Charles Dickens Books

Written in 1853, when Dickens was at his peak, Bleak House is often considered Dickens's best novel. Set in the 1850s, the novel tells several interconnected stories involving dozens of characters from all levels of society, giving a broad picture of life in London and in the countryside during this period. As is often the case with Dickens, his satire and humor enliven his sometimes dark subjects, without blunting his criticism of bureaucracy and the mistreatment of children. The novel is huge, not just in terms of length but in its universal themes, its characterizations, and the magnitude of its reach.

Esther Summerson, the illegitimate daughter of Lady Dedlock and Captain Hawdon, an early lover, is raised in secrecy by a resentful aunt. After the aunt's death, Esther joins the household of the kindly Mr. Jarndyce, who is also mentoring Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, Ada's cousin. Richard, Ada, and Mr. Jarndyce have been involved for years in a lawsuit, Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, about the terms of an old will, and this lawsuit, which has continued interminably in the High Court of Chancery, is the inspiration for the satire Dickens directs toward British bureaucracy and the paperwork which paralyzes it.

As the lives of Esther, Lady Dedlock, Ada, Richard, and Mr. Jarndyce unfold, the reader also learns about the lives of those who come into peripheral contact with them. Capt. Hawdon (Nemo), for example, is found dead by a sad, little street waif named Jo, whose miserable life offers little chance of improvement. An unprincipled lawyer is murdered, adding mystery to the novel. Dickens emphasizes the way characters actually behave, paying scant attention to their inner thoughts, but he individualizes them and brings them vibrantly to life through their actions (though some, such as Esther and Mr. Jarndyce, sometimes appear too saintly).

Humor permeates the novel, with some characters, particularly those involved in law, serving as caricatures. The touching romance of Esther and Allan Woodcourt, a physician, echoes throughout the novel, despite his long absences and her bout with smallpox, and contrasts with Lady Dedlock's sad remembrances of her own past. Symbols, such as the ever-present London fog, emphasize the theme of isolation.

Thoughout this doorstop-sized novel, Dickens's treatment of the characters and his ability to bring the period to life create lively reading. His empathy with the underdog and his depiction of the inequities of the society combine with mystery, romance, and Esther's coming-of-age to make this a vital novel, full of life, conveying a dramatic picture of mid-19th century British life and the lessons to be learned from it. Mary Whipple

I found this the best written prose that I have read so far by Dickens, and it ranks amongst the best written books that I've read by anyone. His assassination of the British establishment sometimes almost made me wince, yet I always found it entertaining and not preachy. I didn't find the plot as good, or the characters as sympathetic as A Tale of Two Cities (my favourite), but it beats the melodrama of Great Expectations by a long shot. I actually found this a far more damning indictment of society than Hard Times, contrary to what I'd been led to believe. Highly recommended.

I have read Great Expectations and David Copperfield and enjoyed them immensely. These books offer a wonderful, colorful cast of characters. So, I thought I would try Bleak House. I slogged through 150 pages and finally gave up! Tedious is the operative word here! The characters were dessicated and one-dimensional and I felt as if the plot was not moving forward at all. Overall, a major disappointment.

I don't know why Amazon asked me to review this product because I don't own it.

Martin Jarvis performs a fabulous reading of "David
Copperfield". His interpretation of Dickens's colorful
cast of characters is spot-on.

My only complaint is with the format of the CDs themselves.
Most MP3 players have a feature for moving from folder to
folder and for browsing among MP3 files in a given folder.
This allows one to quickly find one's bookmark, so to
speak. But on each of the "David Copperfield" CD's, all the
MP3 files are collected in one folder, thereby forcing the
listener to manually page through a large number of files on
those occasions (such as power disconnection) where the MP3
player loses its memory of its last stopping point.

Given the quality of the reading, however, the CD formatting
is a minor nit.

The book is great, but these audio CDs would not play on our ordinary (Ok -OLDER!)CD player because they are MP3 format, we had to play them on a PC instead. As far as I can see, the format information is not visible in the product information.

