Charles Dickens

Hablot Knight Browne (Illustrateur)

The Personal History of David Copperfield

David Copperfield

M. Sosotris

Fun characters, plenty of affecting melodrama, and a neat and tidy ending that’s very satisfying. Dickens is very entertaining, and you can’t fault him for dumping steamer trunks full of pathos on you to make his point about poverty and the unfairness of life. I really did enjoy this one. 

My only issue is that it was often a bit difficult to juggle all the side characters’ arcs (but that’s just Dickens in general). So often, the narrator will introduce someone or something with, “this person for which you are already acquainted,” and I’m sitting there, at a loss, begging for just a quick refresher so I know what’s going on. This is most likely a failing on my part, but still. I feel bad for those who read this serialized and had stretches of time between chapters, which would have made keeping everyone’s stories straight in their heads a nightmare. They didn’t have Excel in 1850, after all.

But if you don’t have ADD, and can carry libraries of characters in your head, you won’t mind. 

Betsy Trotwood is perfect.

David is such a silly goober and I want to hug him. It’s nice to see that a disaster like him can figure things out over time. There’s hope for us all.

Good book.

Chronicles David Copperfield's extraordinary journey through life, as he encounters villains, saviours, eccentrics and grotesques, including the wicked Mr Murdstone, stout-hearted Peggotty, formidable Betsey Trotwood, impecunious Micawber and odious Uriah Heep.

Tailah Clarkson

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

"David Copperfield" de Charles Dickens es una epopeya literaria que lleva a los lectores a través de la vida del protagonista homónimo, desde su nacimiento hasta la adultez. Publicada por entregas entre 1849 y 1850, esta novela clásica es una obra maestra que destaca por su riqueza de personajes, narrativa envolvente y la aguda crítica social característica de Dickens.

La trama sigue la vida de David Copperfield, un huérfano cuyas experiencias abarcan desde la infancia hasta la adultez. A lo largo de su viaje, los lectores son testigos de sus alegrías, penas, amores y desafíos. Dickens utiliza su aguda observación social para explorar la disparidad de clases, la corrupción y la lucha por la redención.

Uno de los puntos fuertes de la novela es la galería de personajes inolvidables que pueblan la vida de David. Desde el entrañable Wilkins Micawber hasta la malévola Uriah Heep, cada personaje aporta una dimensión única a la historia. La habilidad de Dickens para crear personajes complejos y memorables es evidente a lo largo de la novela.

La narrativa está impregnada de la perspicacia y el ingenio característicos de Dickens. Su estilo magistral se manifiesta en descripciones detalladas, diálogos vibrantes y una rica amalgama de humor y tragedia. A través de la voz de David, Dickens logra involucrar a los lectores en su viaje emocional y personal.

La estructura de la novela, que sigue el formato de una autobiografía, permite a Dickens explorar la psicología y el desarrollo de su protagonista de manera única. David Copperfield no solo es un testigo de su propia vida, sino que también es un narrador reflexivo que examina su crecimiento, sus elecciones y su evolución como individuo.

"David Copperfield" es un testimonio duradero de la habilidad literaria de Charles Dickens para pintar un retrato vívido de la sociedad victoriana. A través de la odisea de David, los lectores se sumergen en un mundo que refleja la complejidad humana y las luchas universales. Esta novela sigue siendo una lectura esencial que ofrece no solo entretenimiento, sino también una visión profunda de la naturaleza humana.

Dickens' great coming-of-age novel, now in a beautiful new clothbound edition This is the novel Dickens regarded as his "favourite child" and is considered his most autobiographical. As David recounts his experiences from childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, Dickens draws openly and revealingly on his own life. Among the gloriously vivid cast of characters are Rosa Dartle, Dora, Steerforth, and the 'umble Uriah Heep, along with Mr. Micawber, a portrait of Dickens's own father that evokes a mixture of love, nostalgia, and guilt. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Erin Darlyn

A beautiful story in Dickens' charming and delightful writing style. A bit dense in places, but thoroughly well done and captivating. The characters are so well written and I couldn't help but love David. I enjoyed it enough to gift a copy to each of my brothers at Christmas.

