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    The Pickwick Papers
    The Pickwick Papers
    The Pickwick Papers
    Ebook1,328 pages17 hours

    The Pickwick Papers

    By Charles Dickens

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateAug 1, 1972
    Author

    Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens was born in 1812 and grew up in poverty. This experience influenced ‘Oliver Twist’, the second of his fourteen major novels, which first appeared in 1837. When he died in 1870, he was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey as an indication of his huge popularity as a novelist, which endures to this day.

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    Reviews for The Pickwick Papers

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    • 5/5
      The Pickwick Papers promised heft. Weighing in at 900 pages and larded with indices and erudite observations, the project promised muscle training, if nothing else. The serial natural of the narrative and general zany approach was also apprehended. I simply wasn't prepared, however, for Sam Weller. Oh lord, he may be my favorite character in recent memory. I wasn't prepared for such. I was expecting tales of the idle and curious confronting rural and proltarian situations, if only for hilarity and general misunderstanding to ensue. I didn't expect the wit and loyalty of young Weller, especially as the novel takes a rather dark turn and visits the black humors of Dickens' past. Along the journey, politicans, journalists, bankers and lawyers submit to tar-and-feathering: we are all the better for such. There's a surfeit of humiliation, but few are actually mean, as such.

      Yes, the final fifth met the approval standards of its period. There are a slew of marriage plots to be resolved. Somehow that struck me as an addendum for decorum's sake. The novel becomes a meditation on friendship; between Pickwick and Weller, Sam and his father, the reader and Dickens.

