Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Rating: 5/5
It seems that the books I have been reading lately are all excellent to my taste, considering all have earned a 5-star rating from me. It feels amazing to read the right kind of books. They make you miss them, once they are finished. <3
I have read David Copperfield last year and managed to finish it around 75%. I loved it, but I got impatient. I thought starting a new book and then picking up DC after some time would be a good idea. But, I never got around picking it up again after all. Yet, I love Charles Dickens’s works – I love the richness of his characters and settings. I had bought Hard Times and A Tale of Two Cities some time back, so it was better than never to read another of his books.
This book is rich. I suppose one can only be a true Dickens fan if one loves lengthy and wordy but rich descriptions, full of life and animation. It is the same with both his description of the characters and the settings. His characters are so well-defined as if you know them. And, the places he outlines are so vivid as if you have visited those places before or wish to visit them. If this is not good storytelling, I don’t know what is.
I don’t think I loved any of the characters. They are all believable characters of course. But, they were either too good or too bad. I think the closest I ended up admiring was Sissy Jupe, whose character I found most intriguing. She was almost a perfect balance of all the characters combined.
I loved this book so much that my hands are itching to start A Tale of Two Cities. But, I want to give myself right amount of Dickens doses, so I’ll give myself a gap or two of other books, and then pick another Dickens again.