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A review by heyimaghost
Great Expectations: The Sons and Daughters of Charles Dickens by Robert Gottlieb
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).