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Charles Dickens: A Life
THE ACCLAIMED DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF ONE OF THE GREATEST BRITISH WRITERS OF ALL TIME Charles Dickens was a a journalist, a father of ten, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all, a great novelist.From unpromising beginnings sent to work a black factory age twelve, he rose to such social and literary heights that when he died, the world mourned. Yet the brilliance concealed a divided a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family, he took up with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children.From the award-winning author Claire Tomalin, Charles A Life paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing brilliantly the complex character of this great genius. If you loved Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol, this book is invaluable reading.'By far the most humane and imaginatively sympathetic account yet for the general reader' Amanda Craig, New Statesman
536 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
482 people are currently reading
9151 people want to read
About the author
Claire Tomalin
31 books410 followersBorn Claire Delavenay in London, she was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge.
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
She became literary editor of the 'New Statesman' and also the 'Sunday Times'. She has written several noted biographies and her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize for 'The Invisible Woman The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens'.
In addition, her biography of Samuel Pepys won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2003.
She married her first husband, Nicholas Tomalin, who was a prominent journalist but who was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War in 1973. Her second husband is the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn.
She is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature and of the English PEN (International PEN).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 611 reviews
January 20, 2020
Some books sit on my shelf for a long time before I finally find the right moment to read them. Reading a biography of Dickens may not be for everyone, but after looking at this book on my shelf for about five years, I finally pulled it down and began reading. It was well worth my time. Not only does it give a fascinating look at life in Victorian England (which as a history buff, I loved) but it also provides a very readable, personable and accessible narrative about Dickens, so in the end, I felt as if I had actually met the man, or at least attended one of his many speaking engagements. It also opened my eyes as to how much, and how little, has changed in the publishing business, and in the life of a bestseller writer. I feel your pain, brother! I do!
Make no mistake: Dickens could be a ‘Grade A’ scumbag. Late in his marriage, he dumped his wife after she gave birth to a slew of their children, publicly shamed her for being stupid, fat and ugly, and started a tortured love affair with a much younger actress. Dickens could also hold massive grudges. Once you were on his bad side, you would most likely stay there forever. He could piss off entire countries. (Looking at you, USA). He got crazy ideas in his head — like the belief that he was a top-notch hypnotist who could cure people with his mind. He made giant sums of money and lost them in ill-advised business ventures.
At the same time, Dickens was a true sentimentalist who felt sympathy for the poor, the destitute, and the powerless of the 1800s. He went out of his way to try to help prostitutes find better lives, even funding a shelter in London that provided them with a safe place to live and new opportunities. He visits prisons, orphanages and hospitals on a regular basis, and used his writing to shine a light on the horrible conditions in these institutions. He became a beloved figure in England, France and beyond for his compassion and his understanding of the common person. He grew up in poverty, with a father who was always fleeing from creditors and spent time in prison, so Dickens knew what he was talking about. His fear of poverty lasted his entire life and drove him to be such a successful creator.
What I admired about him: The guy’s output was phenomenal. At any given time, he was working on a novel, editing a magazine, doing charity work, overseeing a huge family, writing articles for newspapers, and keeping a grueling travel schedule. He worked long days with an iron will, and walked miles every day, even when he started suffering from gout. He wrote indelible characters with perfect names: Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger. And despite the fact that he is now considered part of the literary canon and regularly shoved down the throat of high school students (sorry, high school students), in his own time, Dickens was dismissed by serious literary critics as a hopeless hack. His work was seen as sentimentalist populist tripe, but it sold like hotcakes. He was the J.K. Rowling of his time — a literary superstar. Tomalin’s look at this imperfect genius was a wonderful story in its own right, whether or not you were forced to read Great Expectations in high school like I was.
Make no mistake: Dickens could be a ‘Grade A’ scumbag. Late in his marriage, he dumped his wife after she gave birth to a slew of their children, publicly shamed her for being stupid, fat and ugly, and started a tortured love affair with a much younger actress. Dickens could also hold massive grudges. Once you were on his bad side, you would most likely stay there forever. He could piss off entire countries. (Looking at you, USA). He got crazy ideas in his head — like the belief that he was a top-notch hypnotist who could cure people with his mind. He made giant sums of money and lost them in ill-advised business ventures.
