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 A Master Storyteller at Work November 27, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is the first Dickens book I've read and I enjoyed it hugely. I don't normally review books as I don't consider myself sufficiently well-read. Having the temerity to "review" Dickens strikes me as an act of gross impertinence and instead, I will simply offer these thoughts on the book to anyone who has not read it but might be considering doing so. I think the central plotline is quite simple: Nicholas, a young man who has lost his father, seeks help from his spiteful uncle, who sends him away to Yorkshire to teach in a cruelly-run "school". After a short period he leaves, taking with him one of the older pupils who has been treated particular badly throughout his many years at the school and together they return to London to seek their fortune, with a diversion to the south coast to tread the boards for a few months' pocket money. There are parallel plots recounting the business dealings of Nicholas' uncle, his downtrodden but honest assistant Noggs, the various problems which beset Nicholas' sister Kate, and several other threads. I think what sets the book apart from the modern novel (and I imagine this applies to all his books), is the amount of development which Dickens devotes to characters who, ultimately, do not figure in the end-game - though I note, at the beginning of A Christmas Carol, which I've just started, that Dickens himself is apologetic for not giving the characters of that story sufficient space. Thus, he takes us down interesting byways and backwaters and leaves us guessing a little as to how significant a particular character is going to become. It's also noticeable that many of the chapters begin with a few paragraphs of general observation and reflection on aspects of human morality - lessons which still resonate today - before leading the reader back into the story proper; and this I enjoyed hugely. His writing is beautiful, witty and expressive, putting across in one sentence what many writers might require several to do. And not his best book either, according to some of the reviews here, so even greater joy awaits!
One of the best I've read so far November 16, 2007
It's almost as good as David Copperfield but not quite. Copperfield has Wilkins Micawber among its stock and that makes it virtually unbeatable. Dickens's diction is, as usual, at its best. Don't make the mistake of putting it down only to carry on after some time. In this novel, Dickens has a habit of re-introducing secondary characters that were previously mentioned several chapters back and they are very easy to forget.
Other than that, as I said, it's a great read. I must also say that I did not anticipate that Smike would be assume so much prominence towards the end of the novel.
 "Dreams are the bright creatures of poem and legend, who sport on earth in the night season." September 1, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A handsome young man who finds himself the sole support of his mother and sister after his father's death, Nicholas Nickleby is hopeful that his uncle, Ralph Nickleby, a weathy speculator in London, will assist the unfortunate family in its hour of need. Ralph's cruel response, however, is to make Nicholas the assistant headmaster at a notoriously abusive school in northern England and to make his beautiful sister a seamstress and part-time hostess at his own parties. There she is subjected to innuendo and to the drunken intentions of men whose accounts help keep Ralph a wealthy man.
This early novel is pure melodrama, with the good characters being unbelievably good, and the evil being unbelievably bad. The multiple adventures of Nicholas through a variety of settings, both in the city and in the countryside, create a broad picture of life in England in the 1830s. Nicholas's job as assistant headmaster exposes him to the horrors of so-called boarding schools for young boys, which were essentially warehouses for young children where they were forced into physical labor, kept malnourished, and beaten regularly. These abuses, based on Dickens's personal observations, so horrified his readers that major reforms of these schools eventually resulted. When Nicholas, in frustration, finally beats headmaster Wackford Squeers for his abuse of the children, Nicholas and Smike, a crippled boy who has been the headmaster's slave, escape together.
Their interlude with a traveling theatrical company, led by friendly Vincent Crummles, gives Nicholas much needed emotional support and provides Smike with a temporary home--until Nicholas is called to return to England to rescue his sister from unwanted attentions fostered by her uncle. Eventually Nicholas works in London for the saintly Cheeryble brothers and meets Madeline Bray, the love of his life.
Long recognized as one of Dickens's best novels for its wide assortment of characters, the novel mixes delightful humor with the pathos. The complex plot employs coincidence and miraculous interventions to save the day for the good characters while well-deserved disasters befall the evil ones. Dickens's vibrant descriptions bring people, places, and scenes fully to life, and the realistically described social conditions provide a clear vision of life's travails.
Despite its great length, the novel is a fast read--and fun--but it is soap opera-like in its ups and downs, and the main characters are not fully developed. One knows little about Nicholas except what one "sees"--that he has a kind heart and acts on it--but we know little about his inner life. (David Copperfield and Pip in Great Expectations are still ten and twenty years away.) Sentimental and occasionally bathetic, the novel involves the reader in the social abuses, some of which were improved as a direct result of this book's publication. Mary Whipple
 A long journey that's not always worth the bother August 10, 2004
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
I read this book after Oliver Twist, which was my first Dickens read and a revelation. Parts of this book were excellent. I remember the gruesome caricatures of the villains and the hilariously pretentious acting company that Nicholas joins. But there was a too much fluff and I found several of the characters quite badly drawn. Nicholas seemed whiter than white, his sister hardly drawn at all and Mrs Nickleby was in my opinion an unfunny, misogynistic creation. A long and unsatisfying read.
 The weakest work of a genius May 1, 2003
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm a massive fan of Dickens, but of the dozen or so books of his that I've read, this has to be the weakest. There are far too many coincidences to maintain credibility (yes, too many even for a Dickens novel), and too many characters who pop up at the precise moment you've forgotten who they were.There are also at least two occasions where a character is speaking words that are quite clearly not their own, but those of the author (most noticeably, a rant by the protagonist against a man who adapts/butchers books for the stage). But this is Dickens, and so it's all forgiveable. There are hilarious passages (the Muffin company bit at the beginning is wonderful) and some of his most memorable characters (Mrs Nickleby is wonderfully observed). And while the story itself may not be his best, the telling of it is, as always, a joy.
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