Hopefully, the review by Nick of Cleveland won't scare lovers of classic audiobooks from this masterpiece by Charles Dickens and Brilliance Audio.

My wife and I have listened to audiobooks for years. Our interests have spanned multiple genres, including mystery, fantasy fiction, sci fi, humor, and classics. Bar none, this performance by narrator Michael Page ranks as our gold standard of audiobook narrations. The text and characters come alive exactly, I'm sure, as Dickens intended.

Very, very well done!

this sucks this is the most boring thing i ever had to listen to. I only listened to this because the book was worse. The book is terrible and I dont even see how peoplecould like it. What really makes itbad is that Dickens was paid by the word, so he wrote as much as possible so he could have a little spending money

I listened to the unabridged audio tape version of this book narrated by Michael Page. It's one of those deals where you listen to each tape entirely on the left channel, then play the whole tape again on the right channel to get the next part of the story. Which is kind of awkward, since you forget which channel you were on if you also use your stereo for music; but these editions are probably the least expensive (by the hour) audio tapes you can buy.

I think Dickens' tendency toward exhaustive descriptions works a lot better when you're listening to it in the car than when you're reading it in print. I might never have had the patience to read the actual book while sitting in a chair, but listening to it in the car was pretty entertaining. Colorful characters, humor, suspense, unexpected plot twists; I can picture a lot of it in my mind even now. A recommended story.

Over the last few years, every other book I've read has been Dickens. This is, so far, my favorite. It is an absolutely brilliantly woven tale. Dickens was remarkably talented at creating characters that captured the essence of what makes us human to the point that he was able to create characters who are completely real, and might be found walking amung us today. If you are new to Dickens, this would be a great place to start.

Pages are all different size and roughly cut. A bit rubbish, really. This is not a reflection on the narative, which of course is well reviewed in general.

I had just divorced from a five year marriage, was lonely as hell, had no money, no tv, then went to the library where I found it in a "classics" display. It's called a classic, because IT IS. Forget the movie(s). You will fall in love with these characters, and project their lessons onto your own life.

"Literature Made Easy" literally makes literature easy to understand. In the "Great Expectations" version from this series, the reader is presented with a short plot summary, paragraph-sized descriptions of the characters, multiple theme analysis, several visual aids about the language structure, and then short chapter-by-chapter commentaries. I wasn't 100% pleased with this study aid because it didn't review the plot as much as I would like, but it has strength in the commentaries. There is a lot of analyzing, along with graphs and charts about the story line. One thing that I found in this study aid that wasn't in others was the glossary section, which sums up the difficult vocabulary words found in "Great Expectations". I would recommend this aid accompanied with the Monarch study aid version if you are struggling with the book Great Expectations. I give this study guide 4 stars, 5 if there was more detail about the plot. If you are looking for a study aid that analyzes the plot frequently, you should try this book (and this series) because 95% of the book is that.

I'm reading this story in high school now. I'm a freshman and due to these reviews, my teacher is making us read it. I've been reading it so far and I'm up to the first 6 chapters. I don't like this book but it's got its good points. I like how Dickens leaves you hanging from one chapter to another. But overall, I don't really like it. But if it makes the grade for me to pass, I'll read it and try my best to understand it. But I recommend you read something other than this if you can.

This was Dickens only real writing failure. He had to abandon the Master Humphrey's Clock series due to readership rejection after approximately six serial publications, and the readers had mostly gone after the first story. In short, he departed from his popular themes and got ahead of the readers. As a result, he found himself with no audience. In his next novel, "The Old Curiosity Shop," he refers in the forward to the Humphrey series as "desultory" and was obviously not content with his own efforts there.

Overall, I thought the effort was terrible considering that Dickens was the author. It is a series of stories by some older men who are retired and who frequent a club. They recall various stories involving intrigue and murder and some stories that take place in dreams. This is not a good read: it is neither compelling nor interesting. I read it and was not too excited about the stories. After I started to research the book, I was surprised that it was still in print. Profession critics refer to it as "a frame without a picture." That is, the club setting of retired old men with their stories is the frame. But nothing of interest followed in terms of stories from the retired men. Just before terminating the series, Dickens tried to breathe life into it with the Pickwick characters, but it was too little too late.