At the same time, Dickens was a true sentimentalist who felt sympathy for the poor, the destitute, and the powerless of the 1800s. He went out of his way to try to help prostitutes find better lives, even funding a shelter in London that provided them with a safe place to live and new opportunities. He visits prisons, orphanages and hospitals on a regular basis, and used his writing to shine a light on the horrible conditions in these institutions. He became a beloved figure in England, France and beyond for his compassion and his understanding of the common person. He grew up in poverty, with a father who was always fleeing from creditors and spent time in prison, so Dickens knew what he was talking about. His fear of poverty lasted his entire life and drove him to be such a successful creator.
What I admired about him: The guy’s output was phenomenal. At any given time, he was working on a novel, editing a magazine, doing charity work, overseeing a huge family, writing articles for newspapers, and keeping a grueling travel schedule. He worked long days with an iron will, and walked miles every day, even when he started suffering from gout. He wrote indelible characters with perfect names: Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger. And despite the fact that he is now considered part of the literary canon and regularly shoved down the throat of high school students (sorry, high school students), in his own time, Dickens was dismissed by serious literary critics as a hopeless hack. His work was seen as sentimentalist populist tripe, but it sold like hotcakes. He was the J.K. Rowling of his time — a literary superstar. Tomalin’s look at this imperfect genius was a wonderful story in its own right, whether or not you were forced to read Great Expectations in high school like I was.
March 13, 2020
I used to read Charles Dickens extensively as my Parents thought I should read books by authors considered to be classics. Besides, times were different, and since there are many young characters in Dickens's novels, they believed they were suitable for a teenage girl. How mistaken they were! Still, I am and always will be grateful to them for introducing me to Dickens. BTW, I suppose my love for thick volumes has its roots in the times when I took Dickens's books into my hands.
I found this biography superbly researched and written. Ms Tomalin did a terrific job writing about Charles's personal life and providing us with the background of all his works. I knew nothing about his journeys to America, and even less about the problem with royalties from novels published there.
This thick volume never bored or tired me although I admit the amount of information to digest is really enormous, and I can't say I remember all details.
This was my first and probably the only biography of Charles Dickens as it answered all my general questions and did more - painted a picture of an author as a boy, a brother, a husband, a father, a lover and a traveller, always a 'curious observer who hated being observed'.
I found this biography superbly researched and written. Ms Tomalin did a terrific job writing about Charles's personal life and providing us with the background of all his works. I knew nothing about his journeys to America, and even less about the problem with royalties from novels published there.
This thick volume never bored or tired me although I admit the amount of information to digest is really enormous, and I can't say I remember all details.
This was my first and probably the only biography of Charles Dickens as it answered all my general questions and did more - painted a picture of an author as a boy, a brother, a husband, a father, a lover and a traveller, always a 'curious observer who hated being observed'.
August 6, 2019
This is a well-recorded biography that needs to go down in history as the great novelist himself. However, I will not call Dickens the greatest novelist of England by any means as the book's introduction says. His life has been narrated in a subtle manner and this gives the readers comprehensive information about Dickens' development as a person and also as an author.
Read
July 19, 2020This is a brisk biography that demonstrates the value of knowing and discussing the author's life in considering their written work.
Briskly pacing through the life just as Dickens walked through city and countryside, the four hundred pages of text seem slight. At every turn there was potential for Tomalin to depart the narrow path and have a digression on mesmerism or any of the people that Dickens brushed past or dealt with. These are summed up in a sentence if at all. When Edwin Landseer was mentioned I wondered if this was the painter or somebody else with the same name.
Monarch of the Glen, Edwin Landseer
Writing a life of Dickens could easily turn into an encyclopaedia of mid-Victorian Britain. Tomalin avoids doing this - the Monarch of the Glen is off the beaten track so she doesn't go there. However if you do want a book that uses Dickens life as a springboard into a wider exploration of Victorian Britain: look elsewhere.
