A review by eccles
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

My instinct to seek refuge in some literary safe space for old white men has been amply rewarded.  Excellent stuff!   Crazy to read the whole thing as one book - I can see myself enjoying it much more in weekly or monthly instalments in whatever periodical originally published it - but I suppose I’ve consumed it in chunks over the month so it’s not all that different.   I found myself chuckling out loud on a number of evenings, and even got a little teary over the final reunion of Winkle and his father.  Alright, you have to deal with the archaic voice and all the weird Victoriana in there - but there’s footnotes if you’re interested and none of it really detracts from the silly tales and loveable characters.  Of course, as you go on it’s more Sam Weller’s Papers than Pickwick, who about halfway through is thoroughly upstaged by Sam and his dad.   And all the better for it.  Frankly incredible this was produced by a 24 year old, evidence of some kind of genius even if you don’t like his politics or place in the Victorian patriarchy.   Bits of truly original prose.  Describing August we have “..the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in every light breath that sweeps above it, as if it wooed the sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue.” And in a moment of indignation “… he looked encyclopaedias at Mr Peter Magus”.   Also, gotta say, Tolkien got a LOT from this thing.  Sam is Sam, for sure, and Frodo has a fair amount of Pickwick about him, and the walks, and journeys and settling down at the end could have come wholesale out of these stories.