Martin Chuzzlewit Books

If you like Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit is definitely worth the read. Like virtually everything he wrote, this novel is engaging, emotional, and intensely human. It follows a pattern that is bound to seem familiar to those acquainted with Dickens, and has a very Dickensian happy ending; but then, that is what we love about Dickens. There is still something to be said for virtue, and it satisfies our sense of justice when it wins out in the end. That isn't a very modern sentiment, but it is an undeniably good one. This isn't the first book I would recommend for someone wanting to pick up a little Dickens (Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist would probably all come first), but this is worth the read. I give it four stars only because I think it is second-tier Dickens; but second-tier Dickens is still first-rate.

because I really think that this is a great work, with only a few minor flaws. I admit that for the first 300 pages or so that I was somewhat unimpressed- it seemed like Dickens wasn't presenting anything different from his other works, but, as someone else mentioned, the pace really picked up the farther I got into it. I ended up spending much of the weekend reading just because I couldn't wait to find out how it ended! The only thing I would say was an issue was the sentimentality that showed up in characters like Tom Pinch and Mary Graham. As others have said, I wouldn't recommend this for one's first Dickens, but it is still a wonderful and enthralling read.

Mark Tappley, who is always 'jolly', and the worse the situation, the better opportunity he sees for himself to "come out strong"; is my favorite character in my favorite Charles Dickens novel, "Martin Chuzzlewhit": (here Jonas Chuzzlewhit rides in a carriage with the man he is destined to murder within a few days...)

The thunder rolled, the lightning flashed; the rain poured down like Heaven's wrath. Surrounded at one moment by intolerable light, and at the next by pitchy darkness, they still pressed forward on their journey. Even when they arrived at the end of the stage, and might have tarried, they did not; but ordered horses out immediately. Nor had this any reference to some five minutes' lull, which at that time seemed to promise a cessation of the storm. They held their course as if they were impelled and driven by its fury. Although they had not exchanged a dozen words, and might have tarried very well, they seemed to feel, by joint consent, that onward they must go.

Louder and louder the deep thunder rolled, as through the myriad halls of some vast temple in the sky; fiercer and brighter became the lightning, more and more heavily the rain poured down. The horses (they were travelling now with a single pair) plunged and started from the rills of quivering fire that seemed to wind along the ground before them; but there these two men sat, and forward they went as if they were led on by an invisible attraction.

The eye, partaking of the quickness of the flashing light, saw in its every gleam a multitude of objects which it could not see at steady noon in fifty times that period. Bells in steeples, with the rope and wheel that moved them; ragged nests of birds in cornices and nooks; faces full of consternation in the tilted waggons that came tearing past: their frightened teams ringing out a warning which the thunder drowned; harrows and ploughs left out in fields; miles upon miles of hedge-divided country, with the distant fringe of trees as obvious as the scarecrow in the beanfield close at hand; in a trembling, vivid, flickering instant, everything was clear and plain: then came a flush of red into the yellow light; a change to blue; a brightness so intense that there was nothing else but light; and then the deepest and profoundest darkness.

The lightning being very crooked and very dazzling may have presented or assisted a curious optical illusion, which suddenly rose before the startled eyes of Montague in the carriage, and as rapidly disappeared. He thought he saw Jonas with his hand lifted, and the bottle clenched in it like a hammer, making as if he would aim a blow at his head. At the same time he observed (or so believed) an expression in his face: a combination of the unnatural excitement he had shown all day, with a wild hatred and fear: which might have rendered a wolf a less terrible companion.

He uttered an involuntary exclamation, and called to the driver, who brought his horses to a stop with all speed.

It could hardly have been as he supposed, for although he had not taken his eyes off his companion, and had not seen him move, he sat reclining in his corner as before.

`What's the matter?' said Jonas. `Is that your general way of waking out of your sleep?'

`I could swear,' returned the other, `that I have not closed my eyes!'

`When you have sworn it,' said Jonas, composedly, `we had better go on again, if you have only stopped for that.'

