Problems with Dickens book

[Voort]

Hey all!

So I'm currently going through the Dickens book Little Dorrit. I'm new to Dickens books (although I've seen A Christmas Carol on TV) and quite like it. One problem I find with his writing (!) is that it sometimes leaves me wondering what's happening or he'll say something but something else seems to happen.

If anyone has the Premier Classics edition of Little Dorrit I can give examples with pages.

On page 86 it says, while Amy at the entrance of the 'first house', "...left her gliding back to her father." Then Tip and Arthur are talking on page 87 about this girl who sits up there with the governor ("she'll sit with him for another hour reading yesterday's paper..."). Who is "she"? It was just said that Amy went to her father, so obviously she's not the one? So who is it? This happens quite frequently in the book and I always end up saying "but I thought...".

Other than that I really enjoy it. Any one else encounter this with Dickens' writing?

 

[Meadow337]

I haven't read Little Dorrit, but I have read other work by Dickens.

The thing to remember about Dickens is that he was first and foremost a newspaper man. All his books were first published in a paper as a serial - chapters end on cliffhangers, the story sometimes meanders a little and sometimes things are re-explained to remind readers some weeks later about what happened.

 

[Dan Brown]

Agree with Meadow. The best example of this is "The Pickwick Papers", which meanders quite a lot as it was originally publish in dozens of installments over magazine pages. It is one of my favorites, however: an engaging, funny book that gives you a glimpse at the absurdities of Victorian England. In one chapter, for example, a woman sues Pickwick for breach of promise (to marry her) only to wind up in jail herself when she cannot afford to pay her lawyers. You can even find Dickens' first attempt at "A Christmas Carol" in this book, in the form of a stingy old man and his chair, who sets him straight.