Customer Reviews

David Copperfield (Great Illustrated Classics)

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

David Copperfield uses the story of Copperfield's life from birth through middle life to introduce and explore some wonderful personalities. Look more for deep and penetrating character studies than a fast moving plot line. It is not character study alone, however. Again and again, through many characters and many instances, he seems to really explore "the first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart", and that "there can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose". Look for these themes to come in from the very beginning and continue until they are actually spelled out by one character and contemplated by another.

When David is born, his father is already buried in the churchyard nearby. He, his mother, and their servant Pegotty live happily enough as a family until his mother remarries. The new husband does not like frivolity or friendly association with servants but more than that, he does not like David. David is sent off to boarding school and then sent out to work. Barred from his mother's affections by his stepfather, Pegotty becomes a full mother figure and his ties to her and her family only deepen with time. Through her, he meets her brother, Mr. Pegotty; her nephew?, Ham, the widow Mrs. Gummidge and Mr. Pegotty's niece, Emily. At school, he makes fast friends with many boys but most especially with the privileged James Steerforth and the not so privileged Tommy Traddles, both of whom show up again in David's adulthood. In the bottling warehouse where he is sent to work as a child, he lodges with Mr. And Mrs. Micawber who are always in debt. They also show up again in his adulthood. When the station of life that he is being forced into at his tender age becomes too much for him, he escapes to seek out his eccentric great aunt Betsey Trotwood who takes him in and provides for him. Through her, he meets her lawyer, Mr. Wickfield, his daughter Agnes, Dr. Strong and his youthful bride, Annie and we mustn't forget Uriah Heep. He marries, works hard and becomes successful. These are the majority of the characters and it encompasses more than half of the novel to get to this point. (In my copy, that was just over four hundred and forty pages).

The only slow part is after David finishes school and before he meets his wife. That part did seem to move slowly but, apart from that, the story moves very, very well and -after all the characters are set up and well developed - it takes off like a rocket and is difficult to put down without worrying about the various characters predicaments and wondering how he is going to pull all of these strings together. This IS Dickens after all. I won't spoil the meat of the plot line for you. Again, look for those themes - "the first mistaken impulse of an undisciplined heart", and "there can be no disparity in marriage like unsuitability of mind and purpose".

David Copperfield is, if such things are possible, like a "Best Of" Dickens. It is one very substantial novel and stands alone as an exquisite masterpiece. Yet so many characters from his other novels seem to return here to be rounded out and more deeply developed. David Copperfield (himself) reminds me of Pip of Great Expectations, Betsey Trotwood of Miss Havisham, Mr. Micawber of Magwitch, and Agnes of Biddy. Mr. Murdstone seems to be of the Gradgrind line from Hard Times. One character reminded me not of another character in Dicken's work but of the vile character from Les Miserables (Victor Hugo) who repeatedly attempted to extort or do harm to Jean Valjean and Marius. It would be fun to have read all of Dicken's work before reading David Copperfield just to see Dicken's feelings of the various character types and what time has done to them in his mind. Of course, like any "Best Of", you could read only this one work and have a deep and abiding appreciation of Dickens without having read any of his others.

This is a first-person life-story of David Copperfield ("DC") that draws large on Dickens ("CD") own life. It was his "favourite child" and hailed as his best work by Tolstoy and Virginia Woolf. It includes a cast of over 50 characters. For its time it was one of the greatest works, and still is.

To enjoy Dickens you have to let go, sit back, and enjoy the ride and not worry about the destination. Because although you can see the destination early on, like a mountain far off in the distance, the road to get there is entirely unpredictable and the distances traveled are deceiving to the minds eye. The trick is to enjoy the here and now, wherever the story happens to be, because Dickens will never follow the predictable path, and can leave one exhasburated waiting for a plot closure. Consider a Dickens journey never-ending and you can just relax and enjoy the ride.

