David Copperfield
Premise - The life story of a classic British fictional protagonist David Copperfield, from birth through adulthood. David narrates his own life as best he can understand it, detailing the events of his traumatic childhood, his time in school, his first love, and all of the crazy encounters he has with the various people who make up his life.
Review - This book took me over six months to finish. Probably more like nine months. It was no easy feat - the audiobook is almost 40 hours, and the actual book is fat. I read several other books in the time between starting and finishing this one, just because I needed breaks from the longevity of it. Not only was the book long, but of course, long-winded and uninteresting at points. I also found myself spacing out a lot and needing to glance back at the Sparknotes for details I missed, which I NEVER do.
This is not to the fault of the book. See - it's much better to think of Charles Dickens books not so much as books, but as TV series. Or at least, Dickens wrote the equivalent of what would be TV series today. His works were serialized - people got a chapter in the newspaper every week or so. In that way, they kind of read the characters as they grow up, kind of like watching a cast grow up on screen over several seasons. It was only after the matter that the serialized chapters were bound together in a single book, so reading it is kind of like binging a box set. There's not so much a singular plot, but there is an entire life to behold. It's a daunting task to do in one go, so breaking it up was to my benefit. When I watched the TV adaptation, which was a 4-episode miniseries, even that felt like an injustice to the progression of the characters. Imagine trying to condense 10 seasons of Friends into a 4-episode miniseries, for instance.
Like many TV series, the plot rests in the characters themselves and their lives. David Copperfield, a very friendly and amicable protagonist, meets a lot of interesting figures across his life. The plot is much less about David himself, who is more of a "wallflower" type who writes everything down, and more about the much more lively, extraverted side characters whom he observes. David's life is defined by the events of these other people, like Mr. Micawber, or Uriah Heep, who are so iconic.
It also reminds me of a TV show in terms of the plot conveniences. There are billions of people in the world (well, I don't know if there were billions of people in the 1800s, but there were sure a lot), and yet somehow, no matter where he goes, he bumps into the same core group of characters at various stages in his life. It reminds me of Chandler finding Janice no matter where he goes. It's statistically impossible, but makes for good humor and plot convenience. And, it makes it so that we have recognizable characters that repeatedly show up throughout the story, keeping audiences attached like a soap opera.
Of course, I do not want to focus solely on the side characters and ignore the insight into the character of David himself. I think what I most enjoyed was the beginning of the book, in which David was still a child, because of the beautiful perspective that Dickens is able to bring into the mind of a child, albeit a bright and observant one.
Apart from our everyman David Copperfield, many of the other characters can instead be a bit two-dimensional in their over-the-top nature. The characters are classically memorable, but can also somewhat become caricatures. This stood out to me most with the character of Dora, who was so overly passive, docile, and presented in a manner that would be wildly sexist today. Dickens presents a variety of female characters with varying personalities, from the matronly aunt, to the uppity spinster Ms. Murdstone, to the wholesome future-wife Agnes, so there are a range of female experiences presented. But each of them are a bit of a caricature who only holds that one slice of the female experience. (Note that the male characters are caricatures as well, but the caricatures that men hold feel less offensive than that of, say, Dora).
The 1999 miniseries adaptation captures a satisfactory amount of plot detail, especially given the time constraints, and yet I still didn't feel like I "felt" the characters the way I did in the book. Even with these A-list British stars in the roles (ahem, Maggie Smith and little Daniel Radcliffe), Dickens' characters are so larger-than-life that only his detailed language gives them justice. (71/100)
Quote - “Never," said my aunt, "be mean in anything; never be false; never be cruel. Avoid those three vices, Trot, and I can always be hopeful of you.”
What to read for - I mean, there's something about the elegance of the English language in this era... Don't even care about the content at some points, just let the sounds of the words wash over you, either in your head, or in your ears if you have an audiobook. Or read it aloud to yourself. Dickens writes beautifully.
What to watch for - YOUNG DANIEL RADCLIFFE AHHHH what a babe
If you liked this book/film, I'd recommend Great Expectations, and the 2012 adaptation!
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