Take a photo of a barcode or cover
This is a decent book but not one of Dickens' best. He populated the background with the usual collection of interesting characters, but Nell, the closest thing to a main character in this ensemble, was rather one-dimensional. I was bored with her most of the time and didn't particularly care what happened to her. The parts of the story that focused on Kit, another central character, were much better.
Not his best, although not amongst his worst, either. There are slightly too many characters with not quite enough to differentiate some of them (Mr. Abel Garland is a total non-entity, for instance), and the ending manages to feel both prolonged and abrupt. But the grotesques are very memorable—Quilp is an immortal character—and it's worth reading.
Definitely not my favourite Dickens. I believe this book is one of people's favourite Dickenses, but, for me, it's not his best.
It's definitely not as accomplished as the likes of Bleak House, or some others from his later career. It's a long book, with a big cast of characters, but he doesn't manage the scope or the breadth of this as well as he does with Bleak House. This almost feels like two books. There's the story of Nell and her grandfather, and then there's the story of Kit. It's Quilp that connects the two aspects of the book, but we end up leaving either Kit or Nell for long periods of time to focus on the other, and, near the end, the focus is all on Kit, and returning to Nell and her grandfather seems an afterthought, even the story began with them. It's as if Dickens changed his mind about who the central character was about fifteen chapters from the end.
So he doesn't manage an unwieldy story as well as he does in his more accomplished work from his later career, and the other issue with this book is the sentimentalism. It's a real failing of Dickens that he is so sentimental. There seems to be a female character in almost every book who's painted in an overly sentimental light, and here that's Nell. I know that's related to Dickens' own personal history, with his feelings about his wife's sister, I think, but, in his books, it's almost overkill. I think what makes it worse is that it's entirely too obvious what the end of Nell's story will be...and Dickens chickens out of showing it, which makes his sentimentalism mawkish rather than having it mean anything.
I will say that his strength, as usual, is in his characterisation. He has some memorable characters here. Quilp is a particularly disgusting villain, with a name to match. Dickens was always good at picking appropriate names to match his characters. Nell is sweet, as expected, and there's a surprising kind of darkness to her grandfather, which makes her predicament seem even more hopeless. I do love Kit as well, and Dick Swiveler surprised me.
One thing about Dickens' characterisation that I have a real issue with is that there's often a problematic element. Fagin in Oliver Twist is a Jew and evil, and Quilp here is an evil dwarf. Why not just have him be an ordinary man and evil? There's an element of ableism that makes me uncomfortable. Dickens isn't the only Victorian writer to do this, but I hate it when any of them do it.
So, over all, not my least favourite Dickens, but by far not my favourite either.
It's definitely not as accomplished as the likes of Bleak House, or some others from his later career. It's a long book, with a big cast of characters, but he doesn't manage the scope or the breadth of this as well as he does with Bleak House. This almost feels like two books. There's the story of Nell and her grandfather, and then there's the story of Kit. It's Quilp that connects the two aspects of the book, but we end up leaving either Kit or Nell for long periods of time to focus on the other, and, near the end, the focus is all on Kit, and returning to Nell and her grandfather seems an afterthought, even the story began with them. It's as if Dickens changed his mind about who the central character was about fifteen chapters from the end.
So he doesn't manage an unwieldy story as well as he does in his more accomplished work from his later career, and the other issue with this book is the sentimentalism. It's a real failing of Dickens that he is so sentimental. There seems to be a female character in almost every book who's painted in an overly sentimental light, and here that's Nell. I know that's related to Dickens' own personal history, with his feelings about his wife's sister, I think, but, in his books, it's almost overkill. I think what makes it worse is that it's entirely too obvious what the end of Nell's story will be...and Dickens chickens out of showing it, which makes his sentimentalism mawkish rather than having it mean anything.
