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Dombey and Son

by Charles Dickens, Jonathan Lethem (Introduction)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 3,813 ratings · 254 reviews

Dombey and Son, Charles Dickens’s story of a powerful man whose callous neglect of his family triggers his professional and personal downfall, showcases the author’s gift for vivid characterization and unfailingly realistic description. As Jonathan Lethem contends in his Introduction, Dickens’s “genius . . . is at one with the genius of the form of the novel itself: Dicken...more

Paperback, 880 pages

Published April 8th 2003 by Modern Library (first published 1848)

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Apr 12, 2013 Sherwood Smith added it

Shelves: fiction

Reading Dickens always reminds me that there was no such thing as an editor as we understand the function of an editor now. Dickens did carefully plot out his books — we have the evidence not only in letters but of his actual outline of how carefully this one was worked out. We can see through his letters where he deviated and where he stuck to the plot.

This is the first of his books that features a heroine rather than a hero at the center of the story. Florence, an unwanted daughter, is beneat...more Reading Dickens always reminds me that there was no such thing as an editor as we understand the function of an editor now. Dickens did carefully plot out his books — we have the evidence not only in letters but of his actual outline of how carefully this one was worked out. We can see through his letters where he deviated and where he stuck to the plot.

This is the first of his books that features a heroine rather than a hero at the center of the story. Florence, an unwanted daughter, is beneath her father’s notice. He ignores her lest he come to hate her (which he will do) in his disappointment over not having a son. When he gets the son, he is so elated that he scarcely notices the death of his wife.

Dombey's household, as well as his plans, are then organized around his little son Paul, who unfortunately is sickly. I think some of the best writing in the book is from Paul’s point of view, particularly when he is six years old. Carker's run was also amazing.

Strong but at times somewhat ham-handed are the descriptions of the train-building tearing up the English city and countryside: the first is the best, comparing it to an earthquake that has devastated a poor section of town. Equally interesting is the vivid depictions of a cram school and of who does the work when a grand wedding is set up, when a household goes into bankruptcy, and what goes on in the servants' part of the house.

I had some problems, as often happens with me and Dickens, with characterizations who are too obviously either Types to Make A Point, or caricatures. That's not to say they are all either Types or Caricatures. There are some brilliant characterizations, though exasperatingly enough, not all the main ones.

Mrs. Miff, who was only on stage for a few paragraphs here and there, was more interesting (and believable) than Florence, who is just too good and pure and deferential to be believed. Another great character was Miss Tox, the aging spinster who begins as a comic character as she secretly nurses her hopes of attaching the widower, encouraged (or so she believes) by Mrs. Chick, Dombey’s horrible sister, but attains dignity and greatness of heart.

Dickens is so good with comic secondary characters! Mr. Tootle, whose healthy progeny Dombey envies; Sol Gill; JB Bagshot, Miss Tox, Capt. Cuttle, Mr. Toots, and Susan Nipper. Mrs. Pipchin and the Blimbers come close.

Dickens does something interesting with the second wife, Edith, demonstrating what happens to women whose only choice is to marry. At least, I think the idea was interesting, but Dickens drags the situation on to excruciating lengths, repeating the same points in long melodramatic scenes. The villain comes on stage softly, and could have been interesting, but Dickens tips his hand by having the good and pure characters repelled by him by instinct. If only truly evil people really did have a warning aura about them!

I applaud Dickens for attempting the women's POV, but his heroines have no agency--all the more noticeable when I consider that the magnificent Becky Sharpe, in Thackeray's Vanity Fair, came out at exactly the same time.

That reminds me: I enjoyed little glimpses of the past. In Dickens' eyes, the Regency period was raffish and tarnished at best, as we see in a risible character whose shoulder and back are exposed, at the dinner. (Dickens is not kind to older women dressing young, even, as this one did, in the fashions of her youth, vis. the Regency gown.) Actually, Thackeray does the same, in Vanity Fair, which is set around the time of the Regency, with the big set piece at Waterloo. Not a pleasant depiction at all!

