David Copperfield is probably the one of the most autobiographical novels by Charles Dickens. This is basically the story as told by David Copperfield as he writes his life story in the middle-age of his life until he has nothing left to tell. In the Preface, it is said by David Copperfield:

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"Instead of looking back, therefore, I will look forward. I cannot close this Volume more agreeably to myself, than with a hopeful glance towards the time when I shall again put forth my two green leaves once a month, and with a faithful remembrance of the genial sun and showers that have fallen on these leaves of 'David Copperfield,' and made me happy."

n LONDON, October, 1850

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

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David Copperfield is very much a character-driven novel although there are multiple plot lines with many stories and characters intersecting over time in very surprising ways as Charles Dickens does best. It is basically the story of David Copperfield from his birth and through the adventures of his life where he is forced into an impoverished childhood by many conflicting circumstances forcing him to make his own way at an early age. And it is in this process that a wide array of colorful characters explode from the pages. There is tragedy and comedy throughout this beloved classic as we make our way on the journey as put forth by David Copperfield. There are so many poignant and unforgettable passages in this very long, but enjoyable, tome as we make our way through the momentous journey of David Copperfield.

"I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is DAVID COPPERFIELD"
I have also a favorite author and his name is Charles Dickens.

This novel is poetry. To truly appreciate the beauty of the English language, one must read David Copperfield. This book cannot be classified. It is a love story, a drama, and a comedy. It has elements of horror and suspense. I laughed hysterically, sobbed uncontrollably, and threw it to a wall in a fit of anger. It annoyed, bored, and entrapped me.
The characters in this novel are like real people to me and I feel for them as I feel for living creatures. I despise Mr. Murdstone, I adore David, I want to slap his mother, I would spit on Dora, I laugh with Peggotty, I cheer Emily on, I pity Uriah Heep, and I sympathize with his aunt Betsy Trotwood. It was such a memorable experience that more than 15 years later, I can still recall certain scenes as if they were part of my actual memory.

All that is good about this world (innocence, justice, truth) can be found within these pages. I cannot reccommend it highly enough.

But I have one helpful suggestion: Do not read it without notebook and paper in hand to keep track of characters. They are often introduced nonchalantly only to reappear later as central to the storyline.

…i didn’t love this?! I’m concerned for my own wellbeing…

Had to add a fifth star to my rating. Dont remember what held me back. Dickens is a rock star.

Well that was brilliant. A host of glorious characters, wonderful plotlines and beautiful writing, even better on a reread!
(Also, I think Tommy Traddles is quite possibly the best character in existence.)

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“It was as true,” said Mr. Barkis, “as turnips is. It was as true,” Mr. Barkis said, nodding his nightcap, which was his only means of emphasis, “as taxes is. And nothing’s truer than them.”