Having finished the book I felt enormously reassured that I haven't read much of the early Dickens. I did either give up on Barnaby Rudge or forget what happened from about half way through, Martin Chuzzlewit was...oh, sorry I must have dropped off there for a minute. My appreciation of the mid Dickens Bleak House and Hard Times sharpened and I'm inclined to read some more of his later works. And if I am not sure if I would return to Dickens favourite David Copperfield on account of how intensely annoying I found Dora (I think it is possibly a bad sign that I was glad when she died) and how disappointingly insipid I found his Agnes, at least I do have a sense of the ironies involved in his characterisation of the Dora-David relationship and how these characters fit more generally into Dickens' difficulties with women (difficulties isn't quite the right word, but it will have to do for now).
Tomalin gives a few pages to each of the novels and to some of the stories, giving an overview of the plot and characters but no great analysis. Again if you want a thorough discussion of Dickens' output: look elsewhere. This is a life of a Dickens. Having said that there are interesting insights - I was taken by how Dickens split his experience of parents into the Micawbers and the Murdstones in David Copperfield.
Likewise I was surprised to read that Dickens was a Francophile, which conflicts completely with my memory of A Tale of Two Cities. At one stage Dickens did complain that he felt that his readers wouldn't accept a realistic hero, the implication was that this was in regard to contemporary sexual mores, but more generally suggests that Dickens was writing with a certain audience in mind and was prepared to give his public what he thought they wanted. In the particular case of A Tale of Two Cities I would have been interested to see what his French translators made of it.
Tomalin describes Dickens' father as Mr Micawber yet Dickens' own habit of life as a young writer seemed no less Micawberish. Delighting in the cash flow and the fine life on credit it allowed Dickens wasn't to achieve financial security until the publication of Dombey and Son when he had been writing fiction to huge public and critical acclaim and massive sales for over ten years, yet still was frequently a sixpence shy of happiness.
The impression is hard to escape that in his fiction Dickens showed a degree of self-knowledge that didn't inform his way of life. His treatment of his children could be cold, his behaviour towards his wife a role model of what not to do. The intensity and role of his male relationships coupled with his domineering attitude towards women gives insight into why so many of his leading women seem flat - they weren't allowed the space in his life to be much else unless they admired him uncritically. On the other hand he wasn't much better in his male friendships, although perhaps there was some space between drinking and tearful reunions for small differences of opinion. I wondered if Dickens could have coped had the relationship with his later biographer Forster and his wife Catherine been combined. The separation between Forster as friend and confidant on the one hand with Catherine as sexual partner (despite being a Francophile, even learning French, Dickens doesn't seem to have picked up any French Letters, as a result Mrs Dickens was regularly pregnant, and ten of the couple's children survived to adulthood) assisted Dickens to compartmentalise and control his life. Being in control, unsurprisingly perhaps given his childhood experience, comes across as of central importance to Dickens in Tomalin's account, and writing fiction is one way of being able to continually reinvent yourself and re-imagine your own life with complete power.
Briskly pacing through the life just as Dickens walked through city and countryside, the four hundred pages of text seem slight. At every turn there was potential for Tomalin to depart the narrow path and have a digression on mesmerism or any of the people that Dickens brushed past or dealt with. These are summed up in a sentence if at all. When Edwin Landseer was mentioned I wondered if this was the painter or somebody else with the same name.
Monarch of the Glen, Edwin Landseer
Writing a life of Dickens could easily turn into an encyclopaedia of mid-Victorian Britain. Tomalin avoids doing this - the Monarch of the Glen is off the beaten track so she doesn't go there. However if you do want a book that uses Dickens life as a springboard into a wider exploration of Victorian Britain: look elsewhere.
