Of all his novels, Charles Dickens was fondest of David Copperfield. It has been almost forty years since I last read a Dickens novel. On that occasion, the book was Oliver Twist and since then I have seen innumerable adaptations of that book; however, I have never seen even one adaptation of David Copperfield, so I have come to it relatively unsullied by prior knowledge. I hope I found it as Dickens would have wanted me to find it.
I liked this book. It has its flaws: it is very long, many of Dickens characters come dangerously close to being stock characters (if they aren't already full-blown ones) and he can be downright wordy (seeing that he got paid by the word). On the other hand, Dickens can tell an engaging story, he can make you feel for his characters (and they are very memorable and very diverse, if not always believable) and he can easily shift from the very comic to the very pensive. Frinstance:
"... at this sight Mrs. Markleham dropped the newspaper, and stared more like a figure-head intended for a ship to be called The Astonishment, than anything else I can think of." (Chapter 45)
"I know [the Thames is] like me ... It comes from country places where there was once no harm in it - and it creeps through the dismal streets, defiled and miserable - and it goes away, like my life, to a great sea that is always troubled - and I feel that I must go with it." (Chapter 47)
Yes, I did enjoy this book very much. I was prepared to forgive its mawkish tendencies in light of its vivacity. Although David Copperfield is certainly a creation of its own era, there is enough in it that is universal to the human condition; so much so, the modern reader can easily accommodate the unknown and unfamiliar without too much diminishment of either identification or enjoyment.
