Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (novel #263)

  

Every failure teaches a man something, if he will learn; and you are too sensible a man not to learn from this failure. ~ Daniel Doyce to Arthur Clennam

 

Indeed! There must have been a lot of learning going on in this slightly atypical Dickens story.

 

• Author: Charles Dickens
• Victorian lit, British lit
• First Published: 1857
• My edition: Project Gutenberg, free book (eBook)
• Setting: England, briefly in France and Italy, early 19th century
•  Also by this author (that I’ve read): Most of his novels and short stories. For a complete listing, see my Dickens page.

Of the title character, I always assumed Little Dorrit was a child. Dorrit, Amy Dorrit, is a young woman of 22, but she is so slight that she is sometimes mistaken for a child. To her friends and family she is Little Dorrit, a sobriquet she happily owns. Before she was born, Her father, William Dorrit, was confined to the Marshalsea, England’s notorious debtor prison. His family is allowed to live with him, though they may come and go. Little Dorrit, is born within the walls of the Marshalsea and her mother dies when she is a child. Tending to father and family, is the sum of her life’s story—a life she is contentedly suited to.

 

Atypical I said, though I am hard pressed to elucidate. I felt it more than I apprehended it. Dickens usually woos me to love some humble character and then breaks my heart when they suffer cruel injustice. The humble character, in this instance Little Dorrit, is the soul of virtue, kindness, humility, and love, but she isn’t miserable; I couldn’t quite pity her. The cruel injustice, so different in this case, comes from good fortune. William Dorrit experiences a reversal of fortunes. He and two other children want to forget their former shame. With it, they also forget Little Dorrit’s constancy and labors of love on their behalf. She is an embarrassment when she does not, in their eyes, rise to the family’s new social status. For this they cruelly berate her, and now—she is pitiable.

 

There are other reversals of fortune; in other directions, and other Dickens hallmarks: preposterous caricatures, a heinous villain, comic relief, a hopeless love story, and that signature oh, so satisfying justice in the end. This is the second Dickens novel in a row with a talking bird (part of the comic relief), though the talking parrot in Little Dorrit does not steal scenes as the Raven Grip did in Barnaby Rudge.

 

Did I mention two Dickens in a row? I just finished 700+ pages of Barnaby Rudge when The Classic Club Spin landed on this 1,000+ page story. And before the two Dickens novels I had the 800+ page Stephen King novel 11/22/63. I am ready for some lighter_­ fare—literally as in something lighter than a 3 pound book.

 

But I don’t mean to complain. All three were very good. For Little Dorrit…

 

I give it 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

 

This was title #31 of 50 for The Classics Club Challenge –Round IV, and my spin read for The Classics Club Spin #45

 

Have you read Little Dorrit? Did you find it atypical? Where do you rank it amongst Dickens’ novels?

 

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Never Sniff a Gift Fish by Patrick McManus

  

Author: Patrick F. McManus

Category: Short Stories, Humor

First Published: 1983

My edition: Owl Books 1984, paperback

Also by this author (that I’ve read): They Shoot Canoes Don’t They; A Fine and Pleasant Misery

 

Never Sniff a Gift Fish is the third collection of short stories by the greatest outdoorsman humorist of our time.

 

I don’t actually know that he’s the greatest. I was just practicing the art of Fibrication: a skill that McManus extolls in “The Fibricators”. McManus learned to fibricate as a child from the wily and crotchety mountain man Rancid Crabtree. According to McManus, Rancid had…

Devoted his whole life to mastery of the art of fibrication. Rancid was the Picasso of the fib. He could do little white fibs, big blue fibs, realistic fibs, impressionistic fibs, abstract fibs, surrealistic fibs, nonobjective fibs, and even pop fibs.

McManus learned well from the master. His short stories, always center around hunting, fishing, hiking, etc., and resonate with the outdoorsman. In most of his stories there is a “yes, something like that happened to me once” moment. But McManus’ adventures are retold with self-effacing drollery, irony, and exaggeration—in a word—fibrication.

 

Some of the tales are flashbacks to youth involving his pal Crazy Eddie Muldoon, or the sage Rancid Crabtree. Other stories are more contemporary with fishing and hunting buddy Retch Sweeny.

 

This collection includes gems such as: “Poof—No Eyebrows”, “Two-Man-Tent Fever”, “The Christmas Hatchet”, the title story “Never Sniff a Gift Fish”, the aforementioned “The Fibricators” and one of my favorites “The Bush Pilots”

 

Wherein, McManus describes a childhood adventure with Crazy Eddie Muldoon, when they built an airplane, and launched it from the roof of the Muldoon family barn. But in this story, he recalls an earlier ambition of being deep sea divers, again with homemade apparatus. Test Diver Patrick startles a nearby herd of cattle, as he emerges from a deep spot in the creek as a…

…streaming, slime-covered creature with an inverted milk pail on its head.