Laura Mauler

This is my first Dickens book, and all I have to say is there's a reason he is still famous 140+ years after his death.

Barbara Williford

In typical Dickens fashion, this book is written with so much description and colorful characters. We follow poor Davie Copperfield from when he was born throughout his life. He experiences hardship and rejection, acceptance and success, good times and bad and he falls in love many times a long the way. Through out his life journey, he has the colorful characters popping in and out of his life. There were hard parts to read about his upbringing and there were humorous moments in between. A must read classic. The audible was absolutely the best I’ve ever listened too.

Briar's Reviews

David Copperfield is a fantastic and unique read, but definitely one that I want to read alongside a University Professor or University course. This book is incredibly long and written in a much older style, so it's a tough read. It was Dickens' favourite novel, and I can see why. It is semi-autobiographical and is very wordy. It felt like he was spilling his soul into the book, even if it went on forever and certain pieces of the story did not need to be there. It just keep going on and on and on and on...

This book does really just feel like Charles Dickens just continued to write and published whatever are to his head. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, but made the book feel very tiresome. It was very hard to read, but I will be looking into more in-depth explanations to learn about the book. It was very cool, but just hard to read and it took me quite a while. 

Overall, Charles Dickens has a beautiful writing style that proves he is a mastermind, but this book needs a master of the literary arts to break it down for me to enjoy it.

Two out of five stars.

Charlotte Dann

This was delightful. I found it so much more charming and warm than the other Dickens I've read, and it reminded me what long books can do - introduce you to a whole host of interwoven characters that feel like old companions by the end. The wretched were wretched, and the beloved were so beloved.

Penguin Classics David Copperfield

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

There’s something about the way Dickens tells a story that is completely transportive. He might be verbose, but he isn’t boring. David Copperfield is one of the most naive characters I’ve come across in all of literature. He gets hoodwinked by almost everyone he comes in contact with, and he hands over the little he has with compassion and a smile. He’s one of the purest souls I’ve ever come across. I loved getting to watch him grow up. I also thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the varied, colorful cast of characters with whom Dickens surrounded David. I was always completely invested. Also, I had somehow managed to go my entire life without consuming this story in any form, or hearing it discussed in a class. Because of this, I actually had no idea what was going to happen next, which is kind of rare for me with classics as I majored in English Literature in college. There were plot points that surprised me, which was refreshing. And I found the ending incredibly satisfying. I believe this is one of the best classics TS and I have read together, and I enjoyed this shared experience immensely.

With an introduction by Norman Collins.

One of Charles Dickens' most beloved works, David Copperfield follows the life of the eponymous young man from his unfortunate childhood to his adulthood as a successful novelist. The adventures and hardships David experiences color his upbringing, from dealing with an abusive stepfather, to the cruel life of a child factory worker, to finding his place in the world, among the friends and family he discovers. Along the way, Dickens introduces us to a colorful and unforgettable cast of characters, who inhabit this stark Victorian landscape. This is a free digital copy of a book that has been carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. To make this print edition available as an ebook, we have extracted the text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and submitted it to a review process to ensure its accuracy and legibility across different screen sizes and devices. Google is proud to partner with libraries to make this book available to readers everywhere.

Alice Hyman

“Trifles make the sum of life.”
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Drop your fave side characters below ! I always bond with side characters more than the main ones 😂
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Have you read or watched David Copperfield ? (slight spoiler warning below)
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I think the only way I can sum up this book is sincerity - deep fallible, ridiculous sincerity. From the bungling tragedy of his childhood to the earnest strivings of his adulthood the one thing that seems to drive him and the oddball cast of characters around him is sincerity.
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I know the book and whole story is about David, but I need to take a moment for the epic, stalwart, human character that is Betsy Trotwood. From the beginning of the book to the end she is a woman of her own mind and opinion - despite the violence and sadness of her backstory that we later find out. Her relationship with every character is just amazing ( But Mr Dick especially ). Sorry David this is a Betsy Trotwood fan letter, Ill get to you in a min.
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I can’t write this review without stating the plainly obvious - David is/was so so so gay for Steerforth - the amount of times he mentions watching him sleeping alone is downright obsessive and the story telling scenes at the school are positively Grecian.
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Basically those are my thoughts from this book;
Betsy = my fave character
Uriah = I want to take many showers after reading his name alone
David = gay 4 Steerforth
Peggoty = heart of gold
Traddles = Skelly underdog badass

