Review of 'Nicholas Nickleby'

Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

This is the story of the unfortunate young Nicholas whose family is thrown at the mercy of his “evil” uncle when Nicholas' father dies. Nicholas is promptly sent away to the horrible “Dotheboys Hall” – the ultimate in cruelty to children perpetrated by it's proprietor, Wackford Squeers. Eventually, unable to endure the situation any long Nicholas flees unwittingly followed by Smike, a past “pupil” of Squeers' “school”. Nicholas returns to London and struggles to overcome the persecution of his villainous uncle and restore the life he lost with the death of his father. Along the way he not only finds himself amply employed, surrounded by friends enchanted by his true English gentleman manner, and his family comfortably accommodated but he also finds himself chasing after a charming young lady. This book is considered to be one of Dickens' most humorous novels (if not THE most humorous) but I must admit I found many of the horrors to be those of misunderstanding and the moral character of the day – nonetheless some were quite amusing to any modern reader. I also found it a bit hard to read though definitely interesting. It is likely that any reader will not have any doubts as to how the whole tale finishes.

Rating: “A bit better than average”


Genre: Classic


Other reviewed books by Charles Dickens: