Status Report: Chapters 1 - 8

i had forgotten how much i love Dickens. the man is a master at the immersive experience. it is really easy for me to get sucked into the world he is so carefully constructing, to revel in all the extensive details, the lavish description, the almost overripe imagination at work. his strength at creating a wide range of entirely lived-in settings (both brief snapshots of places in passing and crucial places like David's home and school) is equalled by his even more famous skill at sketching the characters - often, but not always, caricatures - that live and breathe in his world. this is the kind of deep-dish experience that i love to have when traveling, on a plane or a bus or in some plaza, a second world to live in while taking a break in exploring the immediate world around me.

i can't help but also remember how many people dislike Dickens. i'm remembering an ex who told me he was her least favorite author, and how her resentment at being forced to read him in high school almost put her off reading for pleasure in general. it is hard to reconcile such a strong distaste for Dickens with my own easy enjoyment of his novels. my automatic reaction is that the reader who isn't enchanted by him either dislikes the style of writing or is simply the sort of idiot who should stick to reading facebook. well i don't date idiots, so i assume her reaction is based around the writing style. maybe that is the basic rationale for most folks who don't care for him.

or maybe it is based on something else. there is something that i've found to be off-putting about David Copperfield, at least so far. namely, the incredibly passive and naive behavior of David himself (and his mother, of course). it's more than just my automatic distaste for reading about victims, although that is certainly a part of it. what it feels like at times is that Dickens is stacking the deck a bit, making miserable situations even more potentially miserable, by having his protagonist (and that wretched mother, of course) be almost developmentally disabled in his inability to understand even basic things about the world around him. it sorta drives me up the wall.

well, that complaint aside, this has still been an awesome time. first and foremost, even more than the world-building and juicy characters, i love the dry and sardonic humor that is constantly working double-time. not only does it create some distance between reader and book in regards to the various horrors visited upon young David... it is fookin' hilarious!

favorite parts so far:

- that brilliant opening chapter "I Am Born"

- the Peggotty boat-house and the warmth of that wonderful family. i would like to live there!

- Steerforth. ugh! what a charming monster.

- the sadly minor note tragedy of Mr. Mell

☂

Status Report: Chapters 9 - 26

i think i was expecting a bit more evil from the Murdstones. the way they treat David is certainly unkind verging on cruel - but i suppose i thought it would be a lot more brutal. this is not a complaint! if anything, i appreciate that Dickens makes David's predicament a much more realistic one. the Murdstones are cold, cold people. and they certainly drive David's tedious mother to an early grave (i shed no tears on that one). but i was surprised that their primary action is to simply send David away to a boring job, one that no child his age should have (and here i am viewing the narrative through my 21st century lense). a callous decision yet not a vicious one. David is merely an irritation that they want to dispense with, rather than harm. interesting.

that brief segment was certainly enlivened by the depiction of the marvelously goofy Mr. Micawber & Family. and by a fascinating look into life in a debtor's prison. i assume this is the classic Poor House?

but then... good grief, poor David Copperfield goes through hell to escape this life of tedium. many emotions on my part, all centered on the idea of such casual cruelty towards a runaway. brought back some unsettling memories of my brief time as a homeless youth counselor.

and then - at last! - some decency. even better, eccentric rather than mawkish decency. Aunt Betsey & Mr. Dick are two more wonderful Dickens creations. especially that tough old broad Aunt Betsey - each and every one of her appearances are a delight. when David finally gets to the safety of his Aunt's house, i felt a lot of tension drain out of me. it is like his story is now truly about to begin, now that the Gothic horrors slash neglected childhood bits are out of the way.

- an introduction of the best character yet: Uriah Heep! this is the role that Crispin Glover was born to play. what a wondrously creepy and perfectly realized little villain. all that supplicating, all that writhing! brilliant stuff.

- interesting: David is rarely called by his actual name. two more nicknames are added to the list: Trotwood and Daisy. David is rather a tabula rasa of a character.

