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County Durham - Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens


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COUNTY DURHAM
 
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
 
Synopsis:
The work of a young novelist at the height of his powers, Nicholas Nickleby is one of the touchstones of the English comic novel. Around the central story of Nicholas Nickleby and the misfortunes of his family, Dickens created some of his most wonderful characters: the muddle-headed Mrs Nickleby, the gloriously theatrical Crummles, their protege Miss Petowker, the pretentious Mantalinis and the mindlessly cruel Squeers and his wife. Nicholas Nickleby's loose, haphazard progress harks back to the picaresque novels of the 18th century - particularly those of Smollett and Fielding. Yet the novel's exuberant atmosphere of romance, adventure and freedom is overshadowed by Dickens' awareness of social ills and financial and class insecurity.
 
 
Other County Durham books:
 
The Fifteen Streets by Catherine Cookson
The Black Velvet Gown by Catherine Cookson
The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall by Paul Torday

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  • 2 months later...

Just completed Nicholas Nickleby, and have posted a review on my reading blog thread. I've repeated the text below.

 

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens *****

 

Well, it's taken just over three weeks, with plenty of interruptions from relatively inconsequential distractions (like work!), but Nicholas Nickleby finally rolled to a conclusion last night. It's been a bit of an epic, but I wouldn't have missed it for anything (well, almost anything!).

 

As with many Dickens novels, even if you haven't actually read it (and this wasn't a reread) there is still a certain degree of familiarity. Aside from the Nicklebys, names such as Smike, Wackford Squeers, the Cheeryble brothers, Dotheboys Hall - they are all known well beyond the pages of the book. But, as with so many superficially familiar books, the reality is very different. Just as Wuthering Heights took me completely by surprise with the entire second half (left out in the most famous film version), so I was somewhat taken aback to find that Nicholas departs Dotheboys Hall barely 20% of the way in. After that, we're on much more recognisable Dickens territory - London and Portsmouth, mainly the former. The narrative, however, was completely fresh.

 

The interesting thing I found though was that, whilst the novel is famous for its campaigning stance on the infamous Yorkshire holiday-less schools where boys were effectively dumped and left to the worst machinations of some pretty brutal individuals (Wackford Squeers is apparently based on a real-life head of a school in Bowes [now in County Durham], William Shaw - even down to the initials), a campaign that was so effective that by the mid-19th century these schools were extinct, the vast majority of the book is actually one of his funnier novels. [If I'd read the blurb that Claire posted above, I'd not have been so surprised!]. It may not be quite as light as Pickwick Papers, but whilst the main plotline has its fair share of evil, the vast majority of characters have a distinctly comic side, if not entirely so in some cases. As the main villain, Ralph Nickleby is pretty unremitting, as indeed is the minor villain Sir Mulberry Hawk, but even Squeers and his family, especially daughter Fanny, are ridiculed rather more than railed against. There are, however, a well above average collection of comic and/or eccentric characters, the most extreme being the rather gratuitous but no less funny mad suitor next door to Mrs Nickleby, wooing her by throwing cucumbers and various other vegetables over their dividing wall, and getting stuck halfway up Mrs N's chimney!

 

Dickens is a master of handling a large cast of characters. His best on this front, at least of those I've read, is IMO Bleak House. Nicholas Nickleby doesn't quite match this on a number of fronts: the plot line is rather more straightforward, characters less integrated in places and not quite so rounded, but, given that it's a much earlier effort, it's still a good example of what so many lesser authors can only aspire to. But what does make this stand out, even amongst Dickens's own works, is the huge energy the book exudes. It rattles along at a tremendous lick, galloping from episode to episode, each generating its own atmosphere and vitality. Quite a few of these, in hindsight, add little to the thrust of the narrative (for instance, the whole theatrical aside with the Crummlesses is really just one big, but thoroughly entertaining, diversion), but they do add to its richness, allowing a whole different set of characters to strut their way onto the stage (and the Vincent Crummless troupe creates more than its fair share of entertainment!).

 

There are, almost inevitably, weaknesses, some not untypical of other Dickens novels. Yes, his story does seem to dive rather idiosyncratically down various blind alleys on occasions; his love-interests are all too often too soppy, irritating and, frankly, rather under developed for my taste - Madeline Bray is a mere cypher compared to much of the rest of the dramatis personae, and even Kate is comparatively forgettable. But what I'm left with is an overwhelming sense of having lived through, rather than merely read, the lives of the characters, and the action of their adventures. Dickens has the ability to suck you in and keep you enthralled, so that even after 3 weeks and over 800 pages, I'm still wanting more, and feel rather lost that it's all over. He is, simply, one of the greatest novelists, and Nicholas Nickleby, whilst not quite matching my own personal favourites (Bleak House, David Copperfield), is up there challenging the very best.

Edited by willoyd
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  • 7 months later...

I've skipped over Willoyd's review because I haven't finished the book yet - reading it as I am with Claire and Alex in weekly instalments, but I'm just a bit confused over the County Durham issue.   I thought that it was chosen because Dotheboys Hall is in County Durham, but that isn't the case because it's in Yorkshire.  Does the County Durham element happen later in the book (without giving away any spoilers - yes or no will do!)?  :)

 

Not that it matters really.  The book is shaping up to be fantastic - I'm just curious.  :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've skipped over Willoyd's review because I haven't finished the book yet - reading it as I am with Claire and Alex in weekly instalments, but I'm just a bit confused over the County Durham issue.   I thought that it was chosen because Dotheboys Hall is in County Durham, but that isn't the case because it's in Yorkshire.  Does the County Durham element happen later in the book (without giving away any spoilers - yes or no will do!)?  :)

 

Not that it matters really.  The book is shaping up to be fantastic - I'm just curious.  :)

That bit of Yorkshire is now in County Durham!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

A longer version of this review appears in my 2014 reading blog.
 
