20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lighthearted and whimsical, January 13, 2010
This review is from: The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
The Pickwick Papers was actually Charles Dickens' first novel, and it was first published in a serialized manner - appearing as 19 booklets, published over 20 months, and costing two shillings. The book tells the story of Samuel Pickwick and his three associates as they amble rather randomly across early Victorian England. During their peregrinations, they encounter the troubles of travel, deceit, sports, business, and even a stay in debtors' prison.
Overall, I found the story (or should I say, "stories?") to be very funny - lighthearted and whimsical. It is really a very interesting and irreverent look at a world now long-lost. I definitely enjoyed this book and I definitely recommend it!
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My First Dickens (And His First, Too), July 19, 2010
This review is from: The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
Note: this novel is available for download from several sites because it is out of copyright. The Feedbooks site (a dot com) and the Project Gutenberg site (a dot org) come to mind.
The Pickwick Papers is Charles Dickens' first novel (originally serialized like his subsequent works) and one I heartily recommend to those who have never read him before. It is very funny at intervals but as the work progresses, it becomes less disjoint and the last twenty percent of it is magnificent.
The premise is that Mr. Pickwick, a slightly buffoonish man of science, sheltered by his wealth from many of the real ways of the world, convinces his eponymous Pickwickian Society to inculcate a new branch, to aid with the Society's endeavour of enriching scientific knowledge and other matters of grave importance (yet what the Society deems of grave importance, the reader probably would see as misguided self-importance and humorous bluster). This branch is to be comprised of Pickwick and his three devoted companions, the lady's man Tupman, the poetic Snodgrass, and the sporting Winkle. Together with Pickwick, they are to travel across England and report back to the Society any matters of scientific or social import via letters; whence the title The Pickwick Papers: a simple premise that sets up the novel for fun and misadventure from chapter two onwards.
In reality, the stout companions Pickwick, Tupman, Winkle, and Snodgrass, are rather less the lions of society and enlightenment than they believe, and their prowess in their respective "specialities" often lands them in the most awkward and humorous situations.
Initially, the novel seems disjointed. Each chapter is entertaining enough, but there are ever new characters, and literary devices to introduce mini-stories within the chapter, as when the hale fellows meet some odd stranger who has a creepy story to tell about the ghost of a gravedigger. The story is told from the perspective of the Pickwickians (society members) who receive letters from the companions of their adventures in the country. Part of the humour of the novel is the gullibility of Pickwick and friends: they report the wondrous stories of the crafty locals and conmen to the Society as if they were true, not noticing that often the tellers of tales are getting fat on free dinners and drunk on conviviality, all at the expense of Pickwick himself, of course.
Entertaining as the numerous humorous diversions in each chapter are, the story comes to a very solid conclusion after the half-way mark. Characters you thought might never be heard of again, are reintroduced with genius, and the whole lot eventually are entwined under remarkably astute circumstances: how Dickens managed this in a serialized novel is, no doubt, part of his genius.
I noticed that the bluster and tomfoolery of Pickwick especially, and friends, resolves by the end of the novel into a more serious tone: the characters have grown up considerably after having rubbed shoulders with the common man, so to speak, and having travelled along with them as the reader, one feels almost proud to have shared their eventual fortunes, wisdoms, and insights from the very beginning, when they were so obviously naive, and sheltered from the harsh realities of their society.
Dickens excels in his description of the privations and injustices suffered in debtors prisons in England, and the conditional blindness of Lady Justice in the legal system. At this late stage of the novel I was entirely captivated. This high gear kicks in during the final quarter, and is a somewhat unexpected turn of events from the preceding humorous and light-hearted, almost anecdotal, course of the serialized novel.
Dickens paints a fascinating picture of travelling by horse-drawn coaches in England, and the descriptions of the famous pubs (public houses) that served as bed-and-board for weary travellers of what can only be a very early public transport system, are historically accurate and entirely fascinating.
Chapter ten is rather important because that is when the singular character of Sam Weller is introduced. Sam becomes a companion man-servant and general odds-body to Pickwick and his companions, partly, one feels, out of pity, because the street-wise Sam realizes what easy targets Pickwick et al are for local conmen and free-loaders.
The growing companionship of Pickwick and the ever-loyal Sam is a memorable moment in literature and provides the backbone to the rest of the novel, and a very fine ending to everything. I was very much reminded of Frodo and Sam in Lord Of The Rings, in fact.
I cannot recommend this book enough. I only gave it four stars instead of five in the certain hope that Dickens wrote even better novels, which I will have to rate higher. If reading classical literature seems daunting to you, I have this advice: if you can make it past chapter one, then you only have to stick to it until chapter ten, when you will meet Sam Weller. From then on, the next milestone is the debtors prison part, where things get rather more serious, and the seemingly disparate novel draws powerfully and emotionally together. Dickens is a satirical genius, and he takes the mickey out of Victorian society and class bluster with skill that beggars description.
This is one for sentimental intellectuals, and lovers of language. An entirely brilliant début novel. I find the fact that it was originally serialized great fun, because each chapter is a far more meaty and satisfying read than most modern novels, where chapters are not that episodic. Reading Dickens is more like watching a television series, than a movie.
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