All in all, a good read, which could have been a great read if the repetition, preaching, and near-death Victorian conversions had been tightened way, way down.(less)

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Jul 10, 2009 Christopher H. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british-literature, favorites, victorian-literature, historical-fiction, read-in-2009, charles-dickens, favorite-rereads

Dombey and Son is one of Dickens' best! This novel, in my opinion, rivals Little Dorrit. The main protagonist, Florence Dombey is an amazing woman, full of strength and character which guides her through some incredibly miserable years. Some of the characters that Dickens develops during the course of this novel are some of the most heinously evil or sad, or full of goodness and love, or are just plain funny. There's a powerful message about the influence of "wealth", not just money, on the indi...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Julianne rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Absolutely

How the mighty fall. This book is literary genius, of course, and written by the master, Dickens. Beware your friends that serve too well with too bright and many teeth. Don't put all your eggs in one basket you might drop that basket. This book really brings to light all the mistakes that man can make in a broad spectrum but put them all into one man, Mr. Dombey. The lessons within the book are too numerous to mention; the plight of the poor who actually have so much contrasted against the plig...more

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Jan 31, 2009 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm ashamed to admit that until I read this book, I hadn't read a lot of Dickens. I skimmed Great Expectations when I was in 9th grade, but only because I was forced, and I read A Christmas Carol for work once (long story, but I was working for an educational publishing company and we were doing a dumbed-down version). After finishing Dombey and Son, I'm afraid I don't have anything especially intelligent to add to the reams and reams that has been written about Dickens, except that I'm excited...more

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May 14, 2008 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I always love Dickens. This is my sixth by him. I am always left a little breathless by the wit with which he sketches his characters. This book certainly had its unforgettable characters, my favorites were Cap'n Cuttle, Walter Gay, Mr. Toots and Susan, and for villain, the sheer toothiness of Mr. Carker is downright awful.

I found the book a bit slow in its first half though the gradual build of Florence and little Paul's relationship, especially down at the sea was pivotal to the whole story an...more

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Nov 20, 2012 CadyCan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book seemed to go on forever, partly because I didn't have many lengthy spells of time available for reading and its not a book that is easy to follow if you keep having to put it down. Reading it on the kindle proved challenging too. I felt I need to keep referring back in order to place the myriad of minor characters that appear, disappear and reappear throughout the book and found this impossible on the kindle. Its not like reading a book where you know more or less at what point a chara...more

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Jul 18, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, sassysassenachs, pre-1900s, voluminous, oxford-classics, art-or-illustrated

A big bloated behemoth Dickens. An instructive homily on pride and behaving like a coldblooded douche towards your daughter because she isn’t a son. Once Dombey’s son dies (not a plot spoiler, it happens early on), the novel seems to collapse, start again. Britain was in mourning for Paul Dombey’s demise, and this grief is reflected in the sluggish pace that follows. Wonderful, wrenchingly excruciating scenes between Dombey, whose hauteur builds to pitches of teeth-grinding stubbornness, and his...more

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May 28, 2012 Hugh Coverly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not one of Dickens's better novels. It is generally neglected, and there are good reasons why.

None of the central characters are compelling enough to grab readers and keep them interested in their eventual fate. The novel drags until about chapter 40 or so when the pace picks up considerably after Edith Dombey runs off with James Carker, and when Florence Dombey flees from home after her father beats her. Not many readers will hold out this long, I suspect.

The only central character I followed...more

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Apr 05, 2012 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: required-reading, classics

I haven't read Dickens since Great Expectations in ninth grade, which I hated greatly. Thus I did not relish the idea of reading this monster of a novel for my Victorian Novel class. I was surprised to find myself enjoying it from the very first sentence: Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great arm-chair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitu...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Ben Dutton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Dombey and Son was the first novel Charles Dickens mapped out thoroughly in advance. Many of his previous novels had this meandering, picaresque quality – which was fine for The Pickwick Papers, or Nicholas Nickleby. Dombey and Son, a novel in which Dickens conceived of a father who desired a son but is left with just a daughter, and turns wicked because of life’s unjust blows, needed control, a structure to hold it together and through which we could feel the pain of Florence Dombey and this ec...more