McManus notes that…

Oddly, the route of the cows’ departure was marked in later years by an unusually lush growth of grass. The wondrous vitality of the swatch of grass became something of a local mystery, as did the refusal of the cows to go anywhere near creek for two weeks afterward…

Not my normal fare, but a nice break in between two Dickens tomes. McManus never disappoints. Have you read this wonderful American humorist?

 

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Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens — novel #262

All good ends can be worked out by good means. Those that cannot, are bad; and may be counted so at once, and left alone. ~ Mr. Haredale in retort to the idea: “the end justifies the means”

The novel Barnaby Rudge is perhaps Dickens’ evidence supporting Mr. Haredale’s surmise. Though the mob of characters, literal mob, is as deluded about the virtue of their intended end as they are about their means.

 

• Full Title: Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty
• Author: Charles Dickens
• Genre: British lit, historical fiction
• First Published: 1841
• My edition: The Project Gutenberg, eBook, freebook
• Setting: London, England and surrounding countryside, 1775-1780
• Also by Dickens (that I’ve read): The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, Martin Chuzzlewit, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations

 

I seldom see this novel listed with the full title: Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty. That is the Gordon Riots of 1780: A week-long period of violence, arson, and looting in London, that was initially intended as protest against the Papist Act of 1778, which eased official discrimination against British Catholics. Lord George Gordon intended to introduce a petition repealing the Papist act while 40,000 or more supporters escorted him to parliament and to protest outside as he introduced the petition. But the crowd, soon became a mob, and lawlessness and destruction ensued. The ostensibly protestant throng, was according to Dickens…

...sprinkled doubtless here and there with honest zealots, but composed for the most part of the very scum and refuse of London, whose growth was fostered by bad criminal laws, bad prison regulations, and the worst conceivable police.

But the riots are really just the historical backdrop to Dickens’ human drama. There are not one, but two beautiful maidens. Dolly Varden is the daughter of an honest and brave locksmith and a zealously protestant mother. She is not a bad soul, but rather vain and immature. Her friend Emma Haredale is the orphaned ward of her Catholic uncle Mr. Geoffrey Haredale. Both girls have multiple admirers, villains and true hearts. Dolly is too foolish to recognize hers; Emma is kept from hers by a bitter family rivalry. Both will be caught up in the dangerous events of the riots.

 

And of course, there is Barnaby Rudge: physically an adult, but intellectually a child. If you’ve read any Dickens you already know that Barnaby has a heart of gold. But he is dangerously suggestible and turns out as a champion of the rioting mob.

 

There are many other characters, all perfect Dickens’ caricatures: villains, cowards, heroes,
innocents, fops, and buffoons. But there is only one more that I will mention. Barnaby has a loyal pet raven, Grip. Grip can speak many phrases: "I’m a devil, I’m a devil, I’m a devil"; "never say die"; and "put the kettle on, we’ll all have tea". But Grip seems to comprehend the meaning of his phrases more than most talking birds who simply mimic human speech. Grip, in Barnaby Rudge, is modeled after Dickens’ own pet Raven named Grip. In fact, Dickens had Grip I, Grip II, and Grip III. And Barnaby's Grip, or was it Dickens' Grip? was the inspiration for Edgar Alan Poe’s famous poem, The Raven.

 

Barnaby Rudge is a thought provoking and unsettling depiction of how quickly righteous causes can be corrupted. It provides a sharp contrast between personal integrity and mob rule. It is nonetheless, one of Dickens less popular novels. I can see that. I found it captivating, and educational (more on that in a moment), but it just didn’t quite break my heart and then miraculously mend it. Maybe I’m just too familiar with Dickens’ trope.

 

My rating 4/5 stars

 

 

Title #30 of 50 for The Classics Club Challenge – Round IV

Title #12 of 15 for The Complete Dickens novels

 

I had never heard of the Gordon Riots, so this novel taught me of something I was ignorant. But although the riots are without a doubt historical, most of Dickens’ narrative is embellishment. I know of the riots now, but would need much more study to know about them.

 

I’ve only two Dickens novels left: Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend. My favorite remains A Tale of Two Cites. Second is too close to call between David Copperfield and Bleak House. What is your favorite Dickens? What did you think of Barnaby Rudge?

 

I really want a pet raven now! 

 

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Classics Club Spin #45

UPDATE 

 

It is time for the 45th edition of the Classics Club Spin – List 20 books from my Classics Club “to be read” list, and post it to my blog by Sunday, August 16, 2026; the mods will then pick a random number, and I have until October 4 to read the corresponding book. 

 

And I just so happen to have exactly 20 books left on my current classic club list.

And the winner is #18, Little Dorrit which will make two Dickens in a row for me. I haven't even written my review of Barnaby Rudge yet.

