Customer Reviews

The Pickwick Papers (Oxford World's Classics)

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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!

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.

Pickwick and his entourage fumble their way through 18th century England.. it's a long book that sometimes seems longer because of the density of Dickens' prose. But it's also surprisingly fun and funny; you get to know the characters through their actions and the incidents they put in play.

Though completely devoid of pathos, this first novel by Charles Dickens presents many of the characteristics of his later works.

It is witty and extremely well written, of course with no attempt whatsoever at concision.

Many characters, though completely unrealistic, are memorable.

The plot itself is quite thin and completely archaic but charmingly reminiscent of simpler times.

Overall, this work is by no means substantial but very entertaining.

This audio book version is very well served by an outstanding narrator who is in fact quite a great actor.

I have read all of Dickens' novels and found them all to be wonderful. But if I have to recommend a starter Dickens novel to anyone I would definitely choose The Pickwick Papers. There is nothing more enjoyable and it is no wonder that this, his first novel, was an immediate hit. The diverse characters and stories, the humor, the keen observations of humanity, and how everything comes together towards the end are all incomparable characteristics of a Dickens novel. But don't read Dickens like you would read a spy novel. Take time to savor the brilliant prose and the beauty of the English language.

I LOVE Dickens's novels. And this is no exception, BUT it is too verbose. It took me a few months to get through the entire book. Sometimes, I would think I'd just quit reading it, but I wanted resolution. So, I plowed through to the end. I really like Dickens' characters, his writing, his humor. So, while I recommend this book, I do so with cautions. It's long; it tends to bog down. It could have done with about 20 fewer chapters.

I try to figure out what it is about Dickens that I like so much. Truthfully, I haven't found a modern author to compare to him. He's so good with words, descriptions, humor and creating memorable characters that just jump off the page.

Sam Weller and his father are just delightful in this book. Pickwick, also, is very memorable.

So, if you enjoy Dickens and you have a month with nothing else to do, pick Pickwick and the Pickwickians.

The Pickwick Papers

This wonderful unabridged classic delight sounds in the audio performance by Simon Prebble as if Charles Dickens wrote it almost 200 years ago in the hopes that eventually Mr. Prebble would be here to perform it! He so brings it to life, that no one has to find it dense or difficult. It is funny, wise, touching and in one instance sad. Many times the listener will exclaim "Right! Exactly!" As situations from the early 19th Century strike one as humerously apt in today's world. The characters are all instantly recognizable and their voices are perfect for the personalities. I am most grateful that the extremely talented Mr. Prebble gave us an audio to which I will listen repeatedly and which I have already recommended to others. A true classic and a truly classic performance.

Dickens achieves in THE PICKWICK PAPERS a creation that defines the very heights of genius. It's not only Pickwick and Sam Weller who will remain with you as hearty companions long after you put this book down, but a host of other characters. As an example, the following excerpt from G. K. Chesterton's review of THE PICKWICK PAPERS will do more than I can ever say to whet your appetite ---

From G. K. Chesterton's review of THE PICKWICK PAPERS:
<<The sincerity of this study of Sam Weller has produced one particular effect in the book which I wonder that critics of Dickens have never noticed or discussed. Because it has no Dickens "pathos," certain parts of it are truly pathetic. Dickens, realising rightly that the whole tone of the book was fun, felt that he ought to keep out of it any great experiments in sadness and keep within limits those that he put in. He used this restraint in order not to spoil the humour; but (if he had known himself better) he might well have used it in order not to spoil the pathos. This is the one book in which Dickens was, as it were, forced to trample down his tender feelings; and for that very reason it is the one book where all the tenderness there is is quite unquestionably true. An admirable example of what I mean may be found in the scene in which Sam Weller goes down to see his bereaved father after the death of his step-mother. The most loyal admirer of Dickens can hardly prevent himself from giving a slight shudder when he thinks of what Dickens might have made of that scene in some of his more expansive and maudlin moments. For all I know old Mrs. Weller might have asked what the wild waves were saying; and for all I know old Mr. Weller might have told her. As it is, Dickens, being forced to keep the tale taut and humorous, gives a picture of humble respect and decency which is manly, dignified, and really sad. There is no attempt made by these simple and honest men, the father and son, to pretend that the dead woman was anything greatly other than she was; their respect is for death, and for the human weakness and mystery which it must finally cover. Old Tony Weller does not tell his shrewish wife that she is already a white-winged angel; he speaks to her with an admirable good nature and good sense:

"'Susan,' I says, 'you've been a wery good vife to me altogether: keep a good heart, my dear, and you '11 live to see me punch that 'ere Stiggins's 'ead yet.' She smiled at this, Samivel . . . but she died arter all."

That is perhaps the first and the last time that Dickens ever touched the extreme dignity of pathos. He is restraining his compassion, and afterwards he let it go. Now laughter is a thing that can be let go; laughter has in it a quality of liberty. But sorrow has in it by its very nature a quality of confinement; pathos by its very nature fights with itself. Humour is expansive; it bursts outwards; the fact is attested by the common expression, "holding one's sides." But sorrow is not expansive; and it was afterwards the mistake of Dickens that he tried to make it expansive. It is the one great weakness of Dickens as a great writer, that he did try to make that sudden sadness, that abrupt pity, which we call pathos, a thing quite obvious, infectious, public, as if it were journalism or the measles. It is pleasant to think that in this supreme masterpiece, done in the dawn of his career, there is not even this faint fleck upon the sun of his just splendour. Pickwick will always be remembered as the great example of everything that made Dickens great; of the solemn conviviality of great friendships, of the erratic adventures of old English roads, of the hospitality of old English inns, of the great fundamental kindliness and honour of old English manners. First of all, however, it will always be remembered for its laughter, or, if you will, for its folly. A good joke is the one ultimate and sacred thing which cannot be criticised. Our relations with a good joke are direct and even divine relations. We speak of "seeing" a joke just as we speak of "seeing" a ghost or a vision. If we have seen it, it is futile to argue with us; and we have seen the vision of Pickwick. Pickwick may be the top of Dickens's humour; I think upon the whole it is. But the broad humour of Pickwick he broadened over many wonderful kingdoms; the narrow pathos of Pickwick he never found again.>>