The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

 

Title:  The Old Curiosity Shop

Author:  Charles Dickens

Narrated by:  Anton Lessor

Publisher: Naxos Audiobooks

Length: Approximately 22 hours and 19 minutes

Source: Checked out with Libby through the Kewaunee Public Library.  Thank-you!

 

What is your favorite Charles Dickens novel?  I would have to say A Christmas Carol as I’ve read it so many times.  David Copperfield is my second favorite with probably A Tale of Two Cities as number three.  Dickens wrote a number of memorable novels.  The Old Curiosity Shop is probably one of his lesser-known novels.  It was one of the most popular novels during his lifetime, but it is not as popular to modern audiences.

The Old Curiosity Shop tells the story of Little Nell Trent.  She lives in the old curiosity shop with her Grandfather.   Her Grandfather loves her beyond measure, but he is secretly gambling all of their money and money he has borrowed. They lose everything and wander the countryside trying to find a safe haven and to stay out of the grip of the evil Daniel Quilp.  They meet many interesting characters along the way.

This was the March pick for the Back to the Classics Book Club at the Kewaunee Public Library.  The book club enjoyed the novel and had a great discussion about it earlier this week.  Dickens writes such great characters and was able to bring them back together to wrap up storylines at the end.  He also had such a way with words that really resonated with the group.  We also discussed that the main premise of the book was an in-depth look at the addiction of gambling and how it can ruin many lives.

I had read this book years ago (review here) and I went with an audio version this time around.  I loved narrator Anton Lessor’s unique voices for all of the characters In particular, I loved his Daniel Quilp.  I just had a hard time with the audio quality.  I was playing this through Libby on my phone and I had a hard time hearing it at times such as when the narrator was whispering.  I don’t usually have this problem with audiobooks.  One downfall of listening to it on audiobook was that there were so many characters and many were just cameos, that it was hard to keep track of them all.  It would have been nice to has a physical copy with a list of characters as one book club member had.  I did find myself laughing out loud while listening to it as Dickens has such a great sense of humor in his writing and such perfect descriptions.  I love how he names his characters.

I think this story hasn’t held up as well as others because there are just too many characters and the story wanders away from main characters, such as Nell, for too long of periods of time.  Dickens improved on his pacing and keeping focused on his central characters in his later works.  I did find it interesting to learn that Nell was based on his sister-in-law who passed away in her teens.

The Old Curiosity Shop is a good Victorian novel.  We will be watching a film version of it in April at our next book club meeting.

Favorite Quote:

“Because the memory of those who lie below, passes away so soon. At first they tend them, morning, noon, and night; they soon begin to come less frequently; from once a day, to once a week; from once a week to once a month; then, at long and uncertain intervals; then, not at all. Such tokens seldom flourish long. I have known the briefest summer flowers outlive them.”