      I'm looking forward to reading all of Dickens this year; The Pickwick Papers was a marvelous inaugeration.
    • 3/5
      Dickens' second important book (after Sketches by Boz), and first novel, The Pickwick Papers is a real delight. A comic travelogue that reminds me of a cross between Pynchon's Mason and Dixon and a particularly silly Jeeves short story, it's a book in which only the most minor things go wrong, characters' lives are primarily about meditation and misunderstanding, and one can easily understand why it caused a sensation in 1836, and how Dickens came about at just the right time to capture the public spirit with his own twist on the sentimental literature of the era. I probably wouldn't recommend this for newcomers to Dickens, who should go on to read his next work, Oliver Twist, but once you know you enjoy works from this era, this is a kind of warm sip of brandy for the soul.
    • 5/5
      The Pickwick Papers had me cracking up to myself all the way through. I hadn't heard of this piece by Dickens until I read Little Women, where the girls are a part of the Pickwick Club and read little writings of their own. I have no clue how I discovered the connection (perhaps after watching the movie and doing a Google search), but I quickly grabbed a copy of the book to read it and fell into all of its nonsense.
    • 4/5
      Hilarious in parts.
    • 4/5
      Simon Prebble was marvellous as the narrator in this Dickens classic. In particular, I liked his voices for Sam Weller and his father. So glad that I found an unabridged digital audiobook edition through Hoopla!I am so glad that I decided to reread this early Dickens novel! Thanks to Jean & John, whose great enjoyment during their reread a few years ago made me reconsider this ;)I first read this in my early 20s and was disappointed with it; since then, for many years, I have considered this one of Dickens lesser books. This time, I found it full of humor and wonderful characters. Although I generally get the free public domain Kindle editions of classics, I am glad that I spent the little bit it cost to get the illustrated edition. The illustrations alone are worth it!
    • 5/5
      Begins with comic tropes on stock figures of fun in English society of the time, but develops an ultimately moving moral and humane quality within the context of a humorous work. In Sam Weller, introduces one of the most famous and richest of all Dickens's characters. This from a young author only 25 when the novel was completed. Also, innovated the publication of novels in serial issue. Hard to believe now, but no one before Dickens in this novel had ever done it. Of course many of his own later novels first appeared in serial issue.
    • 5/5
      Pickwick Papers is one of Charles Dickens' earliest works and so it's hard not to read it looking for the seeds of everything to come later in his body of writing. Absurdity, humor, tragedy, chicanery, romance, fancy, lawsuits, debtors' prison, and more are here in good measure to richly repay Dickens' readers. At times the interposition of tragic or comedic vignettes seem a bit forced, like short stories Dickens edited in to fill space. Pickwick and the others interact with these tales very little, simply hearing them and then moving on with their adventures without commentary. Some are unrelievedly tragic; others are crazily hilarious and fanciful, like the armchair coming to life and telling his story. But it's the characters that make this loosely connected string of stories so memorable. Samuel Weller is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. I think he must have inspired Tolkien's Sam Gamgee at some level; both are utterly devoted to their masters and have a sturdy, rustic self possession that is highly distinctive. And I can't think of Tony Weller without smiling. And of course, Mr. Pickwick himself. And Snodgrass, and Tupman, and Winkle, and Wardle, and Jingle, and Job, and all the rest of that merry bunch. Quite simply, this is splendid fun.
    • 4/5
      Probably my favourite Dickens novel that I've read so far. Full of wonderful characters and very funny situations, it shows it's serious side later in the story, with the descriptions set within the Fleet - a notorious debtors prison.It also has some wonderful stories and poems within it - 'The goblins who stole a sexton' for example, a creepy tale told by one character to others, set at Christmas, or 'Ode to an Expiring Frog' - a hilarious pastiche, I can imagine Dickens laughing aloud as he came up with that one!
    • 5/5
      Pickwick Papers is one of Charles Dickens' earliest works and so it's hard not to read it looking for the seeds of everything to come later in his body of writing. Absurdity, humor, tragedy, chicanery, romance, fancy, lawsuits, debtors' prison, and more are here in good measure to richly repay Dickens' readers. At times the interposition of tragic or comedic vignettes seem a bit forced, like short stories Dickens edited in to fill space. Pickwick and the others interact with these tales very little, simply hearing them and then moving on with their adventures without commentary. Some are unrelievedly tragic; others are crazily hilarious and fanciful, like the armchair coming to life and telling his story. But it's the characters that make this loosely connected string of stories so memorable. Samuel Weller is one of my favorite literary characters of all time. I think he must have inspired Tolkien's Sam Gamgee at some level; both are utterly devoted to their masters and have a sturdy, rustic self possession that is highly distinctive. And I can't think of Tony Weller without smiling. And of course, Mr. Pickwick himself. And Snodgrass, and Tupman, and Winkle, and Wardle, and Jingle, and Job, and all the rest of that merry bunch. Quite simply, this is splendid fun.
