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redeyedandhungry 's review for:
Hard Times
by Charles Dickens
Dickens' shortest novel was an unexpected triumph for me; it is a sentimental, swooning satire that preoccupies itself with the most overt of sensations in its depiction of the opposition between utilitarianism and humanity, and yet it is so precisely manifested into a very gripping and subtle redemption story that any of its obviousness is quickly dispelled due to the complexity offered by the narrative surrounding it. The Russians might have been the kings of 19th-century melodrama (Chekhov! Dostoevsky! Gogol!) but Dickens still packs some heat here, particularly with the Blackpool and Harthouse storylines, which very elegantly crescendo into a thrilling and positively stirring third act. I'm not going to pretend this is his best work (as I've not read anything more from him but this and parts of Great Expectations) but it's a highly entertaining tale and a very narratively rewarding one at that.