Dickens lived until he was 58 and had a busy life, so my congratulations to Claire Tomalin for managing to put it all into 400 pages. Some of the reviews I’ve read criticized how she didn’t include more insight into his era, into his relationship with his sons, his work methods, etc. But I found it the perfect book for someone like me, who was curious about Dickens, but didn’t want to read Peter Ackroyd’s 600-page tome or Michael Slater‘s more academic biography.
It felt like a solid overview of his life, well researched and thoughtful. She starts with his problematic childhood then moves on to his early career and seemingly infinite energy, his difficulties in coping with middle-age, the problems brought on by the affair with Nelly Ternan and his ultimate decline.
Tomalin doesn’t produce any new and amazing discovery, but she does have good insights into his books (I especially liked her analysis on Dickens’s flat female characters), his inspiration, and how his frantic way of working created both brilliant and weak stories. Dickens was always on the move, always busy with dozens of old and new projects. One month after finishing this book, it’s this sense of nervous energy that lingers.
She’s pretty hard on Dickens over some episodes, especially on way he treated his wife during the Nelly affair, but I must agree with her. Dickens might have been the hero of England’s poor, and extremely generous, but he seemed to preferred to do good works for strangers, rather than be affectionate to most of his family members, especially his sons. Considering these two sides of his character it’s fascinating to understand how Dickens created and managed his own myth.
After his death, Dickens’ daughter Katey wrote she wished someone would correct the general perception of her father as “a joyous, jocose gentleman walking about the world with a plum pudding and a bowl of punch”. I think she would be proud of this biography. Claire Tomalin’s Dickens comes out as a troubled, self-centered, and often mean person, but also a genius of writing, acting and creating emotional responses in general.
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Other thoughts: Random Jottings, The Book and the Biscuit, (yours?)
9 comments
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March 19, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Audra (Unabridged Chick)
Nice review. Not a Dickens fan, so I’m unlikely to ever pick this one up, but your review lifted up the things I cared about, so thanks for satisfying me! 😉
March 20, 2012 at 10:42 am
Alex
I’m also not a fan, but figured i should do something to celebrate his birthday all the same. Reading this was my way of reading *about* Dickens without actually reading Dickens…
March 19, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Sam (Tiny Library)
I’ve heard so many good things about this book. I am intrigued about Dickens life but haven’t read much of his fiction – do you think I would still enjoy this biography?
March 20, 2012 at 10:47 am
Alex
It’s definitely for some who feels like you do (which is how I feel as well).
March 20, 2012 at 12:41 am
Rowena Eddy
I have read this biography and found it excellent. It is extremely readable and does not seem long, though it looks daunting when you first pick it up. Dickens was a very complex, disturbed, yet brilliant man, succeeding to a great degree despite the handicaps of a difficult childhood and the age in which he lived, with its distortions of sexuality. I agree with you about Tomalin’s criticisms of the novels, insightful, but not ‘academic’.
March 20, 2012 at 10:50 am
Alex
Clearly, Tomalin is good at condensing and filtering big chunks of information. It’s the type of book that, if you want to know more it spikes your curiosity, but if you don’t, the information there is suficient.
March 20, 2012 at 2:35 am
Kristen M.
I’ll be reading this in another month or two. Thanks for the great review. I’m glad now that I chose it over the Ackroyd one. I’m getting an education anyway by reading so many Dickens novels this year.
March 20, 2012 at 10:51 am
Alex
Exactly what I thought before picking up this one!
January 7, 2013 at 5:29 pm
2012 in review & 2013 plans « The Sleepless Reader
[…] but because of his anniversary I was determined to honor him. I ended up doing it by reading Claire Tomalin’s biography and A Christmas […]