    • 3/5
      I would actually give Pickwick Papers 3.5 stars. One can tell that Dickens wrote this at the beginning of his career. The characters and situational humor comes through at times, but there are chapters that struggle. As the chapters progress, the writing becomes stronger.
      Sam Weller and Mr Pickwick are characters that one warms to with fondness and many a chuckle. If you would like to read a more modern version of this type of story telling with situational comedy founded on humorous characters, then I strongly recommend the adventures of the Moosepath League by Van Reid. It starts with Cordelia Underwood.
    • 5/5
      Dickens's first published novel (1836-37) and what an absolute comic masterpiece this was and still is. Pickwick and Sam Weller are incredibly memorable creations and one of the best comedy double acts in English literature. There are numerous other memorable characters in this novel which, though slightly rambling, does have a central plot other than Pickwick and his companions' peregrinations across the country, that of the slapstick accusation against him of breach of promise by the widow Mrs Bardell and her unscrupulous lawyers, Dodson and Fogg, for which our hero is tried, found guilty, refuses to pay the fine and is in consequence sent to the Fleet prison. This provides Dickens with the opportunity to expose another evil of his time, that of the condition of poor debtors, those unable to pay their way in the prisons of the time, where food and lodging had to paid for by the prisoners, thus meaning that the poor debtors rotted and starved, unless charitable persons outside took pity on them (rich prisoners could afford to pay for luxury and comfort so had a much easier time of it inside). Indeed the whole concept of imprisoning people for debt seems absurd, as they by definition cannot then even try to repay their debts. An absolute gem of a novel that set Dickens on the road to well deserved fame and literary immortality.
    • 5/5
      What can I say about this book and this performance? Spectacular! Classic Dickens, with classic Prebble narration, it doesn't get better than this.
    • 5/5
      I agree with Roald Dahl -- this book alone is proof that Dickens was a genius. Until I read this I was not aware of how much Wodehouse owed to Dickens. Seriously, though, it's basically a series of short stories loosely linked with a pasted-together plot, but the stories are, by and large, absolutely hilarious. It does slow down a bit with the debtor's prison preachiness, but hey, it's Dickens, you've gotta expect a bit of that. A great, great read.
    • 3/5
      A clever way of arranging incongruous short anecdotes and stories. I see why this caught the attention of the public in the day. Light reading (though quite long), but enjoyable for all that.
    • 4/5
      It was a happy day when I, for whatever reason, elected to sample Charles Dickens. Having read A Tale of Two Cities in high school, I digressed to more popular fiction (Michener, Clavell, McMurtry, King, Grisham), as well as periods of science fiction and even non-fiction (Ambrose, McCollough for example), before making an effort to upgrade my reading list.I read some Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Steinbeck and Hemingway with mixed success before reading Great Expectations. I liked it enough to read David Copperfield, and I was hooked. A Tale of Two Cities followed and then Oliver Twist (not my favorite), Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby and Martin Chuzzlewit before taking on this lengthy novel.The Pickwick Papers was Dickens’s first published novel and set him apart among his contemporaries. It features a club of London gentlemen, headed up by Mr. Pickwick, who travel the countryside and chronicle their adventures. Within many chapters are short vignettes or “tales” either told by the characters or presented from another written source, very reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales.As in almost all Dickens’s work, the beauty of the novel lies in the original and classic characters created therein. Sam Weller and Mr. Jingles take their places alongside such other Dickens characters as Uriah Heap and Mr. Pecksniff as truly memorable Dickensian creations.As in other Dickens works, a period of acclimation is required to become comfortable with the vocabulary and social conventions of the era, and while I can’t rank this work at the absolute top of the Dickens pantheon (David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities), I certainly enjoyed it more than Oliver Twist, Bleak House and Martin Chuzzlewit, putting it on a par with Nicholas Nickleby and Great Expectations.
    • 3/5
      "The Pickwick Papers," like many of Dickens' other works, was originally published as monthly serials and suffers in the eyes of the modern reader because its meandering structure does not fit what most of us expect from the novel form. To its original readers, it must have seemed like a precursor to the modern sitcoms "Keeping Up Appearances" or "Frasier," offering up a satire of the British middle class and of the pomposity of those who are overly concerned with their own status. The book will be of most interest to scholars interested in tracing Dickens' development as an author; the prison chapters in particular afford an insight into the themes that would later preoccupy his writing. However, the plot drags as Dickens tries to stretch a relatively thin plot premise over more than 700 pages, and for the length of the book, many of the characters (particularly the women) are developed more as clichés than as fully dimensional people. Average readers probably will not have the patience to stick with the entire novel or find it particularly memorable if they do.
