Book Review: Nicholas Nickleby (Dickens)
Have I read this before: Nope.
Review: This is hard to review because I read like 60% of this in like February and then didn’t pick it up again until a week or so ago*, haha. I remember not being too into the first half, but I enjoyed the more recent portion more, perhaps because things really picked up in terms of pace and cohesiveness by then. This is very much in Dickens’ style of “there are 60 characters and they’re all heavily interconnected somehow and their lives are just one big soap opera,” but maybe not quite as insane in that respect as, say, Great Expectations was. It was a’ight.
Favorite Part: The guy living next to the Nicklebys starts giving Mrs. Nickleby vegetables and she starts falling for him. We get the line:
“You know, there is no language of vegetables, which converts a cucumber into a formal declaration of attachment.”
Rating: 5/10
*I read on the treadmill, which means that my reading time is basically restricted to the days of the year where it’s too cold/smoky/rainy to be outside.
Book Review: A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
Have I read this before: Nope! I’ve seen all the standard movie adaptations, though.
Review: So the adaptation that I had in my mind going into this book was the Muppet version, so as was the case when I read Treasure Island, all the characters had their respective Muppet/human voices as they spoke in the book. I was actually surprised at how much of the narration (especially at the start of the book) and dialogue was honored in the adaptations I’ve seen, but I guess that’s part of the classic tale.
Favorite Part: Stave Three, where we follow Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present. I always liked the idea of the Ghost of Christmas Present having such a short life because he only exists in the present and another “present” is always on the horizon.
Rating: 7/10
Book Review: Oliver Twist (Dickens)
Have I read this before: I think I had started to read this back in like junior high but couldn’t get into it.
Review: Dickens is good at writing characters who are absolute fart bags but are also so intriguing that you want to see what happens to them (and hope that karma will get them in the end). Sikes is a good example of this. He’s also good at introducing characters and character relationships that are fleeting when first discussed but come up as major plot points (or the main plot point) later. I remember Great Expectations had a few instances of this; Oliver Twist does, too.
Favorite Part: Sikes getting his comeuppance. He bugged me.
Rating: 6/10
Book Review: The Pickwick Papers (Dickens)
Have I read this before: Nope. I reread Great Expectations earlier this month and that’s the only Dickens I’ve ever read, so I figured I’d go with the next Dickens book when I hit it alphabetically.
Review: This was a great book! I was not expecting this level of humor from a Dickens book, but that’s just because my only experience with Dickens is Great Expectations AND if you’re a guy who’s written a book called Bleak House you’re not going to automatically be seen as someone who injects humor into your writing.
But this was great.
Mr. Pickwick had waaaaaay more patience with Winkle than I ever would.
Favorite Part: There were a lot, but this quote is great:
“There are very few moments in a man’s existence, when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat.”
Rating: 7/10
Book Review: Great Expectations (Dickens)
Have I read this before: Yes! We read this in 8th grade.
Review: Okay, so I’m actually convinced now that we read an abridged version of some sort in 8th grade, because 1) I don’t remember this book being so long, and 2) I don’t remember half of the things that happened in it. I haven’t read any other Dickens to compare this book to, but I hope to read some more soon, as it did have a good deal of tension and build up in it (again, more than I remember from the 8th grade reading).
Favorite Part: Pip, Startop, and Herbert trying to row Magwitch to freedom. Tension!
Rating: 5/10
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