gosia_maria99 's review for:

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

3.0

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Read while travelling. It's been a good while since I read a Dickens novel, and this is one of his shortest ones, and very different from most. More than any other of his novels, it is a piece of political satire, and per usual, the characters are very obviously caricatures. The angelic Sissy and Rachael, the fallen Tom, the deceitful and creepy Mr Bunderby, the unjustly accused Stephen, and the embittered, cold Louisa are all very typical Dickensian characters (in a positive way, I enjoyed the book).

I have a theory that no female character in a Dickensian novel undergoes any real character growth, except for maybe the aunt in David Copperfield. I'm thinking that Louisa could be another exception...but since the purpose of this novel is so obviously satire, it is hard to include her.