Having finished the book I felt enormously reassured that I haven't read much of the early Dickens. I did either give up on Barnaby Rudge or forget what happened from about half way through, Martin Chuzzlewit was...oh, sorry I must have dropped off there for a minute. My appreciation of the mid Dickens Bleak House and Hard Times sharpened and I'm inclined to read some more of his later works. And if I am not sure if I would return to Dickens favourite David Copperfield on account of how intensely annoying I found Dora (I think it is possibly a bad sign that I was glad when she died) and how disappointingly insipid I found his Agnes, at least I do have a sense of the ironies involved in his characterisation of the Dora-David relationship and how these characters fit more generally into Dickens' difficulties with women (difficulties isn't quite the right word, but it will have to do for now).
Tomalin gives a few pages to each of the novels and to some of the stories, giving an overview of the plot and characters but no great analysis. Again if you want a thorough discussion of Dickens' output: look elsewhere. This is a life of a Dickens. Having said that there are interesting insights - I was taken by how Dickens split his experience of parents into the Micawbers and the Murdstones in David Copperfield.
Likewise I was surprised to read that Dickens was a Francophile, which conflicts completely with my memory of A Tale of Two Cities. At one stage Dickens did complain that he felt that his readers wouldn't accept a realistic hero, the implication was that this was in regard to contemporary sexual mores, but more generally suggests that Dickens was writing with a certain audience in mind and was prepared to give his public what he thought they wanted. In the particular case of A Tale of Two Cities I would have been interested to see what his French translators made of it.
Tomalin describes Dickens' father as Mr Micawber yet Dickens' own habit of life as a young writer seemed no less Micawberish. Delighting in the cash flow and the fine life on credit it allowed Dickens wasn't to achieve financial security until the publication of Dombey and Son when he had been writing fiction to huge public and critical acclaim and massive sales for over ten years, yet still was frequently a sixpence shy of happiness.
The impression is hard to escape that in his fiction Dickens showed a degree of self-knowledge that didn't inform his way of life. His treatment of his children could be cold, his behaviour towards his wife a role model of what not to do. The intensity and role of his male relationships coupled with his domineering attitude towards women gives insight into why so many of his leading women seem flat - they weren't allowed the space in his life to be much else unless they admired him uncritically. On the other hand he wasn't much better in his male friendships, although perhaps there was some space between drinking and tearful reunions for small differences of opinion. I wondered if Dickens could have coped had the relationship with his later biographer Forster and his wife Catherine been combined. The separation between Forster as friend and confidant on the one hand with Catherine as sexual partner (despite being a Francophile, even learning French, Dickens doesn't seem to have picked up any French Letters, as a result Mrs Dickens was regularly pregnant, and ten of the couple's children survived to adulthood) assisted Dickens to compartmentalise and control his life. Being in control, unsurprisingly perhaps given his childhood experience, comes across as of central importance to Dickens in Tomalin's account, and writing fiction is one way of being able to continually reinvent yourself and re-imagine your own life with complete power.
December 15, 2025
I read this a number of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated this work by Claire Tomalin; in fact it is one of the finest biographies I have read.
When I read this I wrote a review but it appears Goodreads has lost/deleted it much to my disappointment.
When I read this I wrote a review but it appears Goodreads has lost/deleted it much to my disappointment.
January 31, 2020
This was magisterial and quite superb.
Claire Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens is compelling and brilliant, and the portrait provided of him is lively, sympathetic but never one-sided, and as such keeps the reader engaged and discovering.
The deep research and knowledge behind the writing is apparent, as is the author's own ability as a story-teller herself. The stages of Dickens's life and the experiences that shaped him and his writing are done so well. We see clearly the brilliance and the flaws of the great man and criticism of his behaviour is not left to one side.
One area that I enjoyed was how Ms Tomalin transported me into the Victorian era that Dickens strode. There are fine descriptions of areas of London, his houses and work places as well as his travels in Europe and the USA. This could be discarded, as of course Dickens's own descriptions help provide this insight, but Ms Tomalin aligns her biography the man not his books, and it is a very strong part of the book as it creates atmosphere and background to his life. The family, friends and acquaintances of Dickens are also well placed and given life through the book's pages. I enjoyed reading of his business partnerships and those friendships with other well-known people of the age. This wide ranging story and the large cast of characters sees one have reactions an I recall my own groans, sympathies, laughs and astonishment with these people as I read - surely a sign of great biography.
