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A review by isobelline
Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
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.