- the relationship between Mr. Wickfield and Agnes is not heartwarming. it is downright creepy.

and now the tension is ratcheted up again, but in a way that doesn't make me sorta squirm with discomfort (tales of child neglect ≠ a good time for me). three sets of increasingly dire circumstances...

(1) Lil' Em'ly and the despicable villain Steerforth
(2) Agnes and the despicable villain Uriah Heep
(3) Aunt Betsey and a mysterious, blackmailing unknown despicable villain

will David be able to intercede in any of these troubling situations? i am doubtful, but also hopeful. go, David, go!

☁

Status Report: Chapters 27 - end

exhilarating, wonderful, awesome, etc, etc. all the good words. i laughed (a lot), i cried (just a little, and in a manly sort of way), i wouldn't change or subtract a single word. perfect!

☼

Final Report

okay this will be less of a Final Report and more of a collection of final thoughts as i think back on the novel and consult with the various threads in Serials Serially - the group that started me reading this novel.

first, the division in the novel. the first third or so, all about young David and his fairly awful travails: vivid and powerful. the remainder of the novel, all about David in his young adult years and following the growth of all those narrative seeds planted in that fertile first third; an excess of details veering on repetitious, and so that the book becomes less of a frightful gothic tale and more of a slow-burning assortment of mysteries (and many, many instances of pure comedy): less vivid and perhaps less powerful. looking back, i have to say that i am in the minority and preferred the last two-thirds. not only was the tension of potential situations involving child abuse and neglect now gone (a personal bugaboo of mine that will quickly render almost any literary or cinematic experience into something hugely uncomfortable and unappealing)... but it somehow all felt more real to me. the first third was visceral but almost cartoonish while the rest of the novel felt as if i was actually living in the novel. such was the extent of the detail and the effect of following these characters as they move throughout many different situations and changes in their lives.

"cartoonish". or better yet, "Dickensian". what does that really mean? a peculiarly stylized version of caricature? i understand the rep that Dickens has with his characters. they are stylized, obviously. but very few of them remained caricatures to me. ultimately, most ended up feeling very real and i was impressed at Dickens' ability to provide multiple dimensions to his characters - although he does it in a rather subtle way. his heroes do not get strong criticism and his villains do not get endearing moments of humanity. and yet it is there. David Copperfield is kind and good, but he is also a passive, foolishly naive fellow whose kindness and naivete often does nothing but make situations worse - especially in nearly every instance involving his relationship with Steerforth. Agnes is also kind and good, but her passivity makes her function as a sort of enabler to her father. Steerforth is a callous and feckless villain, but has moments of genuine warmth and kindness. Rosa Dartle is a heartless shrew - but look at that poor bitch's entire life with Steerforth & mom - i'd become a heartless shrew in that situation as well. Uriah Heep is an unctuous, slimy kiss-ass and back-stabber... but look where he comes from, his context, the kind of person his father was and the ideals he was raised up to worship. and of course Micawber, who would be pure pathos but whom Dickens treats with an extraordinary amount of affection. Dickens is not necessarily an 'even-handed' author, but he is one who is clearly aware of context.

there are some comments in this review's thread about women in Dickens - comments that i initially agreed with. but in retrospect, i actually don't agree. looking back on this novel, the women are often just as full of life as the men. perhaps folks are mainly thinking of the rather anemic Agnes. but now - when i think of dim Dora and vicious Rosa and ferocious Aunt Betsey and tragic Emily and loveable Peggotty and maudlin Mrs Gummidge and pathetic Martha and the eccentric 'two little birds' (Dora's aunts) and pretentious Julia Miles and dignified-under-pressure Mrs Strong and hilariously faithful-to-a-fault Mrs Micawber - i think of characters who leap right off of the page and stay to live in my mind. so, no, i am not critical of how women are portrayed in Dickens.

