From the Bookshelf of 50 books to read before you die…

David Copperfield

Charles Dickens

Start date: May 1, 2017

Finish date: May 31, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

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Sep 02, 2014 Erika B. (SOS BOOKS) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mind-blown, favorites, clean-read, classic

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." -DC

I've been in a relationship for the past month and my mate of choice is named Charles Dickens...or maybe David Copperfield. They are practically the same person so I digress. Seriously. I take him everywhere with me. I've listened to his words in my car, while folding laundry, heck-I even organized my bookshelves one night while being serenaded by David Copper "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show." -DC

I've been in a relationship for the past month and my mate of choice is named Charles Dickens...or maybe David Copperfield. They are practically the same person so I digress. Seriously. I take him everywhere with me. I've listened to his words in my car, while folding laundry, heck-I even organized my bookshelves one night while being serenaded by David Copperfield. Trust me that task took HOURS! Let me tell you-it hasn't always been an easy relationship! There have been many ups and downs. A particularly ugly night was when I was writing my seven page in depth analysis paper and my roommate asked me how I was feeling about Charles and I responded with "Ugh that bastard." Sorry darling (Charles)-you know what you did! But it is finished! It is done! And it was a brilliant ride and mental warfare all at the same time! First off the fact that Charles Dickens was able to piece this whole book together has forever solidified him as a genius in my mind forever. He would release a chapter at a time to the general public so the fact that things in chapter 40 fit perfectly into things happening in chapter 10 proves that my dear Charles was on a whole other playing field. My teacher told us that when we held the book in our hands go ahead and just stroke it and pretend it's Dickens' brain and give it the proper homage it deserves. (Yeah, I know. Best teacher ever). So here is my paper in a nutshell! Charles Dickens sat down one day and decided that he was going to write his autobiography but realized he couldn't write it because he had been traumatized in his childhood when his father ended up in debtors prison and he had to go work in a disgusting shoe blackening factory. (SIDE NOTE: This was an interesting part of Dickens outline because all the outline said was "What I know so well". Seriously the dude had some serious side effects of poverty) So to deal with this trauma he decided he would fictionalize his autobiography and thus David Copperfield was born. Now David is an interesting narrator because he too is an older gentleman that is writing his autobiography which becomes fictionalized. Are you still with me? It's like Inception. It's a Dickens in an older David who is in a younger David. Don't worry-it gets worse. Our narrator David decides that to deal with his own trauma of working in a wine factory and who has the trial of trying to figure out what it means to be a gentleman, takes each character in the novel and makes them avatars of his own projected feelings. And now we have officially leapt head first into the rabbit hole. How do you become the hero of your own story? You take traits about yourself and put them into somebody else but magnify those traits so you look really good. You have the villainous Uriah Heep, the all too aristocratic Steerforth, knight in shining armor Ham, domestic goddess Agnes, the abusive Murdstones, and of course the instant love/child-bride Dora. And if you're Charles Dickens and you are stuck in a loveless marriage, of course you can make your avatar David make his wife Dora begin to develop a life threatening cough. That's completely fine. If you do read this book I hope and pray that you catch all of the humor that is in it because it is truly funny how these characters start to breath off the page! So did I like it? The answer is a resounding yes because this book has stretched my brain in ways I didn't even know it could stretch. I think you would be cheating yourself out of a fantastic story if you didn't pick this up. It is totally the 1800's version of Inception. Forgive me for ending this review right here-I have to go and check and see if the top is still spinning! Thanks Charles baby-for a lovely month long ride! :D In the words of Aunt Betsey, “Mr. Dick, give me your hand, for your common sense is invaluable.” -David Copperfield

“I had considered how the things that never happen, are often as much realities to us, in their effects, as those that are accomplished.” ...more

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