After a series of lackluster reviews for other books, I'm glad to be back on solid ground with Dickens; and its all uphill in my reviews from here (climbing out of a review hole, as usual). I really liked Barnaby Rudge. A lot. I should preface this by saying that Dickens is my favorite author; even when he's mediocre, he is fabulous. And that's what this book is. It is very far removed from his best; and yet there are moments of brilliance, and there are moments of Dickens, and it was still, at worst, a great and fun read.
Dickens had no idea what novel he wanted to write. It is 3 novels in one, at least, and you really can't tell what novel he's going to be writing from chapter to chapter. It is a dark mystery of murder and intrigue; it is a comic love story; it is a historical account of the Gordon Riots (and an account of how individuals can get swept up in the floods of that history). It did not hang together very well. As with Chuzzlewit, though, one of my favorite bits of the book was the fact that it did not hang together--but you could see the way that Dickens was working his threads, you could see how he would eventually be able to more effortlessly weave complex and seemingly unrelated narratives into a structured whole, as with his later novels. And this book--when it wanted to be dark, it was dark. And at times it was funny. His villains were brilliant, as usual. Tappertit! He's fantastic. Such a little toad, and a great comic villain. And also some seriously, straight up, not-funny bad guys. There is a decent love story, and in a bit of a surprise, the endings are happy, but not necessarily clean or neat. There's a whiff of Tale of Two Cities here, too. And Barnaby was a fascinating main character, I thought. He had a bit of Nell about him, but he wasn't nearly as irritating as Nell, in large part because he wasn't aware of his goodness. And He was faulty, as well as good.
The novel has many faults; I get why it is the least read and least favorite. It was messy and chaotic and some of the characters were not well developed. But when it was brilliant, it was. It shone most powerfully in the back third of the book, when several of the characters--friend and villain alike--were on death row, awaiting execution, in the aftermath of the Gordon Riots. Perhaps the best was when Dickens followed Dennis, the hangman-turned-prisoner. It was the very unquestioned nature of his badness, and the unquestioned nature of the badness of Hugh's deeds, that made this part of the book so wrenching. I don't know if I've ever read a better account of execution, and what it means to put even the true villains to death. It was one thing to have Barnaby there; we as readers knew it was an injustice, and could hang our hats on that. But with Hugh and Dennis, they were actually bad guys--and so we had to look, unflinching, at the humanity of our villains as they faced the last hours of their lives. He lay bare their humanity and our own, humanity at its worst and most unforgiving. It was terrible to read, and Dickens took it straight on, but quietly--it read personally, troubling, but not moralistically. His focus was on his characters, and he was utterly perfect during these scenes. And if the novel as a whole is (for all that I enjoyed it) one of my least favorite Dickens, these passages will stand out in my mind as some of Dickens' best.
And then, of course, because he is Dickens, he [spoilers!] gives us Joe and Dolly, who actually grew; he gives us Barnaby and his raven; he gives us the happy, if life-worn ending. I know I gripe about Austen's easy endings, and I'll be honest that Dickens does not hide the ball either, on who will end up with who. I don't know why I don't mind it with him. But I don't. Perhaps it is because of the path he takes us on to get us there; we know the ending, but it always feels earned.

Barnaby Rudge reminded me of both Bleak House and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon A River, in fact I wonder if the latter was inspired by Barnaby Rudge. There is a good family mystery in the mould of Bleak House told with Dickens' typically gorgeous writing style. Combined with eternal political truths andthe usual memorable characters I am surprised this isn't as widely read. Like 'Once Upon A River', a local tavern and its frequenters set a scene of timelessness.
Our hero Barnaby is a young man both loved by his community, especially by his devoted mother but isolated by his neurodivergence and made vulnerable to the wider world. His innocence gives him an insight beyond the other characters who are caught up in the narrow prejudices of their world. Barnaby has the book's most poetic lines and is the only truly flawless character. Barnaby is beloved by the animal kingdom - the local dogs adore him and his loyal friend is a charming raven, Grip (naturalistically modelled on Dickens' own two ravens).

Disability is represented in great variety in this book contrasting with the two characters that feel themselves the most invulnerable - a narcissist and an authority figure.

The historical context of the anti-Catholic riots was fascinating read in today's culture of duality. The message is that bigotry is always born of ignorance - for example a child's doll is thrown by rioters from the window of a Catholic home in the mistaken apprehension that it is a sacred idol. Dickens characterises the anti-papist mob as drunkards who have rarely set foot in a church. They are a group of angry men unite by disenfranchisement and a need to vent. The quiet-living local Catholic families are simply convenient objects for their rage.