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Oct 06, 2011 Sullyfitz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audible

Even though I had read many of Dickens' classics (Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, and Martin Chuzzelwit) I had never heard of this book by Charles Dickens. I was looking for an engrossing tale to listen to on my Ipod and could not have come up with a better one. I downloaded it from audible and have to say that the narrator, David Timson, was fantastic--his ability to create unique voices for each of the odd characters (and in classic Dickens styl...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Ermina Williams rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am thoroughly enjoying this novel. The characters are outrageously finely wrought. The charm of young Florence, and the intricacies of little Paul are melting my heart. Quite delicious and satisfying. And it reminds me of just how 'simple' are so many modern narratives, so minimal and so brief! Modern novels are more like long short stories whereas, ahh the delight of Dickens is that it's a ' novels novel', a really hearty course on human eccentricity, a feast of complexity, and not one insecu...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Thom Swennes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens is a unique story for this well read and better known writer. This statement is made in reference to the social class of the main character Paul Dombey. Almost all of the novels by Charles Dickens have to do with the middle classes and poor but Dombey and Son stretch Dickens literary horizons and put the highest level of Victorian society under the looking glass. Until the first quarter of the 20th Century, the social position of women was drastically different...more

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Jul 30, 2011 David Mcdowell added it · review of another edition

Just finished this monster of a novel - best part of 1000 pages! I live for the jokes in Dickens I must admit, but this is a powerful study of family relationships set to the background of a burgeoning industrial London.

When wealthy capitalist Dombey finally gets the son he needs to fulfil the requirement of his titular business he also loses his wife. A proud and cold man he continues to shun his daughter Florence in favour of his new heir. But will Son grow to be everything his father wants?

Th...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Matthew Conroy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 01, 2013 Judy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At 945 pages, 'Dombey and Son' is one of the longest books I've read for some time and it's really taken me quite a while to complete it. That's not to say that it was tedious though - far from it. You never get the feeling that you're experiencing an 'epic sweep' with this book. Unlike some other long books, 'Dombey' feels quite close and intimate. I'm not sure whether that's because there seems to be fewer characters in it compared to some of his other books, but consequently you feel as if yo...more At 945 pages, 'Dombey and Son' is one of the longest books I've read for some time and it's really taken me quite a while to complete it. That's not to say that it was tedious though - far from it. You never get the feeling that you're experiencing an 'epic sweep' with this book. Unlike some other long books, 'Dombey' feels quite close and intimate. I'm not sure whether that's because there seems to be fewer characters in it compared to some of his other books, but consequently you feel as if you get to know the characters that are there much better.

I was talking to some colleagues about Dickens and we were trying to nail down what it is about Dickens' characters that make them so less rounded than those of his contemporaries such as Hardy or Eliot or James. It's not that they do or say anything too unbelievable, I think it's more that you never feel as if you get 'under their skin'. Dickens is too much of an intrusive author with his characters; there's too much of him in each of his characters for them ever to have their own existence:

"Stammering and blushing, Mr Toots affects amazement when he comes near her, and says (having followed close on the carriage in which she travelled, every inch of the way from London, loving even to be choked by the dust of its wheels) that he never was so surprised in all his life."

Having said that, these descriptive pieces can be very funny.

One thing I really liked about this Dickens was the female characters; they are so much more realistic than some of his others. Dickens' females are often problematic - they're either filled with ruddy, wholesome openness (Peggoty), cruel and manipulative temptresses (Estella and Mrs. Havisham), feeble, vulnerable but pretty and virtuous (Little Nell, Little Dorrit), or battered old bags, usually of the lower orders, complete with bent backs, hooked noses and tattered shawls. The two main females in 'Dombey' are along the lines of Little Nell and Estella, but they're slightly more interesting and sympathetic. I don't want to give too much of the plot away as there are some interesting twists to it, but I did feel that they had a bit more to them because of the intricacies of the plotline.