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I enjoyed the hell out of this book. From the first page to the last, I was having a damned good time. I even made quite a bother of myself several times among friends and family, imitating my favorite characters, only to get blank stares and polite smiles, as I realized that not one among them had read this wonderful book.
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Part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much was that I listened to an audiobook version. If you haven’t tried Dickens that way, I recommend it; what is dull, dry, and dreary on the page becomes lyrical and lively when listened to. Dickens had a great ear for dialogue, and you deserve to hear it.
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So what of the book? I’m afraid I won’t have anything terribly original to say. What struck me, and what strikes almost everyone, was Dickens’s amazing ability to caricature—to conjure up, in only a few lines of descriptions, cartoonish and hyperbolic figures that stick effortlessly in the imagination. Some people complain that his characters are too over-the-top; but, to me, that’s like complaining that James Brown shouted too much—that’s the point. And just as James Brown could turn a yelp into high art, so could Dickens turn the lowly art of caricature into world-class literature. It is almost as if, by blowing certain personality traits out of all proportion, Dickens could transcend the silence of the written page, inflating his creations into flesh and blood, like a clown blowing up a balloon. Instead of feeling like you’re reading a book, you feel as if you’re listening to a conversation in the other room.
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And what lovely conversation to overhear! Dickens has a tremendous, almost supernatural, ability to create characters. Every character—even if they are extremely minor—has a great deal of care lavished upon them; they have their own ways of speaking, thinking, gesturing, walking, laughing. Whether Dickens is writing of the rich or poor, he doesn’t disappoint; and several I found absolutely endearing. (Mr. Barkis and Betsy Trotwood were my favorites.) The only place Dickens does falter is in his characterizations of young women. Dora was a doll, and Agnes an angel; they were, both of them, uninteresting. Still, I thought that Dickens’s portrayal of Copperfield’s marriage to Dora—marked by both tenderness and frustration—was extremely touching; it had much more verisimilitude and interest than David’s later marriage.
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As another reviewer has pointed out, this book does have a quieter side. Beneath the brash and brazen giants, who lumber and lurch through these pages, runs a calm current of wistful nostalgia. In fact, Dickens often comes close to a sort of Proustian mood, as he has Copperfield disentangle his memories. Particularly when David is describing his childhood, with his silly mother and caring servant, or when he is describing the ravages of the Murdstones, or his awkward and difficult time at school, the tone is often tender and delicate, just as when Proust has his narrator describe the anxiety of wanting his mother to give him a goodnight kiss. The juxtaposition of these two moods, of caricature and remembrance, is I think what makes this book one of Dickens’s strongest.
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I would like to add, as a kind of perverse afterthought, that a Freudian could have a festival analyzing this book. I am, myself, no disciple of that Austrian oddball; but I do think it interesting that David is born without a father, and has a stepfather who gives him such trouble; that David’s two love interests are, as if reflected by a mirror, girls without mothers. And it doesn’t take a psychoanalyst to note the similarity between Dora and David’s mother; nor does it take a psychoanalyst to find it odd that David marries a girl he called, throughout the whole book, “sister.” What to make of all this, I cannot say; but I thought it worth including.
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In any case, I have come away from this book with a pleasant stock of memories, and a new respect for, and interest in, the good Dickens. What is so wonderful about Dickens, I think, is that he is so brilliant and yet so readable. I cannot help grouping Dickens along with Shakespeare and the Beatles, as an artist capable of both keeping the scholars busy and the audience laughing. That, to me, is the mark of the highest genius.

So that was fun... eventually.. sortof. What was the population of england circa 1850? Based on the number of times people randomly crossed paths in this book i'm guessing it couldn't have been higher than 200 :P .
The first quarter of the story is like a watered down version of Wuthering Heights. In fact the whole book feels a bit watered down. There's a constant darkness lurking about but dickens never commits to it which makes it feel like he's playing safe.
On the other hand whenever one of his ridiculous characters turns up they feel out of place as the story seems too dark and serious for them.
Also the entire plot is told from the point of view of a single character which robs it of the variety of some of his other stories. This tactic does have an upside though. Since our protagonist is rather innocent the reader often figures out things which the character doesn't yet know. This builds up the suspense as we wait to see if our surmises are right. However this trick does rather backfire during the conclusion.
The conclusion feels like it takes forever (there are 9 chapters which i would all consider to be conclusion) and the trick i've mentioned adds to the length as even the most dense of readers will know more or less how things will work out. Those last few chapters were the only ones which really tried my patience.
Despite the silly coincidences and some rather poor plotting there's still a lot of nice things here. I really felt i was getting into a groove with the story around page 1000 or so, although that may have been the Stockholm Syndrome kicking in ;) .

Overall an unobjectionable story.. except unobjectionable isn't really worth 2000 pages of reading in my opinion, so i've deducted a star.

David Copperfield is one of my favourite Dickens' books, and I tend to enjoy Dickens quite a lot. It's not a perfect book by any means, and on this read, I noticed that it lagged in the middle. (I suddenly found it much harder to pick up and was more easily distracted by the graphic novels that are my husband's bathroom reading materials.) But it picked up again by the end.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

What can be said of David Copperfield that hasn't been said before? David Copperfield is the Sgt Pepper of Charles Dickens, some might say of English literature. I've been told that the book is funny. But I think the book is as funny as Superman. If stand up comedians based their material on David Copperfield, they wouldn't make a living.