This is a wonderful novel. If you have enjoyed Dickens' other books this isn't so different despite being an historical novel. It's worth a read for Barnaby and his rascally raven alone.

This is one of the two works of historical fiction by Dickens, the other being "A Tale of Two Cities," about the French revolution.
"Barnaby Rudge" is about the anti-Catholic Gordon riots in London in 1780.
I don't think Dickens was at his best in this genre.
The riots don't start until well after page 300, and it is at that point that the book becomes absorbing (although it ends slowly). It also contains more violence and cruelty than, I think, anything else by Dickens. What "Barnaby Rudge" illustrates more than anything else is mob mentality, and it's not pretty. As if the prejudice that inspired the riots wasn't bad enough, the supposed motivation quickly becomes an excuse for all sorts of reprehensible conduct.
And in the early going, official London is unable or unwilling to do anything about it:

"I don't know, I am sure," said the Lord Mayor; "what a pity it is you're a Catholic! Why couldn't you be a Protestant, and then you wouldn't have got yourself in such a mess? I'm sure I don't know what's to be done. -- There are great people at the bottom of these riots. -- Oh, dear me, what a thing it is to be a public character!"

A few noble characters emerge from the gloom, not the least of which is Grip, a raven. Like all ravens, Grip is intelligent, loyal and has a mind of his own. Another of the noble characters is Barnaby Rudge, although I wouldn't have named the book after him if I were Dickens. He wasn't THE central character like Oliver Twist is in "Oliver Twist" or like David Copperfield is in "David Copperfield." I would have called it "London Burning."

It's easy to see why Barnaby Rudge is one of Dickens's less popular novels. It's overlong and overplotted, and it's awkwardly structured, falling too neatly into two halves. The first half centers on the frustrated love of Joe Willet for Dolly Varden, and the equally but differently frustrated love of Edward Chester and Emma Haredale, and on the murder of Emma's father. The second half focuses on the anti-Catholic Gordon riots of 1780. The two halves are knit together by the effects of the riots on the Willets, Vardens, Chesters and Haredales, and on the title character, the "idiot" Barnaby. But the characters -- especially Joe, Edward and Emma -- are such feeble stock figures, such conventionally drawn vessels of virtue, that it's hard to get emotionally involved with their fates. Moreover, even the "Dickensian" grotesques, such as Sim Tappertit (a name that elicits snickers from 12-year-old boys of all ages and sexes) and Miggs, are only fitfully amusing, and they quickly wear out their welcome.

The one almost successful character in the novel is Hugh, the mysterious thug who may be the closest thing Dickens ever came to a tragic figure. He enters the novel as an enigmatic and almost attractive figure -- a wild man of sorts -- and descends into villainy during the riots. But at the end, he attains a kind of tragic awareness, which he expresses in his speech before he goes to the gallows.

Dolly Varden, who became the novel's most popular character, even to the extent of causing a fashion craze later in the nineteenth century, is one of Dickens's better ingenues -- which is, to be sure, not saying much, since the Dickensian ingenue is typified by the saintly Agnes of David Copperfield. But by using Dolly's flighty mother and the jealous Miggs as foils, Dickens gives her some substance, allowing her to make foolish mistakes while enhancing her attractiveness.

The treatment of the riots shows Dickens's gift for the sensational, culminating in the orgiastic revel at the vintner's house, when the mob immolates itself in a fiery, drunken stupor, a fatal bacchanal of sorts. But the vividness of the riot scenes contrasts too sharply with the insipidity of the novel's lovers, who settle down at the book's end into a complacent rural fertility, producing hordes of cherubic little Joes and Dollys.

The chief flaw of the novel, however, is Barnaby himself, who resembles no mentally challenged person ever encountered in this world. He is a vehicle for pathos, a holy fool who goes astray, but he grows so annoying in this role that it's hard to care whether he's rescued from the gallows. And if you don't care about that, it's hard to care about anything that Dickens wants you to care about. Still, the novel is distinguished by Dickens's passion for justice and his contempt for hypocrisy. At its best moments, they give it a spine of conviction that keeps it from collapsing into a welter of melodrama.

