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Title: Nicholas Nickleby
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 1029
Format: Digital Edition
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 1029
Format: Digital Edition
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Synopsis:
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Nicholas Nickleby
dies of a broken heart after speculating all his families money and
losing it. He dies and leaves behind a wife and his young son
Nicholas and a younger daugher Kate. He leaves them to the tender
mercies of his brother Ralph, a rich money lender.
Ralph sends
Nicholas to a school master as an aide with the promise that Ralph
will take care of Mrs Nickleby and Kate as long as Nicholas stays the
course. Said schoolmaster, one Wackford Squeers, is in cahoots with
Ralph on various usurous objectives that Ralph has in mind. Squeers
uses and abuses his charges and also gets free labor from a simple
minded orphan named Smikes. When Squeers begin to beat Smikes almost
to death, Nicholas intervenes even though he knows it means his Uncle
Ralph will kick his Mother and sister out onto the streets.
Nicholas and Smikes
join an actors troupe to earn a living. Nicholas receives a letter
from an employee of his Uncle begging him to come back to London.
During this time,
Ralph had used his niece Kate as bate to entice a young lord to get
money from him. Kate begs her Uncle to spare her the shame of such a
thing but Ralph will not relent. Money is his god.
Nicholas returns to
London, defies his Uncle, starts a new job with the Cheeryble
brothers. He comes across a beautiful young woman and has to contend
with his Uncle and Wackford Squeers trying to kidnap Smikes. Many
schemes of Ralph all come together around Nicholas and with the help
of various friends, Nicholas overcomes all and sees Ralph ruined.
Nicholas marries
the beautiful young lady, Kate marries Frank Cheeryble, the nephew of
the Cheeryble brothers and everything works out well for the good
guys and the bad guys all get their just desserts.
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My
Thoughts:
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First, let's deal with something here. Wackford Squeers. I have been
saying that name in dulcet tones for the last 2 weeks. I mean, how
PERFECT is that name for a villain? Wackford Squeers, Wackford
Squeers, Wackford Squeers. This could probably have been a 5star book
just on the strength of that name alone. Thankfully, the rest of the
book carries its weight as well.
The characters, all of them, are fantastic. From youthful, hotheaded
and sometimes silly Nicholas to grasping, hate filled Uncle Ralph to
poor, pathetic, heart breaking and sympathy inducing Smikes to cruel,
petty and cowardly Wackford Squeers. Dickens doesn't just write ABOUT
these characters, he brings them to life, in all their glorious ups
and downs. I know that Dickens is shamelessly manipulating me with
how he describes poor Smikes but I don't care because he does it so
well. My heart broke for the poor wretch even while I KNEW that
Dickens was doing this cold heartedly to bring about just such a
reaction from me. And Wackford Squeers, my goodness, such a vile pot
of avarice, cowardice and bulliness that I loved to hate him. Plus,
singing his name to the tune of ♪Davey,♪ Davey Crockett,♪King
of the Wild Frontier♪ fit perfectly and almost had me dancing
with glee.
The trials and tribulations of Nicholas, Kate, various other side
characters, all tie into a wondrous tapestry that simply enchanted
me. Now, this being Dickens, and originally serialized, and Dickens
being paid by the word, there were times that I was tempted to skim
or let my mind wonder during some of the more descriptive pages or
while Mrs Nickleby would wax eloquent about something that nobody
cared about, but I overcame and read every word and I must say, I am
richer for it. While Dickens isn't by any means a sparse writer,
neither is he a wasteful writer. His descriptions bring the people
walking the street alive. His words make the characters as real as
real can be. When I was tempted to simply skip anything involving Mrs
Nickleby and her pointless reminisces and get annoyed by her, it was
what Dickens was aiming for. He wanted a character just like that and
he created her from thin air.
While I gave this 5stars back in
'07 and 5 stars again, I don't know if I'd recommend anyone starting
their exploration of Dickens with this or not. First off, it is over
1000pages for the entire novel. Even the broken up edition I read
back in '07 was almost 600 pages for each volume. However, thanks to
the likes of Sanderson, Martin and Co, the Mega-Novel (trademark
pending) is becoming main stream and the mere size of Dickens might
not be quite the impediment it would have been even 20 years ago. The
other thing would be this showcases the Victorian ideals to a T(ea)
(haha!!!!) and that might be off putting those of modern culture.
Nicholas not pursuing Madeline Bray because it wouldn't be proper as
he wasn't of the same class anymore (she was monied while the
Nickleby's weren't anymore) and Nicholas persuading his sister Kate
to not accept Frank Cheeryble's proposal (at first) because it
wouldn't look right since Nicholas worked for the Cheeryble Uncles.
It is very much outside the egalitarian ideas we carry around today
that I can see it turning people away. Now, that being said, anyone
who IS turned off from Dickens because of something like that doesn't
deserve to read the Master anyway. So no great loss.
After arguing with myself in the
above paragraph, I have realized this book not only gets my
unadulterated acclamation, but my highest recommendation AND the
first of the year Best
Book of the Year tag. I
wish I could praise this book more, I really do but this will have to
do.
Sincerely,
Bookstooge
★★★★★
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