Little Dorrit

Title: Little Dorrit

Author: Charles Dickens

Publication date: 1857

Book's setting: 1830ish

Random facts: I read this book because of Arthur Darvill, Matthew McFayden, and Russel Tovey. I also read it because I am crazy.

Plot summary: The title character is Amy Dorrit, a girl who was born and raised in debtors prison. Before she was even born her father lost his fortune and he has spent the last 23 years there. Amy looks after her father in prison, while her older siblings, who never quite adjusted to being poor, try (and often fail) at making a living for the family. Arthur Clennam spent his entire grown life overseas, and returns home after his father's death with a message for his mother. "Never Forget." Arthur becomes suspicious that his family is somehow responsible for the misfortune that befell the Dorrit family over twenty years ago and sets out to try and save them. In typical Dickens fashion a host of characters and subplots are entangled around Arthur and Amy's story, including the French fiend Rigaud, the mysterious Ms Wade, innocent Pet and her slacker husband Gowan, and The Man of the Age. Mr. Merdle.

Favorite aspects: Why do I always like the characters you are not supposed to like? I liked Tip and Fanny and Pet and Edmund and Gowan best. Am I all there in the head? That's like reading Pride and Prejudice and liking Wickham and Caroline best. Ach! Am I a cowardly aristocrat at heart? Maybe, maybe. This was one of my favorite passages in the book, regarding Tip and Fanny. "He would have found it amply in that gallant brother and that dainty sister, so steeped in mean experiences, and so loftily conscious of the family name; so ready to beg or borrow from the poorest, to eat of anybody's bread, spend anybody's money, drink from anybody's cup and break if afterwards." Yeah, I love these people. The worst part of the whole book was that Fanny and Tip didn't get to be RICH FOREVER.

Least favorite aspects: Saying it was "too Dickens" is not an insult because it IS by Dickens. It's not his fault that his lengthy asides bore me or that his inability to be generous to rich people saddens me. I enjoy Dickens despite of his Dickensness, not because of it. But what were a few specific things I didn't like about Little Dorrit? Well, Amy had no flaws. Dickens has a habit of creating perfect poor angels who are perfect and mouse-like and whimper a lot on the moral high-ground. I'd rather hang with Mrs. Merdle to be quite honest. Also the ending was UNNECESSARILY COMPLICATED. Dickens, darling, it's not completely unheard of to bother explaining to your readers what is going on.

Other works it reminded me of: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell; The Deans Watch by Elizabeth Goudge.

Sadie's merciless break-down: Moby-Dick and The Odyssey are among my favorite books. It's not that I dislike long books. It's just... Dickens. I've spent years making it abundantly clear that I hate Dickens. I'm still not exactly a fan, even after dedicating two weeks and a thousand pages to him. I guess I read Little Dorrit as a challenge to myself. I know I can read anything in the world if I want to. But can I also read anything in the world if I don't want to? Little Dorrit was an easy way to find out. I'd seen the eight hour BBC One production starring the aforementioned hotties, so I already was familiar with the plot and characters. How hard could it possibly be? (Hard. I'd tried this two years ago with Bleak House. Gillian Anderson! Carey Mulligan! I could DO IT! Fifty-something pages an I gave up...)
For me reading is very visual. When you read Dickens it's hard to be visualize everything because he gets very sidetracked with politics and money. Little Dorrit was funny, in an old fashioned way. And it had great characters, when you stripped down the terrifying amount of narration they were wrapped in. I'm not really sure why I read it or whether or not I technically enjoyed it...
But I finished it! This is a BIG DEAL! I finished something by Dickens longer than Oliver Twist! And you know what? I hate to say it, but I had a hell of a lot of fun.

Recommendation rate: Only if you are very brave, or for some weird reason, actually enjoy Dickens.