A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

My book club decided to read this as our December book.  As I started it I realized I’d never actually read this before; just seen a lot of movies about it.

I think this was one of Charles Dickens best books.  It’s short, only 90 pages and easy to read.  But the descriptions are amazing and once again the characters he creates from ghosts to Tiny Tim are extremely well written and memorable. 

Here’s Dicken’s first description of Scrooge: “Oh!  But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge!  A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!”    Here is the description of Scrooge at the end of the story; “he became as good a friend, as a good a master, and as a good a man, as the good old city knew.”   You already know what happened to him in between those two descriptions to bring about the change in him. 

I encourage you to read the story again or for the first time. May we all learn to keep Christmas well.   And a Tiny Tim would say, God Bless us, every one!

Charles Dickens by G.K. Chesterton

I’m not really a fan of biographies but am trying to broaden my reading and thought that understanding ore about Dickens would help me to understand and enjoy his novels more. (Please note that I will be quoting some of the book but as I read this on my Kindle stating pages is problematic so I won’t be able to do a true footnote.)

Chesterton is an early 20^th Century writer who wrote on a wide variety of subjects including theology.  He also wrote mysteries and fantasy stories.  There are a lot of biographers of Dickens but I thoroughly enjoyed Chesterton’s style and his take on what made Dickens tick.

The book starts out with a lengthy discourse on what makes a person or thing “great” in the eyes of society.  Chesterton doesn’t really define it although he tries but in the end he says, whatever greatness is, Dickens was great.  The fun of reading anything by Chesterton is that he is so quotable.  For instance during the discussion about greatness he writes “Every man was waiting for a leader.  Every man ought to be waiting for a chance to lead”.  He also says of the time that Dickens lived that “It was a world that encouraged anybody to be anything.  And in England and literature its living expression was Dickens.”

Another quotable quote from Chesterton on the troubles during Dickens’ early years “Circumstances break men’s bones; it has never been shown that they break men’s optimism.”  Chesterton paints Dickens as an optimistic, exuberant person who infused his novels with these characteristics. He also tended to wear his heart on his sleeve.  He felt things keenly and was very sensitive and did not generally take criticism well.

Chesterton does a very thorough job of characterizing Dickens as well as critiquing his books.  It was a bit hard to follow some of his thoughts as he talks a lot about British politics and literary people of that age that I’m not particularly familiar with.  However I think it was worth reading and is a great review of Dickens in context.  If you’re interested in a biography of Dickens I highly recommend this one.

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

This novel follows the life of Nell and her grandfather. Nell has been orphaned and is living and taking care of her grandfather. They live and work in the old Curiosity Shop selling a collection of “old and curious things”. The grandfather begins to worry about how Nell will be taken care of when he dies and tries to ramp up his financial affairs by taking to gambling. Of course it turns out that he is a very bad gambler and must turn to loan sharks to finance his efforts. The evil Mr. Quilp is a dwarf whose outside ugliness is matched only by his ugly character and evil personality. He conspires to take away the shop and the grandfather becomes almost senile and very ill. In desperation, Nell convinces her grandfather to run away and to put as much distance between themselves and the dwarf as they can.

The rest of the novel focuses on their adventures and misadventures as they walk through England looking for a safe haven. At their darkest moments there always seems to be some kind person to rescue them but that rescue is usually brief and they must run away again.

I found this book to be a bit exhausting at times. Dickens says in his intro to the book that he deliberately drew characters who were grotesque and wild in order to enhance the innocence and sweetness of little Nell. But after a while I found myself wishing she could just catch a break and be left alone for a while! Of course I’m sure that was what Dickens intended.

The book starts out with a narrator but eventually Dickens decided that it was too awkward of a way to tell the story so he abandoned the narrator after a few chapters. I didn’t even notice the change until the end when I re-read the beginning and realized that the narrator had disappeared.

The ending is both satisfying and very sad. Satisfying in that most of the bad guys get their just reward, and sad, well, you can imagine what happens but if you want to know for sure you should read the book.

  Barnaby Rudge is the next book in line. But I think I’ll take a break and read the two biographies I have of Dickens first.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Published in 1838 Oliver Twist was Dickens second novel. In the Preface he says that he wrote it because he thought the criminal lifestyle was being glorified and he wanted to show what it was really like. He didn’t think any of the characterizations were over the top but insisted they were true to life

I’m sure you’re familiar with the story. Oliver starts life in an orphanage. He earns the wrath of the people in charge by requesting more food. Because of this they decide to make some use of him and offer 5 pounds to anyone who will take him off their hands. He eventually becomes an assistant to an undertaker. After much abuse and taking an instant dislike to the work he runs away, falls in with a group of thieves and thugs, runs away again, they get him back etc. He does eventually meet some kind and generous folks who look after him and help to solve the mystery of his birth.

That summary of course does no justice to the book at all. Dickens was well known for his ability to create memorable characters and this book is populated with many memorable people. The good are very good and the bad characters are very bad. In the end of course, good triumphs and evil is punished. I thought some of the scenes where Oliver is overcome with his feelings were a bit extreme but apparently Dickens himself was a very emotional person and felt things very deeply so I think he musts have put some of himself into Oliver’s character. The dialogue is long and lazy. In modern day novels the dialogue is often short and snappy probably a testament to our short attention span. Dickens gives his characters long speeches and the descriptions of the surroundings are often long and poetic. But I never found myself bored. In fact the last few chapters were hard to put down.

