David Copperfield (1850)

I don't even know how to review this excellent book! It is full of fleshed out and believable characters, some of whom I would love to meet. Of course, it is a brick of a book, but it is so totally worth reading, the story starts with David's birth as it had been told to him, and continues on from there, where he stops and pays more attention to some moments than others.

David's naïvete is so enchanting, and if he was real, I would want to take good care of him. The way he interacts with others is always curtuous and respectful, until someone does something to him or his beloved that makes him lose that respect!

There are a lot of characters, and most of them come and go - and are all fleshed out and seem real. Not many foils at all, and that multidimensionality makes the whole story even more interesting and captivating.

I felt like I was immersed in London with David, the descriptions of places and houses were done so vividly it seemed like I was walking next to him, and sitting next to him when he was talking to other characters.

The language is simple, Dickens is in no way trying to lecture his readers, even if he did tell his readers about social difficulties and problems.

His innocence made him so attaching it was hard on me when the book was over - even after 970 pages!

This is storytelling at it's finest - I recommend this to all of my booklover friends! ( )

It took me a long time to read David Copperfield -- because I stalled in the middle for... well, about three months. It's hard for me to review it as a whole, in that light. I remember reading it when I was younger quite vividly, but I'm not sure I ever got past the first few chapters, back then. It's contrived to get tangled up in my mind with Great Expectations, somehow.

It's interesting to know that this book is thought to be based largely on Dickens' own life. I don't know if he ever said that himself, or whether it was deduced by other people. If he did look on David as himself, it's a wonder he wrote about him so frankly. It certainly seems like a lifetime's worth of Dickens' experience went into creating it, anyway.

I liked it a lot, despite the length and Dickens' tendency to go on a bit. I felt sorry for David a lot, and sometimes wanted to slap him -- which is the way I feel about some of my favourite characters, and shouldn't make you think I didn't like him. ( )

It would be five stars if it weren't for the child-wife, a pet peeve of mine. ( )

How autobiographical? Charming tale, but also revealing of brutality (toward women, esp) of 19th c. England; full of genuine characters, but also of genuine human emotion

I can't believe this book was still unrated in my shelf! One of my all time favorite books :) ( )