I finished reading this book a few days ago. I am still having Mallory pick my book for me (after giving her a choice of 4 books I have selected). This is the first book that Mallory has chosen based on the author. We read A Christmas Carol together last year and she remembered Charles Dickens being the author and enthusiastically selected this book for me based on that reason. Also, what an absurdly amazing book cover. How could she not have chosen this book?
After reading this book I can still say that I have not read a Dickens book that I didn't like. That being said, it was my least favorite Dickens book. Not because it was bad, but because I have really only read really great Dickens books so far. I still liked this book and its vast array of mostly enjoyable characters - I'm looking at you John Browdie, you sneaky scene stealer. Newman Noggs is probably my next favorite. Nicholas had a surprising mean streak in him which was unexpected (in a good way) for the hero of the book. I know I was supposed to like Mrs. Nickleby more, and I see why people do find her amusing, but her longwinded off-topic digressions were a little too frustrating for me to endure and I ended up finding her more annoying than comical. As for the villains, Dickens made some good ones. Both Ralph Nickleby and Wackford Squeers were great bad guys, each in their own way. There is quite a dark turn near the end that caught me slightly off guard but Dickens handles it masterfully as usual.
Overall, this book felt like a poor man's David Copperfield. So many characters and settings, but this one lacked the multiple storylines woven together like Copperfield did so well. Nickleby really has one main storyline and thus lacks the overall flexibility that could have made this be one of Dickens' greats. But it's still amazing to me that a 25-year old could write a book like this (having already written The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist no less).
My updated rankings of Dickens books I've read:
1. David Copperfield
2. A Tale of Two Cities
3. Great Expectations
4. Oliver Twist
5. Bleak House
6. A Christmas Carol
7. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
A few quotes:
"If anything could soothe the first sharp pain of a heavy loss, it would be - with me - the reflection, that those I mourned, by being innocently happy here, and loving all about them, had prepared themselves for a purer and happier world. The sun does not shine upon this fair earth to meet frowning eyes, depend upon it."
"[T]here is one quality which all men have in common with the angels, blessed opportunities of exercising if they will - mercy."
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