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raye_loves_reading's review against another edition
1.0
Read this for uni, or I likely would never have read it. I get what was being said, but the book was depressing and long. Okay, I'm just going to say it, I don't like Dickens.
raeleechoins's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
Loved Les Mis, and want to read something similar set in Victorian England but with a shitty dad? Look no further. Dickens’s story telling is unmatched, but these characters (except Susan and Florence) were entirely too unpleasant.
themodvictorian's review against another edition
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.0
blueyorkie's review against another edition
4.0
I discovered the work of Charles Dickens quite late, in adulthood, and it took me several years to let myself be entirely caught in the net of its charms. However, today, having read many of his novels, I consider him a brilliant storyteller with a singular verb, and I am determined to read his fictional work in its entirety.
"Dombey and Son" is not Charles Dickens's best-known novel; it is far from it. However, its thousand pages contain a lovely family and social fiction that his contemporary Victor Hugo will doubtless not have disdained. All the ingredients make a Dickensian novel an extraordinary universe of shattered destinies and colorful figures.
A novel of vanity and ambition, "Dombey & Son" denounces the greed of the heart, the pretension of class, the manipulation of beings, and the harshness of a society that does not spare those in need. With unique humor, Charles Dickens deploys this talent that belongs only to him to give life to a massive gallery of characters to eat in both senses.
I don't know of any other period author capable of featuring many leading and supporting characters, nimbly interlocking them with each other, and giving them a personality of their own, endearing or repulsive. Likewise, each actor in this beautiful drama searched and worked in-depth until he offered the reader the best of his qualities or faults. The result is such a closeness to the ordinary heroes and heroines of the novel that we, the readers, feel ourselves becoming one of them.
Charles Dickens did not in any way usurp his status as a beloved author of the English Language, and I am one of his great admirers.
"Dombey and Son" is not Charles Dickens's best-known novel; it is far from it. However, its thousand pages contain a lovely family and social fiction that his contemporary Victor Hugo will doubtless not have disdained. All the ingredients make a Dickensian novel an extraordinary universe of shattered destinies and colorful figures.
A novel of vanity and ambition, "Dombey & Son" denounces the greed of the heart, the pretension of class, the manipulation of beings, and the harshness of a society that does not spare those in need. With unique humor, Charles Dickens deploys this talent that belongs only to him to give life to a massive gallery of characters to eat in both senses.
I don't know of any other period author capable of featuring many leading and supporting characters, nimbly interlocking them with each other, and giving them a personality of their own, endearing or repulsive. Likewise, each actor in this beautiful drama searched and worked in-depth until he offered the reader the best of his qualities or faults. The result is such a closeness to the ordinary heroes and heroines of the novel that we, the readers, feel ourselves becoming one of them.
Charles Dickens did not in any way usurp his status as a beloved author of the English Language, and I am one of his great admirers.
christian_faith_and_fiction's review against another edition
4.0
Story Rating 7/10 Christian Faith Rating 1/3
bookish_5280's review against another edition
4.75
Other than the unrealistically quick resolution towards the end, this is truly one of Dicken's most expansive works.
mvatza57's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
isobelline's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
The first mature Dickens
This is the novel that, to me, signifies the start of a new period in Dickens' writing. It is more psychological, more attentive to its characters and more introspective. So why didn't I like it that much?
Florence. Florence is why this book didn't click with me. I know that this is very common with Dickens' female characters but Jesus Christ is she a doormat. And what hurts the most is that she could have been a great character - a neglected girl, forgotten and unloved, desperate for her father's affection. Her loveless childhood should have left some sort of a mark on her, should have affected her somehow. But she's too virtuous, too good, too quick to forgive her jerk of a father and I don't believe for a second that years of neglect didn't embitter her even a slightest bit. I just don't believe it. This is actually a thing that I notice in a lot of Dickens' other novels - characters who should have been crushed by what they went through retaining their virtue and their positive outlook on life.
Anyway, I liked it at the start but quickly got bored with it. Eh.
P.S.: this features probably the most gruesome villain death scene in Dickens. So far, at least.
This is the novel that, to me, signifies the start of a new period in Dickens' writing. It is more psychological, more attentive to its characters and more introspective. So why didn't I like it that much?
Florence. Florence is why this book didn't click with me. I know that this is very common with Dickens' female characters but Jesus Christ is she a doormat. And what hurts the most is that she could have been a great character - a neglected girl, forgotten and unloved, desperate for her father's affection. Her loveless childhood should have left some sort of a mark on her, should have affected her somehow. But she's too virtuous, too good, too quick to forgive her jerk of a father and I don't believe for a second that years of neglect didn't embitter her even a slightest bit. I just don't believe it. This is actually a thing that I notice in a lot of Dickens' other novels - characters who should have been crushed by what they went through retaining their virtue and their positive outlook on life.
Anyway, I liked it at the start but quickly got bored with it. Eh.
P.S.: this features probably the most gruesome villain death scene in Dickens. So far, at least.
mary_juleyre's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0