David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

...a friend advised me that David Copperfield made a good read. So with many a long train ride ahead (I live in Cambridge and knew that I had a course down in Plymouth and my partner at the time was in Edinburgh) I picked up the Wordsworth Edition in Borders for a snip (not exactly sure how much, but under £5 and for the length of book you certainly get your money's worth!) So yes, just to point out that the edition that I'm writing of has a notes section ...
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To sum up David Copperfiled briefly, for I realise that this will end up being quite a long review, it is a book written in autobiographical form about the life and loves of David Copperfield who at the time of writing the book is an esteemed author - not much different to the real author Dickens himself then! Dickens himself writes of David Copperfield that, "of all my books I like this the best" and in my opinion on the ones I ... more

Back in September I figured that it was time to conduct my annual plunge into the world of Charles Dickens and a friend advised me that David Copperfield made a good read. So with many a long train ride ahead (I live in Cambridge and knew that I had a course down in Plymouth and my partner at the time was in Edinburgh) I picked up the Wordsworth Edition in Borders for a snip (not exactly sure how much, but under £5 and for the length of book you certainly get your money's worth!) So yes, just to point out that the edition that I'm writing of has a notes section at the back which prooves immensley useful and includes drawings by Hablot K. Browne (Phiz).

To sum up David Copperfiled briefly, for I realise that this will end up being quite a long review, it is a book written in autobiographical form about the life and loves of David Copperfield who at the time of writing the book is an esteemed author - not much different to the real author Dickens himself then! Dickens himself writes of David Copperfield that, "of all my books I like this the best" and in my opinion on the ones I have read so far I would have to agree.

As per usual with Dickens' books the best thing about them can also be the worst depending upon the sort of person you are...that is the amount of detail that he always goes into. In my opinion this leads to really feeling as if you are part of the story, smelling and seeing what the characters do. Likewise the characters themselves come alive and you can visualise them perfectly (aided in my edition by brilliant drawings). In particular for this book, Uriah Heep (see more info. below) comes alive in a way I wish he hadn't being the most of bizarre characters who "writhes" while speaking! An example of this detailed process can be seen from the following paragraph...all it really is about is that he is thinking about a lover of his(!):

"The first thing I did, on my own account, when I came back, was to take a night-walk to Norwood, and, like the subject of a venerable riddle of my childhood, to go "round and round the house, without ever touching the house," thinking about Dora. I believe the theme of this incomprehensible conundrum was the moon. No matter what it was, I, the moonstruck slave of Dora, perambulated round and round the house and garden for two hours, looking through crevices in the palings, getting my chin by dint of violent exertion above the rusty nails on the top, blowing kisses at the lights in the windows, and romantically calling on the night, at intervals, to shield my Dora-I don't exactly know what from, I suppose from fire. Perhaps from mice, to which she had a great objection."

The book starts with the birth of our leading character, David Copperfield to a mother whose husband has passed away. We briefly meet his aunt, Betsy Trotwood, who as the book develops becomes one of the main characters in the book and reminds me in some respects of my late grandmother! Her arrival of the Copperfield's doorstep and her bullying of the maid, Pegotty, into making tea for one and all demonstrates early on that this is a woman who wants, and normally gets, her way, fair and square.

Unfortunately for young David his mother re-marries to a brute of a man by the name of Murdstone, I think that the similarity to murder is intentional - it's a toss between which character comes across as more evil: Mr. Murdstone or his sister Miss Murdstone who is constantly belittiling any attempt by David's mother to do anything while taking any opportunity to make young David's life a misery. David does not let them have it all their own way though and an incident at home with Mr. Murdstone sees him sent away to school.

Here we meet Mr. Creakle the school master who spends his time beating boys for any reason he sees fit, one in particular, Tommy Traddles comes in for more than his fair share. As with most Dickens' books you sense which characters will reappear later in the book and indeed Traddles is one. However, it is the highly popular James Steerforth who takes David, or Daisy as he later calls him, under his wing, a position that David seems more than happy to be, not being able to see any fault in the boy even on his first night when he convinces David to spend all his money on treats for one and all! However, it appears that Daivd builds up his own image of how amazing a person Steerforth is, for as the story continues it is revealed how much hurt and suffering a person can cause....

During his holiday time we get to meet the family of the maid Peggoty, a fishing family who live in Yarmouth and the young daughter of which, Emily, becomes David's first real love/obsession. I think that this is a strong feature of the book as David's life progresses he spends much time talking of his feelings for different girls and women. This is a strong feature of the book in my opinion as many of the feelings that he has we can all relate to, sometimes a little too well e.g. a 2+ year relationship of my own ended without my expecting it to while in the middle of reading this book (hence perhaps the time taken for me to finish it!) and I found myself able to empathise a little too well with the emotions which shine through so clearly at different stages of the book, be they the excitement of being in love with someone when all you can do is think of them, or the sorrow you feel at the loss of something that was not to be...hopefully my feelings will not last as long as those experienced by David at times during the book!

There isn't room here to go through the plot in detail, but as a summary, David's mother dies and he has to move in wih his aunt who proves to be a nicer, although no less odd, lady than we are first lead to believe. She sets him up for schooling at a nicer establishment than that run by Creakle. David lives with Mr. Wickfield and his daughter Agnes (a person, firstly likely like a sister and then more to David). However, one of Dickens' greatest characters works for Mr. Wickfeild - the slimey Uriah Heep, who as the story progresses prooves to be as evil as David initially thinks upon shaking his slimey hand...thankfully his comeuppance is brought about in the end! Eventually David moves to London for work and it is in London where David meets his wife-to-be, Dora, a girl who he is quite obssessed with, his reaction upon meeting her sums it up: "all was over in a moment. I had fulfilled my destiny. I was a captive and a slave. I loved Dora Spenlow to distraction!"

So the story follows that through a bizarre set of circumstances, the re-ermegence of Tommy Traddles as a close friend of David and a shock to system for the Peggoty and Steerforth family that we see David and Dora, his "child-wife" united in wedlock. But here is not where the story ends, there are many twists and turns involving Uriah Heep's meddling with Mr. Wickfield's business, the constant rise and fall of the Micawber family and the Pegotty family's battle to bring about an end to the shame wrought upon their family.

I feel that in writing this review I cannot do justice to the story, it is about 750 pages long and I could easily write as much going into the details of all the characters and all the different subplots that intertwine, but then that would spoil the reading of the book for any of you! As I've said before, love/friendship plays a key role in David's life, not just in terms of intamacy, but in all the interactions with those around him. This truly is a great book with some wonderful characters, some nasty like Uriah Heep who you can't help, but detest from the first page of meeting him, but others more wholesome like Agnes Wickfield with whom David Copperfield forms a very special bond.

As an introduction to Dickens this would be a good start, a pleasant story with an assortment of characters being somewhat unusual in it's autobiographical style. I would never say that a Dickens book was easy to read, you sometimes have to read several pages to get practically nowhere, however, on this occasion at least I think that it is more than worth it....for example the 5 or so pages given to a drunken episode in London with Steerforth is one that I know I will read again, the writing of things you know you did, but weren't in control of and the embarrassment than sometimes can result - come on, own up, we've all been there! You can normally pick it up very cheaply in the classics section of bookshops, on Amazon you can paying upwards of £1.50 dependuing upon the edition you want. 

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