For American readers, the oddest thing about the novel may be its time frame: The action takes place between 1775 and 1780, when the American War for Independence was taking place. Yet the only reference to this conflict, which surely must have preoccupied Britons even more than the Gordon riots, is in Joe's loss of an arm at the siege of Savannah, which takes place offstage from the novel's main action -- and in the chronicles of the Revolutionary War is for many people almost a footnote. Was Dickens, who was preparing for his trip to America while the novel was appearing, afraid of alienating American readers by bringing that conflict to the fore in his narrative?

4 stars-

My tenth Dickens!

I have to preface this by saying I would NOT recommend this novel until you have read a few of his others. This one is very different to the majority of his work.

I think I also say this because it is not his most engaging endeavor. The characters are overall less eccentric and forgettable (except for Barnaby and Simon)

Despite that, it is historically really fascinating, and the title character is portrayed quite well. It hasn’t aged perfectly (such as calling Barnaby an idiot- which at the time was a technical term and not an insult) but gives an interesting account of both the Gordon Riots and towards Victorian attitudes on history.

I watched a review recently that discussed how Dickens portrays these riots as not purely religious, but as a desperation for power. It’s easy to see how the poor, the sick, or the societally oppressed would turn to these riots as a desperate attempt to claw onto any power that they feel they have.

Mrs. Rudge is also one of Dickens’ more interesting early female characters. It’s too bad that Dolly is so silly, because clearly the author is showing increased capability in writing interesting females.

Because the riots are slightly confusing, it can be hard to know who to root for, and who the “good guys” and “bad guys” are. There are some clearly good characters like Barnaby and Mr. Varden, but really everyone else is somewhere in the gray area. I think with the way books are normally structured, we expect “big reveals” and “true colors” to be shown, but overall, everyone in this novel is seen as they are. They’re complicated and they don’t always make the right decisions.

With all of that, I think that Dickens really hits on some interesting themes in this book, and his writing overall serves his message. It’s a bit harder to get through than most of his other books, but I think it’s worth it for a Dickens fan. I’ve grown a bit of a soft spot for it.

Only three stars for a Dickens novel? Well, yes.

The first of Dickens's two historical novels (the second being A Tale of Two Cities), this one deals with the Gordon riots. The best part of the novel takes place before the riots take over the plot, but those events are overshadowed by the extreme violence which dominates the second half of the novel and makes it quite unpleasant to read.

Henry James famously described certain Victorian novels as "loose baggy monsters," and while I strongly dispute that characterization of such magnificent works as Bleak House, Great Expectations, Middlemarch, and many others, the description fits Barnaby Rudge perfectly. There is no coherent plot, but more a series of loosely connected situations which arise out of the ooze, play their role on the stage, then sink back into the ooze again.

Even when Dickens tries to tie up his loose ends in the final chapters, he seems to do so very casually and inexpertly. It is as though he realized that he needed to bring this work to an end and just tossed everything he needed to end it helter-skelter into the final chapters.

The saving grace of the novel is, as with most of Dickens's works, a series of memorable characters, nicely drawn, although less complex as individuals than those of his later works. They almost, though not quite, make the novel worth reading.

