Nicholas Nickleby

by Charles Dickens
Hennepin County Library audiobook 25 CDs
read by Robert Whitfield
genre: historical fiction (sort of)

Whitfield's vocal work is phenomenal! Such a range of characters and voices!
I love Dickens and had never before read this one. I almost wish I'd had the print edition . . . this was a LOT of CDs and car time! (If I'd seen "Dotheboys" hall in print, I'd have mentally pronounced it "dothe boys" but it was read as "Do the boys" and I had to Google it because it sounded so weird!)


Random notes:

• Mrs. N is ridiculous! And she has no idea how clueless she is . . . ugh! How did such a mother raise two such wonderful children as Nicholas and Kate?
• Smike (?) - I'd love to know more about his sad story. (By the end, I did! So very sad.)
• Sir Mulberry is hideous. I actually thought, "I hope he died in the carriage crash." 
• Mantolinis are crazy . . . and frustrating. 
• pence / shilling / guinea / pound farthing / tuppence - what are the monetary values? I need a way to compare these to better understand so many things!
• Ralph is such an evil nasty man. He gets worse and worse as the story goes on! 
• Squeers is also awful. What a horrid man! And spending so much time talking about morals! Yuk.
• Names . . . "Tim Lincolnwater" repeated so much. 
• Scoundrel! The whole part with Gride . . . and Ralph . . . and poor Madeleine Bray. 

I love Charles Dickens' storytelling. He also has a bit of an expose' in his writing. He has a lot to say about greed and evil. I will almost certainly re-read this at some time in the future! 

<Above posted 7.16.19. Below added 12.31.24.>

I started to listen to it again, but it is quite long and I think I'd rather read the print version, taking my time. Here are a few notes to add to the above:

• commented again on "Do the boys" in Yorkshire . . . had to see if that's a real place. Bowe's Hall seems to be the inspiration for Dickens' horrid school. You can read more here.
• Snorely (?) talking to Wackford Squeers is referred to as the boys' "father-in-law" but he's actually their stepfather! This drove me crazy! By marrying the boys' mother, he became their stepfather, NOT their "Father-in-law!"
  
• as much as I love Dickens, the fact that much of his writing was serialized leads me to believe he often "padded" his books for a paycheck. The whole scene where Nicholas is traveling to Squeers' school for the first time has the gentlemen telling stories. The Five Sisters, the Baron, . . . why include these?
• I gave up on this after less than three hours! There are 28 hours left to go . . . I have too many other books to read right now. I'll find a print copy one of these days.