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A review by youreadtoomuch
Barnaby Rudge: a tale of the Riots of 'eighty by Charles Dickens
3.0
“The birds were all at roost, the daisies on the green had closed their fairy hoods, the honeysuckle twining round the porch exhaled its perfume in a twofold degree, as though it lost its coyness at that silent time and loved to shed its fragrance on the night; the ivy scarcely stirred its deep green leaves. How tranquil, and how beautiful it was!”
This quote perfectly summarizes how blissfully unaware I was about the riots that were to come in the 1780s because it wasn’t until I was really into the book did any semblance of dissent begin to stir in my mind.
Barnaby Rudge is definitely a slow paced book starting five years before the actual riots take place. It introduces you nicely to all the characters that are to play an important role during the riots. Each of these characters also distinctly remembers a murder of years past that has burdened certain characters throughout their lives and now once again as this ghost has come back to haunt them. Unlike its title suggest, Barnaby Rudge – the character, isn’t a central character though he does rouse sympathy throughout the whole book due to his mental illness and his vulnerability to being led astray by those of crueler natures. Other than that every character is quite a mischief and memorable in their own way. Very well done.
What this book does nicely is give everyone a happy ending, I would have never guessed that of Charles Dickens. Would only recommend to people who enjoy this type of literature (I guess it doesn’t really fall under classics, but it’s somewhere near there.) Other than that it was not my cup of tea. So long that it bored me, the parts of interest were mainly at the end when you discover who certain characters really are (delightful plot twists here and there) but otherwise not a book inside my little circle of interests.
This is just an aside, the romances weren’t major plot points which I really enjoyed but the book did take some dramatic turns regarding threatened abuse of women. Safe to say, none of the women were harmed beyond that of a terrible experience to be had and saved just in the nick of time and then the consequences of those nights are not really ever mentioned.
This quote perfectly summarizes how blissfully unaware I was about the riots that were to come in the 1780s because it wasn’t until I was really into the book did any semblance of dissent begin to stir in my mind.
Barnaby Rudge is definitely a slow paced book starting five years before the actual riots take place. It introduces you nicely to all the characters that are to play an important role during the riots. Each of these characters also distinctly remembers a murder of years past that has burdened certain characters throughout their lives and now once again as this ghost has come back to haunt them. Unlike its title suggest, Barnaby Rudge – the character, isn’t a central character though he does rouse sympathy throughout the whole book due to his mental illness and his vulnerability to being led astray by those of crueler natures. Other than that every character is quite a mischief and memorable in their own way. Very well done.
What this book does nicely is give everyone a happy ending, I would have never guessed that of Charles Dickens. Would only recommend to people who enjoy this type of literature (I guess it doesn’t really fall under classics, but it’s somewhere near there.) Other than that it was not my cup of tea. So long that it bored me, the parts of interest were mainly at the end when you discover who certain characters really are (delightful plot twists here and there) but otherwise not a book inside my little circle of interests.
This is just an aside, the romances weren’t major plot points which I really enjoyed but the book did take some dramatic turns regarding threatened abuse of women. Safe to say, none of the women were harmed beyond that of a terrible experience to be had and saved just in the nick of time and then the consequences of those nights are not really ever mentioned.