He uncorked the bottle with the help of his teeth; and putting it to his lips, took a long draught."

This most wide-ranging of Dickens' books is also famous for it's criticisms of American culture in the 19th century, or the lack thereof, as well as the lack of ethics, personal hygeine, table manners, modesty, and of any ability to accept criticisms of that nature. People get very hostile toward good authors, and spitting tobacco juice on every available object, animate or inanimate, was apparently considered an important freedom guaranteed by the Constitution...

P.S. Charles Dickens was surely one of the greatest writers of horror, though he's unrecognized as such. I can't wait to start reading "Our Mutual Friend"... which opens with a father and daughter scavenging for corpses on the Thames.

But if you enjoy a nice financial scandal, I think a fine companion to "Martin Chuzzlewhit" is Emile Zola's "Money", which also deals with financial corruption, having a "Universal Bank" of it's own to rival the "Anglo-Bengalese Disinterested Loan And Life Insurance Company"...

Greed and selfishness abound in this long novel originally brought to the 1843-44 reading public through twenty monthly installments. The book did not sell well and is today little known except to Dickens fans. It is well worth a perusal as it:
1. Exhibits a fascinating cast of characters from the alcohoic nurse Mrs Gamp and her imaginary friend Mrs Harris to the unforgettable Mr. Seth Pecksniff whose hypocritical lifestyle is a gem of descriptive satire by the master Dickens. Pecksniff is an architect seeking to wed his two daughters to rich folks, claim credit for other people' work and cast aside from his office such worthy young gentlemen as Martin Chuzzlewit, John Westlock and the timorous Tom Pinch. Tom and his Ruth are a beautiful example of sibling love and kindness to others in need.
The book is also an excellent mystery as the evil Jonas Chuzzlewit plots the death of his rich old father; murders a business associate and is finally arrested. Jonas commits suicide by poison orignally intended for his father.
All's well that ends well is this long serialized work. The section on Martin and his friend Mark Tapley's trip to the USA was inserted by Dickens to raise sluggish sale figures for the monthly installments of the work. Dickens had a keen eye for Yankee foibles from spitting to politics to making a quick buck. Martin and Mark end their journey in the swampy regions of the town of Eden. Only the help of Mr. Bevan a kind American allows them to return to England. Dickens had been disillusioned by the republic of his American cousins in his 1841 tour of the states. He briefly mentions slavery in America and his view is negative. It should also be noted that Dickens found much to find fault with and criticize about his native land of England.
This is not the first Dickens novel to begin with for there are parts (especially in the first installments) that drag as we learn about old Martin Chuzzlewit's ancestors and his disowning of his grandson Martin the hero of the novel. They will later reconcile in the exciting finish of this racing coach of genius across the broad sweep of the Victorian town and country landscape.
Charles Dickens was a genius whose words deserve to be read as long as the English language is spoken, celebrated and honored on this globe.
Great book!

Martin Chuzzlewit the elder is dying and all the family has designs on gaining their inheritance. His grandson seems the odds on favorite but young Martin, the grandson has fallen madly in love with the elder Martin's altruistic nurse, Mary Graham. Why the elder Martin finds this terrifying is puzzling. Does he really think Mary's interest in Martin the younger will compromise the quality of her job? Oh, oh...I've done it, I've caught Dickens capturing the foibles of humanity again!!!
These characters sometimes make me scream. I'd like to be face to face with them, vigourously attempting to argue them out of their other-destructive behavior...Of course it would be totally useless as far as they're concerned, but hopefully cathartic for me.
The PBS video (6 hours) is how I was introduced to this story. After viewing the video I read the book. Dickens offers a marked contrast to his near contemporary Alexis deTocqueville's. Where Tocqueville saw free association and high community spirit in his Democracy in America, Dickens saw flim-flam and greed everywhere. -As greed and selfishness are big themes in Chuzzlewit, America proved an apt foil. It is said American publishers pirated Dickens work, paying him no royalties, adding fuel to his ire. Other reviewers have commented on Pecksniff , Mrs. Gump, Jonas Chuzzlewit and Tom Pinch. Oh, there are Dickensian characters in this book. The rivalry between Mercy and Charity Pecksniff results in this case, in alarming tragedies of self-centeredness. If there be humor in such goings on, you'll love Montigue Tigg (Tigg Montigue). He is every bit the operator, having much in common with Mr. Merdle of Dicken's Little Dorritt. Rest assured, as Dickens torments the reader with the trials of his characters, this is one of those tales where just desserts are served in the end.

