I think the title probably gives you some indicator of what I'm about to say. Fellow sufferers, I have given up on The Pickwick Papers. After much deliberation I've decided that life is just too short and full of books I want to read more than I want to force myself to struggle through twenty more chapters of the same old same old with Pickwick & co.
I'm sad. It started off so well and at times I'm still enjoying it. There's a lot I like about Dickens' writing - he's funny at intervals, and his description is fantastic, plus I love all the little quirks of the period which he throws in so I feel like I'm learning a bit of history at the same time, but what I don't like is how I feel like I'm just going around in circles. Because of the lack of plot it just feels like pointless reading. I don't feel like I'm getting anywhere with it and it's depressing me! I think I would have loved it in weekly installments but I honestly just don't think it was meant to be published as a novel.
I will continue to post the weekly link ups for those who are continuing and I will happily cheer you on from the other side. I realise it's super lame to give up on your own readalong, but I just can't deal with it anymore! Big thanks to Charlotte and Hanna for validating my decision, and on Ellie's suggestion, ideas are now being taken for a replacement for #dickensindecember for next year. Alliterative if possible please!
Good luck to those continuing!
I know that it shouldn't but it makes me SO HAPPY to read this - for a while, I thought I was just being a grump so it's nice to know that it really is just a horrid book.
ReplyDeleteAt least A Tale of Two Cities turned good in the end! Next year can only be better :) Thanks for helping us all realise how rubbish this book is!
As I told you offline, this certainly wasn't my favorite if the year. Dickens was landed gentry who fancued himself "theatrical". His humor was certainly not of his "class".
ReplyDeleteAnd when publishers won't publish you, found a "broadsheet" and publish yourself serially. THAT'S what a couple of weeks since I finished it have made me think.... each chapter is a story....Some are saterical, some eruidite, some just plain bawdy, but not consistant. That's why I didn't see why this is a ckassic...its inconsistant
I think Pickwick Papers is notorious for having this effect on people! I read it a few years ago - it was a NIGHTMARE of a book, a true nightmare.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that reading it slowly in the same time frame as when it was published makes the experience more bearable :)
I was holding out in the hope that I would suddenly be inspired to catch up on it over the weekend, but that hasn't happened at all so I think I might have to throw in the towel too. I can't believe that I enjoyed the beginning of the book so much and was so enthusiastic about it!
ReplyDeleteYes o, it is a bear of a book ( insert bad joke here). I READ THE WHOLE BOOK and even reviewed it on GoodReads. Part of the problem is he gets bogged down in minute details and the division of society that were prevelent. However, his "holier than thou" attitudes and inconsistant views really made it hard.
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