The primary theme of the novel is how Copperfield learns to have a disciplined heart and morals. In other words, he grows up and becomes a man. This is seen throughout all the relationships in the book: love, business, friendship -- the mistakes of an "undisciplined heart". He learns self control to do the right thing even if his initial impulse is something else (Dora versus Agnus). He learns confidence in his dealings with the world (his innocent days of being ripped off all the time such as by waiters and cab drivers "my first fall"). He learns respect through the mistakes of others such as Steerforth. Self control, Confidence and Respect are all hallmarks of a grown man and we see Copperfield develop a sense of these, and the misfortunes that happen otherwise, to himself and those around him.

This is my favorite classic, just nosing out Pride and Prejudice. Dickens grabs you by the hand and off you go on a rollicking, funny, sad and thoroughly human story. It is a wonderfully entertaining tale, told by a master storyteller with a big heart.

Phew! This took awhile to read, but fortuantely, I had anticipated that. I gave it 4 stars because that is how I felt about it when I finished it. Knowing that it is a Charles Dickens novel and touted as an all time great, I feel like I should have given it 5 stars. However, I'm sticking with my gut feeling.

David Copperfield is a character that I will never forget. How could I? I lived with him for almost 3 months! I will also remember the many other characters, as Dickens ability to bring them to life is his forte.

Perhaps the reason why I couldn't give it a fifth star is the reason why people gave it negative reviews. There may have been times when a little too much description was given which made it drag slightly. It may well be that due to the fact that he wrote in installments and got paid by the page, that the overall novel is sort of overdone. Some parts were a bit hard to trudge through, which meant I wasn't always compelled to read it. I loved the overall story, the many subplots, and the various personalities. One of my favorite characters is his Aunt Betsy. For anyone who thinks the female characters were all the same, I wonder if they skipped the scenes with the Aunt...or Martha for that matter.

I hope that when and if I have fulfilled my insatiable hunger for the pile of books I haven't read, I can read this again and gain a better understanding of it. I am sure I missed a lot.

I wouldn't have appreciated this book when I was in high school, or probably even college. I think it would take a rare young person to have the patience to stick with it, with all the other crazy things that happen at that time of life. I'm glad that I was able to wait until a point in my life where I was ready to read this book and it wasn't shoved down my throat by some professor.

a masterpiece, truly. now that i have relished the final pages, i will miss these characters and their memorable stories but trust i won't ever forget them.

...well, besides 'A Christmas Carol'...

I've tried other Dickens books, 'Great Expectations' (hated it; Pip was so self-centered), 'A Tale of Two Cities' (who knew the French Revolution could be so... boring? 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' and 'Scaramouche' are much better), but 'David Copperfield' leaves them all in the dust. Dickens himself said it was his favorite.
The characters are unforgettable: Betsey Trotwood, David's resolute aunt (and her companion the great Mr. Dick); the evil Mr. Murdstone (and his equally bad sister Miss Murdstone); the devoted Pegotty and her extended family, good hearted Ham, poor Em'ly, lone and lorn Mrs. Gummidge; the sneaky slippery schoolmaster Mr. Creakle; the horrid Uraih Heep (Dickens has the BEST character names), the uncaring Steerforth; the eternally optimistic Mr. Micawber ("something will turn up!") and his steadfast wife Emma ("I will never abandon Mr. Micawber!")... and the two loves of his life, Dora Spenlow (of whom I think we get the phrase "Dumb Dora") and the devoted, angelic, too good to be true Agnes Wickfield. And there are even more characters...!
I was hooked right away in Chapter 1 with Betsey Trotwood's unforgettable reaction to David's birth... and it's all up and downhill from there in regards to David's life. Hardly anyone calls him by his real name throughout the massive novel. He's either "Trotwood", "Dasiy", "Doady", or "Copperfield". and he bears that, and all of life's mishaps extremely well (if I were him I'd be saying, "My name is DAVID!!!").
Dickens just piles on situation after situation, David's and his mother's lives being made a living hell by the Murdstones, hsi being sent to the worst school in the world, falling for Little Em'ly, pasting labels to bottles of cheap wine for a living, taken under the Wickfield's wings, growing older, falling in love, being betrayed... and I'd go on, but this isn't meant to be Cliff Notes...
Dickens wrote 'David Copperfield' in 20 monthly installments, and was being paid by the word. Sometimes that shows with some very expansive and detailed passages, but he writes so well they are a pleasure to read. I've read 'D.C.' twice, so far.
So, turn off that TV, grab a copy of 'David Copperfield' and settle in for many enjoyable days and nights of great reading.