except, maybe, Dora. she is surely one of the most bizarrely stupid characters ever created in classic literature. when she first baby-talks David's nickname "Doady", i practically wanted to barf. she's so stupid that many times i found myself thinking She's Not Stupid - She's Mentally Disabled! good grief! and so i felt bad about my contempt and i started having mixed feelings about David even being with her. it seemed somehow wrong. there is also something so sexless about her character - it was impossible for me to imagine her capable of any sort of genuine intimacy. but i have to give it to Dickens - he doesn't present her as an ideal (unlike David), he satirizes her mercilessly in scene after scene, and in the end, invests both her marriage and her death with such genuine, palpable emotion that i became genuinely, palpably moved. her marriage scene (practically every paragraph beginning with "Of") was one of the most dreamily written passages i've ever read. and her death - not explicitly described, but paralleled with Jip's death - wow. amazing scene.

the combined death scenes of brave Ham and horrible Steerforth was almost equally moving. that last line describing Steerforth at his final rest: superb.

okay i think i'm spent. this is one of those novels that i can probably talk on and on about, so i should just make myself stop. i'll close by saying that the novel is, in a word, brilliant. i loved the language, the humor, the whimsy, the drama; the characters were wondrously alive; the narrative both surprisingly subtle and excitingly larger-than-life. so many scenes were indelible - too many to recount.

David Copperfield is one of my favorite novels.

☀

David Copperfield: An Alternative Perspective

This is one of the finest books I have ever read in my life.

I might even go far enough to say it is, objectively, one of the best books ever written. I recommend it to pretty much anyone. I almost consider it required reading. I don't think I've ever had an experience like this reading a book. This is an entirely unique and singular breed of excellence and atmosphere. Every character is as alive as you and I.

Every writer can learn a thing two just from studying the structure and prose of this book. It is a masterwork, even from the likes of Dickens. Dickens makes so many other writers look infantile in comparison.

Oh, how I love Charles Dickens’ writing; what a genius! There is no doubt why David Copperfield is a classic. Every thought is so clever, serene, and humorous. I was transported into another place and time and felt a warmth and comfort like sinking deep into a down-filled bed every time I picked up this book to read a chapter or two. You talk about escapism -- this was it for me completely. Charles Dickens has entertained with his many stories for centuries and will continue for many more to come. "A Christmas Carol”, “Oliver Twist”, and “David Copperfield” are just a few of my favorites! I read David Copperfield when I was young and loved it, but reading it again as an adult, I can appreciate all the nuances so much more. There are innuendoes that make you laugh throughout; very subtle jabs that if you blink you could miss them. Dickens creates scenes with his words where you feel every step that David takes. The cold air blowing and the smell of wet leaves in the fall. Oh, he puts you right there with David traversing through Canterbury, London and Blunderstone.

In the two prefaces (an original and an updated version) of my edition, Charles Dickens states how much he loved writing this novel; how much he did not want to put down his pen – “It would concern the reader little, perhaps, to know how sorrowfully the pen is laid down at the close of a two years’ imaginative task.”

He also writes, “Of all my books, I like this the best. It will be easily believed that I am a fond parent to every child of my fancy, and that no one can ever love that family as dearly as I love them. But, like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield.”

These sentiments made me fall in love with the book even before I started rereading it. Now, after finishing this masterpiece, I understand exactly why he said it was hard to put his pen down. It is sad to finish this novel because you never want it to end. Charles Dickens’ writing is so smooth, so easy to read, so romantic, and yes, very funny. All the great characters he introduces to us throughout are perfectly depicted. You feel the limp, sweaty palms of Uriah Heep; you see the beautiful eyes and hear the beautiful voice of Dora; and, the wonderfully callused, hard-worked hands of Peggotty – oh, what characters there are in this epic; these characters become family to you too.

David Copperfield goes through so much in his young life and this story gives you all kinds of starts and surprises where you’ll gasp; there is romance and you sigh; there is sadness and you cry. I had tears roll down my cheeks a few times while I was reading this beautiful story. There are stories that intertwine and come around again and again with many interesting twists and turns. Dickens has such a way with descriptions of people; you either become much attached or despise the not so wonderful.