I will say that his strength, as usual, is in his characterisation. He has some memorable characters here. Quilp is a particularly disgusting villain, with a name to match. Dickens was always good at picking appropriate names to match his characters. Nell is sweet, as expected, and there's a surprising kind of darkness to her grandfather, which makes her predicament seem even more hopeless. I do love Kit as well, and Dick Swiveler surprised me.
One thing about Dickens' characterisation that I have a real issue with is that there's often a problematic element. Fagin in Oliver Twist is a Jew and evil, and Quilp here is an evil dwarf. Why not just have him be an ordinary man and evil? There's an element of ableism that makes me uncomfortable. Dickens isn't the only Victorian writer to do this, but I hate it when any of them do it.
So, over all, not my least favourite Dickens, but by far not my favourite either.
"The Old Curiosity Shop" was a remarkably quick read. The action is by turns slow and gentle, interspersed with rapidly paced moments of terror, cruelty, and subterfuge. The story centers around Nell, a young girl, and her aged grandfather as they flee London for the countryside. As in all of Dickens' novels, there is a villain and here is one of the worst: Daniel Quilp, the dwarf. This is a character that enjoys being cruel, brutal, vengeful, and even murderous, just for the sheer enjoyment of it. His unrelenting pursuit of Nell and her grandfather is almost unfathomable. Other memorable characters become swept up in the melodrama: Kit, Dick Swiveller, the Marchioness, Mr. and Mrs. Garland, Sampson Brass and his sister Sally, Mrs. Jarley, and many more. All are as colorful and wonderfully real as one would expect from Dickens. None are as innocent as Nell, the pure heart of the story. I enjoyed this book much more than I would have expected, but definitely less than some of Dickens' other works, primarily because it is a true melodrama, with a great deal of sentimentality and overwrought emotional manipulation. While Dickens is one of the few writers who can make such a story work, it is certainly a strain for the modern reader. This is not surprising since the novel was the subject of much criticism along the same lines at the time of its publication. However, I think Dickens' genius is that through the medium of such melodrama, he is actually able to make a much larger, unspoken point about the passage of time, the transient nature of the material world, and the permanence of love, good, and right.
sad
medium-paced
I confess, I don't really see the appeal of Little Nell. She's pitiable and sympathetic, but there is a level of insipidity to her character. However, was there ever a villain so hateful as Daniel Quilp? I spent the whole novel desperate for him to meet a nasty end. And the love I have for Dick and the Marchioness is endless!
I can't think of any reason to give this less than 5 stars. We know Dickens isn't perfect. The merits and flaws of his work have been discussed exhaustively for nearly two centuries now, and we all know the arguments. The Old Curiosity Shop doesn't break any moulds. Yes, the villains are very villainy, and the goodies are very good. Why, little Nell, pure, courageous Nell, she's practically an angel on earth right from the get-go, and it should come as no surprise when she gently but gloriously ascends to the heavenly domain, particularly since the author builds up to it with some rather heavy-handed allusions in the immediate preceding chapters.
But Dickens exerts enormous power over his helpless readers. Such magnificent prose, passages comic, passages grotesque, passages profound, stirring, moving, joyous... let us stop there. I will spare you the full list of adjectives I had in mind. I mean, what can I say about Charles Dickens that hasn't already been said a million times or more?
Suffice it to say that there is a reason that Dickens sits high atop the pile of 19th century novelists, and perhaps atop the pile of all novelists ever. He is a byword, the last word, and he's even an adjective. He left to us one of the most compelling windows on the 19th century. He is a phenomenon that will never fade.
But Dickens exerts enormous power over his helpless readers. Such magnificent prose, passages comic, passages grotesque, passages profound, stirring, moving, joyous... let us stop there. I will spare you the full list of adjectives I had in mind. I mean, what can I say about Charles Dickens that hasn't already been said a million times or more?
Suffice it to say that there is a reason that Dickens sits high atop the pile of 19th century novelists, and perhaps atop the pile of all novelists ever. He is a byword, the last word, and he's even an adjective. He left to us one of the most compelling windows on the 19th century. He is a phenomenon that will never fade.