Very briefly then: Dombey is a very proud man who cares more for his son than his daughter. His original wife dies and he remarries a beautiful but emotionally tortured young woman. He is wealthy and prosperous but he is too caught up with his social standing to enjoy or value either his money or his family relationships. He seems to be a man devoid of any true emotions. There is a lovely cast of minor characters with whom the younger Dombeys become involved - Captain Cutler and Solomon Gills in particular - are naval people who are always there to offer shelter and security. There are also some wonderfully destitute women who have seen better times. The only thing missing was Dickens' typically melodramatic villain - but perhaps that could be seen as a positive thing?
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Jun 01, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have been reading through Dickens' great works, and this was the 10th book in my list. I mention that because at this point his writing is comfortable and familiar to me, and I think it enhanced my reading of this book. And at the end of book 10, I can say that while there are plot points I predicted (like the villain's "sort-of-accidental death" in which nobody can be blamed but nature and himself, which is a frequent occurance in his novels), it was never predictable, and I was still surpris...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Jimyanni rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

Dickens as feminist? Not by 21st century definitions, perhaps, but by the standards of his own time, definitely. In this book, he very clearly perceives, and shows to the reader, the wrongness of a father discounting the value of his daughter simply because she is not a son, as well as various other indications of the wrongness of the discriminations visited upon women in his Victorian England, and the innate strength of many of his female characters in dealing with what their life forces them t...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Tripp added it · review of another edition

Shelves: omniscient, past-tense

Contains none of Dickens' most famous characters and yet is one of his best novels. Thackeray, whose Vanity Fair appeared in installments at about the same time as Dombey and Son, said of it, "There's no writing against such power as this--one has no chance!" He was referring to the extraordinary scenes told from the viewpoint of children, for which Dickens was lauded, for the poignance with which he drew Florence Dombey, for his amazing Edith Granger, possibly the most fully realized female cha...more Contains none of Dickens' most famous characters and yet is one of his best novels. Thackeray, whose Vanity Fair appeared in installments at about the same time as Dombey and Son, said of it, "There's no writing against such power as this--one has no chance!" He was referring to the extraordinary scenes told from the viewpoint of children, for which Dickens was lauded, for the poignance with which he drew Florence Dombey, for his amazing Edith Granger, possibly the most fully realized female character Dickens ever wrote (admittedly a weak point in his work), and for the way his many subplots are yoked to his purpose, an extended portrait of the cost pride can exact from those who carry it too far, and the tendency of people who have money to overestimate what it can accomplish, especially in the realm of human relationships. A sample of what Thackeray meant by his comment is illustrated by this image of Florence's nightly pilgrimage to her father's door after the death of her mother, his wife:

"Against [his door], scarcely breathing, she would rest her face and head, and press her lips, in the yearning of her love. She crouched upon the cold stone floor outside it, every night, to listen for his breath; and in her one absorbing wish to be allowed to show him some affection, to be a consolation to him, to win him over to the endurance of some tenderness from her, his solitary child, she would have knelt down at his feet, if she had dared, in humble supplication."

This is not the only heart-breaking image in the novel; there are many like it. And the protracted battle of wills between Dombey and his new wife, Edith Granger, is one of the most amazing in fiction, extremely complex because of Edith's extraordinary self-loathing.

Though not an ironic writer, being far too earnest, Dickens deploys a nice bit of irony in the title: Dombey and Son, the firm, his cherished hope that his son will grow up to join him as a Titan of British finance, never comes off--Paul Dombey, Jr. dies while still a child. Rather, it is his daughter who is his true heir, whom he barely acknowledges, whom he comes to hate, in a way, for how she found a place in young Paul's heart when he, his father, was unable to. Exhibit A:

"Who was it who, unaided by his love, regard, or notice, thrived and grew beautiful when those so aided died? Who could it be, but the same child at whom he had often glanced uneasily in her motherless infancy, with a kind of dread, lest he might come to hate her; and of whom his foreboding was fulfilled, for he DID hate her in his heart."

