Dombey and Son (Modern Library Classics)
by Charles Dickens

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Book Reviews of Dombey and Son (Modern Library Classics)

Book Review: Worthwhile for Dickens fans
Summary: 4 Stars

The first part of the book focuses on Mr Dombey's beloved and fragile son, little Paul, of whom great things are expected. Unfortunately, there is little in the way of plot. Little Paul's visit to Brighton and his schooling seem to go on forever. Mr Dombey is a potentially interesting character, but Dickens - or rather the narrator - is so busy berating him for his self-importance and belittling even his more laudable feelings, like the love for his son, that he never gets a fair hearing. Dombey's household, including his son and his daughter Florence, the book's heroine, fails to really grip you, and so do Florence's later love interest Walter Gay and his set. Still, there is the odd amusing scene, the chapter set in Dombey's office promises well - although it doesn't fulfil its promise until much later - and even the dullish patches are well-written (not like the awful America chapters in "Martin Chuzzlewit").

However, it isn't until about three hundred pages into the book that the novel really gets going, with Mr Dombey's courtship of and later marriage to the scornful Edith Granger. The marital battle that ensues is engrossing, not least because of the part that Dombey's business manager James Carker, the splendid villain of the piece, plays in it. After this drama seems to have reached its logical conclusion, the plot loses momentum for a while. Then a grotesque plot twist makes a nonsense of some of the strongest previous scenes. Still fuming over this, I was nevertheless touched by the truly moving ending.

There are some minor gripes. The relationship between Mr Dombey and his daughter Florence would have been more fascinating if Dickens hadn't taken such pains to steer our sympathies towards Florence and away from her father. A reader tends to rebel when the author's intentions are made too clear. After all, Dombey has a case: his daughter does, albeit unwittingly, cause him a great deal of misery, so perhaps it isn't that strange that he finds it difficult to warm to her. We don't see any of her much-vaunted filial love during the first part of the book, and it isn't until the end that it leads her to actually do her dad some good. The secondary characters have their moments, but they have a tendency to outstay their welcome. Taken altogether, though, this book is worth the effort: you have to eat a lot of greens to get to the dessert, but the dessert is delicious. If you're unfamiliar with Dickens, this is not the novel to start with: try "Great Expectations", "Bleak House" and/or "David Copperfield" first, and then when you're hooked you can proceed with this one.

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