La última novela de Dickens que me faltaba por leer (de las que pudo finalizar; "El misterio de Edwin Drood" todavía no lo he leído).
Aunque es la decimocuarta que leo, fue la quinta que publicó, y forma parte de su etapa inicial, de juventud, donde aún no planificaba sus tramas de principio a fin.
Pues bien, decimocuarta novela de Dickens que leo... y ME HA ENCANTADO.
"Barnaby Rudge" es de los libros menos populares de Dickens (de hecho, encontrar la edición traducida al castellano es completamente imposible hoy en día, salvo que tires de biblioteca) y francamente, no entiendo por qué, porque es una novela maravillosa.
Ciertamente no es el mejor Dickens, y el libro no es perfecto, pero es que el mejor Dickens (para mí) no tiene rival, y el Dickens no tan bueno (también para mí) sigue siendo un autor extraordinario.
Y este es el caso: junto con "Historia de dos ciudades" se dice que son las dos únicas novelas "históricas" que escribió el autor. Yo no las calificaría de históricas, según la acepción que tenemos en la actualidad del género, máxime cuando apenas separan unos 70 años de los sucesos que narra Dickens a la fecha en la que escribió la novela.
Al igual que en "Historia de dos ciudades" Dickens se interesa por un movimiento revolucionario de finales del s. XVIII, pero mientras que en la primera se trataba de la revolución francesa, en este caso se trata de la revuelta protestante que tuvo lugar en Londres y alrededores en 1780 contra la población católica, conocida como la revuelta de "Gordon".
Y, como no podía ser de otro modo, pues Dickens era un apasionado de la condición humana, no nos puede mostrar un cuadro más afinado, a veces crudo, pero siempre presentado con el brillante estilo que le caracterizaba, de cómo se transforman las masas en fenómenos de este tipo: cómo se deshumanizan, como el individuo se "disuelve" para formar parte de un ente más fuerte que él mismo, que le empuja como un imán y lo deshumaniza.
Dickens es extraordinario al presentarnos dos arcos temporales: 1775 y 1780, y mostrarnos cómo unos mismos hechos pueden sacar lo mejor de algunos de los personajes que hemos ido siguiendo, y lo peor de otros... sorprendiéndonos en ocasiones, con reacciones que no esperábamos de algunos de ellos.
Y luego está la masa, esa masa humana imparable de personas descontentas (muchas de ellas por muy buenos motivos), un grupo heterogéneo de idealistas, desesperados, desamparados y delincuentes que, movidos por motivos diametralmente opuestos (unos con buena fe y otros con muy muy mala fe) acaban desembocando en las mismas funestas acciones, que los sobrepasan.
Es muy interesante también la mirada crítica del autor hacia el fanatismo religioso, que muchas veces tiene más de pretexto hipócrita para descargar las ansias de violencia que de auténtica fe. En este caso el fanatismo protestante.
Y todo ello plagado, como no podría ser de otro modo, tratándose de Dickens, de romances, amores prohibidos, hijos ilegítimos, madres perdidas y ahorcadas, muertos que resucitan, fantasmas que claman venganza, personajes histriónicos, enemigos acérrimos, personajes malvados y odiosos, personajes absolutamente entrañables, verdugos, ejecuciones, robos... y un cuervo que habla.
¡Es que me encanta Dickens!
Ciertamente en esta ocasión creo que la trama no le ha quedado tan perfectamente engarzada como en otras ocasiones (aunque no deja ni un solo cabo suelto, -él jamás lo hace-, las conexiones y convergencia de historias le han quedado esta vez algo más forzadas), y definitivamente es la novela más coral de todas. Hasta el punto que no podría decir quién es el protagonista (ni siquiera el adorable Barnaby Rudge que le da título).
Puede que tal vez el protagonista sea el fenómeno de masas de la rebelión, y las consecuencias que de ella se derivan (con las que Dickens también se muestra muy crítico).
Lo que sí puedo decir es que me ha encantado que un autor tan victoriano como Dickens (además victoriano "pata negra", de los del principio) haya desarrollado un personaje tan maravilloso y bien retratado como Barnaby Rudge: una persona con una discapacidad intelectual ligera. Dejando de lado el shock que supone cómo lo describe, utilizando una terminología que era la común en la época, y que no se consideraba despectiva en absoluto, sino la forma correcta de describirla, y que sí que es verdad que con la mentalidad actual es muy dura a los ojos (u oídos), me quedo en lo importante: en la descripción del personaje, mucho más inclusiva que en relatos actuales buenistas. Barnaby no es víctima, ni es verdugo (que era lo habitual en la época, en las pocas ocasiones en que volvían la mirada hacia las personas con discapacidad). No es completamente bueno, pero desde luego no es malvado. Es como cualquier persona buena: en general un tipo decente y majo, pero con algún que otro defecto. Y con todo, lo trata con un respeto (por favor, olvidando el lenguaje, que no se consideraba ofensivo) y con una ternura... que te cautiva. Y ese tandem que hace con el cuervo Grip... es que me los como a los dos.
Junto con Hugh (uno de los muchos malvados que pueblan esta novela... pero terriblemente sexy, debo decir) creo que han sido dos de mis personajes favoritos. Aunque hay otros muchos que me han encantado: Dolly Varden, un personaje femenino complejo (inusual en las novelas de la primera etapa de Dickens, debo decir), su padre Gabriel Varden, el íntegro cerrajero, el señor Geoffrey Haredale (mucho más complejo de lo que pueda parecer), el sibilino sir John Chester, la insoportable Miss Miggs o el hilarante (a su pesar) Simon Tapperit, o personajes que existieron en la realidad, pero que Dickens ha ficcionado completamente, como el verdugo (psicópata) Ned Dennis o el mismísimo Lord George Gordon que dio nombre a la infausta revuelta... todos ellos me han fascinado, por un motivo u otro.
Si es que me repito siempre pero es la verdad, y no puedo más que proclamarlo a los cuatro vientos: ADORO A DICKENS

