The Old Curiosity Shop in Never too Late to Read Classics

Feb 06, 2022 Sara rated it really liked it

Shelves: death, literary-fiction, classics, victorian, 19th-century-literature, fairytale

Written in 1840, when Dickens himself was less than 30 years old, The Old Curiosity Shop, while still a lovely read, introduces themes and writing that would become so much more mature and complex in Dickens’ later novels, Little Dorrit and Dombey and Son. That this is one of his more sentimental efforts can be easily explained by knowing that Dickens was still grieving the premature loss of his young sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, who died at the age of 17.

The death of Mary Hogarth was a blow tha Written in 1840, when Dickens himself was less than 30 years old, The Old Curiosity Shop, while still a lovely read, introduces themes and writing that would become so much more mature and complex in Dickens’ later novels, Little Dorrit and Dombey and Son. That this is one of his more sentimental efforts can be easily explained by knowing that Dickens was still grieving the premature loss of his young sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, who died at the age of 17.

The death of Mary Hogarth was a blow that Dickens perhaps never recovered from. He was quite young himself, and Mary makes appearances in many of his novels, as angelic female characters, lost before their time. What the loss of one so young must undoubtedly trigger in anyone is a sense of their own mortality, an issue each of us grapples with daily.

That this was paramount in Dickens’ mind at the time of this writing seems to me to be evidenced in the following passage from the book:

The child admired and praised his work, and shortly afterwards departed; thinking, as she went, how strange it was, that this old man, drawing from his pursuits, and everything around him, one stern moral, never contemplated its application to himself; and, while he dwelt upon the uncertainty of human life, seemed both in word and deed to deem himself immortal. But her musings did not stop here, for she was wise enough to think that by a good and merciful adjustment this must be human nature, and that the old sexton, with his plans for next summer, was but a type of all mankind.

The story of Little Nell is the central one of The Old Curiosity Shop, but it runs parallel to a second story, which I think of as Kit’s story. While the two tales overlap in places, they seemed to me to be two distinct threads, with only a tenuous attachment. What they do have in common is the same villainous enemy seeking to do them harm, the dwarf, Quilp. Quilp is a villain of no subtlety. He is rotten from the brim to the dregs, and his inner character is reflected in his outer visage. He is the frightful thing a child hopes is not lingering under the bed or in the closets when the light goes out. He is, in fact, almost a caricature of evil, which, for me, lessens his impact. I tend to be more frightened by the evil that lies hidden beneath kinder words and countenances.

In the same vein, Nell is so good and so sweet that she becomes almost a symbol of childhood innocence and virtue, instead of a real little girl in a precarious position. While I was moved to tears over Florence Dombey and Amy Dorrit, I shed none for Nell. This told me that she affected me in a less personal way. Her Grandfather is, I believe, meant to elicit our sympathies, but like Mr. Dorrit, he never completely redeems himself for me. Without him, exactly as written, however, the extent of Nell’s love and devotion could never be portrayed.

The book has been compared to a fairytale, and it fits the description well. The child is in peril, the evil forces pursue her, particularly in the form of a Rumpelstiltskin-like Quilp, good forces collude to save her. But there is more depth than that to this tale. There are the actions of the Grandfather, which bring himself and Nell into the clutches of such evil and leave them exposed to a world where even the elements of nature can be cruel. There are sharp contrasts between the bucolic countryside and the industrialized city, where the fires burn day and night and threaten to suck everyone into a nightmare existence.

Kit’s story, I believe, saves the book from being maudlin or saccharin. He adds both humor and reality to the story and as it progresses, his story becomes the meat of the tale–the portion where you begin to see the inner workings of the characters, both good and bad. It is primarily in this story line that we see my favorite character from the book, Dick Swiveler and the marvelous Marchioness. What I like about Dick is that he grows over the course of the story. He swivels, if you will, from not seeing clearly, or perhaps even caring about others, to being one of the most insightful and caring characters penned. With him comes the Dickensian humor that brightens the bleakest of Dickens’ tales.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It is an established fact that Dickens at his worst spreads a richer table than most authors at their best. If I were not comparing this to other Dickens novels, it would doubtless get a five-star rating. As it is, it is a smidgen below his best, so I give it four-stars and encourage everyone who hasn’t done so to read it. ...more

72 likes · Like · see review

May 03, 2021 Laura (Reading is a Doing Word) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-trad-and-modern, books-i-own, 2021-read, dickens

The 4th book in my Dickens challenge finished!
The Old Curiosity Shop - I laboured a little bit with this read, although I enjoyed it, I found I had to take a break from time to time.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Things I wasn't keen on:

The beginning of the book involves the Old Curiosity Shop but the shop itself has no real importance in the rest of the story. It serves as a connection point for many of the main characters but there is not much relevance to later events.
Although Nell was a lovable and endearing ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2012 Anna Kļaviņa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: made-into-a-film, british-irish, classic, historical-fiction, rakstnieks, read-in-2012

The Old Curiosity Shop (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, 25 April 1840, to 6 February 1841). Printed as a separate book in 1841.

Favourite couple: Richard/the Marchioness
Story is more 3 star one but the Marchioness gives this story one extra star.

Miss Sally and her brother were amazingly written villains. Unfortunately Dickens didn't give us Mr Quilp's background or any reason why he was so evil. Was he embittered? I think he was.

...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Mar 03, 2017 Laurene rated it liked it · review of another edition

The Old Curiosity Shop was written in 1840. I enjoy reading the classics because they are part of literature that has lasted for so long. This novel is not my favorite Dickens's novel but I so enjoyed the villain, Quilp. A lengthy classic about a girl, (Little Nell) and her grandfather's journey across the English countryside and the characters they on their way. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 14, 2012 John rated it really liked it

This was an enjoyable and engaging enough novel of Dickens. There were some great characters, including Quilp, the Brasses, Kit, and, my favourites, Dick Swiveller and The Marchioness. The story of Nell, however, I found less engaging, and the story of the journey of her and her grandfather seemed overlong and a little too sentimental. It is really a three and a half star result, but it has several good points, and is written well by a great master of the language, and so I will round it up ra ...more

Like · see review