Strong stuff. It's a study in blindness, and in not valuing what one has. Without going into too much detail, Paul Dombey, Sr., is brought very low, indeed, by the end. Along the way there are machinations, and characters lost at sea, and heartbreak. Mrs. Skewton, Edith Granger's mother, provides the horrific template for Ida Lowry in Terry Gilliam's Brazil, she of the too-numerous plastic surgeries. James Carker, Dombey's right-hand man, is one of Dickens' most underrated villains, being smooth, cunning, hyper-intelligent, and accomplished, compared in the text, fittingly, to a cat and a spider, and constantly making me think of a shark--the teeth. If you read it, you'll see what I mean.(less)

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Jan 24, 2009 anca dc rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2007-and-before

* sa nu va luati dupa steluta mea ca ii foarte foarte subiectiva :)) pentru ca...nu mai imi aduc aminte n i m i c din ea :D:D am citit'o in clasa a 8a cand ne punea profa de engla` sa citim de nebuni nush cate carti [in romaneste/engleza cum vroiam:] si sa le facem rezumatul in engleza. mi'e ciuda acum ca am aruncat caietul ala..deh. intrasem la liceu :rolleyes:

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Nov 30, 2008 F.R. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dombey & Son comes from mid-period Dickens, before he wrote his epic books on society like Bleak House and Little Dorrit. There are some parts where he tries to make the points about wealth and poverty across London, but none of it is as searing as in the later books. A lot of it is subsumed by following a buch of characters who are - oddly for Dickens - not very vibrant. There are a few of his stand out grotesques in this novel, certainly none that have lingered in the public imagination.

Th...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Pat rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People seeking a return to classic novels' quality

Recommended to Pat by: Newsweek magazine

A RETURN TO DICKENS
As an English major, I had read (and enjoyed) virtually all of Dickens' biggees in high school and college. But why would I pick him up 35 years later? Well, last year, Newsweek listed "Dombey and Son" on its summer must-read list because of its sympathetic treatment of women. I downloaded it into my Nook months ago and finally started reading it on a monthlong overseas trip. First, I had forgotten how downright FUNNY Dickens can be. The droll turns of phrases reveal themselve...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars

The older I get the more I love Dickens' work. This one is rich, like most of his work. Read it in small servings and savor the incredible detailed and thoughtful prose. Watch for stand alone lines that beg to be written down for further pondering. The usual complicated twists of plot, a long list of multi faceted characters and beautiful journeys of forgiveness, redemption and hope make it classic Dickens. Almost every character could be a novel in and of themselves. Can stand alone or be studi...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Lena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: english-literature-of-victorian-era

This was the best book choice for Christmas holidays. I immensly enjoyed it. What I liked best was that the main character was in the gray area. Not entirely bad or good. Of course Mr Dombey is a very proud and snob man and can't show a trace of feeling to anyone but at least as we find out in the end he has some. I liked that in the end he learns his lesson and becomes a better person. It makes me feel that there is hope for eveyone. Florence is an angel on earth. Her faith and persevereance ar...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Sunshine rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is one of only two Dickens novels with a heroine: Frances Dombey. And, yes, that’s why they call it Dombey and Son. Makes sense, right? : ) No, I think Dickens did that on purpose to underscore Frances’s place in the story: her goodness, sincerity, and most of all, resiliency.

Dombey and Son is unique in that it has a lot of themes at sea. Walter disappears for years on end, and there are rumors that he has drowned. Sal Gills is a retired instrument maker, and there are rumors that he has d...more This is one of only two Dickens novels with a heroine: Frances Dombey. And, yes, that’s why they call it Dombey and Son. Makes sense, right? : ) No, I think Dickens did that on purpose to underscore Frances’s place in the story: her goodness, sincerity, and most of all, resiliency.

Dombey and Son is unique in that it has a lot of themes at sea. Walter disappears for years on end, and there are rumors that he has drowned. Sal Gills is a retired instrument maker, and there are rumors that he has died and will never witness Walter’s return. People disappear for years on end, yet all the right characters manage to secure or improve position after a hiatus.

