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bibliobethreads's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sadie47's review against another edition
2.25
i get it. but its tooooo long. and the names drove me mad.
p_t_b's review against another edition
5.0
all my notes on this are sort of gibberish because i wrote them on my cellphone at the gym while listening to the audiobook, but this is my favorite dickens. works both as soapy sprawling character piece and just barely as a novel of action; the uriah heep plot shoots off its firecracker with plenty of novel left to go, but the story of little em'ly mostly makes up for the remaining.
fascinated by the late appearance of emigration/transportation as a safety valve/deus ex machina for dickens; reminded that it played a frontier-like role in victorian england as the west played in contemporaneous america. micawber and mr. peggotty head to australia in the novel's final act.
the death of dora feels like dickens assassinating his own wife, from whom he was if not estranged, then distant. and i think he took a mistress at some point? surprised by the brief outbreaks of what are not quite autobiography but obviously taken from life.
uriah heep's humility (be umble, ury); his fate to be lower class, the prison scene where the former butler of steerforth and heep are treated as weird sorts of fallen idols. dickens' sense of class and how heep's greed or simple desire to be not humble is unacceptable/transgressive (which is strange, as narrator has, at least in some sense, squandered or had taken from him his birthright of gentility during his squalid adolescent phase).
jip the dog. so tender.
a majority i think of the dynamism of the book comes from female characters. very interesting that it starts off with betsey trotwood "BAH"ing her way out of the sad little Rookery when it becomes known to her that the new child is not in fact a girl but a boy. Agnes Wickfield. The Old Soldier, Peggotty, Aunt Betsey;
Janet -- Donkeys.
fascinated by the late appearance of emigration/transportation as a safety valve/deus ex machina for dickens; reminded that it played a frontier-like role in victorian england as the west played in contemporaneous america. micawber and mr. peggotty head to australia in the novel's final act.
the death of dora feels like dickens assassinating his own wife, from whom he was if not estranged, then distant. and i think he took a mistress at some point? surprised by the brief outbreaks of what are not quite autobiography but obviously taken from life.
uriah heep's humility (be umble, ury); his fate to be lower class, the prison scene where the former butler of steerforth and heep are treated as weird sorts of fallen idols. dickens' sense of class and how heep's greed or simple desire to be not humble is unacceptable/transgressive (which is strange, as narrator has, at least in some sense, squandered or had taken from him his birthright of gentility during his squalid adolescent phase).
jip the dog. so tender.
a majority i think of the dynamism of the book comes from female characters. very interesting that it starts off with betsey trotwood "BAH"ing her way out of the sad little Rookery when it becomes known to her that the new child is not in fact a girl but a boy. Agnes Wickfield. The Old Soldier, Peggotty, Aunt Betsey;
Janet -- Donkeys.
daisy_may's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
lucialater's review against another edition
4.5
only took me a leap year but i FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK!!!! david copperfield you will always be famous to me (even if it took me 366 days to read this). one of dickens's best.
juliahoh21's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
merricatcat's review against another edition
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0