Little Dorrit (Penguin Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, 25 Sept. 2003

Out of all the editions of Little Dorrit available in Kindle Edition, I chose to review this one, because it's illustrated with original engravings that were commissioned by Dickens himself. One other edition also includes "illustrations" that turned out to be classical paintings that have nothing to do with the story. Quite a few Kindle editions of classics do that. I don't know why; the original illustrations to many of them are available on Wikimedia Commons for free download. Anyway, there's nothing like reading a classic with illustrations that follow what the writer him/herself imagined. And, this edition includes a detailed life of Charles Dickens by Thomas Seccombe, and an introduction with interpretations of Dickens' characterisation and plot by Edwin Percy Whipple. Both were famous writers during Dickens' own time.The book itself: It opens with one of the villains of the story, a convicted murder named Rigaud, describing to his cell-mate how he murdered his wife. When taken to a hearing, he apparently manages to talk his way out of it, and later goes free. I didn't call him THE villain, though he has the makings for it, because there's so much to the story that one single villain couldn't possibly threaten to bring it all down. In fact, the only one who is ultimately threatened by him at the climax of the story, could also be said to be one of the villains -- a typical DIckensian twist.There is a lot to the story, so many villains, so many heroes, so many diverse characters with intertwining paths, and satire at its finest. Just a few of the elements:The Office of Circumlocution is the great bureaucracy that must have its fingers in every pie. In the story, in Dickens' classic style, that's the official name for it. "Circumlocution" literally means to talk in circles, to over state something, to make a short story long. It means piles and piles of paperwork just to get a simple task accomplished, and months and months of waiting for approval. We still have such offices today.Marshalsea debtors' prison is an institution that appears in many of Dickens' stories, beginning with Pickwick Papers. Dickens would know a lot about that, as his own father had been incarcerated there.Then, there's Mr. Merdle, who is the man everybody loves, because he runs an investment scheme guaranteed to make everyone rich -- think, "bubble". That's only a few of the moving forces in the narrative.William Dorrit is an aristocratic gentleman who fell on hard times, and has been in the Marshalsea debtors' prison for many years. He is highly respected by the other prisoners, and lives off contributions. He has three children, the youngest, Amy, the one referred to as "Little Dorrit", grew up there, and is now a young lady. She is one of the few in the story who has no pretensions.One of the others with no pretensions, is Arthur Clennam, the other main character. There are a few other noble characters: such as the Meagles family; Daniel Royce the inventor, who's project is being held up by the Office of Circumlocution; Pancks, the debt collector, who looks at first like he could be one of the villains (he's collecting debts, isn't he), but is actually a hero in his simple way; and more.The story is in two parts: William Dorrit in the great Marshalsea prison, and William Dorrit after the tide has turned, out of Marshalsea prison living the good life. We see how perceptions and attitudes change for all but Little Dorrit. If anything, she's more miserable in the second half, not allowed to just be herself. Through both parts, there are so many sub plots, which I've only scratched the surface, but Dickens masterfully ties them all together in a thoroughly satisfying way.

Long read but enjoyable. Not to be rushed but to breathe in life as it was almost 200 years ago

The task I had set myself about a year ago to read all Dickens' novels soon became not a task but a profound pleasure. Each of his novels (and I have Our Mutual Friend (Oxford World's Classics) and A Tale of Two Cities (Oxford World's Classics) left to read) has its own specific merits, but all of them I've found to be very captivating, peopled with the most wonderful characters, and (often) abounding with humour. So, if you have the time, I would urge you to read all of them. If not, and you need to select a sort of 'Top 3', 'Little Dorrit' ought to be one of those (my personal choice for the other two would be Bleak House (Oxford World's Classics) and Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics)).'Little Dorrit' is a long novel (688 pages in the Oxford World's Classics edition, not counting the introduction and notes), but had it been 788 pages I would have been the last to complain. From the very start I was mesmerized by the different storylines (Little Dorrit herself being born in the Marshalsea prison, Arthur Clennam returning from abroad to his icy-cold mother in London), and how skillfully Dickens slowly but surely draws these together. The way in which Dickens creates the setting and atmosphere is superb, there is - as usual - a host of unforgettable characters (apart from the ones I mentioned, I'm sure I'll never forget Pancks, nor Flintwinch), and that unique blend of humour, irony, comedy and pathos that only Dickens knows how to achieve.Hour upon hour of literary bliss and enjoyment for the price of barely two packs of cigarettes! If forced to choose, I'd even seriously consider giving up smoking for this novel ;-)

It's only worth writing reviews on here if the aim is to recommend something very good or warn of something lousy. In this case my 5 stars are not for Dickens, who no doubt has no need of them or anyone else's, but for the introduction by David Gates. It's a beauty. The intro-to-the-classics genre is generally musty, leather-elbowed and thoroughly skippable. This one mostly shrugs off its scholarship (though there's a delicate allusion to Euphrasia) and then gets properly blokey and obsessive about it all in a very charming way. Gates' own fandom (Beckett, Barthelme) and verbal tics ('tohu-bohu' anyone?) get some play, but come across as infectious and endearing. Like the characters in his own fiction who binge on Dickens in their out of town exiles, Gates admits that he's read Little Dorrit thirty times...This amplifies his remarks like this one, which work to enrich the experience of the novel and also prompt further thought: "If Shakespeare is literature's great keeper-out-of-the-way - who knows if he himself liked or disliked Hamlet or Lear? - Dickens is the great intruder."

I enjoyed the book from beginning to end but the content in between was so full of enormous amounts of detail that I found it very hard going at times. Some of the descriptions that Dickens launched into were so longwinded and wordy that you forget what he is trying to say. It could have been cut by at least a third and still be enjoyed as much if not more!