As background information, I am in the process of reading most of Dickens's 22 novels and longer short stories, and set up a Listmania list. As a suggestion, avoid the Penguin Popular Classics with the plain green covers (I bought two). They fall apart and do not stand up to a read, especially books over 500 pages in length. The Regular Penguin Classics with the photo or painting on the front are excellent and some have maps and illustrations (drawings). The Wordsworth Classics are not as good, and some are illustrated.

Getting back to the present book, the only thing positive that came from the series was the idea to drop the series and use the concept to launch a new book which was called "The Old Curiosity Shop." That of course was a success.

So, this is Dickens worst collection of short stories. It was a commercial failure when it came out. The publisher lost money, and it is still bad.

Collection of short stories tied by the fact that they were told during the sessions of Mr. Humphrey's Clock Club. The narrators are Mr. Humphrey himself, Johnny, Redburn, Mr. Miles, Mr. Pickwick and the Deaf Gentleman. Following the line of the "Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club", these tales are less outrageous and more humanistic, full of nostalgia and good humor. One good thing is that the Wellers and Mr. Pickwick reappear.

It can be quite harmful to a great writer like Charles Dickens when you insist that one his medicore books is one of his best. This book certainly has its moments and good points, but it also has a number of flaws. The start is actually quite grand. Charles Dickens puts himself into the first few pages and finds the lost Nell. Charles Dickens helps Nell find her way home to her grandfather and in a fierce way tells him to take better care of her. (Obviously Dickens writing this knows that he is not exactly grandfather of the year or even week.) Moving on, under the impression that his grandfather is rich, Nell's brother Fred insists on his share. (We don't know yet how poor Nell and her grandfather are.) Well, in comes Daniel Quilp. He lends some money to Trent (Nell's grandfather) for a purpose that Trent does not reveal. Soon afterwards, Nell brings a letter from her grandfather asking Quilp for more money. Now Quilp is starting to suspect something is up. It is not long before he realizes that Trent has been losing all the money at gambling. Quilp is furious, and we can scarcely blame him. Well, Quilp gains possession of Trent's house and gets at least part of his money back. Well, this was a grand start, but things start to drop from here. Nell and Trent decide to flee the area. Now, this is fine, but the fact that they wander with no clear destination does not work for me. (Even Oliver Twist knew he was heading towards London when he ran away from the Sowerberrys. Do Nell and Trent plan to spend the rest of their lives running away?) Well, this is sadly not the end. Quilp meets the eccentric but benevolent Dick Swiveller and he plots to have him marry Nell. (Being that Nell is a beggar.) It would seem that Quilp has been reduced from a sharp observer who had justifiable reasons for his anger to a simple prankster. Did Quilp even have a reason to dislike Swiveller? This does not work for me. Jingle (from "Pickwick Papers") was at least after some financial benefit. But a villain who enjoys pranks with no reason would seem beneath the genius of Dickens. Well, moving on, Trent and Nell find generosity and relief from several people along the way. Nell and Trent then find sanctuary under the benevolent Mrs. Jarley who owns a wax museum. (Mrs. Jarley is a lively character who is quite likable.) Well, moving on, under Quilp's orders, Sampson Brass (a crooked lawyer) hires Dick Swiveller. (This seems to be a lot of work for the prank of getting Dick and Nell to marry.) Quilp is indeed a fascinating character, but could it be that Dickens came up with this character and then realized he couldn't really encounter the main characters Trent and Nell anymore? Did Dickens perhaps feel that Trent would be enough of a villain to Nell, and himself for that matter? That brings me to the next problem I have with this story. After finding the much needed relief and sanctuary, Trent has no problem stealing from Nell to gamble again. To be sure, gambling can be addicitive, but he doesn't even hesitate. (This is inconceivable. Does he not realize how much the gambling cost him? Has he forgotten so soon how Nell stood by him through the troubles that gambling got him into?) Well, we can at least speculate. Charles Dickens's grandfather was a compulsive gambler. And perhaps Dickens could not hold back his contempt for his real grandfather when he wrote this book. Digressing a moment, varied opinions about Fagin from "Oliver Twist" exist. Some see Fagin as an outright villain who corrupts children, some see him as heroic, and some people see him as a man who has both faults and redeeming points. (Well, Trent makes Fagin look like a saint!) Back to the subject at hand, Trent continues to steal from Nell, and he even agrees to steal from Mrs. Jarley who was so kind to them! Is the much needed sanctuary worth a few more hands of cards?! Well, Nell convinces her grandfather to flee with her before this can happen. An interesting sub plot is when Dick Swiveller befriends the abused servant girl of Sampson and Sally Brass. Well, in comes Abel. He is Trent's brother and wants to help him, if only he can find him. They look for Trent and Nell at Jarley's Wax Works, but of course they are gone. Nell and Trent find that generosity is growing more scarce, but a man does offer them a night of hospitality. They then encounter the benevolent Martin who promises to provide them with a means of income. Moving on, Quilp once more engages in a prank that seems beneath him. He plans to frame Kit for theft. We can only infer that Quilp wants revenge because Kit threatened him earlier. But again, it seems inconceivable that a man of Quilp's sharpness and shrewdness would feel so threatened by this as to engage in an action that may prove dangerous to him. Well, Kit is framed, but under nominal threats, Sampson Brass confesses and fingers Quilp. Could the intelligent and shrewd Quilp have failed to foreseen that Sampson Brass would not be so brave if things started to go bad? Well, Quilp drowns trying to escape. Nell and her grandfather die, but Dick Swiveller has a happy end as he inherits a generous amount of money and marries the servant girl. While this book certainly has its redeeming elements, it does have its flaws. And to put it on the same level as "Oliver Twist," "David Copperfield," or "Great Expectations" borders on absurd.