The only one who physically dies is Dombey’s son. There are metaphorical deaths for all the characters with major defects: Dombey, Edith, and Dombey’s toothy right-hand man. That guy-Karker-was a crack-up, by the way. Dickens evinces as much about Karker’s motives through his teeth as he does through his shallow, obsequious tone. He’s forever smiling, calculating, and displaying everything cat-like and canine through an obsession with teeth. It becomes rather humorous, actually.

Mr. Toots was sweet, and I loved Edith’s mother. Maggie Smith would be the perfect actress to play her part if another adaption was done.

I also realized that I enjoy and understand Dickens more if the book is on audio. There is so much difficult syntax, that I find it easier to digest if I hear the tone and inflections of the speaker. Same thing with Shakespeare: it’s easier to appreciate if I see and/or hear the spoken word.

Dombey and Son was not quite as dark as Bleak House, although Mr. Dombey’s tyrannical abuse came close. Dombey and Son tidies up too neatly to take on the more tragic quality of B.H. I also think Dickens did a good job of interspersing Edith and Mr. Dombey’s wrath and mututal hatred with sunny respites of Mr. Toots, Frances, and the Captain. Otherwise, it could have been called a Victorian tragedy.
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Dec 12, 2008 Graham rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 19th-century, classics, literature

I'm not the world's greatest Dickens fan but I appreciate his status. I want to read all his books before I die, but I'm happy to take my time. DOMBEY AND SON was my second, after GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and I studied it for university. I'm glad it was on the course reading list; that meant I had to tackle it, and the size might have put me off otherwise.

As with all his other works, it's a completely memorable look at life in Victorian London. The characters are well sketched and the dialogue often...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Marcia Lonteen-Martin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Beginning a Dickens novel is always extraordinary. The home of Paul Dombey, Sr is seen in the midst of his wife's childbirth of their second child. At last, Dombey has his son and can begin planning when Paul, Jr. can join his business. His wife dies shortly thereafter, necessitating the hiring of Mrs Toodles, hereafter to be called Richards, to nurse and care for him, herself the mother of a young infant as well. Paul Jr's care is complicated by Dombey's sister and her friend, Miss Tox, who bec...more Beginning a Dickens novel is always extraordinary. The home of Paul Dombey, Sr is seen in the midst of his wife's childbirth of their second child. At last, Dombey has his son and can begin planning when Paul, Jr. can join his business. His wife dies shortly thereafter, necessitating the hiring of Mrs Toodles, hereafter to be called Richards, to nurse and care for him, herself the mother of a young infant as well. Paul Jr's care is complicated by Dombey's sister and her friend, Miss Tox, who becomes his godmother. Also in the household is a daughter, Florence, who has been totally ignored by her father and is very starving for love after the death of her mother. Time goes on, and Paul is a rather fragile boy of 5, much to his father's displeasure. A suggestion is made to send him and Florence to a woman who lives by the sea, Mrs Pipchin, and is known for her methods of child upbringing in order to restore Paul's constitution to a more rigorous state. She is a rather lazy woman who collects fees for her charges but does little in the way of child improvement. She and Paul take a rather unexpected liking foe each other, and this is a source of some humor as he asks her rather blunt questions filled with childish naïveté. After about a year Paul is moved nearby to Dr Blimber's school, one in which Paul's father hopes he will advance in his rather sluggish educational prowess. Here he meets many young boys, in particular Toots, and develops a fondness for them all as he is taught by the doctor's daughter,Cordelia. Unfortunately, he is separated from Florence, who remains with Pipchin, but they spend each Saturday together. This is a sad section, upon which I will comment no more, but they meet new people here and I especially enjoy the interactions among the school chums. One young fellow, Walter Gay, develops a fondness for Florence, but being a minor cog in the Dombey machine, is sent away to Barbados on business, leaving behind lovable Uncle Solomon Gill and his good friend Captain Cuttle. Florence is exceptionally sad to have Walter leave, their having agreed to be as brother and sister to each other. Now Mr Dombey courts a woman to become his 2nd wife, Edith, who comes complete with her mother, who has been parading her daughter before eligible bachelors to ensure a stable financial future for herself as well as her daughter. Florence is enraptured with Edith, calling her Mama, and the feeling is mutual. Edith is beautiful, but proud and haughty, and is kind only to Florence. They soon marry, but it is clear this is merely a financial arrangement to Edith, who despises her new husband. Paul Dombey soon begins to resent her aloof and rude behavior, is jealous of her love for his daughter, and arranges to have his right hand man in the business, Carker, be his go between to deliver his ultimatums. Dickens makes much of Carker's teeth, which flash and shine with his hypocrisy. Soon Paul resents Edith's gentle treatment of Florence and threatens to send Florence away if it continues. Carker has a brother and sister, the brother also being employed at Dombey and Sons, having endured a humiliating financial scandal at the firm and now existing on a low level, which he is taunted for by his brother. As they end nears, several plot threads take precedence: Edith and Paul's unhappy marriage; Florence's loneliness and desire for her father's love; Carker's extravagant financial gambles at the firm and fascination with Edith ; Carker's brother and sister; a beggar woman and her beautiful daughter, Alice; Sol Gill, his friend Captain Cuttle, and Walter Gay; and the downfall of the family business. As always, a reader satisfying ending is included. One learns an important distinction throughout this book. Those who open their hearts and minds to others will live a life which yields and equal amount of consideration to them as well. Many vengeful and angry people are paraded through the story: Edith, John Carker, Alice. Those who patiently endure, doing good to others get their ultimate happiness: Florence, Toots, Walter, Cuttle, Gills, Susan Nipper, Mrs Pipchin, Mr Perch, all of these emerge in a positive light. Best of all, Paul Dombey learns not to depend on others to plan and carry out his life but to open himself up to the possibilities others have to offer. Despite all his wealth, which ultimately means little to him and brings him no happiness, he learns how to reach out to others to achieve what he has never been able to purchase. (less)