In my project to read all of Charles Dickens' works in the order published, I just finished reading Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty, one of my least favorite books by Dickens so far. This was Dickens' first historical novel largely set during the Lord Gordon Riots of 1780, the anti-Catholic riots in London. If there could be a center of this tale, it would be the Maypole Inn in the village of Chigwell in 1775. It was here that the proprietor, John Willet and his cronies gathered together on a stormy night to discuss a well-known tale of a local murder of Reuben Haredale taking place twenty-two years ago. He had been the owner of an estate in the area, now the residence of Reuben's brother, Geoffrey and his niece Emma Haredale. And typical of Charles Dickens writing there are a lot of colorful characters that come in and out of the story. One of these characters is Barnaby Rudge and his widowed mother as well as his pet raven, Grip.

n  

It is something to look upon enjoyment, so that it be free and wild and in the face of nature, though it is but the enjoyment of an idiot. It is something to know that Heaven has left the capacity of gladness in such a creature's breast; it is something to be assured that, however lightly men may crush that faculty in their fellows, the Great Creator of mankind imparts it even to his despised and slighted work. Who would rather not see a poor idiot happy in the sunlight, than a wise man pining in a darkened jail."

n

The story advances five years to a wintry evening early in the year 1780. On the twenty-seventh anniversary of the murder of Reuben Haredale, a ghost is seen in the churchyard, reminiscent of the murdered Reuben Harefield. It is felt by John Willet that Geoffrey Haredale should hear the story. Three men who have lost their way to London are put up at the Maypole. It is later discovered that they were in fact, Lord George Gordon as well as his secretary and a servant. The next day they depart for London, inciting anti-Catholic sentiment and recruiting protestant volunteers.

n  

"Cheerily, though there were none abroad to see it, shone the Maypole light that evening. Blessings on the red--deep, ruby, glowing red--old curtain of the window; blending into one rich stream of brightness, fire and candle, meat, drink, and company, and gleaming like a jovial eye upon the bleak waste out of doors! Within, what carpet like its crunching sand, what music merry as its crackling logs, what perfume like its kitchen's dainty breath, what weather genial as its hearty warmth! Blessing on the old house, how sturdily it stood! How did the vexed wind chafe and roar about its stalwart roof; how did it pant and strive with its wide chimneys, which still poured forth from their hospitable throats, great clouds of smoke, and puffed defiance in its face; how, above all, did it drive and rattle at the casement, emulous to extinguish that cheerful glow, which would not be put down and seemed brighter for the conflict."

n

As I don't want to venture further into the plot, I will end it here. This is the period of history where in 1778 the Catholic Relief Act was enacted to help to ease the restrictions on Britain's Catholics. The Protestant Association, led by Lord George Gordon, opposed this act. It was then on June 22, 1780 that the Protestant Association marched to the House of Commons and were joined by a riotous mob
terrorizing London for the next few days. During this time many were killed along with public executions. It was Charles Dickens' first historical novel and a piece of history that I was not familiar with.

Wow! This is definitely a new favorite! I loved the historical aspect, which gave it a similar feel to Tale Of Two Cities, but still very much its own story. The evil characters were so evil, yet so well written. There were some creepy scenes that really made me feel things. But the entire story was engaging and fun to read. I love that Dickens wrote so many novels and each is so different. I'm excited to finish his works this year!

I enjoyed every page. Dickens was a genius.

I haven't read a new (to me)Dickens for years. I only picked this because my dad, who is in his nineties and doesn't read novels anymore, keeps saying how he enjoyed reading this when he was young and how you never hear much about it. I decided to give it a go but keep putting off starting because it's so long.
I'm glad I finally got round to it!
The novel really exceeded my expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As you can expect from Dickens it has some colourful characters and tremendous comic villains, Miggs and Simon Tappertit among the best of them.
It's a good old fashioned story where most characters get their just deserts but it also educated me about a period of English history which I had previously known nothing about.

This is not my favorite Dickens but I really did enjoy it. I love historical fiction and this was very informative. I had never heard of the Gordon Riots so I found this very educational and it led me to the internet to learn more. This is obviously not one of Dickens most popular or well known novels as I had no idea of the subject or plot before starting it, but I would rate this one above others I have read. Reading this with The Old Curiosity Shop group gave me many insights into the many varied characters which always abound in a Dickens novel, so I am happy that I read it with this group.