The Old Curiosity Shop is one of Dickens's most often-overlooked novels. A quite long (720+ pages) novel, it originally appeared in weekly segment in Dickens's short-lived journal, Master Humphrey's Clock. Appearing originally in this form in 1840, they were a huge success. In this novel format, separated from the journal, it still makes for some delightful reading, though sometimes it is clear that it was originally published in weekly portions. That is to say, the novel is largely episodic, to an even greater degree than his masterpiece, Great Expectations. Nell and her grandfather's trials and tribulations experienced during their travels through the English countryside are interspersed with parallel urban scenes involving different characters. Much of it goes along with little apparent connection to what has come before, with very little in the way of suspense and not much to speak of in terms of a traditional plot. The book's charm lies centrally with the characters and with the pathos and other emotions that their triumphs and travails evoke. There is little in the way of a theme -- no philosophizing or moralizing. These features belie the story's origin. It can make it something of a slow read at times, but the book certainly has its virtues.

These reside chiefly in, as always, the wonderful characters of Dickens. Here he, indeed, conjured up a motley crew -- from the innocent, angelic Nell to the demonic, malevolent Daniel Quilp, and everyone in-between. Like much of Dickens's work, the chief joy in reading this book comes from the pure enjoyment of reading about these delightful characters. They exist for their own sake, outside of the restrictions of the basic plot. The character of Mr. Swiveller is one of his best-loved and most-enduring characters -- and the aforementioned Quilp is a devilish, beastly fiend to rank with Iago and Cathy from John Steinbeck's East of Eden. This book's chief strengths and weaknesses being thus laid out, suffice it to say that this is not Dickens's best book, and it is not where the new Dickens reader should start; try Great Expectations or A Tale of Two Cities for that. It is, however, a delightful read for the Dickens fan and should definitely be picked up and read by them in time, as well as by anyone who loves character-driven literature.

How many ways can Dickens' classic story be retold? What with Muppets, comedies, musicals, and dozens of dramatic renditions, one might think that there is no fresh take on this tale.

If one thought that, though, one would be wrong.

