A review by jotterthoughts
A Child of the Jago by Arthur Morrison

4.0

I thought this book was pretty interesting. I mean, I guessed from the get-go that everything was going to end in absolute tragedy.

They introduced a sickly young child early and I was like, oh, well, she's going to die. And I truthfully assumed that every other member of the family would die also.

It just feels like one of those books. I suppose, if you wanted to squint, you could suggest this is a gritty retelling of any novel that was written in the early Victorian period which seems to look for innate goodness in women and children. It is, however, a similar story to illustrator George Cruikshank's 'The Bottle' -- only about 150 pages longer.

That is to say, things go from bad to worse until everyone is dead or in prison. Some of them are dead AND in prison.

So, that being said, there was still plenty of stuff that I really wasn't expecting. Primarily there's its very lurid depiction of violence and hopelessness in one of London's worst slum. There's no delightful Dickens-esque japes and gambols. There's no escape for Dicky, the main character, whose only hope of rising above a life of poverty

is destroyed by a jealous fellow slum dweller (if we must use Oliver Twist as a comparison, this is our Fagin) who seems bitter to lose one of the children who he's got on his roster of thieves.

It's a very bleak novel, as the story wears on into more and more hopelessness.

Ultimately, if I had to sum this up I'd say it's a good read for anyone who's a fan of Victorian literature. Imagine Oliver Twist, but every single character is Bill Sikes.