There are a couple of minor spoilers below, but I'm assuming that people have read the whole book if we're discussing it in here - I think it's accepted that the threads for this challenge will contain some spoilers.
 
I was a bit nervous about reading this huge tome and so was glad to be able to read it in partnership with Alex and Claire on the forum.  We read it in instalments – in the same way as the book was originally published in a magazine before being printed as a book, and we discussed the book as we went. 
 
Despite my fears, and to my immense surprise, it turned out to be a relatively easy read.  The plot cracks on apace and at the end of each part I was left wanting to know what would happen next to Nicholas and the other characters.  I do find that as I get older I struggle to remember what I’ve read (I don’t think this is a problem – it only seems to happen with books, not with everyday stuff so I’m not worrying about my memory just yet!) so from chapter 21 to the end (there are 65 chapters in total) I wrote a brief summary of the action which I think helped me to soak up all that goes on in the novel.  My only slight criticism of it is that in terms of this challenge it didn’t really give much insight into County Durham – the school is actually in Yorkshire, but in a part which is now in County Durham – and I also felt that some of it was a bit… well, a bit of a filler maybe, specifically the parts set in Portsmouth.  That’s a bit of a harsh criticism really though as it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book in any way.  :)
 
The characterisation is, as you would expect from Dickens, absolutely great.  All manor of different types of people feature in the book – from Ralph, a bitter man for whom money is his driving force to Newman Noggs who had Nicholas’s interests at heart from the moment he knew of Ralph’s involvement in that branch of the family’s lives. There was tragedy within the pages but also a lot more comedy than I was expecting. 
 
Mrs Nickleby was one character who provided comic relief – she was also rather selfish at times I thought.  I was amused by her suitor – the man next door who wooed her by throwing cucumbers over the wall to her! 
 
Aside from Nicholas, Newman Noggs was possibly my favourite character.  I loved the way he looked out for Nicholas right from the start and Nicholas always had him to turn to.  He was a real hero throughout the novel but there were also plenty of villains and lowlifes – most of whom were associates of Ralph’s!   
 
Even if one hasn’t read Dickens before (I’ve only read two others) it is well known that he was a great campaigner for social reform.  He loathed institutions like Dotheboys Hall and workhouses – Dickens’ father, mother and a younger sibling had a spell in a debtors’ prison when his father got into financial difficulties, and Charles was forced to find work at the age of 12 – and the publication of Nicholas Nickleby ultimately lead to the closure of ‘northern’ schools the like of which Dotheboys Hall was based upon.  If you’re interested you can read more here.
 
As I said above, I’ve only read two other Dickens novels - Oliver Twist (which was published before this book) and A Christmas Carol (which was published after) but I did think there were a lot of echoes of both of those novels in this one.  :)
 
The ending of the novel was rather predictable and almost twee – but it didn’t detract from the fantastic story and I think it was the right ending.  I must confess that I actually shed a tear when Smike died.   I hadn’t worked out that he was Ralph’s son so that came as a complete surprise to me.  I did almost feel pity for Ralph at the end, but he made no effort to redeem himself and so his death was fitting.  
 
Nicholas Nickleby was an excellent read, and I’d like to thank Alex and Claire for reading along with me.  :)
 
5/5

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I'd like to echo the thanks to Janet and Claire - I really enjoyed the experience of the group read, and this seemed to fit perfectly as it felt like we were getting the experience of Dickens' contemporaries when the book first came out. 

 

I don't know why I get intimidated by Dickens, but I do. I've read two previous novels, A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, but have acted in adaptations of both on the stage. This was to be my first foray into "unknown" Dickens, although as Willoyd says, the name Wackford Squeers is a familiar one even to those who haven't read Nicholas Nickleby!

 

To the book itself then, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dickens is wordy, and will happily use 12 words and six commas when two words and a full stop would easily have done the trick. But he brings his characters and Victorian cities brilliantly to life and I feel as if I am stood at the sidelines watching all the action unfold. 

 

The Squeers family are wonderful villains, Nicholas an well drawn hero, and the supporting cast are marvellous.  In particular, Mrs Nickleby with her eccentricities was simply marvellous. I did enjoy the comedic value of everyone pandering to her thoughts as well. I was wondering if there was a point to the Crummles(es) but there didn't really appear to be one, except to provide us with more entertaining writing and situations. They contributed little to the overall plot but did present a very readable diversion. 

 

As a choice for the English Counties Challenge I wasn't especially sure this ticked the boxes. Like WIlloyd I was very surprised to learn Nicholas departed Dotheboys Hall so early in the novel (even if we, if not Nicholas, do return their briefly at the end) and it did feel more like Yorkshire than County Durham in feel as well as name!  However, I thoroughly enjoyed this and as the ECC pushed me into reading it I think I will forgive this, as the challenge was all about broadening my reading into classics I feel I should already have read. 

 

It's especially interesting that the novel, as well as standing the test of time to be regarded as a classic in today's literature, had such a strong impact at the time in terms of closing Yorkshire schools. The idea of a work of fiction having that effect now seems rather far fetched - it might have to be turned into a movie first. 

 

The ending is predictable but somehow that doesn't really matter, we've been on such a journey with these characters it's almost required to see them get their happy, cheesy ending, and the evil Squeers get their comeuppance!

 

Superb stuff. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry Janet - I completely missed your reply! No, I hadn't guessed that - at least, not until a few pages before the reveal, but only being marginally quicker than Ralph doesn't seem much to crow about!! Did you? :)

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