David's review
The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics)
by Charles Dickens
David's review
The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics) by Charles Dickens
David's review
rating:
bookshelves:
dickens
I've made a less than completely firm resolution to read all of Dickens' novels, including rereading the ones I read as a youngster, when I was too young to appreciate them fully.
Pickwick is Dickens' first novel, and the first few chapters do indeed come across as 'prentice work. This is understandable, especially given the circumstances under which this serialized novel was undertaken, which Dickens describes in a preface.
The novel has no plot to speak of; it consists of more or less episodic adventures of Pickwick and his companions. The lack of plot is another result of the hurried circumstances under which the novel was written. It seems particularly unfocused for the first nine chapters (of 67). Then, in chapter ten, we are introduced to Sam Weller, later to become Pickwick's valet, the most enjoyable character in the book. From that point the novel becomes more coherent.
The narrative is interrupted from time to time by unrelated stories, introduced by somewhat ...more
Pickwick is Dickens' first novel, and the first few chapters do indeed come across as 'prentice work. This is understandable, especially given the circumstances under which this serialized novel was undertaken, which Dickens describes in a preface.
The novel has no plot to speak of; it consists of more or less episodic adventures of Pickwick and his companions. The lack of plot is another result of the hurried circumstances under which the novel was written. It seems particularly unfocused for the first nine chapters (of 67). Then, in chapter ten, we are introduced to Sam Weller, later to become Pickwick's valet, the most enjoyable character in the book. From that point the novel becomes more coherent.
The narrative is interrupted from time to time by unrelated stories, introduced by somewhat ...more