    • 5/5
      This book makes me want to outlaw the teaching of classics to schoolchildren and hide all the Dickens on a high shelf with the porn so that there's half a chance that kids might read it. This is hilarious stuff. Who knew that they got to be classics for a reason? I approached this book with no small amount of trepidation, and in next to no time was laughing out loud. It's one thing to be reading alone and smile at a funny bit, but to be laughing, no, whooping helplessly, is another thing entirely. DH was sure he hated Dickens, any and all Dickens, so I read to him some of the elder Weller's philosophy on marriage. He kept trying not to laugh, but it was hopeless. This is really funny stuff. And Dickens was a mere lad of 24 when he wrote it.
    • 3/5
      I would have found this book more engrossing and read it more quickly if there were an overarching plot holding it all together. The disadvantages of publishing first as a serial are obvious here. This "novel" is really a collection of loosely connected episodes that are quite entertaining. The strength of this book are the wonderful characters of which I believe there are over 150. Pickwick, of course, and Sam Weller stand out but there are many others who are quite memorable. I love Dickens's obvious delight in creating so many outrageous names for his characters.
    • 5/5
      Very droll, highly entertaining.
    • 3/5
      The strange thing with Pickwick is that, although I enjoyed it a lot whilst actually reading, I wasn't desperate to get back to it in between. I think it's because it's so very episodic (far more so than Dickens' other works), and because it takes a while for the characters to establish themselves. It's fascinating to trace the origins of a lot of JKJerome's humour in it - parts are so very like Three Men in a Boat
    • 4/5
      The language is vital, the cast of characters is great, the beginnings of an interest in the issues of the industrial revolution is starting, altogether this is a wonderful book.
    • 3/5
      Definitely not one of Dickens' best works. I actually could only get through about a third, maybe less, of it. It was a little bit too scattered--there's a cast of characters common to each chapter but no over-arching plot which I did not like.
    • 5/5
      Four well-to-do gentlemen of the upper class launch a club for pontificating, but find they've little to talk about. They endeavour to become more worldly by travelling about the countryside, where they tumble into one situation after another that's comprised of mistaken identities and various other misunderstandings. Exacerbating this is the pride of one or two in the party who can't admit when they aren't made of the stuff that's attributed to them (Chapter Nineteen's hunting party is the perfect example.) Some classics are just plain fun to read - Don Quixote, The Three Musketeers, Tristram Shandy, etc. The Pickwick Papers is one of these. Once you adapt to the language, there’s almost nothing but good times ahead except for the social satire of the Fleet episode.Dickens' first novel, initially published as a monthly serial (I think most if not all of his novels were?), lacks much of a cohesive overarching plot. As explained in his introduction, he wasn't planning ahead for a finished product that would be read all at once. The result is a book that can easily be put aside at any time. It’s also a book that can easily be picked up again days or weeks later, resumed without much consequence, and still be just as enjoyable. I wish now that I'd written down every instance of Sam Weller saying something innocuous, then comparing it to another scenario that makes it hilarious. Pickwick is a unique treasure trove of light humour with an approach, tone and language that no modern novel can ever hope to emulate.
    • 4/5
      Dickens’ Pickwick Papers is comprised of a series of adventures taken up by Samuel Pickwick, a wealthy retired businessman and a few of his cronies, in and around London. Originally published serially, Dickens ended most chapters with a hook for readers to hang on, as they awaited the next installment. Like all Dickens novels, it was the author’s uncanny ability to draw intricately detailed characters that come across as the essence of 19th century London. Pickwick himself is a sweet, kind man who goes out of his way to help others and righteously stands up for principles he considers vital to humanity. He is sued for breach of contract by Mrs. Bardel when she falls into his lap and then Pickwick doesn’t marry her. He naively opts for debtor’s prison rather than pay the fees demanded by her unscrupulous lawyers when he loses the case. I’ve learned that Dickens had little use for lawyers and often skewered them and the law in general. He uses Pickwick’s three months in debtor’s prison to lambaste that system and the horrid conditions that prevailed.By far my favorite character was Pickwick’s valet, Sam Weller, who serves his master and advises him with Cockney wisdom. He spouts, what I came to call “Sam-isms” for nearly every situation that arises and clearly reveals his philosophy of life.”Hooroar for the principle, as the money-lender said ven he wouldn’t renew the bill.”“’Vell sir,’ rejoined Sam, ‘I think I see your drift, it’s my pinion that you’re a-comin’ it a great deal too strong, as the mail-coachman said to the snowstorm, ven it overtook him.’”“’Well, perhaps,’ said Sam, ‘you bought houses, wich is delicate English for goin’ mad, wich is a medical term for bein’ incurable.’”“’I wouldn’t make too sure o’ that, Sir,’ urged Mr. Weller, shaking his head. ‘If you know’d who was near, sir, I rayther think you’d change your note; as the hawk remarked to himself vith a cheerful laugh, ven he heerd the robin-redbreast a-singin’ round the corner.’”