Somehow, Claire Tomalin packed the entire life of a busy man like Charles Dickens into just 400 pages and still managed to make it feel like she did him justice. I knew the broad strokes in advance: that Dickens was troubled at a young age by poverty, that he grew to be a court reporter, workaholic, a lover of theatre. That he believed he had married the wrong woman but proceeded to have an enormous number of children with her; and here lies his greatest failing. His wife Catherine was perpetually pregnant, the births were often hard, and Dickens was an indifferent father. Reading between the lines brings bitterly home what he valued Catherine for, and all that he valued her for. His strongest affections were saved for his male friends, whom he was more ready to regard as his equals, and for attractive young women who were not his wife, including his wife's sisters. If you come away despising Dickens the man, it will probably be for his treatment of his wife and children. If you can forgive him, it will probably be for his considerable acts of charity. A number of other well-known figures move through his life story. I expected and met Bulwer, Gaskell, Wilkins and Nelly Ternan, but John Forster was a surprise as Dickens' closest friend and confidant.

The degree of detail provided about the various parts and moments of Dickens' life is extremely uneven. This is hardly Tomalin's fault; where there are records that describe events in detail, she uses them, and where there are not she can only skim over those days, months or years. I regret that we don't know more about what drove Dickens to write each of his early novels. There is only the timeline of when he began and ended the work, and no way to explain the 'how' of what Dickens did. We can see when he disagreed with publishers, or when he pushed himself too far or, almost miraculously, pushed through. The central fact we do know is that he was a wonderful observer, and especially so of the city of London, its environs and its people.

I'm glad I read all of Dickens' completed novels first. Tomalin is unreserved in her judgements of each, not shy about spilling their details, and turns partial book reviewer while quoting from reviews by Dickens' contemporaries. She doesn't care much for any of his early novels and I disagree with her on the majority of those. There's little she can find about the story behind them, it isn't until Copperfield that she begins turning up his specific inspiration for each that follows. Coincidentally, from there to the end she is mostly praising.

I'm troubled by the relationship with Nelly Ternan. It isn't clear how much she resisted Dickens' advances (she was nineteen and he was around fifty when they met) but Tomalin suggests she at least demurred a little, even as Dickens was quick to place himself in a position of power over her family as their benefactor. Without having the details it looks like possible harassment, though she must have found it flattering and it seems she found real and lasting feelings for him. Tomalin explores their relationship with greater detail in another of her books, which I may pursue. ( )

76/59-Ιδανικό για μικρά παιδιά . Εύκολα κατανοούν τη ζωή του Χριστού. ( )

A brilliant and comprehensive biography. I think Ms Tomalin conveyed very fair picture of Dickens- his huge energy for work, business and fun ; his passion for walking miles through the streets of London, taking in the grimmest and poorest quarters; his good works, sponsorship of the needy; his many strong friendships. However, one must set this against the way he cast of his wife and became increasingly uninterested in his children (especially if they needed help.
Ms Tomalin provides much circumstantial evidence on his long-term affair with youthful actress Ellen Ternan....the desperate need for secrecy, given his fame...the short-lived illegitimate son, born in France...
A memorable and very human man. ( )

It is easier to forgive a genius for feet of clay than for a heart of stone, I find.

Tomalin's book is about as fair to him as it is possible to be. She delves into great (and sometimes excessive) detail about his life, his comings and goings, friendships, health issues, and passions, and you develop a very good insight into the man behind all of the famous novels. Unfortunately, it is impossible to respect him. He is a misogynist of the worst kind, who pretends to love women--but only if they behave in his very narrowly prescribed ways of Acceptable Womanhood. The temptation is to excuse this because of the time he lived in, but as Tomalin makes very clear, Dickens' treatment of women was bad even for the standards of Victorian England. For a modern reader it is pretty well horrifying.

He is a monster to his wife, and not much better to his children. The children he wanted could do no wrong, and he forgave them time and again for the very crimes and failings that the children he did not want were cast out for. His later sons were all packed off to the colonies as soon as it was reasonably decent to do so, and these never saw their family again, but it seems to have troubled Dickens not at all. I can't imagine the loneliness and pain of growing up the son of the great Charles Dickens, patron saint of Family Values, and knowing he did not love you. Even the children he loved did not think of him as a good man, a good husband, or a good father.

I have the audiobook version, and found it compelling, well written, very well researched, and very thorough. As well, the narrator clearly had a lot of fun with all of the quotations, developing different voices and accents for all of the different people in Dickens' life. If you like audiobooks, it's a good one.

You will finish this book feeling that you know Dickens very well, but you might wish you hadn't. ( )

No one who reads any of Charles Dickens’ works can assume he had an easy childhood. From Oliver Twist to Great Expectations and David Copperfield, London is always lush and vivid with characters that leap off the page. Children are downtrodden waifs, reliant on people that don’t always have their best interests at heart.

Truth be told, I have only finished one of Dickens’ novels, Great Expectations. I also read A Christmas Carol, but that was a novella. This puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to understanding his work, but I know the gist of a great many of his novels. This is mainly because of Dickens’ standing as an author of merit. Some of his books were turned into plays and movies. Remember the one where Oliver Twist is a cat? I do have copies of a lot of his works, but I have not had the time to read them. I have also not heard of Claire Tomalin, but that is neither here nor there.

In any case, Charles Dickens: A Life is a biography of Charles Dickens. It starts with an indelible experience for him being a juror for a poor woman accused of killing her own child. This illustrates his compassion and concern for the masses of poor and uneducated. After that, it dives right into his family history and childhood. Dickens had a difficult life, and experienced both sides of the tracks, so to speak. He had to deal with being the man of the house from the age of 12 and did not fully complete his education since his father was a profligate and a drunk. His mother tried to teach but was haunted by the reputation of her husband. Even with all of that, young Charles was overlooked because of his sister, Fanny. Fanny was a good musician and played for princes and so on, but never went on to international acclaim. Everything turns around when he becomes a famous writer though. However, he got some interesting habits from all of this. For some reason, he enjoyed moving furniture around. This extended to hotels he stayed in. I have stayed in hotels and some motels but would never have thought to do that.

Alongside the text of the book are tons of images and comprehensive maps of London. This is really helpful if you are like me and are confused by British addresses and place names. The book has an extensive index, glossary, and notes. The beginning of the book even has a cast of characters, so to speak, a dramatis personae. Since Dickens was famous in his time, there are many luminaries and others that were well known when he was alive. I don’t know if the author brings anything new to the table on Charles Dickens since I haven’t read any other biography on him, but this was a pretty good attempt I thought. Other than that I have nothing really to add to this. If I can find another biography by Tomalin perhaps I will give it a shot as well. ( )