Reviews
I’m slowly but steadily falling in love with Charles Dickens’ work. Nicholas Nickleby is a wonderful story about how poverty and hardship can make you happier than a fortune. The book focuses on the Nickleby family, living in 19th century England. After the death of his father Nicholas, his sister and mother are appealing to Nicholas’ uncle Ralph Nickleby. Ralph is a made man without any recognizable conscience. In answer to this appeal Ralph sends Nicholas as assistant teacher to a boarding school under the direction of a man who is just as greedy and conscience-lacking as Ralph himself. I’m not going deeper into the plot, because this is one of the rare books I read recently that actually made me want to read on to find out what would happen next. For once I was not sitting there thinking “oh, it’ll turn out OK in the end … they might be in a fix now, but of course he’ll save the day by some heroic deed”. Charles Dickens managed to write a vivid narrative that makes it easy for the reader to imagine themselves in 19th century England. He also draws great characters, and even though Ralph and his companions might sometimes seem slightly stereotypical, I actually experienced even them as round characters with more depth than the first impression might suggest. My favourable impression of this book is strengthened by the audiobook, read by Simon Vance. He does a wonderful job of reading this book and giving every character his individual voice without overdoing it.
"The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again." Nicholas Nickleby was a story of the effects of grief, money, greed and poverty. Like many Dickens novels, we are thrust into the life of poverty and taken on a journey, alongside theatrical and beautiful characters. With Nicholas Nickleby, the readers are brought into a world of grief and its effects on both Nicholas, Kate and Mrs Nickleby. Then, we follow them as they are hit with poverty and taken to the streets of London in seek of help and comfort from the only remaining family, Ralph Nickleby. I instantly loved the portrayal of these two differences. Ralph was rich; however, he was vicious and greedy. He was an awful character throughout the story, but I found it to be an insightful one. We read through his journey as his greed and jealousy grew; he becomes angrier to the point of driving himself crazy and eventually (view spoiler)[killing himself (hide spoiler)] I love how this portrayed the effects of money and how it can corrupt you. It shows us as the reader that you could have a lot of money yet still be so cruel, cold and unhappy. I found Ralph so incredibly interesting and full of depth. Although I despised him and the acts he played throughout the novel, I could see his importance. From the start, I fell in love with Nicholas! From the first few pages, you could see his kindness and warmth - he pointed out his Uncles cruelty and nature from the very beginning; however, he let it slide to keep his mother and sister happy (Although he came to regret that later on). Throughout the novel, we see his adventure and kindness grow; he becomes a strong and determined young man who shows no regret in anything that he does. He is truthful and honest, and towards the end of the novel, we see these things get repaid in the most beautiful ways. For me, I took Nicholas's story to heart. It showed that although you can have little money, your kindness and treatment of others can be all the more rewarding, and in the long run, give you true happiness that money could never genuinely buy. I could go into detail more; however, we'd be here forever, so... I will end by saying how Dickens novels always make me smile, laugh out loud and want to scream. I love the theatrical nature he uses when writing, but I also love that more severe topic that he entwines with humour. He has become a favourite author of mine, and I can't wait to read more of his works and discover new favourites within his works.