So, what else can one say about a masterpiece as this? There isn’t enough space to print all the kudos here in Goodreads. Not enough. This was a five-star when I read it the first time and a ten-star after my re-read (if there could be such a rating). I recommend everyone put this in a “top ten to read soon”, you will not regret it.

Me ha encantado y va directo a favoritos. ❤
Escrito de una forma magistral y con unos personajes fabulosos. Desde luego, una lectura de las que alimentan. Y, por varias razones, inolvidable para mí ✨

David Copperfield is a convolutedly grotesque and darkly satirical Bildungsroman.
First of all, David Copperfield is a colourful collection of inimitable characters. And we pass through this flowery assembly as through the gallery of images taken from Hieronymus Bosch’s canvases…

The gloomy taint that was in the Murdstone blood, darkened the Murdstone religion, which was austere and wrathful. I have thought, since, that its assuming that character was a necessary consequence of Mr. Murdstone’s firmness, which wouldn’t allow him to let anybody off from the utmost weight of the severest penalties he could find any excuse for. Be this as it may, I well remember the tremendous visages with which we used to go to church, and the changed air of the place. Again the dreaded Sunday comes round, and I file into the old pew first, like a guarded captive brought to a condemned service.

Edward Murdstone is like a slab of blind bigotry and he is an epitome of cruelty and human meanness.

As I came back, I saw Uriah Heep shutting up the office; and, feeling friendly towards everybody, went in and spoke to him, and at parting, gave him my hand. But oh, what a clammy hand his was! as ghostly to the touch as to the sight! I rubbed mine afterwards, to warm it, and to rub his off.
It was such an uncomfortable hand, that, when I went to my room, it was still cold and wet upon my memory. Leaning out of window, and seeing one of the faces on the beam-ends looking at me sideways, I fancied it was Uriah Heep got up there somehow, and shut him out in a hurry.

Uriah Heep is the slimiest creature I’ve ever met in literature or anywhere else.
And David Copperfield passes through this swarm of villains like a martyr through a series of the unavoidable and harrowing ordeals.
As a piece of ore should pass through the furnace to become a metal, so a boy should pass through the process of coming of age to become a man.

In fact, the entire main novel of Dickens is an encyclopedia of types of relationships in a paired partnership between a man and a woman. Please note, there is no female friendship here, and where a friend of one of the heroines appears - she is in a supporting role, like Julia Mills in the novel of David and Dora. They will object to me: what about Peggotty and David's mother? I've already talked about this: Peggotty is a character who takes care of and is called to take care of the hero, his guardian angel. She is with the hostess, as long as it provides an opportunity to be closer to the boy.

There is no male friendship here either. Well, hello. And David and Steerforth? Really? And where do you see friendship? The younger one looks into the older one's mouth and breathes on him through the beat, the older one plays with the baby, using it as a pawn in his games. Okay, David-Threaddles? Well, a good partnership, although the roles, in a strange way, reflect the relationship with Steerforth, only this time David is the leader. He is different from Steerforth, deeply decent, with internal qualifications that will never allow manipulating a trusted person. But that's not the need for a friend's company, like... yes, even in "Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson" or "The Three Comrades" by Remarque, "The Three Musketeers" by Dumas. In Dickens, men sporadically converge to carry out a joint business, the main partner remains a woman.

"ЖИЗНЬ ДЭВИДА КОППЕРФИЛЬДА". ТОСКА ПО РОДНОЙ ДУШЕ
Любит ли Дэвид свою Дору? Разумеется - да. Счастлив ли он в браке? Совершенно точно - нет. Любит ли Эмли Стирфорта? Бесспорно. Счастлива она, путешествуя с ним по дальним странам, получив возможность пользоваться благами жизни, о каких и мечтать не могла по обстоятельствам рождения? Не думаю. Любит ли Треддлс Лучшую Девушку на Свете? А как иначе. Счастливы ли они, соединившись наконец, хотя бы и в скудости? Счастливы. Любит ли миссис Микобер мужа? Буде кто вздумает усомниться, уверения: "Я никогда не оставлю мистера Микобера", переходящие в истерический припадок, всегда с ней.