Charles Dickens was a great writer. A simple statement, easily and often made, but its correctness is confirmed and enlarged with each story that I read.

He was so good at what he did, and was so well-loved in his time, and so often imitated, that he is easily dismissed or parodied. No matter, He writes physical comedy, social commentary, irony, and pathos with a sharp ear for vocabulary and conversation and an internal clock for pacing that is nearly infallible.

This tale focuses on Coketown, an early industrial city blighted by its creating industry, its owning tycoon, its proto-organizing workers, its ambitious MP, and his morally-bankrupt protégé. Hard Times is considered one of Dicken's strongest statements against the grinding poverty of the unrestrained industrial might of the time.

This is not Dickens at his best. No offence to the narrator, who does a good job but I think the story itself is rather boring. Especially when compared with his classics "Great Expectations", "A Christms Carol" and "A Tale of Two Cities".

I picked up this book at B&N because I had just read two Jane Austin novels and I thought this would be a light read. I was wrong. The beggining and the end had a purpose in the story but the middle could have been much, much shorter and the ending made a little longer.

I liked the character of Mr. Bounderby. He was very well developed. I would even say over-developed, but he was the only one. How did Sissy influence the youngest Gradgrind? Why didn't we know of Mrs. Bounderbys inner turmoil till she ran to her father? Every character had something missing. What happened to Mr. Bounderby once he was found out? Why is Sissy so special and what did she really do for the family?

It was a long book where nothing much happened until the last quarter and when it finally ended I felt cheated because it lacked a complete story line and full characters. The story line could have been forgiven if I was more satisfied with the characters.

Hard Times was written in 1854 by England's greatest novelist Charles
Dickens (1812-1870. It is the shortest of his novels. The novel was originally published as a weekly series in "Household Words" periodical edited by Dickens. The novel reads quickly telling a story that is still relevant in our own post-industrial 21st century Western Society.
The novel is set in fictional Coketown set in the English Midlands. The first scene is set in a classroom where children are being taught by rote
learning. Only FACTS yells Mr. Gradgrind who has raised his two children the feckless Tom and the more impressionable Louisa to eschew the emotions of art and the heart to stick strictly to practical learning.
Enter into the town Mr. Sleary's circus. Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe is a young girl whose father is employed by Sleary to ride horses. He deserts Sissy who is adopted by the Gradgrind family. Sissy befriends the lonely lass Louisa. Louisa is forced into a loveless marriage with the bloviating humbug industrialist Josiah Bounderby. Bounderby has crafted a false story of a difficult childhood while disdaining the love of his mother who lives in the country.
We also met the tragic Stephen Blackpool a miner who is wed to an alocholic wife. Stephen is in love with the beautiful and kind Rachael. He will be framed for the robbery of Bounderby's bank which was really robbed by Tom Gradgrind.
The novel is divided into three parts covering several years. Many of the characters come to a bad end. The novel attacks industrialism, the state of British education and the necessity for entertainment in the lives of everyone.
All of Dickens fictions are worth reading. Hard Times is a good introduction to the second half of his career in which he moves to more serious themes. A Victorian classic which will be enjoyed by the discriminating reader.

Although not one of his more popular novels, Charles Dickens' Hard Times still stands as a classic among classics. Carrying on with his highly prolific writing style, this novel is a bit more bleak than his other renown works, but enjoyable from the start, especially with Dickens' excellent choice of character naming.
Suitable for most ages, this classic should not be passed up. And with the Norton annotations and notes, this edition will help readers understand better the context in which the author writes in.