For anyone who enjoys Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck" style of humor, this book is a must. David Boyd's illustrations will look very familiar because he also illustrates Foxworthy's books. The text is clever, fast paced, and awfully funny to those of us who live in the South. (Hey, I just got a dead car out of my yard, so I can't be too quick to point the finger at rednecks!)

A great gift for your favorite redneck or recneck wannabe.

Laugh at all the rednecks you know and love with this dead-on parody of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. Helton and Yow's jokes and gags are perfectly illustrated by David Boyd.

Peter Gay has taken three lectures and turned them into Savage Reprisals. Each of these essays looks at a different novel from the realist genre of the nineteenth century from three different countries; Bleak House, Madame Bovary, Buddenbrooks. The essays are connected by the Peter Gay's examination of the usefulness of these books to historians and by the authors of these novels' anger against their society and the revenge they take against it within their novels. It is easy to see how these essays were brought to life as lectures but they work quite effectively as written works as well. This book will even be of interest to those who have not read the particular novels in question. The epilogue is the crowning achievment of the book and well worth the price of admission. A short, quick, fun spin through the world of novelists, historians and the nineteenth century.

Peter Gay has over the past five decades gotten a reputation as a leading moderate liberal historian, writing on Voltaire, the Enlightenment, Freud and the sexual life of the 19th century middle class. He has shown himself as a moderate, common-sense historian with Freudian interests. This book, part of the Norton Lecture Series, asks to what extent is great literature reliable history? He looks at three major realist masterpieces: "Bleak House," "Madame Bovary" and "Buddenbrooks". Why these three were chosen, instead of, say "Middlemarch," "The Sentimental Education," or "The Maias," is never made clear. Nevertheless by looking at the pyschological problems of Dickens, Flaubert and Mann, he gives a negative verdict for the first two and a more positive one for Mann. He then spends a conclusion arguing against postmodernist nihilism and then praises "The Autumn of the Patriarch."

Unfortunately, this book does not do much credit to either Gay's critical skills or his historical abilities. Indeed, it confirms the worst opinions of European liberalism as being too unimaginative to appreciate the extremes of human behavior. Gay also uses Freudian theory in its most unimaginative way, as a simplistic supporter of order who reduces all differences to someone's abnormality. For a start, Gay's understanding of the books is not all that firm. His discussion of "Bleak House" starts with the death of the non-existent character Richard Carstairs, whom he has confused with Richard Carstone. Miss Flite does not expect an imminent judgement in her endless Chancery case; in fact she confuses judgement with the Final Judgement. It is not quite true that Mrs. Snagsby thinks her husband is having an affair; she actually thinks, utterly wrongly, that Jo is his illegitimate son. Flaubert does not jump in one famous passage from 1848 to 1867, but from 1851 to 1867. The gap, from the beginning of the Second French Republic to its end, is not a minor one, either historically or in the novel. It would be mistaking a gap in American novel from 1861 to 1880, when it is actually starts from 1865.

A more serious problem is Gay's superficiality. Given the revolution in literary criticism over the past three decades it is somewhat alarming to have Gay believe that Marxist criticism ends with George Lukacs. He is prone to making sweeping statements about Dickens, such as that Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild are merely caricatures, or that Leigh Hunt wasn't really like Harold Skimpole, or that the portraits of mothers are mere lampoons. There is no evidence or argument to support these statements: just flat assertion. There is a certain psychological superficiality as well. There is an interesting discussion of Esther Summerson's and Agnes Wickfield's excessive virtue arising out of extreme guilt. But Gay ignores the fact that of the unambiguously middle-class characters in "Bleak House", almost all are horrible parents. Mrs. Guppy is merely silly and Mrs. Woodcourt slightly foolish in her Welsh nostalgia. But Skimpole, Turveydrop, Smallweed, Mrs. Jellby and Mrs. Pardiggle are uniformly repulsive. Vholes incessantly mentions his daughter and father to justify his vampiric behavior, Carstone's foolishness kills himself before his son is even born, while Mrs. Chadband is a cold surrogate mother to Esther. Ironically the one middle-class parent who truly loves her child had her out of wedlock. What would a Freudian analysis make of all this, or the distorted families of Clennam and Dorrit? But Gay has no interest.