Любит ли Бетси Тротвуд Мисера Дика? Что за странные вопросы, она заботится о нем, она спасла его от перспективы быть помещенным в дом скорби. Нет, вы скажите, любит? Н-ну любит, как иначе можно прожить с человеком под одной крышей не один десяток лет. Любит ли доктор свою Анни, а она его? В первой части уверены с самого начала, вторая вызывает большие сомнения вплоть до сцены объяснения, когда молодая жена говорит:

"При несходстве характеров и взглядов, брак не может быть счастливым".


Любит ли Клара Пегготи Мэрдстона? Любит, бедняжка (или ей только кажется). Приесло ли это счастье? Угу, в одной могиле с младенчиком. А теперь так, любят ли Мэрдстоны, брат и сестра, друг друга? Он помыкает ею, она подчиняется, но в карьере многоженца-вдовца, которую брутальный мачо осуществляет на протяжении жизни, единственной постоянной спутницей и верной приспешницей остается она. Любят ли Урия с матерью друг друга? Бр-р, жуткая парочка, ну так что же? Это не мешает им быть счастливыми в обществе друг друга и достигать полного взаимного понимания.

По сути, весь главный роман Диккенса - это энциклопедия типов взаимоотношений в парном партнерстве между мужчиной и женщиной. Обратите внимание, здесь нет женской дружбы, а где подруга у какой-то из героинь появляется - она на вспомогательной роли, как Джулия Миллс у романа Дэвида и Доры. Мне возразят: а как же Пегготи и мама Дэвида? Я уже говорила об этом: Пегготи - персонаж, опекающий и призванный заботиться о герое, ангел-хранитель его. Она при хозяйке, пока это предоставляет возможность быть ближе к мальчику.

Здесь нет и мужской дружбы. Ну здрассьти. А Дэвид со Стирфортом? Правда? И где вы видите дружбу? Младший заглядывает старшему в рот и через такт на него дышит, старший играет малышом, используя, как пешку в своих играх. Ладно, Девид - Треддлс? Ну, хорошее партнерство, хотя роли, странным образом, отражают отношения со Стирфортом, только лидером на сей раз Дэвид. Он другой, чем Стирфорт, глубоко порядочный, со внутренними цензами, которые никогда не позволят манипулировать доверившимся человеком. Но то не потребность в обществе друга, как... да хоть в "Шерлоке Холмсе и докторе Ватсоне" или "Трех товарищах" Ремарка, "Трех мушкетерах" Дюма. У Диккенса мужчины спорадически сходятся для осуществления совместного дела, основным партнером остается женщина.

И посмотрите, при всей склонности писателя к морализаторству, насколько удались ему описания тандемов сомнительного или явно порочного свойства. Понимаете, что хочу сказать? Жизнь входит в роман и вносит коррективы. Если бы это зависело от писателя, разве отказался бы он от возможности наказать каждого из отрицательных персонажей пребыванием в локальном аду с ненавистным и непонимающим, нелюбящим партнером? Но нет, удачно нашедшие друг друга люди, счастливы вместе, несмотря на глубокую сомнительность собственных моральных установок и даже полное их отсутствие.

А люди, внутренне различные, при всех чудесных свойствах счастливого соединения, преодолевающего преграды - счастливыми в обществе друг друга быть не могут. Два изумительной красоты примера самоотверженной нежности и умения дождаться своего партнера - поиски Эмли мистером Пегготи и Агнесс с Дэвидом. В первом случае, даже несмотря на жесткость пуританской морали, предписывающей опороченной в глазах общества женщине завернуться в белую простыню и ползти в сторону кладбища - восстановленное доброе имя и возможность начать сначала на далеком австралийском континенте. С человеком, который любит понимает, защитит и которому ты будешь преданной верной любящей спутницей.

