4/5stars

Full review saved for my patrons (feel free to follow my patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/katepfeil)

But overall, I really enjoyed this, especially the character Louisa

A good yarn, and at times deeply moving, which gained in its poignancy and tragic power by being, oh so sadly, still relevant. The heartlessness of those who have towards those whose Labour gave them their wealth is happening now. The wastrel politicians who achieve nothing, but take everything with total disregard for ‘the people’, of whom they have no understanding at all are our politicians. The contempt unfairly and without warrant shown to the ‘hands’ (think ‘Human Resources’ to find the contemporary dehumanisation of working people) is the same as the disregard employers still have for their staff.
So a depressing read, albeit a work of literary brilliance.

I was reading this for a class. But then, thesis happened. I'll probabely have to catch up for the final exam. But for now, gotta move on to next book.
:(

I'll tell you later.

Smart, funny, socially insightful and brilliantly plotted as only Dickens can brilliantly plot, this book has a hole in its center--there is no sympathetic central character (such as Pip or Sydney Carton) for the reader to hang onto. Mr. Gradgrind does end up sympathetic, but I would have liked more insight into him from the start. Louisa and Sissy are also sympathetic, but we get very little insight into them, either. There are the usual Angels (Rachael and Stephen) and Demons (Mr. Bounderby, Mrs. Sparsit) but not enough complex, rounded characters to make this novel great.

I enjoyed this so much more than I thought I would! It inspires so much thought about education and social inequality. Besides that, it was a satisfying story. The Literary Life Podcast episodes were excellent, as usual!

Not Dickens' best, but enjoyable enough.

I wonder if I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it in one go instead of taking several months long breaks in between, especially because I did enjoy my first reading of it. Dickens was a raging racist who has publicly talked about wanting to exterminate the Indian population so I don’t really have a high opinion of him. His writing style gets tiresome with continued reading (he did get paid by the word as we all know). It’s like eating candy, you enjoy the first one, maybe even the second, but if you have to continually eat fifty in a row, you are sick by the end.