“’Don’t say nothin’ wotever about it, ma’am,’ replied Sam. I only assisted nature, ma’am; as the doctor said to the boy’s mother, after he’d bled him to death.’” Sam’s witticisms are part of the overall humor that infuses the narrative and I found myself laughing out loud. It’s a feel good novel as we follow Pickwick and his friends on their merry adventures but it’s Sam who steals the show. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Very humorous, I didn’t expect to be laughing out loud at a Charles Dickens novel. I almost put it down after a couple of pages, but I am so glad I didn’t. I didn’t much care for the stories within the story. I found them to be an interruption to the flow of the book, but I can understand that the young Dickens was probably was working out different ideas and styles. I was a little sad when I finished it, didn't want to see it end, but I enjoyed the ending very much, the leaving of Mr. Pickwick and company happy and healthy. I will definitely be reading a lot more of Charles Dickens. Happy birthday Mr. Dickens :)
    • 3/5
      Dickens' first novel, and start of my attempt to read all his books by the end of his bicentenary year, 2012. Published by installments, the book necessarily lacks editing, and is so wordy, almost defining prolix. The book is initially reported as the proceedings of the Pickwick Club, hence the title, which allows a loose collection of stories and anecdotes to be used in the text, but the device is forgotten by the midpoint and proceeds as a standard narrative. There is very little character development - the members of the Pickwick Club start and end as caricatures, with their adventures being like something from Don Quixote. Sam, the servant, is a gem, and Dickens uses him as a vehicle for much fun with his dialogue. I enjoyed the detail of the description of life in London, and the language used - such as the use of "A1" and the phrase "of the Jewish persuasion", both of which I had thought were more modern. Good fun, but at 650+ pages, a bit of a challenge. Read November 2011.
    • 4/5
      Finally got through this......I've been reading it for a very long time, it seems.....another case of the wrong book at the wrong time for my busy schedule, I think. It is a long book and it does have some of that pesky 'dialect' that I seem to struggle with. With that said, however, i did rather enjoy the book......Parts of it actually made me laugh out loud....others put me to sleep.....that would be my biggest complaint.......for my taste it was somewhat inconsistent. The good parts were really good and the others seemed interminable. Of course I have since learned that like so many of these types of books, it was initially written in serial form; a bunch of snippets over time that were eventually published as one work. On the plus side, i was totally captivated by the level of detail devoted to day to day living in England in the early 1800's, most of it understandable. Dressing habits, eating habits, traveling details, life in a country inn, legal system details, etc., etc. were all very captivating and believable, in spite of how different much of it is from our current experience. Likewise, I was very intrigued that in spite of the difference in time and place from this book to today, the sentiments and reactions to situations seemed remarkably appropriate and timely...I had to keep reminding myself that this was written 180+ years ago! All in all, a positive experience that will likely stay with me for awhile......and the entire set of Dickens is on the shelf and i do look forward to reading those.
    • 5/5
      The Pickwick Papers was Dickens' first novel, written at the tender age of 24 and published in monthly instalments from 1836-1837. The story follows the 'perambulations, perils, travels, adventures and sporting transactions of the corresponding members' of The Pickwick Club as they travel across England.I found the funniest parts of the book to be the early chapters where Dickens seems to be concentrating more on pure humour/satire by creating brilliant caricatures and there were several incidents that had me laughing out loud whilst I was reading (fortunately I was reading at home). As the serial progresses Dickens seems to move away from this approach to create more rounded, sympathetic characters, particularly where Mr Pickwick himself is concerned and whilst that meant there were fewer laugh out loud moments it also meant I became fonder of the characters. A note on my edition: My copy was the 2003 Penguin Classics edition and as well as including some very helpful notes on the text and an introduction, this edition also showed where each monthly part ended so I was able to read along as the original subscribers to the serial would have received it (yes, I am a Dickens geek). This edition also comes complete with the original illustrations by Seymour and Phiz which are absolutely superb and really add to the story.All in all, I can't recommend this book enough and I'm only sorry it took me so long to get round to rereading it.
    • 5/5
      One of the three books I read when I'm either doing chemo or recovering from a bad illness.
    • 5/5
      I loved this book. It presented me with humor, both broad (Mr. Pickwick and the lady in the yellow curl papers) and more subtle ("Ode to an Expiring Frog" by Mrs. Leo Hunter, anyone?) and also managed to discuss with pathos more serious issues (debtors in Fleet Prison). The characters were memorable. To tell the truth, I now have a bit of a crush on Mr. Sam Weller. To top it all off the ending was happy. What could be better?

    Book preview

    The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens

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