Dicken's place in literature and Victorian society - and there is much more to him than the writer of great stories - is held high. This biography by Claire Tomalin deserves to be raised to that same high-level and celebrated as the accessible, balanced and rewarding book it is and that Dickens deserves.
Claire Tomalin's biography of Charles Dickens is compelling and brilliant, and the portrait provided of him is lively, sympathetic but never one-sided, and as such keeps the reader engaged and discovering.
The deep research and knowledge behind the writing is apparent, as is the author's own ability as a story-teller herself. The stages of Dickens's life and the experiences that shaped him and his writing are done so well. We see clearly the brilliance and the flaws of the great man and criticism of his behaviour is not left to one side.
One area that I enjoyed was how Ms Tomalin transported me into the Victorian era that Dickens strode. There are fine descriptions of areas of London, his houses and work places as well as his travels in Europe and the USA. This could be discarded, as of course Dickens's own descriptions help provide this insight, but Ms Tomalin aligns her biography the man not his books, and it is a very strong part of the book as it creates atmosphere and background to his life. The family, friends and acquaintances of Dickens are also well placed and given life through the book's pages. I enjoyed reading of his business partnerships and those friendships with other well-known people of the age. This wide ranging story and the large cast of characters sees one have reactions an I recall my own groans, sympathies, laughs and astonishment with these people as I read - surely a sign of great biography.
Dicken's place in literature and Victorian society - and there is much more to him than the writer of great stories - is held high. This biography by Claire Tomalin deserves to be raised to that same high-level and celebrated as the accessible, balanced and rewarding book it is and that Dickens deserves.
June 8, 2020
Nothing can take away my love for books like Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. But Claire Tomalin's dreary, lacklustre biography has dampened my enthusiasm for the man who wrote them.
Sure, I didn't expect Dickens to be a saint. I knew about the author's separation from his wife Catherine Hogarth, essentially a baby factory for him. I also knew about his late-in-life affair with actress Ellen (Nelly) Ternan, which Tomalin had already chronicled in her book The Invisible Woman (also made into a movie).
But I expected a bit more depth and complexity in a biographical portrait. After all, if you're going to devote years of your life researching someone, you'd think one of the prerequisites was actually liking the person, or at least making us understand him or her.
I didn't get much insight from Tomalin. Nor is there any outstanding critical analyses of his books. Tomalin's summations of the novels are perfunctory at best, at worst superficial. Some of the book's passages are incredibly dull, a mere accounting of the number of copies a novel sold or rent paid on a property or the symptoms of one of his nagging illnesses; at times, this all feels like a Wiki-biography. I had no idea Dickens wrote so many Christmas stories, none of them achieving the artistic heights or commercial success of the one involving Ebenezer Scrooge.
Tomalin is fine recounting Dickens's childhood, which started out idyllic but soon turned hellish when his ne'er-do-well father ended up in debtor's prison and Dickens had to work in a blacking warehouse. And there's a moving account of his first love, which was abruptly ended when the girl's parents thought he wasn't a suitable match (i.e., he was from a different class and had no prospects). Later on, after he's famous and wealthy (or wealthier - he's got lots of expenses, and many children to support) he meets that same woman and comes across as terribly cruel.
Tomalin spends a lot of time on Dickens's philanthropy. Most interesting is his support of a home for women who have fallen through the cracks - current or former prostitutes, thieves, ex-prisoners. With his help, many went on to lead more respectable lives, often finding work, emigrating to the colonies and marrying.
I also was glad to read about some of his enduring friendships, not just with famous authors (Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, even Edgar Allen Poe, whom he met during one of his U.S. tours) but less celebrated folks like his future biographer John Forster, whom he bonded with over their similar humble backgrounds and became his 19th century BFF.
Dickens loved the theatre, and took part in amateur theatricals (Queen Victoria was upset once because she missed one of his performances). As such, he cherished disguises, masks, accents, intrigue. He was different things to different people.
Tomalin never lifts off the mask to show us a fully realized person. She can recount all his achievements, and his failures (he seemed indifferent to almost all of his 10 children), but that doesn't make him human.
