Charles Dickens

Little Dorrit

Jordan Bowman

I have a hard time giving this book four stars instead of five. The pacing dragged a bit in some places and it wasn't my personal favorite from Dickens. But that doesn't mean it isn't a work of genius. The characters, plot, themes, etc are all obviously Dickensonian and wonderful and make this book well worth the read.

Aboobacker Sidheeq M

Yulande Lindsay

Little Dorrit will never be my favourite Dickens novel. That is reserved for David Copperfield, Bleak House and the Pickwick Papers, so far. The problem I had, was that I could not fully empathise with the main characters, Clenham and Little Dorrit. My problem I think, was the fact that they were so...good! And not really in an interesting way. Little Dorrit is so self effacing she was practically invisible. I realise that she represents an ideal, but it is an ideal that leads to tedious reading. Clenham, also suffers from that disease of goodness, though much more active and practical. 

The secondary characters were more interesting, the Dorrit family, flaws galore there. Mr. Dorrit sometimes drove me to moments of inarticulate rage...Fanny was annoying and Tip was a simple idiot. Pancks I loved, that final scene where he confronted his deceitful and hypocritical employer was simply priceless. There are others, such as Clenham's mother. the Flintwiches and Rigaud that were interesting. Tattycoram and her relationship with Miss Wade were all too briefly dealt with, two of the more complex characters (in my humble opinion) really not given much to do.


The chapter on the Circumlocution Office was I felt an exercise in brilliance. Bureaucracy in Government indeed.

Too much rambling, dragging chapters. Characterization for the most part not compelling. But a good story in there somewhere.

The Penguin English Library Edition of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens 'You talk very easily of hours, sir! How long do you suppose, sir, that an hour is to a man who is choking for want of air?' A masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity. When Arthur Clennam returns to England after many years abroad, he takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, and in the affairs of Amy's father, a man of shabby grandeur, long imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea. As Arthur discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect many lives, from Mr Panks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, to Merdle, an unscrupulous financier. The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Jade Flynn

4.5/5 Read for my Charms O.W.L 2019 - (age line: read an adult work). Dickens is to Dickens as Dickens is to Dickens. He's timeless which is why I struggle writing reviews on his novels. There's nothing in the world like a good English classic.

Little Dorrit

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