The Pickwick Papers

I'm absolutely sure my humble opinion of this epic tome will be of no historical value whatsoever to its ongoing sales, but be prepared for a slog as old Dickens loves epically long sentences that you will read 2-3 times to unpack. My other parting gift in this review is, dear reader, that I would ask you to have a good supply of fine whisky at hand, and each time one of the female characters cries, weeps, blubs, sobs or has hysterics, etc etc, have a toast to me and my humble review...

The actual title is The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. This is the first novel Dickens wrote. Some would argue that his first real novel was, say, Nicholas Nickleby, but let’s not split hairs. The idea came about in an interesting way. He had published a number of articles in various magazines, and a publisher approached Dickens with the proposal of doing a series of satirical “sporting pieces” that would, essentially, pull the nose of all the gentlemanly pastimes of contemporary (1836-7) England.There wasn’t supposed to be a real plot line running through the series; the thread connecting them would be simply a set of farcical characters centered around Samuel Pickwick, a well-to-do amateur anthropologist who goes out into the countryside to observe different kinds of recreation such as shooting, cricket, journalism, and Parliamentary elections. And each piece was supposed to be written to go with an illustration by a certain artist who was well established in the trade, and thought that he was in control of the creative collaboration.Well, the illustrator soon found out how wrong he was. He soon found that the literary genius of Charles Dickens wanted an illustrator to cater to it, not vice versa. And as a result, the illustrator literally blew his brains out after only one “number.” A few months after this tragedy Dickens established his lifelong creative partnership with illustrator Hablot K. Browne, and the two wrote and sketched under the respective pen-names of Boz and Phiz.As for the novel itself, it gradually coalesced into a true novel with an actual plot, and characters that developed into more than they were at the beginning. This unexpected development turns The Pickwick Papers, by degrees, from a series of raucously funny sketches, into a full-blown novel that is as emotionally powerful, at its climax, as almost anything Dickens wrote.Full of stories and songs, ridiculous descriptions of social foibles, and the awesome presence of Pickwick’s cockney servant Sam Weller, this book falls into the literary category (here I go again) known as picaresque. In case I didn’t scare you off just now, that word means that it’s a satirical story in which you get a guided tour of the real world, guided by a Wise Fool who is only wrong when he’s sure he’s right, and who is most right when he seems most wrong. Sometimes Pickwick is your guide, but most of the time Sam Weller is. Even if you have never loved a fictional character before, you will love Sam Weller. And for the reasons he loves Samuel Pickwick–ridiculous as Pickwick seems, at first–you will come to love Pickwick too.So many things happen in this book that I fear I would ruin your enjoyment by giving any of them away, but just to whet your appetite, there is the melodrama surrounding the nefarious “adventurer” Alfred Jingle…the story of a man who gets locked out of his boarding-house naked in the middle of the night…a man who finds himself fighting a duel because someone else wearing his clothes caused a scandal…the fat boy who is always either eating or sleeping, except on unlucky occasions when someone is hoping not to be observed…and the whole legal nightmare that develops when Pickwick’s landlady mistakes his request for a new manservant as a proposal of marriage, which ultimately becomes the core of this novel.What more can I say of a book in which a man hears that his worst enemy has gotten married, and replies: “Serves him right!”

This is my first book review for Amazon, and I thought it would benefit both me and the reader if I set out the rules on which I propose to review any literature, serious or superficial. A review in my opinion is not a precis which avoids having to read the book, it should be neutral (on at least love, war and politics)and is not intended to let the reviewer shine rather than the author. It should, in part one as it were, show how the author's background is influential on his writings, how the plot and characters develop. This is intended, usually to make you want to buy the book, and to follow up the author's other works. Part two of the review should be concerned with the particular book, its appearance, binding (if printed) ease of reading and pleasure in having bought it in that form. You may wish to comment on this approach - please do so !My first subject is 'The Pickwick Papers' by Charles Dickens. Dickens must be one of the most famous authors of all time, yet it is surprising how few people have read his books. Most people's knowledge of his work comes from films or TV adaptations. He is generally regarded as Victorian, but, although he wrote his novels in the Victorian era, his early life of extremes in childhood certainly made their mark on his later writings. He suffered from a father best described as 'happy go lucky' in relation to his family, and it is well known that Charles remained (as a child) in a revolting black-leading factory after his father's release from prison. These experiences undoubtedly coloured his later works, but are notably absent from this, his first work. One can surmise that rthis is due to two factors - firstly this was his first work of any consequence to be published so he was an unknown quantity to any publisher, and the one to take a chance on him published 'Pickwick Papers' in monthly form - he had to keep the readers wanting the next episode. These factors had two results: They ensured that this as a comic masterpiece, and that it could be read in seperate sections. To give any detail would spoil it - please read it and enjoy.This partcular format is a joy to own and read. The Collector's Library is beautifully produced, a prime example of the bookmaker's art..It is a long read, over one thousand pages, but the original magazine partitions mean it can be happily picked up and put down.

This is a beautiful book but be warned that it is very small. In the description it states that the book is 18.8cm. The actual height of the book is only about 10 cms. I found this annoying as I had looked at the size before ordering on the description section.

This is a quite heavily abridged rendition of The Pickwick Papers, and whereas it has the feeling of losing a lot of the detail, it still serves its purpose as a very entertaining introduction to the world of Dickens and his works. Anton Lesser's narration and characterisation is superb, and helps bring the story to life - although towards the end he seems to run out of different voices for the many different characters and some of them do start to sound like each other. The end also feels a bit rushed, as though they were struggling to fit everything onto four CDs. I think that was an unfortunate limitation, I would happily have listened to a much longer version. For that reason alone I give this version four stars rather than five.