Even though Tomalin has cast a pall over her subject, I'll continue going back to the man's fiction. I doubt I'll read more by her, however.
Sure, I didn't expect Dickens to be a saint. I knew about the author's separation from his wife Catherine Hogarth, essentially a baby factory for him. I also knew about his late-in-life affair with actress Ellen (Nelly) Ternan, which Tomalin had already chronicled in her book The Invisible Woman (also made into a movie).
But I expected a bit more depth and complexity in a biographical portrait. After all, if you're going to devote years of your life researching someone, you'd think one of the prerequisites was actually liking the person, or at least making us understand him or her.
I didn't get much insight from Tomalin. Nor is there any outstanding critical analyses of his books. Tomalin's summations of the novels are perfunctory at best, at worst superficial. Some of the book's passages are incredibly dull, a mere accounting of the number of copies a novel sold or rent paid on a property or the symptoms of one of his nagging illnesses; at times, this all feels like a Wiki-biography. I had no idea Dickens wrote so many Christmas stories, none of them achieving the artistic heights or commercial success of the one involving Ebenezer Scrooge.
Tomalin is fine recounting Dickens's childhood, which started out idyllic but soon turned hellish when his ne'er-do-well father ended up in debtor's prison and Dickens had to work in a blacking warehouse. And there's a moving account of his first love, which was abruptly ended when the girl's parents thought he wasn't a suitable match (i.e., he was from a different class and had no prospects). Later on, after he's famous and wealthy (or wealthier - he's got lots of expenses, and many children to support) he meets that same woman and comes across as terribly cruel.
Tomalin spends a lot of time on Dickens's philanthropy. Most interesting is his support of a home for women who have fallen through the cracks - current or former prostitutes, thieves, ex-prisoners. With his help, many went on to lead more respectable lives, often finding work, emigrating to the colonies and marrying.
I also was glad to read about some of his enduring friendships, not just with famous authors (Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, even Edgar Allen Poe, whom he met during one of his U.S. tours) but less celebrated folks like his future biographer John Forster, whom he bonded with over their similar humble backgrounds and became his 19th century BFF.
Dickens loved the theatre, and took part in amateur theatricals (Queen Victoria was upset once because she missed one of his performances). As such, he cherished disguises, masks, accents, intrigue. He was different things to different people.
Tomalin never lifts off the mask to show us a fully realized person. She can recount all his achievements, and his failures (he seemed indifferent to almost all of his 10 children), but that doesn't make him human.
Even though Tomalin has cast a pall over her subject, I'll continue going back to the man's fiction. I doubt I'll read more by her, however.
December 13, 2019
This biography provides a clear and balanced view of Charles Dickens (1812-1870). I feel it is important to state that Dickens is not one of my favorite authors. For me his writing is too florid, his tales too melodramatic and his characters too stereotypical. I wanted to understand the man, and I was not looking for a hagiography! Balance is what I sought most and balance is what I got.
The book starts with his parents and moves forward year by year. Friends and family and all that he involved himself in are thoroughly covered. He certainly wasn’t merely an author. He was an indefatigable writer, a journalist, an editor and a publisher. Active in the theater and a public reader, touring in not only England but also in Europe and twice in the States. He was an active proponent for help to the poor and needy. He set up and managed a home for destitute women in Shepherd’s Bush. What he did and what he wrote are covered meticulously, year by year.
Who he was, his weaknesses and strengths, are covered too. He was a bad husband; there it is straight! He was charming and convivial; he could also be dictatorial and moody; he was an actor and a ham. He disliked scandal. He was filled with eager, restless energy up to his death. The book goes on to say what happens to close friends and family members after Dickens’ own death.
Facts that are disputed are stated as such, with clear information explaining why the author draws the conclusions she does. There is a thorough discussion of Dickens’ relationship with his mistress Ellen Lawless Ternan (1839 – 1914), known as NellyTernan.
I have come to understand how Dickens’ writing mirrors his own life. Each book is discussed with the same balanced analysis employed in portraying the weaknesses and strengths of the man.
