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A review by sraev19
The Old Curiosity Shop: A Tale by Charles Dickens
2.5
Skip the first half of the novel. You won’t miss much. Dickens doesn’t come to the meat of the story until over halfway through, where the action turns lively, the characters develop and deepen, and the narrative marches forward with direction. Until then, Dickens flounders about, and the reading of it is a painful going.
The Old Curiosity Shop was first published as a serial, and according to the introduction of my Penguin edition, Dickens wrote each weekly installment just before it was published. This rush to throw together a story explains the wandering feel to the first half of the novel.
For example, a first-person narrator opens the first three chapters to “introduc[e] these personages to the reader” and then bows out so that the main characters can “speak and act for themselves” (p.35). In truth, Dickens had decided by that point that the narrator would not suit his story, and he excuses him in quick order.
Dickens has a tendency to spend time with characters who have a passing role in the story. Paragraphs to pages go by detailing interesting traits and backgrounds of characters who never appear again after those descriptions. While these characters may add richness to the setting, they end up cluttering the story as pointless tangents.
Skip all this in the first half, though, and the novel is okay. Dickens writes with a surprising wit and beauty at times and a narrative voice that colours the prose with personality. His outrageous characters live on exaggeration and yet move with simple motivations. Even an independent-minded pony brings great delight and charm to the story.
Perhaps if Dickens’d had the time to plan out The Old Curiosity Shop before serializing it, the novel would be shorter, sharper, and more focused. I probably would have enjoyed it quite a bit. As it stands, the lively second half of the story doesn't quite redeem its dull and confused counterpart. I can't help but feel relief that it's over.
The Old Curiosity Shop was first published as a serial, and according to the introduction of my Penguin edition, Dickens wrote each weekly installment just before it was published. This rush to throw together a story explains the wandering feel to the first half of the novel.
For example, a first-person narrator opens the first three chapters to “introduc[e] these personages to the reader” and then bows out so that the main characters can “speak and act for themselves” (p.35). In truth, Dickens had decided by that point that the narrator would not suit his story, and he excuses him in quick order.
Dickens has a tendency to spend time with characters who have a passing role in the story. Paragraphs to pages go by detailing interesting traits and backgrounds of characters who never appear again after those descriptions. While these characters may add richness to the setting, they end up cluttering the story as pointless tangents.
Skip all this in the first half, though, and the novel is okay. Dickens writes with a surprising wit and beauty at times and a narrative voice that colours the prose with personality. His outrageous characters live on exaggeration and yet move with simple motivations. Even an independent-minded pony brings great delight and charm to the story.
Perhaps if Dickens’d had the time to plan out The Old Curiosity Shop before serializing it, the novel would be shorter, sharper, and more focused. I probably would have enjoyed it quite a bit. As it stands, the lively second half of the story doesn't quite redeem its dull and confused counterpart. I can't help but feel relief that it's over.