MYST CHARLES DICKENS

This is basically a set of several long essays on Dickens, discussing, in light of what we know now, a hundred and more years and many generations after he passed away, discussing ...(review continues after long parenthetical)long parenthetical ------ (and, in an interesting detail I had never known before, 47 years after the last human actor in the human drama that swirled around Dickens passed away in 1973 - that is, the daughter of his good friend - the daughter of the woman he was said to have been terribly in love with, despite being married to the sweetheart of his youth, and the younger sister of the man who destroyed much of the correspondence of their mother with Dickens)--- discussing Dickens as an energetic person who tried to be charitable and exhausted himself in helping people, while harboring unkindness towards many in his heart; discussing Dickens as a proud Victorian father who considered his marriage to be a cross; discussing Dickens as one of the only inspired artists of his day who understood Poverty and Want from a personal perspective (the author does not say so, but I think that he is a Christian, he is very interested in what Dickens did and did not do for those who suffer in this world).Five stars, of course - the author is very good at saying what he has to say in an understandable and concise and clear way, and the subject matter is, to me at least, endlessly fascinating.One caveat - I have read all the Dickens novels except the last 2, so I do not know if there are spoilers in this book. There might be, but even if there are, remember that Dickens, like Shakespeare, and like almost nobody else, created dozens or hundreds of life-like fictional characters, so if you read this book this year and read a novel by Dickens years from now, the information you may have read here will no more decrease your appreciation of a novel of Dickens than, say, knowing that your grandparents ended up moving to Boca Raton in their 80s will ever spoil your appreciation of any story that someone who loved them ever tells you about their youth..

A.N. Wilson is a longtime and prolific British novelists and non fiction author. His new book is on Charles Dickens (1812-1870) the greatest of the Victorian novelist. Dickens wrote 14 long three decker novels such as The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop, Bleak House, David Copperfield and Little Dorrit. His last completed novel was the monumental Our Mutual Friend and he died while completing The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This work is not a strict biography but is more like a collection of essays on various aspects of Dickens life. What are the mysteries alluded to in the title? Among them:a. The mystery of Dickens harsh childhood and poverty. He was the poorest of the major Victorian novelist.b. The mystery of what compelled him to go on suicidal speaking tours even though his health was bad.c. The mystery of his twelve year love affair with Ellen Ternan his much younger mistress who may have borne children by him.d. Why did Dickens turn on his wife who had given him ten children? There are many other interesting aspects to the life of the genius who is England's greatest author. Dickens had a dual personality with a good and bad side but he came from the people and stood for the individual against mass industrial society. As someone who has read Dickens all of my life and have a long shelf of full biographies on him I, nevertheless, enjoyed this interesting work on the great author.

This book is full of facts and data about Charles Dickens. As a life-long fan of his novel, A Christmas Carol, as well as the Webmaster of A U.S. Christmas Carol (a.k.a. Dickensian Carol), I was so eager to read and/or listen to this biography that I bought both the Kindle and the Audible versions, and I am already following along for the third time!Although this biography makes the case that Charles Dickens was a far cry from the saint most of us probably assumed he was, being, instead, an abusive, hypocritical philanderer and laudanum addict who despised his whole family - especially his mother, this biography seems to treat Dickens with at least some of the dignity and respect this world-renowned author deserves. He became, in his lifetime, one of the most popular writers in the world, and he remains so 150 years after his death in 1870. Arguably, he "wrote the book on" Christmas.The reason I'm docking this biography one Star is that I find some of it to be subjective drivel, and I find it disconcerting the way the author sporadically injects the first-person point of view and political commentary into this book which is, for the most part, objective statements of facts, in the third person, about this amazing author and the world he altered for at least 150 years, if not forever.

I purchased this book based on a review in The Guardian, but, as in the Amazon review posted/titled "so-so" I found it to be hastily assembled and jumbled. Written for an audience already familiar with Dickens' life--which, fortunately, I am, otherwise it would have been even more confusing. Reading the first chapter I had to check that it wasn't a prologue, starting off as it did with little rhyme or reason. I figured, ok, he's laying some colorful groundwork but will circle back in a more organized manner. Nope. And the writing felt lazy and tossed off: How many times can you use the word "monstrous" to describe the nineteenth century? A lot, apparently, within sentences of each other. An unfortunate purchase.

While there were many interesting facts about Charles Dickens, the book as a whole seemed randomly assembled and contrived.

This is an interesting "biography" that reminds me of Edmund Wilson's article "Dickens: The Two Scrooges" having been enlarged to accommodate a book length.There are no new facts about Charles Dickens in this book and it does contain some errors. For example, Thackeray did not point the finger at Georgina Hogarth but corrected the gossips and said that Dickens's intrigue was with an actress - the entry of "Loss" in Dickens's 1867 pocket diary does not refer to the death of an infant but to the fact that he had lost his bag which he had left in a railway carriage - Dickens certainly intended that Ellen Ternan should be present at his private funeral and she was probably invited to join the family (there is a discrepancy as to the number of mourners present at the funeral as reported by The Times newspaper).

AN Wilson has always been a writer of interest but in The Mystery of Charles Dickens he seems to have lost the plot. With sycophancy reaching nauseating levels and Mr Wilson going round and round in circles repeating things again and again as though coming at them from new, I found myself wondering not only if he had actually read his text from beginning to end but whether his editor also bothered to cast an eye before printing. The following paragraph from Chapter 7 neatly sums things up:“This book has been written by a gaping yokel who now feels the need to explain what happens when we become absorbed in a Dickens novel, or find ourselves at large in ‘the Dickens world’.“No mystery there then.

I think the last chapter really got to the truth of this book.There isn't a lot more to be added to the "Charles Dickens" story really, and I felt that here.It seemed in parts to be a bit pretentious, the author showing us his deep understanding of the subject and his suburb intellectual depth of literature.I thought the book was at it's most readable when relating the authors troubling schooling (see last chapter) and his ability to relate to Dickens childhood.He obviously has a great deal of empathy and understanding for the subject.Dickens was, like anyone that had suffered in childhood very complex. And is conveyed with conviction in this book,but I just didn't quite get the feeling of empathy.Obviously this treatment of his wife is disgusting and petulant. The author quotes Dickens daughter , calling her farther wicked, but I just don't see him that way. I'm not sure the author really does to. Unless I missed the point.To me, he has to be seen as a man of his time, full of contradictions.That after all is what made him such an incredible author.

This was a fascinating and engrossing biography of the great Victorian novelist but I don't think that it will appeal to everyone. I also think you need to have a good knowledge of Dickens and his life and works already to really enjoy the book to its full potential. Dickens is such an intriguing paradox of a man. Capable of great charity and love but also great cruelty especially to his wife. A man of genius but also the victim of cruel and unloving parents - his books a result of the trauma of his early life. Each chapter looks at a different mystery of Dickens and his life but many questions are left unansweredI adored this book and I now want to find out more about Ellen Ternan and I feel inspired to re-read Dickens as well!

As a veteran of Dickens biographies I didn't have high hopes for this book. However, its construction and style make this a most entertaining guide to Dickens' personality, the themes in his writing and his life story. Even a new Dickens reader would find plenty here - it's accessible, erudite and gripping.