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Jun 03, 2011 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well over 1,000 pages in the book-format, Dombey and Son is Dickens’ longest novel. The son in the title is actually a daughter, which is what originally piqued my interest. There are two strong women in Dombey and Son---Florence, the daughter Dombey barely acknowledges and will not love, and Edith, his much-deserved cold and proud second wife. The stories of old man Dombey and the two women plus the various other intertwining stories and characters make for the kind of reading you would expect...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Janice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, classics

Dickens can be so nineteenth-century maudlin when it comes to sickly children. In this novel, the "son" of Dombey and Son, Paul, reminds me of Tiny Tim, and not in a good way. His sister Florence, one the closest characters the novel has to a protagonist, is similarly a nineteenth-century type, the insipid heroine, who is deeply good for no apparent reason, and who maintains a saintly love for an uncaring parent, Dombey Sr.

But to balance out these unbelievable and uninteresting siblings, Dickens...more

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Apr 20, 2009 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

You've read "A Christmas Carol," and you wonder if you would like Charles Dickens' longer works.
Here's a test:
How do you respond to the following sentence?

It was a dull, grey, autumn day indeed and in a minute's pause and silence that took place, the leaves fell sorrowfully.

If it makes you roll your eyes, you probably shouldn't read any more Dickens than you already have.
If it brings a smile to your face, you might want to try one of the full-length novels.
It's all a matter of taste.
The above se...more

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The Readers Revie...: * Dombey and Son, Chapters 5-8, June 08 -14	55	26	Jun 16, 2013 02:51am
The Readers Revie...: * Dombey and Son, Chapters 9-11, June 15 - 21	12	11	Jun 15, 2013 10:38pm
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About Charles Dickens

A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, morals and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awarenes...more

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Quotes from Dombey and Son

“If I dropped a tear upon your hand, may it wither it up! If I spoke a gentle word in your hearing, may it deafen you! If I touched you with my lips, may the touch be poison to you! A curse upon this roof that gave me shelter! Sorrow and shame upon your head! Ruin upon all belonging to you!” — 15 people liked it

“The two commonest mistakes in judgement ... are, the confounding of shyness with arrogance - a very common mistake indeed - and the not understanding that an obstinate nature exists in a perpetual struggle with itself.” — 5 people liked it

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