The Friendly Dickens [Hardcover]

Norrie Epstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

You might have read him in class, but the Victorians read Charles Dickens like we watch Melrose Place, and The Friendly Dickens will show you why. It is the ultimate pop reference to the Dickensian world of shrouded sex and ostentatious death, a book that will have you running in delight to dust off your Dickens. Norrie Epstein--whose The Friendly Shakespeare was called by The New York Times "spirited, informative and provocative"--opens up Dickens's life and times in all its squalor and glory, including his rise to greatness and occasional lapses from grace. She considers his works, major and minor, in decided lively fashion, not just reading, but reading between the lines: * Was Oliver Twist's Fagin a pederast? * What made A Christmas Carol's Tiny Tim so darn tiny? * How many of Dickens's child characters met an untimely end? (Hint: plenty.) Full of humor, skepticism, and expert opinions, with eye- catching illustrations, plenty of quotes, and sidebars on nearly every page, you will quickly become a Dickens authority--even if you've never read a word.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The subtitle of this guide to Charles Dickens explains what Epstein (The Friendly Shakespeare, LJ 12/92) sets out to accomplish. Part of the publisher's "Friendly" series of popular guides, this is not a full-scale biographical or scholarly study of the author's life and works; for that, one should consult works by Edgar Johnson, Fred Kaplan, and others. Instead, Epstein wants to whet the average reader's interest in Dickens by reviewing all aspects of his life and by summarizing each of his published novels. Epstein successfully uses illustrations, sidebars, lists, and interviews with actors, critics, and various Dickensians to make her observations and critical readings entertaining to the nonscholarly reader. Recommended primarily for public libraries. (Bibliography and index not seen.) [For more on Dickens, see Paul Davis's Charles Dickens A?Z, reviewed on p. 70.?Ed.]?Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brookly.
-?Morris Hounion, New York City Technical Coll. Lib., Brooklyn
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In the sort of labor of love Dickens inspires, Epstein, author of The Friendly Shakespeare (not reviewed) and sometime university lecturer, has written her well-informed and engaging pop reference for those sick of the annual maladaptations of A Christmas Carol and students who have encountered them only as ``textbooks, not novels. - Dickens biographers and scholars have been hard at work since Edmund Wilson to dismantle Dickens's respectable Victorian facade, usually with Freudian tools, but The Friendly Dickens balances demystification with erudition as it encapsulates his prodigious work and literally Dickensian life. Peppered throughout are intriguing and odd bits of information, culled from a wide variety of sources, so that the casual browser will learn Dickens's robust walking speed (4.8 m.p.h.), the total number of characters he created (13,143) and all those he killed off before the age of 25 (over a dozen), and the amount of dung deposited on London streets (40,000 tons per annum). Some of the liveliest and most opinionated sections are the interviews with fellow Dickens aficionados, including actors Roger Rees on the role of Nicholas Nickleby, Miriam Margolyes on Dickens's women in her solo revue, and Patrick Stewart on his one-man Christmas Carol, and critics David Lodge on academic snobbery toward Boz and adapting Martin Chuzzlewit, Phyllis Rose on his marriage and mistress, and Jonathan Yardley on the cultural shifts in popular entertainment from books to movies. Ironically, the best reference section is an extensive filmography of every major screen and television adaptation, enlivened by Epstein's assessments of W.C. Fields as Mr. Micawber, the discordantly cheerful Oliver!, and Michael Caine opposite Kermit the Frog in The Muppet Christmas Carol. Dickensian in every sense of the word, especially Victorian eccentricity and Pickwickian good humor. (illustrations, not seen.) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1St Edition edition (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670839434
• ISBN-13: 978-0670839438
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,302 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ebenezer Scrooge Says this Book is No HUMBUG!!, December 5, 2003

By 

Stephen Pletko "Uncle Stevie" (London, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Friendly Dickens: Being a Good Natured Guide to the Art and Adventures of the Man who Invented Scrooge (Paperback)

+++++

The author, Norrie Epstein, in the book's introduction tells us the purpose of her book: "[This book]...is an attempt to reveal some of the contradictions and nuances of the man and [his]novels. Its title...refers not only to our feelings for Dickens--and his toward us--but to my desire to make a complex figure more understandable and...friendly."

There is another reason for reading this book: so as to fully appreciate the novels written by Dickens. As Epstein says, "Knowing the man behind the words does change [each novel's] significance."