Having just finished David Copperfield I was very interested to read other readers opinions of this wonderful novel. Many of the reviews listed here reflected my own opinions but I was more interested in the motives behind the negative reviews. I believe that everybody is entitled to their opinions and certainly don't think that people should like something just because I do. However, unless the people who submitted the negative reviews give some background details about themselves (age, experience, tastes etc) it is difficult to understand why they gave this novel such a bad press. You will note that the bulk of the positive reviews are long and eloquent while the negative ones are mostly short and slightly juvenile.I think another reviewer may have hit the nail on the head when he said that they were probably from people forced to read it as a school or college project. I remember being made to read Shakespeare at high school and thinking what a boring load of nonsense it was. Now, as a grown man of 41 I can recognise his genius and mastery of the english language as well as his knowledge of the human condition. I don't think I would have enjoyed reading Dickens as a high school student either. In fact, I read my first Dickens novel (Great Expectations)in my early thirties. My point is that tastes change with age and maturity. I can relate to many of the characters and situations in Dicken's novels in a way I could not have done as a younger man. This is not to say that a younger person won't enjoy this or any of Dicken's novels. I can only speak for myself. What I will say is that people should not be put off by the negative reviews on this page. David Copperfield is a wonderful story and well worth reading. Its just that some readers may not be ready for it yet.

This is a great book. I love the plot. The way Charles Dickens writes it just makes you love David and hate all the antagonists like Mr. Murdenstone, Mrs. Murdenstone, ect. This is one of my favorite books, and it is totally better than it is priced. I recommend this book.

David Copperfield truly IS a wonderful novel. As has been stated, everything fits together too nicely in the end but let's face it, sometimes ya' just need that. The ending certainly is not far fetched.

This is NOT a novel to be jammed down the throat of young people or teenagers who don't yet have a love for classic prose. All that ever accomplishes is giving the student a disdain for any liturature written before the 20th century. At the age of 50, I even needed to knock the chip off my shoulder and open my mind (and heart) to Master Copperfield. I so enjoyed it I'm now going to read all Dickens' other novels.....if I don't die first.

David Copperfield was always a favorite of mine. It is wonderful, how, circling with the years, I can make my own retrospect and read it again from my older perspective.

When I was younger, I too, wanted to complain that all of Dickens' heroines were the same, and now I realize how wrong I was. Agnes is good and beautiful and patient of course, but what about the heroine Aunt Betsey? What about Miss Mowcher, who gives David a piece of advice "from three foot nothing ... Don't confuse bodily defect with mental!" she exclaims, and this is advice we coudl still use today! What about Peggotty, who is true and good and occasionally silly? Then there are the women who are not so good: Mrs Heep, Miss Murdstone, Mrs Markleham (the Old Soldier) and Rosa Dartle?

Dickens' characters are marvelous, but what I find most wonderful is the love that brings them together. Aunt Betsey takes David in, and is rewarded by the softening of her own heart; Mr. Peggotty seeks and finds his niece; Traddles finally marries "the dearest girl" and long-suffering Mrs Micawber will never desert her husband and something at last turns up Down Under. The characters who are courageous enough to choose love over pride are almost always rewarded at the end -- assuming that they survive, of course! (I'm thinking of Ham.) Perhaps it is just a novel, and those who have courage to love are not always rewarded in real life, but the idea is wonderfully satisfying.