I was impressed with the satire in the book. Dickens had already developed a very particular way of viewing the world and often presented these views under the guise of satire. There is also a very strong presence of God in the novel. Oliver is often seen pleading to God for help and protection and the themes of redemption and forgiveness are very strong. Dickens clearly felt that morality was based in a firm of belief in God; however, he had no use for people who professed piety but were only looking out for themselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Nicholas Nickleby is next.

Inside Google Books: Doodling for Dickens’ Birthday: A behind the scenes look

Tomorrow, Feb 7, is Charles Dickens birthday. I'm well into Oliver Twist and enjoying it immensely. But I haven't finished my review of it yet so in honor of the actual birthday I'm posting a link to Google's doodle in honour of Dickens. Also Google is making available Dicken's books available for a free download so check those out as well.



Inside Google Books: Doodling for Dickens’ Birthday: A behind the scenes look

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

In 1836 Dickens was asked to write some captions for a story about a Sporting club that would be mainly told in pictures by a famous artist. Dickens grumbled about the theme wanting it to be a travel and investigation club instead. This became a serial called the Pickwick Papers. The first seven installments were completed and then the artist committed suicide. The widow of the artist charged that it was her husband and not Dickens that had written the story. Dickens was incensed by this charge and laboured hard and long to prove it false.

The Pickwick Papers are about the adventures of Samuel Pickwick. Mr. Pickwick and his 3 friends form the Pickwickian club, whose sole purpose is to travel around London and the surrounding countryside, meeting people and reporting on their adventures. It’s good to keep in mind that this was written as a monthly serial so each chapter is a story unto itself although there is continuity to some of the stories.

I was interested to note that Dickens employed the cliff hanger ending to many of his stories; obviously as an enticement to readers to anticipate and buy the next installment. I found it hard to get into the stories but eventually was able to enjoy them for what they were; illustrations of the life and times of an elderly gentleman in the mid 1800’s. There’s romance, duels and much eating and drinking and interspersed among the travel adventures is the occasional ghost story.

I’ve read many of Dickens novels over the years but had never read the Pickwick Papers. I confess that at times I found it a bit tedious but overall enjoyed the adventures and characters in this book. One of the things that Dickens is famous for is his ability to create memorable characters and this book was early evidence of that.

While he was finishing up the Pickwick Papers he was also beginning to write Oliver Twist. That will be my next novel to read.

The Beginning of the 2012 Dickens Challenge

Before I begin my reviews I just want to mention that I found 2 great biographies to use as references on Charles Dickens. The first is by GK Chesterton called simply Charles Dickens. While not exactly a contemporary of Dickens, Chesterton lived a few years after him and completely understands the life and times in which Dickens wrote. Chesterton also has an interesting take on the faith of Dickens that we will explore a bit as we go along. The second book is by a modern day biographer named Jane Smiley, a Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist. Her book is called Charles Dickens: A Life. She explores Dickens from a more modern perspective and examines his works with a more modern day literary approach. Both authors bring different perspectives to Dickens life and works and I’m enjoying reading them. I’ll do reviews of these books when I’ve finished them.

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. Early on he showed talent for acting and writing and his father often made him perform for guests. He was born into a moderately wealthy home and enjoyed some of the finer things in life. His Father lost his fortune and Charles was sent to the factory to work. He hated it. I found this an interesting fact about Dickens as it gave him context to be able to write authoritatively in either an aristocratic voice or in the voice of poverty as he had experienced both.

I’m about half way through The Pickwick Papers and will do my best to have a review of that book along with some more information about Dickens before the end of January. Stay tuned.

Reading Challenge for 2012

February 7, 2012 is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. In celebration and as a challenge to myself I've decided to read and review all his major works in publication order. Since English was my major in University I have already read a number of his books. But I thought it would be fun to start at the beginning. Along the way I will insert some of his life and times as it relates to the book I'm currently reading and reviewing.

Here's the list

The Pickwick Papers - 1836
Oliver Twist - 1837
Nicholas Nickleby - 1838
The Old Curiosity Shop - 1840
Barnaby Rudge - 1841
Martin Chuzzlewit - 1843
Dombey and Son - 1846
David Copperfield - 1849
Bleak House - 1852
Hard Times - 1854
Little Dorrit - 1855
A Tale of Two Cities - 1859
Great Expectations - 1860
Our Mutual Friend - 1864
The Mystery of Edwin Drood - 1870

He also wrote some short stories and 5 Christmas stories, including a Christmas Carol. I'll reserve the right to leave these out of the list for now and decide later if I'm going to include them.

I'm looking for a good biography of Charles Dickens that I can use as a reference so I'll include a review of that as well. Should any of you readers of my blog (I know you're there even though you are very quiet) would like to join me in this reading adventure I'd be happy to have you come along. First up, The Pickwick Papers.