Most people would chalk this up to being ten years old when I read it but the problem is this never changed. It didn't change when I read Oliver Twist and Tale of Two Cities in high school. It didn't change when I read Bleak House in college. It may be blasphemous for an English teacher and major to say this but I hated Dickens.
Wait I take that back. I don't hate him per se. I actually love his stories. I love watching the BBC/Masterpiece theater versions. I feel myself drawn in (even if they are basically the same story over and over again) and I love the characters. I just don't like his writing style.
Which brings me to why I am even posting this. My neighborhood book club announced they would be reading Our Mutual Friend for the month of March. I was super excited, not because I got to read Dickens, but because here was a book I could finally get on the Kindle for less then I could buy it. I downloaded it and went to work. Yeah it took me a week to get through the first twenty pages. I still couldn't slug through his style.
So I went to my old standby, the movie. I am sitting here watching the movie getting ready to discuss a book I couldn't read at book club tonight. I'll be honest, I'll admit I didn't read it and outline the reasons why. I will also talk about how much I loved the story. How the story of redemption and love is incredible. How their is a kind Jew in the story...way ahead of the times there Dickens. How there are strong women...something he didn't do earlier in his career. And, what I believe to be his greatest strength, taking seemingly random story lines and weave them together into a classic tale.
So I won't be picking up any other Dickens' books anytime soon but keep those BBC movies coming!
