David Copperfield: a work not for the faint of heart

David Copperfield (1850)- Charles Dickens (803 pages by my edition)

Let me begin this book review as I try to do with all my book reviews, in as honest and succinctly a manner as possible. David Copperfield is neither an easy read nor a short read. At times I would read 2–3 pages with no idea what had actually happened and have to read the pages again. That being said, put simply, this work is one of my top three favorite novels of all time.

David Copperfield is first and foremost a bildungsroman or a coming of age story. David narrates his own life from shortly before his birth until when he is middle-aged as the book ends. Through the eyes of David, the reader can enjoy the experiences, loves, horrors, and maturity of David from a young boy to a father. The reader is along for the ride and gets a firsthand view of David’s life and his inner thoughts.

As I have stated previously, David Copperfield is not an easy read. Even once you are past the 2–3 day adjustment period that most classics need for you to adjust to the language, I still often struggled with Dicken’s verbose writing style. Sometimes you will need to reread a paragraph, sometimes a page, sometimes 2–3 but that is what makes this work so special. There are so many different subtle plot points and descriptions in the narrative that all build to the larger epic conclusion. This work is a challenge but a challenge filled with rich and excellent wordsmithing by Dickens creating an incredibly cohesive narrative.

David Copperfield is a very complex work with a number of key themes of which I will focus on three: child exploitation, the names of David, and the juxtaposition of wealth and moral goodness. Dickens does an excellent job highlighting the weakness and despair that a child could live through during this age. David, at a very young age, is forced into many unbelievable hardships that especially when compared to today are cruel and horrible, to say the least. This work does an excellent job identifying child exploitation and at the very least brings the concept to greater social awareness. The names of David are also especially interesting: from Doady, to Trot, Master Copperfield, Davy, and more. Many characters call David by an assortment of names and in so doing project an image upon David as he adapts to different settings. As a reader, you should identify these names as you read and watch David’s character in each interaction. Lastly, wealth and moral goodness are important concepts. In this era, many thought that high moral goodness and high material goodness or wealth were in line. Likewise, poor moral goodness suggested poor material standing. Dicken’s does not agree with this concept and finds the relationship between high moral standings and wealth to be much more complicated.

I found David Copperfield to be a very entertaining novel. The complex narrative helped to challenge my brain on a nightly basis to connect characters, themes, and seemingly minor plot points that tie the narrative together. The story of David is truly a great one and reading through his maturation process is extremely fulfilling, he encounters his fair share of setbacks but through it all is resilient and always remembers those who supported him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this work even though it is a challenging one, both to read and understand, but one that will give the reader a great reward. I must however repeat the commitment level that this book requires. If you read 100 or even 200 pages only to leave the book for a couple of weeks, you will likely have to re-read what you read before as the subtle plot points and detail will be lost in your mind during the absence. Commit to David Copperfield, commit to 30 minutes a night of dedicated reading, commit to reading thoroughly and re-reading if needed, and you will find an elaborate and excellent story worth your time.

As always, my scoring breakdown is below. Thanks for reading!

Score: 6.7/10- Dicken’s novel would be ranked higher if it wasn’t for a very low readability score.

Readability: 3- Simply put, this is not an easy read, at all.

Thematic Questions: 8- Dicken’s analyzes the important relationship between wealth and character among a laundry list of other themes.

Enjoyment: 9- A fantastic story that blends a number of sub-plots together seamlessly within the larger story of David’s life.