Во втором - ну, хорошим мальчикам и девочкам должно же быть счастье, правда?

I first read "David Copperfield" as a hard-cover almost seventy years ago *sigh*.

It was in 1953, I was 12 and in grade 7 at a junior seminary college. Charles Dickens was an "approved" author and we were reading "David Copperfield" for the first time. I remember that one of the kids in my class referred to Mr Micawber as "Mr Micabaw". Quite uncharitably (tut-tut), we all laughed at him, so he continued saying "Micabaw"!

I loved David Copperfield then, and doubtless I will love it again as I listen to it on audiobook!

(Edited 26/09/22)

Mr. Micawber's Shakespearean unmasking of Uriah Heep will always be a favorite.

===========

Interesting back story on this book, provided by the French writer, Emmanuel Carrère.....

in 1849, David Copperfield was being serialised in monthly instalments. In the first pages of the novel, a secondary character appears named Miss Mowcher, who, from all available evidence is depicted as scheming, envious and sycophantic, in addition to being a dwarf. She is portrayed as evil personified, and so, since there is nothing readers of fiction enjoy more than a villain, and since Dickens was by then a writer with a considerable readership, all of England was licking its lips in anticipation of the lady’s future misdeeds. Then something unexpected happened. One morning, Dickens received a letter in which a provincial lady bitterly complained that, because of her physical resemblance to Miss Mowcher— the writer of the letter was also a dwarf— the people in her village had begun to mistrust her, they muttered as she passed and sent her anonymous threats; all in all, the lady concluded her letter, she was a good woman, but because of him and of Miss Mowcher her life had become a living hell.

We know how most writers would have responded to the lady’s letter: they would not have responded at all; or, if so, their response would have been: the problem the lady had raised was not his, but that of those people who confuse reality with fiction and who cruelly and foolishly identify fictional characters with real people. Dickens’ response was very different: he changed the character, he changed everything: readers clamoured impatiently for more of Miss Mowcher’s misdeeds, everything had been plotted to accommodate them, but in the following instalment, Dickens transformed his wicked witch into a good-hearted woman who, beneath her unfortunate appearance, was an angel.

============

Re-reading this book I was confronted again with the cruel Puritan-Evangelical Murdstones. Dickens was raised in an Evangelical household, but came to despise it for its hypocrisy. Dickens does not harp on it, but is still frank, as in this passage from Little Dorrit.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

==========

The difference between Austen and Dickens, from Nabokov's lectures on literature....

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9484...

What a lovely story! I am always interested in the way Dickens depicts so masterly the big difference between the living conditions of the rich and the poor! It reminds me that I should be more compassionate with people around me!

Semplicemente inestimabile.

After reading such a density, it is a bit of a friend left on the road. Dickens himself will admit to having difficulty quitting David Copperfield after such a long intimacy!
In the preface, this novel is his favorite, and when he has to read an extract in front of an audience a few years later, the choice of this extract is anguishing because this novel is a whole. A set of entangled narratives, one in the other, that cannot separate without breaking the fabric of the work;
it is also that this novel is very personal and that Dickens has put much of it into this character! On this point, the notes are captivating.
But when I say I just left a friend here, should I specify "a bunch of friends," which is especially Copperfield's custodian of ups and downs?
David Copperfield, aged about 40, turns to his past, a long, quiet river, at a time when he will meet the Peggoty, brother and sister Murdstone, Emily, Steerforth, his aunt, Agnes, the Micawber, and finally Dora, of whom he will become a mad lover.
To enumerate the characters who will follow David in his journey - good, bad, sometimes both - I retrace the story thread and ask myself: what made it?
Dickens is an exceptional storyteller who is not afraid to occasionally throw away information about the narrator's future. Nevertheless, it keeps us in suspense for the seven hundred pages that follow, Not hesitating to add humor to dramatic scenes and a tender love when death is involved.
It was the little David, the orphan, who most moved me, but I give my affection to Mr. Peggoty, Agnes, and, of course, to David's aunt, who will completely change when she opens the door to a poor vagrant child.
It is also a sometimes moving portrait of industrial England and an almost cinematographic work that inspired the greatest of the years following its publication.
Goodbye, David!

