Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens
This is Dickens at his best – fantastic. This is a move away from the boy hard done by in the world to that of a young man.
The story is mainly Nicholas’ but Kate and his mother are also heroes in their own right.
The story is so long because all the main characters have full arcs and we see the ends of many secondary character’s arcs as well.
Mrs. Nickleby is one of Dickens’ best characters. She thinks she understands exactly what is happening and relates this in unending tales to anyone who will listen.
Then when she is wrong – as she often is – she makes a big deal about being hard done by and no one should ever listen to her.
This would be very sad and distressing if it was so funny. It is all delivered to Kate and Nicholas who love her very much and listen and placate her views while not contradicting unless they must.
All of the characters are on point – very funny.
It is very long so if you aren’t up for a Dickens’ epic then it isn’t for you. My copy is 934 pages.
You have to go into reading some material knowing what you are in for so I wouldn’t start my journey with Dickens here but if you are a fan you will love this.