Epstein fulfills her purpose admirably!! Why do I say this? Here are my reasons:

(1) THE AUTHOR'S WRITING STYLE. The author writes in a relaxed and leisurely but enthusiastic way such that Charles Dickens (1812-1870) seems to come alive.

(2) THE BOOK'S ORGANIZATION. This book progresses linearly from Dickens' birth to his death. To do this, Epstein divides the book into three parts. The first part is entitled "Early Life" and tells us about Dickens' life from 1812 to 1840. Part two titled "Middle Years" goes from 1840 to 1855. The third part called "Final Years" deals with his life after 1855.

Along the way you'll find copious quotations from those who admired Dickens and his writings. For example, guess what famous Russian author said, "If it were possible I would like to devote fifty minutes of every class meeting to mute meditation, concentration, and admiration of Dickens."

I found two sections particularly informative and enjoyable. One of these sections is entitled "How to Read Dickens." It gives eight important pointers on how to get the most out of Dickens' works. Another section is entitled "A Select Filmography." This section describes films inspired by Dickens' works. These films are those made between the years 1895 and 2000.

(3) DISCUSSION OF NOVELS. Sixteen novels are thoroughly discussed throughout the book. In part one, seven novels are given attention, most notably "A Christmas Carol" and "Oliver Twist." Part two looks at five novels, "David Copperfield" being the best known. The final part critically discusses four novels, most notably "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations."

Note that in part one there is also discussion of Dickens' first published book "Sketches by Boz." As well, this part also includes a glimpse into his book called "American Notes" that would later become "a public relations nightmare."

(4) BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS AND PHOTOGRAPHS. These are peppered throughout the book. I especially liked the reproduced November 1994 cartoon from "The New York Times" that featured Newt Gingrich as Scrooge.

(5) SIDEBARS. These can be found throughout the book. They highlight interesting bits of information that the author wants to bring to the reader's attention. The sidebar that caught my attention was entitled "If You Liked the O.J. Simpson Trial, You'll Love Bleak House." In this sidebar, the Simpson trial is compared to Dickens' novel "Bleak House."

(6) INTERVIEWS. These, too, are found throughout the book. My favorite is an interview with a famous actor (hint: he played "Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise") who feels he must "read" the novel "A Christmas Carol" every year.

(7) TRIVIA. And lots of it!! What I especially enjoyed was that there are complete sections devoted to trivia. For example, in the discussion of Dickens' first serial novel "The Pickwick Papers" there is a complete section devoted to interesting trivia called "Pickwickiana." The same thing occurs under the discussion of his last novel "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" where the trivia section is called "Droodiana."

In conclusion, this is the definitive book for any Dickens' fan or anyone who wants to know more about him. Old Ebenezer himself guarantees that after reading this book you will become an aficionada of Charles Dickens. And that's no humbug!!

+++++

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars epstein's accessible dickens, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Friendly Dickens (Hardcover)

This excellent, readable book will serve as an introduction to first-time readers of Dickens, for those returning to his novels after long absence and even to those aficionados and scholars interested in fresh and insightful, though always level-headed, readings of their favorite author's work. Ms. Epstein's coverage of the soio-economic background of Victorian England, in which the novels and stories are set, could hardly be bettered. And she is as interesting about what is familiar, such as the often-read "A Christas Carol," as she is about what is unfamiliar, such as the author's dark, uncompleted and rarely read final novel, "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning: Reading This Book May Cause Dickens-Fever, April 6, 2001

By 

WifeofBath3 (Hattiesburg, Mississippi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Friendly Dickens: Being a Good Natured Guide to the Art and Adventures of the Man who Invented Scrooge (Paperback)

With the Friendly Dickens, Norrie Epstein succeeds in what must surely have been one of her goals: she makes you want to read every Dickens novel you haven't yet read and reread every one you have. Along the way she gives you an overview of Dickens' life and of his times, in an enjoyable, idiosyncratic style that makes highly engaging reading. Want to know how Dickens wrote or why Victorians got off on deathbed scenes? It's in there, along with sections on food, drink, sex, freaks, Dickens' illustrators, a filmography, and more. Of particular interest are the explanation of just why Pickwick was so popular and the musings on Victorian mores versus contemporary ones. About the only thing that could have made this book more complete was a recipe for rum punch.