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Warning: Following is somewhat of a “non-review”. I don’t have the stamina to write properly about this one at this time. There are plenty of other splendid, erudite assessments on this site if you are so inclined (and which I highly recommend!)

As a teen, I came across a box of old books in my parent’s basement. This was very intriguing to me, as neither of my parents could be called avid readers by any means. To my delight, the box contained several very old volumes of Dickens novels. It turns out these were passed on from my grandfather, who as far as I know, never picked up a book for pleasure in his life! It was a mystery of sorts as to where these books originated in the first place. I thought, perhaps after all I had an ancestor that treasured books as I do! In any case, David Copperfield was among those volumes. It was too irresistible to pass up the chance to read a book that maybe a great-grandfather or great-grandmother had at one time held lovingly in his or her hands. I liked to imagine such a thing while reading it at that time. I always felt a little alone in my reading endeavors and this gave me a wee bit of comfort.

As to the book itself, the most vivid memories are of my experience finding it rather than actually reading it. I recalled it was long, much longer than anything I would ever have picked up at that age. I also remember there being a profusion of characters! Whether I liked it or not, I have no idea… thus, when the opportunity to read it once again presented itself to me, I jumped on it. I left the old volume behind when I moved out of my childhood home, so this time I decided to listen to the audio version. Not just any audio would do, however – the Richard Armitage narration! There is no voice, other than those of my children, that gives me greater pleasure to listen to than his divine tongue. Have you ever listened to him? No? Please do. His performances are excellent, and he does a range of voices that would please, thrill and amuse any listener!

“Mature affection, homage, devotion, does not easily express itself. Its voice is low. It is modest and retiring, it lies in ambush, waits and waits. Such is the mature fruit. Sometimes a life glides away, and finds it still ripening in the shade.”

To be clear, not only did I admire Richard Armitage’s dramatic accomplishments, I rather adored David Copperfield as well. This book is semi-autobiographical in nature, so one can see a bit of Dickens in young Copperfield. The reader follows little David from birth through adulthood and you can’t help but champion him throughout. You’ll pity the unfortunate lad and want to protect him from the likes of the Murdstones. Your heart will break with his misfortunes as he goes forth alone in the world at far too young an age. You’ll cross your fingers and your hopes will rise as he tramps to the doorstep of Betsey Trotwood. You’ll delight in his young loves, always so tender and reminiscent of those of your own, perhaps. He makes mistakes, sometimes misplaces loyalties, and continues to grow as a result. Certainly, Uriah Heep will make you recoil as he writhes and contorts and places his clammy hand in David’s palm. Like any Dicken’s novel, a spectacular array of characters will spring from the pages. Dickens doesn’t let you forget a single person. His vivid depictions will keep them in the forefront of your mind to be quickly retrieved when you meet them once again in later pages. I can’t think of any other writer who does this quite so masterfully. Some may argue they are just caricatures, and that is perhaps true for some. But there are others, like David, who are not merely cut-outs, but like living beings who develop and mature. There are depths to be explored within them.

What I loved most about David Copperfield is the message that families can be made up of a myriad of individuals. These are not necessarily blood relatives but persons that come into your life and take on the roles of mother, father, sister, brother and so forth. They do so with an abundance of protection and devotion that will make your spirit soar and once again restore your faith in the decency of some human beings.

“...I hope that simple love and truth will be strong in the end. I hope that real love and truth are stronger in the end than any evil or misfortune in the world.”