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David Copperfield (Penguin Popular Classics)

Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Category: Book

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Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars

8 reviews
Sales Rank: 4560

Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 720
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.4 x 1.3

ISBN: 0140620265
EAN: 9780140620269
ASIN: 0140620265

Publication Date: February 24, 1994
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days

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Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

This is not just a book February 14, 2008
This is not just a book, it's more of a whole of life experience. You will have to prepare yourself for the long haul and almost breathe your way through Mr Copperfield's life. But it is worth it because it is quite a life story and you will get to know and like or even dislike quite a few people along the way. I read it because I had enjoyed Oliver Twist and Great Expectations and love to understand and appreciate the simplicities and difficulties of the Victorian way of life and the great characters Dickens always invents.... and to be sure, he didn't let me down with this one either.

It's a long read and not for the faint hearted in any way. Some passages are long and by todays standards very cumbersome and long winded but if you like a good story, great characters and fancy a step out of the digital age for a while then this is for you.

5 out of 5 stars

My Favorite Dickens March 12, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is a wonderful Book. If you have never read it please read as soon as possible. It is long and at times rambling, as there are many sub plots, so you will need some staminar, but it is funny, sad, whitty and most enjoyable. Dickens exels with his older chracters, MacAwber, Bettsy Trotwood and Mr Dick. His young female characters however seem a little unreal. Dora his childlike wife is sad and unworldly, Agnes Wickfield is an Angel (Can any woman be as perfect as Agnes)and Little Emily is too silly. The villans do not disappoint. This is my favorite Dickens Novel. Please read and enjoy

5 out of 5 stars

A dickens of a read February 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

At 340,000 words (more or less), this work is a challenge, but it's worth it. And how! The ornate style that is Dickens can slow you down, back you up for a re-read, but always delivers. His characters, and many of their utterances, are memorable, and will live with you long after you finish the book.

With an almost accidental ease Dickens treats us to detailed word-pictures of mid-nineteenth-century England and the customs of the day, down to a description of the Britannia-metal cutlery. His richly-layered style moves your emotions back and forth and it's hard not to laugh and cry in turns.

Typical of Dickens, he employs a number of contrivances which, in a lesser hand, would seem unconvincing. But he ties up all his loose ends and doesn't seem to drop any details along the way. It's hard to imagine that he did all this with pen and ink and often under candlelight.

Don't forget the dictionary and notepad -- there are words and terms in here that fell out of use long ago. Charles Dickens is an education, too. Brilliant stuff!

4 out of 5 stars

ever so ambling September 22, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

`David Copperfield' does not, of course, need recommendation from me or anyone else. Re-reading this huge, rambling, digressive novel though, it strikes me how much it is marred by Dickens' repressed attitude to sexuality - he is the very embodiment of stereotypically Victorian attitudes. One result of this is the ludicrously overdrawn subplot involving little Em'ly. No doubt the consequences of a pre-marital affair could be serious then for a working class girl, but when Dickens says early on that she would better have died in childhood you can only react with incredulity. Later, as George Orwell observed, Uriah Heep is vituperated mainly because he has the audacity to want to marry `above himself'. Conversely no woman of marriageable age is allowed a spark of independence or what was then called `boldness'. The three principal women in David's life are all, to quote Blackadder, wetter than a haddock's bathing costume.

If you've never read this book then you should certainly read it - Micawber is worth the price of admission by himself - but you need lots of time, and lots of patience. If you've read it before you may find yourself, like me, skipping through large chunks.

5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece in every sense December 24, 2003
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Although it is true that Dickens says in twenty words thing that could be expressed just as clearly in only five, there can be no arguing that he is an expert in manipulating his reader's feelings. "David Copperfield", which tells the story of this character's life, shows this skill really well. This book will make you cry in one chapter and laugh out loud in the next one. Dickens will also make his reader feel about his characters just as he wants you to feel about them. You'll never forget the cruel Murdstones, " `umble" Uriah Heep, angel-like Agnes and adorable though rather silly Dora. In addition to these memorable characters, I think all its readers will agree that "David Copperfield" is a complete work in every sense and I'm sure many of them will count it among their favourites.