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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Book Review: Little Dorritt

Little DorritLittle Dorrit by Charles Dickens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hadn't known that Charles Dickens' father had been imprisoned in the Marshalsea, at one time, when Dickens was a child. While reading this book is when I found out. This made the book much more realistic and interesting for me. Dickens was writing what he knew. This is what distinguishes between just a good book and a classic (which I can say this is a classic).

The summary found at Goodreads tells us that:
"When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, William Dorrit, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr. Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, and the tipsily garrulous Flora Finching, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier, and the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office."
I had never read this particular book before. I also had never seen the movie. I was at the bookmobile and saw Charles Dickens' name and since I love his books, decided I would borrow it and read it. I read it at a very leisurely pace while savoring Dickens' subtle humorous commentary on human beings and their daily struggles in 19th century Victorian England. The complexity of his characters is, as always, rich with each character responding to their unique circumstances in realistic ways. Little Dorrit had a variety of themes. Themes such as imprisonment, bureaucracy, selfishness, kindness, pity, despair, and life in all its glories. There were evil twins, people with aliases and even a bitter old woman who is tied to her room by more than meets the eye. I am glad I was able to find and read this book.

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