Little Dorrit (Penguin Classics)

This book is truly timeless in its characters motivations and their interactions with each other. Charles Dickens is considered one of the greatest writers of all time, but I think should be THE greatest.

The book was as described and arrived within a reasonable amount of time. The condition was "good" and who doesn't like Dickens. It takes too long to read this book in the allotted library time sequence. This way you have your OWN copy.

I too will discuss the publication; the text is wonderful! Although I like the binding and the large format of the Nonesuch edition, I am totally unhappy with the illustrations. Many are so dark that you cannot make out what they are. I have another edition (Everyman) that has beautiful renderings of the illustrations. I am surprised that no one else has commented on this; I plan to visit Barnes and Nobles and view if this defect is only in this particular title or the whole series. Great book; lousy illustrations.

I'm only halfway through reading this book, and I am in love! This is the first Dickens book I've picked up and I will definitely be reading more of his work after I finish this one. It's hard to put this one down, for sure.

Dickens is a practical source of social psychology toy case studies and this novel is a good example if you can overlook the surplus characters: The French crook, the Italian who-knows-what, the sour lady and the angry maiden. Professional psycho-sociologists probably sneer at this stuff but, for the practical man it's worth reading.

Dickens was also a good writer; his stuff reads well, except for the occasional sentence that won't assemble for a 20/21st century reader.

As for the surplus characters, Dickens was a master of the large-cast story and knew it, as masters do. But this story was written for serial publication in some magazine he edited and published himself; he couldn't go back over it like it was some War and Peace. Once he had figured out the cast up front, it was go with it. Unfortunately, his muse wiped her hands off the extras.
John Traugut

Wonderfully complex, written in old English which makes it a little difficult at times. It looks into the culture of the day. Dickens wants to reveal the mistreatment of the poor when they were in debt. He also wanted to expose the corruption in politics which still persists in my opinion. It is a charming love story.

This classic was written by Charles Dickens O.N.L.Y>

From WHERE did this Harvey Sucksmith name come??????

Perhaps a hacker is playing around with the store????

Nearly lost out on purchasing this precious product as none of the sellers answered my queries as to why this name appears with Dickens as the author. Thought it might be a hoax.

It's only this edition that labeled this way for some reason.

anyone who reads this should contact the store to remove this error/in-poor-taste joke(?)

Charles Dickens wrote this installment story over a 19-month period, which probably would have been something exciting to look forward to between December 1855 and June 1857. There were several times where I thought some sections bogged down with details that were uninteresting to me.

The story included a mix of plots and subplots -- romance, mystery, a look at high society, a satirical look at government bureaucracy, life in a debtor's prison, and several others. If this were not an installment book, I wonder if Dickens would have included so much in a single book.

Overall, I thought the story was OK. I really enjoyed how Dickens used descriptions and dialog to paint vivid pictures for each of his characters. I also liked the overall moral of the story, which revolves around Little Dorrit and somewhat surprisingly at the end with Mrs. Clennam.

Charles Dickens' novels are masterpieces that never fail to give the reader an amazing read. He uses words like an artist's brush and creates a world in the imagination that transports you to his time. Little Dorrit is not one of his novels that is mentioned often. That is a shame because it is truly an amazing story and a picture of the times. Do yourself a favor and read this one again or experience a first time treat.

I purchased this book after watching the PBS series. The story is of course more detailed than the series, and it is a good Dickens story. Very long to read, and it took me quite a while to finish book. I finished the other Dickens novels faster because their plots were more attention grabbing, and they were not as lengthy- relatively that is, since all Dickens novels are long.

..because (spoilers) no gruesome murders/deaths of a major character.

More seriously, the characters in this one are a bit thin compared to his usual creations, and the plot is similarly thin. My fave part of the plot surrounds a massive financial fraud a la Bernie Madoff, and I like the digs at bureaucracy in the form of the Circumlocution office.

But if ever there was a Dickens novel where he was phoning it in, this is the one. It's still better than most novels by other folks, which is why I give it 4 stars. I'll still re-read it, along with the other Dickens tomes.

Even thoug Charles Dicken's english is the old british english and kind of difficult to understand some words,
the style is very good and "Little Dorrit" in particular, is very tender and compasionate. I liked it.

I am still amazed and pleased whenever I read one of Dickens tales and gain insight into how wretched society was during this era. People complain about the disparity and inequity in our society but it is nothing in comparison to what the 99% endured during this time period.

Superb characterization as usual! There some "heavy weather" parts where Dickens goes on and on about events that must have been important at his time, but don't connect with modern audiences. However, to me, he is always a delight!

The story and book are very good. I am reviewing the quality of the publisher. This Vintage edition is not great. The print is very small (I realize it has to be smaller because the book is so long), but the text has about a one inch margin on each side. The other Vintage paperbacks I have have smaller margins and larger text. Also, even though the margin is large, I will still have to crack the spine to be able to read the center portion of the book. I think maybe they should have had a slightly larger page. I prefer Penguin publishers to this one. I wish they would publish books of this length in separate parts.

Little Dorrit is a pleasureable reading experience. The Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam characters as well as numerous others are very redeeming; and it is so enjoyable to read and enjoy their development. And of course there are numerous antagonist characters that you just grind your teeth at as well. Dickens seems to be a master at character portrayal. It is long, but reads quickly enough.

I saw the PBS masterpiece theatre version of Little Dorritt and loved it. I wanted to get the book to answer some questions I had about the characters and situations presented. Book purchase was well worth it. I received the book promptly after my order was placed.

It is beyond belief that this edition was ever made available for purchase. Although I think it was close to free, it was not readable. It was clearly put through an optical scanner and never proofread for errors.

Strong and well organized structure with substance to hold attention; preoccupying and engaging.
Sad with a happy ending but Arthur was portrayed as too passive lacking the emotion that would equal, if not surpass, Amy's passionate love for him.

I might recommend Little Dorrit to a literature buff as an interesting look at Dickens when he is less interested in presenting a story than in making an impression on his readers. The story presentation is poorly organized. It lacks a sustained POV character until well into the story, and he isn't an interesting person, unlike most Dickens's POV characters. I didn't find the book entertaining,