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colorfulleo92's review against another edition
4.0
One of the few Charles Dickens book I had left to read and the ebook was one of the longest I've read in a while. Around 1600 pages! Took some time to read as I'm not a fast reader of classics but I did really enjoy my read of this book. Not my favorite but liked the way characters where in this. It was very entertaining.
musicdeepdive's review against another edition
4.0
Even for a Dickens novel, this book opens at a bit of a turgid pace, and it's not his most immediate set of characters, but once you understand the direction he's going with the plot, you become invested and the characters become that much more vivid. It's debatable whether the book deserves the ending it gets, but the writing in those last chapters is among the most spellbinding material of Dickens' career to date, so I'll let it pass.
rbreade's review against another edition
Contains none of Dickens' most famous characters and yet is one of his best novels. Thackeray, whose Vanity Fair appeared in installments at about the same time as Dombey and Son, said of it, "There's no writing against such power as this--one has no chance!" He was referring to the extraordinary scenes told from the viewpoint of children, for which Dickens was lauded, for the poignance with which he drew Florence Dombey, for his amazing Edith Granger, possibly the most fully realized female character Dickens ever wrote (admittedly a weak point in his work), and for the way his many subplots are yoked to his purpose, an extended portrait of the cost pride can exact from those who carry it too far, and the tendency of people who have money to overestimate what it can accomplish, especially in the realm of human relationships. A sample of what Thackeray meant by his comment is illustrated by this image of Florence's nightly pilgrimage to her father's door after the death of her mother, his wife:
"Against [his door], scarcely breathing, she would rest her face and head, and press her lips, in the yearning of her love. She crouched upon the cold stone floor outside it, every night, to listen for his breath; and in her one absorbing wish to be allowed to show him some affection, to be a consolation to him, to win him over to the endurance of some tenderness from her, his solitary child, she would have knelt down at his feet, if she had dared, in humble supplication."
This is not the only heart-breaking image in the novel; there are many like it. And the protracted battle of wills between Dombey and his new wife, Edith Granger, is one of the most amazing in fiction, extremely complex because of Edith's extraordinary self-loathing.
Though not an ironic writer, being far too earnest, Dickens deploys a nice bit of irony in the title: Dombey and Son, the firm, his cherished hope that his son will grow up to join him as a Titan of British finance, never comes off--Paul Dombey, Jr. dies while still a child. Rather, it is his daughter who is his true heir, whom he barely acknowledges, whom he comes to hate, in a way, for how she found a place in young Paul's heart when he, his father, was unable to. Exhibit A:
"Who was it who, unaided by his love, regard, or notice, thrived and grew beautiful when those so aided died? Who could it be, but the same child at whom he had often glanced uneasily in her motherless infancy, with a kind of dread, lest he might come to hate her; and of whom his foreboding was fulfilled, for he DID hate her in his heart."
Strong stuff. It's a study in blindness, and in not valuing what one has. Without going into too much detail, Paul Dombey, Sr., is brought very low, indeed, by the end. Along the way there are machinations, and characters lost at sea, and heartbreak. Mrs. Skewton, Edith Granger's mother, provides the horrific template for Ida Lowry in Terry Gilliam's Brazil, she of the too-numerous plastic surgeries. James Carker, Dombey's right-hand man, is one of Dickens' most underrated villains, being smooth, cunning, hyper-intelligent, and accomplished, compared in the text, fittingly, to a cat and a spider, and constantly making me think of a shark--the teeth. If you read it, you'll see what I mean.
"Against [his door], scarcely breathing, she would rest her face and head, and press her lips, in the yearning of her love. She crouched upon the cold stone floor outside it, every night, to listen for his breath; and in her one absorbing wish to be allowed to show him some affection, to be a consolation to him, to win him over to the endurance of some tenderness from her, his solitary child, she would have knelt down at his feet, if she had dared, in humble supplication."
This is not the only heart-breaking image in the novel; there are many like it. And the protracted battle of wills between Dombey and his new wife, Edith Granger, is one of the most amazing in fiction, extremely complex because of Edith's extraordinary self-loathing.
Though not an ironic writer, being far too earnest, Dickens deploys a nice bit of irony in the title: Dombey and Son, the firm, his cherished hope that his son will grow up to join him as a Titan of British finance, never comes off--Paul Dombey, Jr. dies while still a child. Rather, it is his daughter who is his true heir, whom he barely acknowledges, whom he comes to hate, in a way, for how she found a place in young Paul's heart when he, his father, was unable to. Exhibit A:
"Who was it who, unaided by his love, regard, or notice, thrived and grew beautiful when those so aided died? Who could it be, but the same child at whom he had often glanced uneasily in her motherless infancy, with a kind of dread, lest he might come to hate her; and of whom his foreboding was fulfilled, for he DID hate her in his heart."
Strong stuff. It's a study in blindness, and in not valuing what one has. Without going into too much detail, Paul Dombey, Sr., is brought very low, indeed, by the end. Along the way there are machinations, and characters lost at sea, and heartbreak. Mrs. Skewton, Edith Granger's mother, provides the horrific template for Ida Lowry in Terry Gilliam's Brazil, she of the too-numerous plastic surgeries. James Carker, Dombey's right-hand man, is one of Dickens' most underrated villains, being smooth, cunning, hyper-intelligent, and accomplished, compared in the text, fittingly, to a cat and a spider, and constantly making me think of a shark--the teeth. If you read it, you'll see what I mean.
makenziewho's review against another edition
5.0
I was going to give the one four stars, but the last 200 pages were so well done and so emotional for me that it had to be five. This book took me over a year to finish (after a long intermission near the middle) and it dragged in places, but the plot was so tragic and touching, and the way Dickens wraps it all up in his usual way is perfection. Not my favorite Dickens so far, but definitely a great work.
beccabeccalee's review against another edition
Surprisingly very compelling. I loved this novel, though it didn't exactly get my analytical cogs and wheels turning, it was a delight to read. It made me understand people who read Austen for fun instead of for writing about... because that's how I read Dickens... I simply enjoyed this novel. The writing was charming - clean, steady prose. A little emotionally overwrought at times, but heck, it's still an early novel. I couldn't complain a whit about its sentimentality... try reading Edward Kimber.
lindseysparks's review against another edition
5.0
Who says Dickens can't write women? This book made me wish I had read it in grad school so I could write a paper on it and Florence and Edith. Now I only have one more Dickens's novel left to read.
jasmina1811's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
persephones_kid's review against another edition
read all the way to chapter 20 and didn’t have time to finish it as it was reading for school and the book is very long
i loved it tho (the bit that i’ve read at least)
i loved it tho (the bit that i’ve read at least)
sloatsj's review against another edition
4.0
It's funny how this is one of the less-read Dickens books when it's so enjoyable. In fact it's probably the closest to a page-turner as anything Dickens has written. It's got everything - orphaned youth, hearts of gold, bad guys with gleaming teeth, faithful servants, mysterious benefactors. There are a number of horrendously politically incorrect things going on, but plenty of just deserts.
It's ridiculous for me to complain about how overdone the schmalz was at the end since it was pretty much like that from page one. Still, the last hundred pages are just a tad OTT even for someone with a high threshold for Dickensschmalz. Thus just 4 of 5 stars.
It's ridiculous for me to complain about how overdone the schmalz was at the end since it was pretty much like that from page one. Still, the last hundred pages are just a tad OTT even for someone with a high threshold for Dickensschmalz. Thus just 4 of 5 stars.