Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers

It is humbling for any reviewer to read G.K. Chesterton's thoughts on The Pickwick Papers.  If you would like a really good review of this book I suggest you read that.  I won't presume to do anymore than provide my own two cents:

First, a little background on my relationship to Dickens.  I remember reading A Christmas Carol very early on.  I must've been about 8 or 9 years old.  And although I know I was a little confused about some of the language, I loved the book.  There is a fairy tale quality about it that obviously still appeals to readers. 

Sometime in high school I was assigned to read Hard Times.  I hated that book.  Every criticism I've heard bandied about Dickens seems to be contained in that book.  It is excessively maudlin, trite, and immensely melodramatic.  Or so I thought at the time.  Luckily, it is also one of his shorter novels. 

My third essay at Dickens was Great Expectations.  I was in college at the time but the book was not assigned reading.  I had seen the film adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ethan Hawke, and Robert De Niro.  The film piqued my interest and I thought I'd give Dickens another try.  So I began Great Expectations, was surprised at how compelling the story was, found myself intrigued by the characters, then began to feel progressively bogged down at the midway point.  I was sure I was finished with trying to read Charles Dickens.

I'm not sure why or what re-sparked my interest.  But, in the past few months, I felt a desire to attempt yet again to read Dickens.  I did a little research and realized The Pickwick Papers is what put him on the map.  I figured there must be a reason people initially fell in love with him.  So I chose this book as my attempt to understand why he is considered such a great writer of the English language and why his books are still so famous.

I'm very glad I chose this book to try to understand the allure of Dickens.  This is definitely a great book.  It is in the picaresque style.  And, like most picaresques, it begins with an almost absurdist, nonchalant attitude.  There are the usual droll observations.  There is little in the way of characterization--there are more archetypes than characters as the book opens.  But something seems to just happen in the course of the narrative.  These characters become human.  They open up and develop.  It's not even  perfectly done: it almost seems haphazard.  But it works remarkably well.

Samuel Pickwick goes from being that silly, eccentric uncle you have to a humane, decent gentlemen who is a friend to all and sundry.  Sam Weller, his manservant, starts off as a comic foil and becomes a friend you wish you had.  While the incidents in the book begin as excuses for comic adventure and become intrinsic to the life of the characters.

I read much of this book on the bus and/or train to and from work.  There were plenty of times I had to suppress some laughter to not disturb my fellow passengers.  Every now and then a chuckle would arise, sometimes a guffaw, oftentimes a mere smile filled with the warmth of pure joy. 

I think a reader falls in love with the characters because of their decency and humanity.  While the comedy in the book is suffused with the same qualities.  You can almost feel the reality of the characters and situations (most of them).  Like Ulysses this is a very humane book.   

Now, I'm reading Oliver Twist.  I might actually like this Dickens fellow.  Who knows?  I might even read Hard Times again.