Instead he sees Dickens governed by rage, personally irritated by the Law over an unsuccessful lawsuit, and somewhat suspicious of his mother (he does not point out that Skimpole is a more malevolent Micawber, and therefore a more malevolent version of Dickens' father). "For all his protestations to the contrary, Dickens's commitment to the Reality Principle was at best intermitten." he says patronizingly. His main complaint against Dickens is that he underestimated the reforming intentions of good liberals like Gay himself. It therefore rather severely undercuts his case that Gay says that the Second Reform Act of 1867 gave the vote to most men when, in fact, it did not. He also criticizes Dickens for ignoring reforms that were starting right when he writing the novel, as if their success was assured and didn't need Dickens' polemic. It certainly takes a certain lack of imagination to say that there were no Bounderbys, Vholes, Dedlocks, Barnacles, Mrs. Clennams, Podsnaps or Veneerings in Victorian England. Gay's discussion of Flaubert is little better, and views his anger at the bourgeoisie as phobic rage. Allowing for certain self-dramatizing moments on Flaubert's part, this strikes me as obtuse. The July Monarchy was a narrow, illiberal oligarchy, notwithstanding its "liberal" elite; the Second Empire started out as a bloody dictatorship before it ended in ignomious defeat. Here is a man who writes one of the masterpieces of world prose and instead of being honored by his country is put on trial for obscenity. A certain contempt and indignation is all too well deserved. In trying to refute Flaubert's picture of provincial Rouen, Gay notes that one man (out of 100,000) bought impressionist paintings. Well, this is certainly a step up from Abraham, who had to prove five good men so as not to have Sodom incinerated. Here one good man refutes "Madame Bovary."

i had to read this book for school. i thought it was the worst book i ever read...it was stupid boring pointless dumn...must i go on. i would not recomend this bood to ANYONE. no offense if you are a lover of charles dickens, but this book SUCKS.

thats all...you can read it if you want but be warned...it is very stupid and boring

even though it was very long. I would recommend it to those who will actually sit down and read a book.

I think this is a great American classic. It teaches us that we are all capable of goodness and can experience the beauties of love if we cut the strings that bound us, and shaped us into being people that we never wanted to really be. It touches us by showing the ugliness of hatred and unnecessary feelings of vengeance and reconfirms my feeling that you have to be true to yourself. Love those who truly love you, and don't let other people involve you in their twisted private battles of hatred and hurt.

I read this novel and i found it very interesting .Even from the title we feel the irony of the writer:there are "Great Expectations",but none of the heroes of the book can acomplish them . In fact irony in this novel may be considered a kind of intertext . The book presents a life turned upsidedown:Pip`s life changed completely from the moment he is held hills over head by the fugitive Magwitch . The main hero of the novel Pip,is a kind of prism :through his eyes we can see the action ,we see waht he sees , we understand what he understands ,from the point of view of a 5 years old boy .That is why the narrator is subjective ,as the central conscience of the novel is influenced by heroe`s emotions and opinions . The novel is also an irony of destiny : thus ,Mrs Havisham ,an excentric old woman ,half crazy , half excentric ,has a " broken heart " as she was left by her fiancee .Decided to revenge she finds herself guilty of agression against life as she uses the two childern ,Estella and Pip to acomplish her wild dark dreams .She teaches Estella to hate and hurt men ,first turning her into a frosty girl and later into an insensitive woman . The novel also presents the evolution of Pip.He is a poor boy ,but through hard work he becomes a rich man.In his evolution he was helped by his secret love for Estella ,but he is disappointed by her.In the end of the novel he prooves that he changed:when he meets Estella he doesn`t return to her .

The Bedford edition of this classic novel contains more than the typical Charles Dickens tale. In addition to the text are five excellent essays on this novel. Often Great Expectations is taught in a mundane and archaic manner. This edition allows both the student and teacher to approach the text from several twentieth century schools of thought. Peter Brooks in particular offers an excellent psychonanalytic interpretation. This text is a welcome addition to any classroom.