Nancy Holder

Natalie Noble

This type of book is not for me. The language style makes this book about 500 pages too long. It just drags. It took me over a month to read and I would usually read 5 books in a month. 

I persisted because Dickens is meant to be great and people say this is his best work. If this is as good as it gets I’m not interested. 

The plot development is painfully slow. The dialog is repetitive and takes too many words to convey very little meaning. I hope to never see the word ‘umble’ again.

Robin Sturm

Loved the story and all the characters. The length didn't bother me much because it wasn't too difficult of a read. My biggest problem with it is that David is not terribly interesting of a character, you end up being attached to him but I did find myself asking frequently whether he was a good person or the book just was saying he was.

The only Dickens novel I loved without an asterisk in my misspent youth.

Gustav Meyrink

Der zweite Band der Dickens-Edition im dtv David Copperfield wird nach dem Tod beider Elternteile von seinem Stiefvater auf die Schule des brutalen Mr. Creakle geschickt. Dort verlebt er eine bedrückende Zeit und wird bereits als Zehnjähriger zur Fabrikarbeit gezwungen. Elend und Ausbeutung stehen im Zeitalter der blühenden Industrialisierung auf der Tagesordnung, und David kann sich den unerträglichen Bedingungen nur durch die Flucht zu seiner Tante Betsey entziehen. Obwohl diese ihn kaum kennt, nimmt sie ihn herzlich auf. Nach entbehrungsreicher Zeit scheint sich das Blatt zu wenden und der Junge kann eine gute Schule besuchen. Wie Dickens wird er später selbst Anwaltsgehilfe, Reporter und schliesslich erfolgreicher Schriftsteller. "David Copperfield" gilt als einer der bedeutendsten Kindheits- und Jugendromane der Weltliteratur. Er zeigt Dickens' überragendes Talent für die Darstellung von Stimmungen, Erlebnissen und Gefühlen seiner Figuren. Das 1849/1850 zunächst in Fortsetzungen erschienene Werk weist viele autobiografische Züge auf und gilt als Lieblingsroman des berühmten englischen Schriftstellers. Charles Dickens wurde am 7. Februar 1812 in Landport bei Portsea in England geboren. Nach einer harten Jugend begann er seine schriftstellerische Laufbahn mit Skizzen, die er unter dem Pseudonym Boz in Londoner Zeitungen und Magazinen veröffentlichte. Die .Pickwick Papers' machten ihn 1837 weltberühmt. All seine grossen Romane schrieb er in fieberhaftem Tempo. 1868 kaufte Dickens - er war inzwischen der gefeiertste Dichter seiner Zeit - Gadshill Place, von nun an sein ständiger Wohnsitz. Dort starb er am 9. Juni 1870 an einem Schlaganfall. Seine grössten Werke: Die Pickwickier (1837), Oliver Twist (1838), David Copperfield (1850), Harte Zeiten (1854), Grosse Erwartungen (1861).

Roman

This might be the only Dickens book I loved without an asterisk in my misspent youth. 

Jordan Heustis

Overall, I enjoyed this. There were so many characters to get to know over the book through David and I loved that! I had to knock it down a bit mostly because the plot points were not always as interesting and the classical language takes more brain power and less enjoyment to get through but I do still recommend it for people interested!

A young boy endures hardships as a child laborer in this partly autobiographical classic reflecting social conditions in nineteenth-century England.

The Personal History of David Copperfield

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