Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

This novel follows the Nickleby family and especially the son, Nicholas. The family meets hard times early on. Nicholas’ father is rendered poor and then dies leaving his wife alone with two children. Nicholas approaches his estranged uncle for help and is directed to a school for boys where he is to be the teacher. He is appalled by the way the students are treated and finally breaks away, throttling the headmaster and escaping with one of the boys who remains with him through the rest of the story. He then meets up with an acting troupe and becomes a writer for a short time. He’s called back home to avert a disaster occurring to his sister and remains to care for his mother and sister by becoming an assistant in an accounting firm. This turn of events leads to the happiness that eventually ends the novel.

There are a host of comical characters in this novel perhaps as an antidote to all the evil ones that are also part of the story. I often found myself chuckling at the escapades that these comical characters got themselves involved in. It is also peopled with Dickens usual wide variety of characters. There are villains both poor and rich; women both foolish and wise; beautiful young girls in need of rescue; children in need of rescue. In fact, rescue may be one of the main themes of this book.

It is also a true old fashioned romance. Love is also a major theme. It’s fascinating to see how the story plays out and the ending is true old fashioned happy one.

Dickens wrote as much to inform as at to entertain and so in this novel he takes on boys schools and reveals some of the horrible treatment lavished on the children because of the greed of the owners. (Greed is another theme in the book) He says in the preface that “any man who had proved his unfitness for any other occupation in life, was free, without examination or qualification, to open a school anywhere”. Apparently there were many school masters who thought that the description of his school and its master was based on them Dickens insisted that Mr. Squeers character was representative of a class, and not any individual person.

Despite the continuous portrayal of good and evil, this is a relatively light-hearted book for Dickens. By the time it was published he was married with 3 children. Jane Smiley in her book Charles Dickens:A life, concludes that Dickens was enjoying his own domestic life at this point and allowed that to come across in the novel. She also notes that although the novel had early success it ended up being one the least-read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it may end up being one of my favourites. If, like me, this is one of his novels that you’ve not read I would encourage you to pick it up and immerse yourself in the life and times of a Victorian gentleman named Nicholas Nickleby.

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci

David Baldacci’s 21st novel The Sixth Man is evidence that as a writer he is only getting better. I’ve read all his books and own a lot of them and I’ve yet to read a book of his that is boring or formulaic.

In this book we encounter characters that we’ve met before Sean King and his partner Michelle Maxwell. Now they are private detectives working on their own and not for the Secret Service or FBI. They’ve been called into a case to help a lawyer friend of Sean’s. As they drive to a meeting with the lawyer they come across a broken down car on the side of the road. As they approach to help, Sean recognizes the driver, who is dead, as the lawyer they were going to meet. They quickly discover that it was murder and get involved in a mystery that is full of twists and turns and really bad people.

Baldacci’s characters have depth and personality. The themes are familiar ones; greed, selfishness and pure evil meet honesty, goodness and unselfishness. The stage is the US intelligence community and the lengths that some people will go to protect themselves rather than their country.

If you are familiar with Baldacci’s books this is an excellent addition to your reading list. If you’ve not read his books before I would highly recommend picking this one up and starting in on the feast of stories that will entertain you for years to come.

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 Scroll by Dr Grant R Jeffrey and Alton L. Gansky

I received this book for free as a digital download from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Dr David Chambers is a Biblical archeologist working in the land of Israel. For many years his own personal faith had sustained him as he made important discoveries and helped to prove that the stories in the Bible were true. But now his faith in God is gone, his love for Biblical archeology has waned and he has lost the love of his life because of these other two losses. He is at a crossroads in his life when he gets an important phone call from an old mentor with a request that he can’t refuse.

Grant Jeffrey and Alton Gansky have written a book steeped in history, a mystery of Biblical proportions all wrapped up in a love story. The love story is the simple part, God’s love for us, for the nation of Israel and the love of two people navigating the deep waters of faith and doubt. The history is the history of the land of Israel, its ancient history and current political landscape. The mystery, well, that’s the part I can’t tell you about. But it’s a good one. They do a good job of keeping the suspense going. The novel is well written with equal parts of action and suspense. I sometimes found the archeological/historical references a bit tedious and thought they interfered with the story telling but I suppose the background is necessary for readers to understand the point of the mystery.

If you enjoy mysteries and especially if you are interested in the land of Israel and the part she plays in the story of Christianity and in the future then you will be particularly interested in this book.

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.