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A review by andrewspink
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I first read Dickens when I was a young teenager and find myself coming back to him time and again. He writes beautifully, his characters are amusing and engaging, and there is always something new to discover on re-reading them.
This time I was reading Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, which is closely modelled on David Copperfield, so thought it was time to take another look. I was not disappointed. Although the book, at over one thousand pages, is very long, it was a delight to read it and (allowing for them being a little bit of a caricature, as befitting a Victorian novel), the characters jumped off the page as if it had been written yesterday.
Of course, it remains a Victorian novel with all the melodrama and societal values of that time that that implies. But actually, I found that it held up a mirror to our own society and perhaps especially with regard to social mobility, tacking poverty and the prison system showed that we are perhaps not as progressive as we might think.
An enjoyable read, with the added bonus that I'm going to enjoy the second half of Demon Copperhead even more.
This time I was reading Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, which is closely modelled on David Copperfield, so thought it was time to take another look. I was not disappointed. Although the book, at over one thousand pages, is very long, it was a delight to read it and (allowing for them being a little bit of a caricature, as befitting a Victorian novel), the characters jumped off the page as if it had been written yesterday.
Of course, it remains a Victorian novel with all the melodrama and societal values of that time that that implies. But actually, I found that it held up a mirror to our own society and perhaps especially with regard to social mobility, tacking poverty and the prison system showed that we are perhaps not as progressive as we might think.
An enjoyable read, with the added bonus that I'm going to enjoy the second half of Demon Copperhead even more.