Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)

Phew! This is long and I needed a break over halfway through, but I did it! A lot of Dickens' themes in this book are still relevant today--swindlers, employment, marriage, education, family, care of the elderly, and more. I do wish I had kept a character cheat sheet, as so many people are in and out, though the serial nature of the original publication helped a bit.

I think my favorite character was Mrs Gamp--widow, midwife, overnight nurse, and nurse to the elderly or injured--just an older woman trying to make her way in mid-19th-century London. Mark Tapley was a little TOO jolly for my taste, the Pecksniffs (all) just annoying (as intended, I believe), Martin the elder is perhaps meant to be the favorite--or maybe Martin the younger. Not Jonas, nor Anthony, nor Tigg/Montague--obviously.

I actually enjoyed the American interlude. No, it didn't really fit, but Dickens completely nailed many points of American history at that time (swindling, boomtowns and made-to-order "boom" towns, etc etc).

But, I am glad to be done. ( )

Old Martin Chuzzlewit believes that his relations are only interested in him because he is rich (and this is mostly true), but mysteriously falls for the sycophantic attentions of the hypocritical Mr Pecksniff. His grandson, also Martin Chuzzlewit, falls out with him over Martin's choice of bride and the younger Martin goes to America to seek his fortune.

There are many other characters and strands to the story which Dickens ingeniously brings together at the end. For a while I wondered why the novel had the title it did and who Martin and Tom's mysterious benefactors were, but all was made clear in the denouement. The good ended happily and the bad unhappily, although I did feel a twinge for Charity. I can see why the scenes set in America caused a bit of a stir - they are very harsh - but the tone is pretty sarcastic throughout. A very satisfying conclusion. ( )

Really, really did not like this book. The characters, while he wished to show greed in all its manifestations, are mere caricatures instead of the strongly drawn characters from Olde Curiosity Shoppe and Barnaby Rudge. (Not that they don't have their own caricature characters as well, but they do have some character characters.)

And the action? Hmmm. I don't mind the US being shown from its ugly side; there was certainly some history that went on in the mid-1800s that didn't quite make it into the books. But again, the painting of the events in Eden are so lost in the larger narrative, not to mention the journey there, that it just loses its impact.

There are some Dickens fans who like this book, so more power to them. ( )

The character Martin Chuzzlewit is comparable to Ebenezer Scrooge, an exceedingly wealthy man to whom money brings only grief, but surrounded by a large family comically obscene in its obsession with his estate. In true Dickens fashion the most honest and monetarily disinterested among them, if not entirely likeable - Martin's grandson and namesake - is the one Martin Sr. trusts least of all.

I can't agree with Mr. Chesterton that it's rife with melancholy. In fact, while I didn't expect another Dickens novel to rival The Pickwick Papers for humour, this one stands in the running albeit with a nastier streak. The sarcasm and satire dials are turned up to 11, especially where Mr. Pecksniff is concerned. This is also the infamous novel in which Dickens goes America-bashing, following upon his tour of that country, which holds its own kind of fascination. I was most taken up when reading about Pecksniff since the novel feels devoted to showcasing him. Some of the minor characters - Jonas, Gamp, etc. - I was less keen on having to spend chapters with, but eventually these pay a dividend. Martin Jr. has an arc to his character that eventually does make him likeable if you can wait for it.

I read each chapter in the spirit of sharing Dickens' having fun with his characters rather than worrying where his plot was going. Like the novels that preceded, it's not terribly focussed. He was becoming more sensitive to this critique, to judge from his introduction, and apparently with his next (Dombey and Son) he finally began to get a handle on it. This won't be my favourite of his but neither would I rate it his worst, and even Dickens at his worst is not a very bad thing. ( )

3.5 stars ( )