My spin list: 

 

1. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

2. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers

3. The Godfather by Mario Puzo

4. Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

5. 2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C. Clarke

6. A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler

7. Grendel by John Gardner

8. Tess of d’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy

9. A Spy in the House of Love by Anaïs Nin

10. The Long Winter (Little House #6) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

11. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov

12. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

13. Post Office by Charles Bukowski

14. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

15. The Deer Slayer by James Fenimore Cooper

16. The Silver Sword (Escape from Warsaw) by Ian Serrallier

17. Cool Hand Luke by Don Pearce

18. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens

19. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

20. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

 

I’d most like one of the three Sci-Fi classics by Clarke or Asimov. I don’t want Dickens, because I’m currently reading Barnaby Rudge. I love Dickens, but I don’t want him back to back.

 

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11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King — novel #261

  

What is the most devastating watershed moment of your lifetime? Would you change it if you could? Can you be certain the world would be better today if you did?

 

Stephen King’s 11/22/63 grapples with these questions in a mesmerizing thriller.

 

• Author: Stephen King
• American Lit, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Fantasy
• Published: 2011
• My edition: Scribner (eBook)
• Setting: Maine, 2011 and Texas early 1960s
• Awards: 2012 International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel
• Also by this author (that I’ve read): The Stand; Dark Tower Series

 

In 2011, Jake Epping, a divorced high school English teacher from Maine, discovers a time portal, that always takes him back to 1958. No matter how long he stays in the past, when he reverses his path through the portal, he returns two minutes later than the moment in 2011 when he left.

 

And Jake has the chance to re-write history. He just has to hang out in the past for five years or so, until the title date of November 22, 1963, the date of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Stopping that would be a good thing, right? He can’t go back far enough to stop Hitler. He probably wouldn’t live long enough in the past to stop 9/11, but getting Lee Harvey Oswald, that would be well within his sights (pardon the macabre pun).

 

No brainer, right? It’s almost his duty.

 

But Jake learns several nuances of time-travel. Some of these nuances even have real-world names, like the “butterfly effect”: (in chaos theory) whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere.

 

If you mix the butterfly effect with time travel, well just buckle up. There is no possible way to predict the outcome. And under no circumstances fall in love whilst redirecting the course of human history.

 

Throughout the story, Jake observes that the past is obdurate. It is almost a consciousness that resists Jake. The bigger changes he attempts to make, the more the past resists. I believe this was King’s main point. The past is obdurate. Some people say everything happens for a reason. I don’t believe the past has a conscience, but I do believe it has a sentient director, and he doesn’t need our help.

 

That’s my point, not King’s, but I don’t think his was far off. He makes a strong case, that even if we have the capability, we shouldn’t go messing with the past.

 

My rating 4 ½ / 5 stars

 

 

 

You probably know that King’s novels are all interconnected; some very bluntly, others more subtle. There’s a fairly blunt allusion in this novel. Jake makes a stop in Derry, Maine, the setting for IT, for some lesser time altering, and he learns there was a string of murders, children mostly, some years back. One of the locals tells him…

 

Other folks say he [the murderer] was a local who dressed up like a clown to keep from being recognized.

I love it when I catch those allusions. I’m certain I miss many.

 

King often references other writers. When Jake was describing the town of Derry, and the despairing malaise he sensed, he compared it to Ray Bradbury’s fictional town of Greentown, from the Green Town Trilogy, which includes Something Wicked This Way Comes, Jake states…

 

But there had been hidden horrors in Bradbury’s Greentown too.

Love that. Jake, the fictional character, had read real life Bradbury’s fiction.

 

Elsewhere, Jake’s love interest in the past, Sadie Dunhill, mentions a short story by Bradbury, A Sound of Thunder, that is entirely about time-travel and the butterfly effect.

 

And in the course of the novel Jake reads Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, and Oswald reads Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

 

Finally two quotations:

 

Sadie reminiscing with Jake about their past…

 

How we danced!

And Jake sometime later to someone else…

 

Dancing is life.

This was an absolutely riveting read. I don’t think I’ve ever read an 800+ page novel so quickly. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by King. I’d welcome your views on Stephen King, and recommendations for what to read next by this prolific author.

 

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Recap of Novels 251 - 260

  

Average rating of novels 251 – 260:  3.7 stars (out of 5)

 

251.  ★★★★              The Magus

252.  ★★★½              A High Wind in Jamaica

253.  ★★★★              The Remains of the Day

254.  ★★★                 TheAscent of Rum Doodle

255   ★★★★              LordJim
256.  ★★★½              Things Fall Apart
257.  ★★★½              Scoop

258.  ★★★½              Kim

259.  ★★★★             The Power and the Glory

280.  ★★★★             The Code of the Woosters

 

 

Favorite: Lord Jim

 

Least Favorite: The Ascent of Rum Doodle

 

Best Hero: Jim, the title character from Lord Jim

 

Best Heroine: Emily Thornton from A High Wind in Jamaica

 

Best Villain: Maurice Conchis or the magus. Very creepy, and even at the end it isn’t perfectly clear that he is a villain. He is.

 

Most interesting/Complex character: Unnamed priest from The Power and the Glory

 

Best Quotation: You can’t be a successful Dictator and design women’s underclothing. One or the other, not both. ~ Bertie Wooster

 

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