harthouse is pitiable but his predatory gaze on Louisa is rather unseemly-disgusting, in a word-and yet he gets his just desserts. However, I find the indolent aristocrat he represents to be rather humorous and his various turns of phrases and mannerisms tickle me.)-
"I have not so much as the slightest predilection left. I assure you I attach not the least importance to any opinions. The result of the varieties of boredom I have undergone is a conviction (unless conviction is too industrious a word for the lazy sentiment I entertain on the subject) that any set of ideas will do just as much good as any other set, and just as much harm as any other set. There's an English family with a charming Italian motto. What will be, will be. It's the only truth going!"
Louisa to Sissy, earnestly grappling with having suppressed her true nature and the loss of her potential-
"First, Sissy, do you know what I am? I am so proud and so hardened, so confused and troubled, so resentful and unjust to everyone and to myself, that everything is stormy, dark, and wicked to me. Does not that repel you?"
"No!"
"I am so unhappy, and all that should have made me otherwise is so laid waste, that if I had been bereft of sense to this hour, and instead of being as learned as you think me had to begin to acquire the simplest truths, I could not want a guide to peace, contentment, honour, all the good of which i am quite devoid, more abjectly than I do. Does that not repel you?"
"No!"
3 stars
Eh, definitely not one of his writing-random-words-just-to-make-more-money novel, but I am little unsettled with how it concluded.
Eh, definitely not one of his writing-random-words-just-to-make-more-money novel, but I am little unsettled with how it concluded.
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a proud moment. The moment in which I announce the conquering of one of my biggest literary-related fears. The finishing of a full-length Charles Dickens novel. Of course, I've read A Christmas Carol over and over---but that doesn't really count. It doesn't count because, for one thing, it's a novella. Secondly, everyone, everyone, knows the story. It's easy to read A Christmas Carol because you can fill in the hard stuff with visions of Mickey Mouse and Jiminy Cricket, if you really need to.
But Hard Times! Oh, the joy! (...and, Oh! The oxymoron!) It was just the right level of difficult for me. My knowledge of vocabulary was challenged, but I understood it all in context enough to laugh, smile, sigh, and nod my way through the whole wonderful book. I don't know why I've been so afraid to tackle 19th century classics. Every time I read one, I thoroughly enjoy it and come away feeling fulfilled and that I've spent my reading time wisely.
Book Description: "Set amid smokestacks and factories, Charles Dickens's Hard Times is a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Championing the mind-numbing materialism of the period is Thomas Gradgrind, one of Dickens's most vivid characters. He opens the novel by arguing that boys and girls should be taught 'nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.' Forbidding the development of imagination, Gradgrind is ultimately forced to confront the results of his philosophy--his own daughter's terrible unhappiness. Full of suspense, humor, and tenderness, Hard Times is a brilliant defense of art in an age of mechanism."
My Thoughts: There is so much to enjoy about this book that I do find it difficult to really put it all into an orderly review. I was surprised by the many elements of mystery, romance--even a bit of edge-of-your-seat action at the end! I do wish some of the characters would have ended up with happier endings. I found that many of Grandgrind's "facts" were truths of his own making and it caused me to reconsider some of the things in my own life that I would consider "facts". I also chuckled, a lot, at the revelation of Bounderby's "origins".
The "unwanted wife" trope, reminiscent of both Jane Eyre and Silas Marner, was interesting to see. I like to think that Dickens was riffing off Bronte's work of seven years earlier and that Eliot, in turn, was inspired to include the theme in her work, seven years later.
I liked the idea that both Sissy and Stephen's wife were making big impacts on the characters without actually being present in the story. Stephen's wife, especially, was a major player---yet her time in the novel takes up but a few sentences. If it weren't for her though, many of the characters' lives would have taken entirely different directions.
A couple of my favorite quotes were:
"If he had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!"
Also, Dickens's fun play on Peter Piper: "If the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at more than this, what was it for good gracious goodness' sake, that the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at?"
But Hard Times! Oh, the joy! (...and, Oh! The oxymoron!) It was just the right level of difficult for me. My knowledge of vocabulary was challenged, but I understood it all in context enough to laugh, smile, sigh, and nod my way through the whole wonderful book. I don't know why I've been so afraid to tackle 19th century classics. Every time I read one, I thoroughly enjoy it and come away feeling fulfilled and that I've spent my reading time wisely.
Book Description: "Set amid smokestacks and factories, Charles Dickens's Hard Times is a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Championing the mind-numbing materialism of the period is Thomas Gradgrind, one of Dickens's most vivid characters. He opens the novel by arguing that boys and girls should be taught 'nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life.' Forbidding the development of imagination, Gradgrind is ultimately forced to confront the results of his philosophy--his own daughter's terrible unhappiness. Full of suspense, humor, and tenderness, Hard Times is a brilliant defense of art in an age of mechanism."
My Thoughts: There is so much to enjoy about this book that I do find it difficult to really put it all into an orderly review. I was surprised by the many elements of mystery, romance--even a bit of edge-of-your-seat action at the end! I do wish some of the characters would have ended up with happier endings. I found that many of Grandgrind's "facts" were truths of his own making and it caused me to reconsider some of the things in my own life that I would consider "facts". I also chuckled, a lot, at the revelation of Bounderby's "origins".
The "unwanted wife" trope, reminiscent of both Jane Eyre and Silas Marner, was interesting to see. I like to think that Dickens was riffing off Bronte's work of seven years earlier and that Eliot, in turn, was inspired to include the theme in her work, seven years later.
I liked the idea that both Sissy and Stephen's wife were making big impacts on the characters without actually being present in the story. Stephen's wife, especially, was a major player---yet her time in the novel takes up but a few sentences. If it weren't for her though, many of the characters' lives would have taken entirely different directions.
A couple of my favorite quotes were:
"If he had only learnt a little less, how infinitely better he might have taught much more!"
Also, Dickens's fun play on Peter Piper: "If the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at more than this, what was it for good gracious goodness' sake, that the greedy little Gradgrinds grasped at?"
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
3 STARS
"Written deliberately to increase the circulation of Dickens' weekly magazine Household Words, Hard Times was a huge and instantaneous success upon publication in 1854. Yet this novel is not the cheerful celebration of Victorian life one might have expected from the beloved author of Pickwick Papers and The Old Curiosity Shop. Compressed, stark, allegorical, it is a bitter expose of capitalist exploitation during the Industrial Revolution — and fierce denunciation of the philosophy of materialism, which threatens the human imagination in all times and places. With a typically unforgettable cast of characters — including the heartless fact-worshipper Professor Gradgrind, the warmly endearing Sissy Jupe and the eternally noble Stephen Blackpool " (From Amazon)
Bleak and depressing but great writing.
"Written deliberately to increase the circulation of Dickens' weekly magazine Household Words, Hard Times was a huge and instantaneous success upon publication in 1854. Yet this novel is not the cheerful celebration of Victorian life one might have expected from the beloved author of Pickwick Papers and The Old Curiosity Shop. Compressed, stark, allegorical, it is a bitter expose of capitalist exploitation during the Industrial Revolution — and fierce denunciation of the philosophy of materialism, which threatens the human imagination in all times and places. With a typically unforgettable cast of characters — including the heartless fact-worshipper Professor Gradgrind, the warmly endearing Sissy Jupe and the eternally noble Stephen Blackpool " (From Amazon)
Bleak and depressing but great writing.