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heyimaghost's review against another edition
4.0
I'm torn by my opinion of this book. It was informative and, for the most part, well written (there were a few parts that seemed jumbled and confusing). However, he seemed to be rehashing information I already knew. Of course, this may be because back in 2008 I spent a few nights researching the Dickens children, which I understand is probably not something the majority of people will have done. Still, I have a hard time determining if my absent-mindedness while reading was due to poor writing or boredom caused by previous knowledge. I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say it was my fault. And even with my previous knowledge, he did have some information I was unaware of and some that I only knew partially. The best example I can give is that I knew Dickens had a daughter named Dora who died, and I, of course, knew about the character Dora, who he killed off. What I didn't know was that while he was planning the death of Dora, his daughter was born and named. It's interesting to contemplate why he would name his daughter after a character that he planned to kill, and the cruel fate that the daughter died, especially since Forster believed he named her Dora to keep alive the memory of one of his favorite characters. (Dora is based upon his memory of his first love, but that is neither here nor there. What's even farther from here or there is that the character Flora from Little Dorrit is based upon the same woman, though after he had met her again and became disillusioned towards her) So I'll basically call this a refresher if you're already well-researched into Dickens. If not, it is an interesting glimpse into not only the great man himself but into his effect upon his children.
That being said, whether the flaws I felt were caused by myself or the author, I thought the book was well researched, giving me plenty of other books to look into, though my favorite source were the letters. I have read several of Dickens letters online--I believe Project Gutenberg has them available--and I found them to be an endless source of entertainment. They give an insight to the man that fully attained by reading his novels.
The structure of the book left something to be desired though. While I understand why he chose to break it up the way he did, I felt it could leave some readers flipping back just to keep up. The first half of the book covers each individual child until their father's death, while the second half covers their lives after his death. What I might recommend, so as not to get confused, is to read both sections of the individual child, but, of course, it really depends on how focused the reader is. I read this while reading another book, and even with my previous research, I confused a couple of the Dickens children (only the boys, really).
That being said, whether the flaws I felt were caused by myself or the author, I thought the book was well researched, giving me plenty of other books to look into, though my favorite source were the letters. I have read several of Dickens letters online--I believe Project Gutenberg has them available--and I found them to be an endless source of entertainment. They give an insight to the man that fully attained by reading his novels.
The structure of the book left something to be desired though. While I understand why he chose to break it up the way he did, I felt it could leave some readers flipping back just to keep up. The first half of the book covers each individual child until their father's death, while the second half covers their lives after his death. What I might recommend, so as not to get confused, is to read both sections of the individual child, but, of course, it really depends on how focused the reader is. I read this while reading another book, and even with my previous research, I confused a couple of the Dickens children (only the boys, really).
kristinana's review against another edition
4.0
A good read, and a quick read, about Dickens and his family. I tend to enjoy biographies that are about more than one person, and this certainly fit the bill (though I found myself thinking about reading a biography of Katey Dickens, Dickens's third and favorite child, as she turned out to be a really interesting person, a painter herself and friends with many artists and writers).
I read this expecting all kinds of dirt on Dickens. I've never read a full biography of him, but being a Victorian scholar I knew the stories you always hear about him--his stint in the blacking factory as a child, his infatuation with his sister-in-law Mary, his abominable treatment of his wife after 22 years of marriage (I mean, separation is one thing, but do you need to publicly denounce and humiliate her?), his probable affair with Ellen Ternan, etc. I was glad to read something new about his life and family. But to be honest, he seemed like he was a pretty good father in a lot of ways. I mean, yes, he was exacting and withheld his approval on many occasions. But it seems to me that many of his actions came from being both a self-made man and a "first generation" success, if you will. He came from a family in which most people seemed only to be distinguished by how much money they could lose. He wanted his children to make their own way in the world, the way he had. But then again, how could they, really, since they would always be known as the sons and daughters of one of the most famous men in the world.
The weirdest, most Dickensian part was the chapter on his daughter Dora (named after David Copperfield's Dora), who died at 8 months. I will say no more; the way Gottlieb tells it is good and creepy.
I would agree with another reviewer that some of the "20th century psychologizing" was a little annoying, and Gottlieb was a little repetitive at times, but overall, this was a good read.
I read this expecting all kinds of dirt on Dickens. I've never read a full biography of him, but being a Victorian scholar I knew the stories you always hear about him--his stint in the blacking factory as a child, his infatuation with his sister-in-law Mary, his abominable treatment of his wife after 22 years of marriage (I mean, separation is one thing, but do you need to publicly denounce and humiliate her?), his probable affair with Ellen Ternan, etc. I was glad to read something new about his life and family. But to be honest, he seemed like he was a pretty good father in a lot of ways. I mean, yes, he was exacting and withheld his approval on many occasions. But it seems to me that many of his actions came from being both a self-made man and a "first generation" success, if you will. He came from a family in which most people seemed only to be distinguished by how much money they could lose. He wanted his children to make their own way in the world, the way he had. But then again, how could they, really, since they would always be known as the sons and daughters of one of the most famous men in the world.
The weirdest, most Dickensian part was the chapter on his daughter Dora (named after David Copperfield's Dora), who died at 8 months. I will say no more; the way Gottlieb tells it is good and creepy.
I would agree with another reviewer that some of the "20th century psychologizing" was a little annoying, and Gottlieb was a little repetitive at times, but overall, this was a good read.
kahale's review
2.0
History of the lives of Charles dickens. I found them boring and crying that they didn't come up to the expectations of their famous father.
jensteerswell's review
4.0
What I liked about it: I like a good take-down piece just as much as anyone else, and Dickens had much to be taken down. His main disappointment with his sons appears to be the thing that caused his own father's downfall and his resultant work in a boot-blacking factory: poor money management. Once sent away, they and their creditors wrote him constantly, asking for more money to pay gambling debts, or for the 25 pairs of kid-leather gloves they desperately needed. One is sent off to India with the military, returns to England after seven years, squanders his inheritance, and dies ignobly in Canada after a failed career in the Northwest Mounted Police. The youngest and perhaps most fragile son, Plorn, is sent off to Australia at just 16 and refuses to help pay to re-purchase the garden house his father wrote most of his works in after another son has to auction it off when he can't pay for the upkeep. One of the daughters can't get past being Miss Dickens and ends up living with a minister and his wife and possibly dies an alcoholic. Several others die young of one of the many diseases that took people in the days before food and water were safe and antibiotics had been discovered. Only three children can be said to be real successes: Katie, who was a moderately successful painter with a wide social network, Charley, who was eventually allowed to take over his father's literary magazine, and Henry, who was sent to Cambridge and became a judge.
What I didn't like about it: I can't really fault the author for this, as he certainly seems to have done his research, but there are very few details, especially about the less successful kids. For example, it's never clear if the constant begging letters are a result of gambling or of extravagant purchases. Nor is it clear what the situation was with the wayward daughter. But that is mostly a result of Victorian morals: nobody wanted to say it out loud.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
What I didn't like about it: I can't really fault the author for this, as he certainly seems to have done his research, but there are very few details, especially about the less successful kids. For example, it's never clear if the constant begging letters are a result of gambling or of extravagant purchases. Nor is it clear what the situation was with the wayward daughter. But that is mostly a result of Victorian morals: nobody wanted to say it out loud.
omnibrowbooks.blogspot.com
mcampbel's review
4.0
This turned out to be an interesting read. I had no idea one of his sons was a Northwest Mounted policeman.
martialia's review
4.0
I feel that this book is for the human in us all...finding that a beloved writer is really a mixture of many traits. Easy to read and well researched but I wish there were *more* to this little book.
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