I skipped out on a lot of reading in my misspent youth. If a book was assigned in school, I quite often tried to fake my way through just to pass the tests. At over 800 pages, I doubt the Chicago Public School System would have required anyone to read David Copperfield anyway. I have had the Easton Press leather-bound edition sitting on my bookshelf for a couple decades and never once bothered to crack it open until recently.
I spent six weeks reading David Copperfield, tackling a couple of chapters a day. The formal, old English style narrative slowed me down quite a bit, yet I am glad I pushed through. Classics like this will round you out as a reader. I enjoyed a good deal of it but kind of zoned out through some parts.
According to the foreword in the Easton Press version, David enters the world to a widowed mother; his father died before his birth. Her remarriage to Mr. Murdstone brings abuse, a London boarding school, and then factory labor after his mother’s death while David is still young. He runs away to his aunt, Betsey Trotwood, who sets his life on a new path with education and support. David rises as a writer while falling in love, suffers more loss, and gains self-discovery.
I enjoyed the early chapters the most: the abuse, factory flight, and his aunt’s arrival. Standout characters for me are, of course, David himself, his aunt Betsey Trotwood, his nanny Peggotty, and best friend Tommy Traddles. I was annoyed by Uriah Heep. But I suppose that was his purpose in the story.
David’s early infatuation with Dora leads to a misguided marriage. He is blinded by her looks, not realizing until later that she is quite immature. She has difficulty in everything a housewife needed to be in those days. She was horrible at housekeeping, budgeting, and managing help. He shoulders the burden until her untimely death from illness while still young. Grief sends him overseas to mourn, and he has an epiphany while remembering Agnes Wickfield, a childhood crush and later steadfast friend. Agnes always understood and supported him throughout his entire life. He did not realize how much he loved her until that moment. He returns, marries her, and builds a family.
What kept me interested was the knowledge that this book is a fictional take on Dickens’ life. Thank goodness for the Easton Press edition’s foreword; otherwise I would not have known and may not have finished the book.
Some parts, like his school days and factory life, bored the shit out of me, but overall I considered it an enjoyable read. I know I am probably against all the literary scholars in my opinion. Maybe if I lived and read it during the time it was written, I would have enjoyed it more. But reading older English when we are used to reading blogs like this or even worse, social media posts, makes it more of a slog at times.
If you are a Dickens fan or like classic literature, this book is for you. If not, maybe it is okay to skip this one.
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