For it's bulk, the book does fast forward a lot. When David is stricken with grief as an adult he goes away writes a lot and becomes famous. How, I don't know. I think the author wanted to refer to himself.

I have read entire chapters (okay, chapter 35) without understanding a lick of what was being said. I dread what would happen if this book figured in my B.A. English class. Maybe I should have appealed to the expertise of the group that's very passionate about Dickens. You know who you are...


And, in the end, details of some happenings are already beginning to fade. I must say, that the deaths in this book are different from that in Nicholas Nicklesby, and also from those in Martin Chuzzlewit. I'd compare Mr Pecksniff with Uriah Heep, but there is little similitude between them, really. Am I so brave as to read more of Dickens, or braver still to reread David Copperfield? Time will tell. My rating of this book is based on my enjoyment of it, believe it or not. See you later, Mr. Dickens.

PS - It has come to my attention that I didn't praise the book a lot. I think it's marvellous. Only I got caught up in saying why I didn't rate it 5 stars. The book is great. Read it at your own leisure.

If you want to read a much better review than mine, click on the link below :

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

Almost hate to leave these characters.

"I never thought when I used to read books what work it is was to write them."
"Its work enough to read them, sometimes," I returned.

How perfect these lines seemed when they appeared in the last few pages of this tome of a classic. Yes, it did seem like work at times but mostly the delights in the writing carried me though. It wasn't the story so much as the telling of it. This was my second try to get beyond halfway and with the print and the audio read by the exceptional narrator Simon Vance, I did not find it as difficult as I remembered.

I won't go into the plot, it did remind me of Great Expectations and is purported to be based largely on the author's life. It begins with David's birth and follows his many hardships. follies and successes into middle age. Along with David there are a most interested group of side characters both evil and funny who lighten up the pages (I was surprised to see that W.C. Fields actually played the part of Micawber in the 1935 film adaptation).

Even with 882 pages I do feel it was an enjoyable read. It gave me a taste for some more Dickens, so Bleak House maybe next but first for next years long classic I plan to read The Count of Monte Cristo whose pages count is even greater. Wish me luck for that one.

Another full casted performance for the great dickens! i read a dickens every December but could not get this one done in time as it's mid-January. it was a little long IMO. On audio read by Richard Armitage. who brought energy but would make you tune out at other times with his sweet Victorian voice.

I'm a character guy which is why i love dickens so let's start there. David Copperfield is a bit of a whiner. But a upholding member of Victorian society. he also must have been good looking because every woman he talked to seemed bewitched. he was a good sympathetic narrator. there are so many characters many i barely remember it's impossible to go over all of them. so, the highlights are a pair of caretakers who take everything from David's mother and send him to an awful school. a devoted nurse and her loving fisherman family. At the school he meets Traddles and Steerforth. the women who love him are Clara, Dora, and Agnes. The Micawber we pensioners who became people of note in another country. his aunt Trotwood and dick. and the evil Uriah Heep. Heep is the standout wicked, villainous, slimy, and industrious. there is even a band named after him. I think i got most of the Victorian symbolism Dickens was known for. he believed in immigration and the prisoners being treated better than their local inferiors. but i also think i got the social criticisms. i looked hard at those as every character seemed a social custom to me.

I'm going to leave that there and read another dickens next December. My voice of Victorian dictation Dickens will live on for me!

ادبیات فقط کلاسیک

دیوید کاپرفیلد: هرچند از خواندن این کتاب 8 تا 10 سال می گذره ولی همچنان تحت تاثیر داستان سرشار از زندگی اونم، این کتاب مثل یک داروی انرژی زا یا کتابی برای موفقیت هست، چنان شما رو از اعماق تنهایی و ناامیدی به قله شور و هیجان و امیدواری میرسونه که کاری جز تلاش و موفقیت در زندگی نمی تونید انجام بدید.
نه کسی یکدفعه عاشق میشه نه کسی یکدفعه متحول. چنان همه چیز واقعیست که اصلا فراموش می کنید، خواننده کتاب هستید.
چنان در کتاب غرق می شوید که گویا از بودن در زمان حال احساس غربت و تنهایی می کنید، پس باز به کتاب پناه می برید تا به زندگی خود ادامه دهید.