The audiobook is narrated by Alex Jennings. Only in the beginning was it read a bit too fast. I smiled when hearing the contrast between the American and English accents. The reading is easy to follow. I’ve given both the narration and the author’s written text four stars!
It can be hard to get excited about balance, but that is exactly what I was looking for when I chose this biography on Charles Dickens. I got exactly what I was looking for!
ETA: I didn't give the book five stars because although it was informative, interesting and balanced I never came to care for anyone. I neither emotionally suffered nor rejoiced. Emotionally it is flat.
The book starts with his parents and moves forward year by year. Friends and family and all that he involved himself in are thoroughly covered. He certainly wasn’t merely an author. He was an indefatigable writer, a journalist, an editor and a publisher. Active in the theater and a public reader, touring in not only England but also in Europe and twice in the States. He was an active proponent for help to the poor and needy. He set up and managed a home for destitute women in Shepherd’s Bush. What he did and what he wrote are covered meticulously, year by year.
Who he was, his weaknesses and strengths, are covered too. He was a bad husband; there it is straight! He was charming and convivial; he could also be dictatorial and moody; he was an actor and a ham. He disliked scandal. He was filled with eager, restless energy up to his death. The book goes on to say what happens to close friends and family members after Dickens’ own death.
Facts that are disputed are stated as such, with clear information explaining why the author draws the conclusions she does. There is a thorough discussion of Dickens’ relationship with his mistress Ellen Lawless Ternan (1839 – 1914), known as NellyTernan.
I have come to understand how Dickens’ writing mirrors his own life. Each book is discussed with the same balanced analysis employed in portraying the weaknesses and strengths of the man.
The audiobook is narrated by Alex Jennings. Only in the beginning was it read a bit too fast. I smiled when hearing the contrast between the American and English accents. The reading is easy to follow. I’ve given both the narration and the author’s written text four stars!
It can be hard to get excited about balance, but that is exactly what I was looking for when I chose this biography on Charles Dickens. I got exactly what I was looking for!
ETA: I didn't give the book five stars because although it was informative, interesting and balanced I never came to care for anyone. I neither emotionally suffered nor rejoiced. Emotionally it is flat.
July 30, 2021
This is an exuberant biography of this famous and iconic writer. Like Dickens, this book gives off energy on every page.
Page 259 (my book)
Dickens kept going by taking on too much. He knew no other way to live, and no day went by in which he did not stretch himself, physically, socially and emotionally.
The author tells us of the anguish and poverty surrounding the young Dickens when he was growing up. His young life was in constant turmoil. His father was always borrowing and in debt to several people. The family at one stage was placed in a debtors’ prison. Dickens’ youth is always reflected in the myriad characters of his novels.
Dickens exposed the poverty and neglect suffered by the disenfranchised and the downtrodden. His writings were a crusade for the homeless, child labourers, and even to some extent women forced into prostitution. Due to the prudish conditions of the era, he could not write pointedly on this topic. Dickens, did for a time, manage a home to try to rehabilitate both young and older wayward women. This was most unusual during this Victorian time period.
The author discusses both the strengths and weaknesses of his many novels. The melodrama could be overdone, his female characters were often too angelic.
Dickens was always active and kept very long hours. One wonders how many hours of sleep he got!
Page 68-69 The Pickwick Papers
It was as though he was able to feed his story directly into the bloodstream of the nation, giving injections of laughter, pathos and melodrama, and making his readers feel he was a personal friend to each of them… this sense of a personal link between himself and his public became the most essential element in his development as a writer.
Aside from writing his novels he was an active journalist. He also took long walks in all areas of London, more so in the poorer slum areas. He was always observing and listening. These walks were transposed into his writings. He loved the tumult of these streets; the scenes and characters witnessed were motivating to him. This imparts to his books a realistic urban reality; he knew first-hand of what he was writing of.
He was constantly traveling and moving from house to house, much like in his childhood. One wonders about the psychological instability this imparted to his expanding family. He never seemed to be happy in one place. Like in his books he was far more comfortable in the company of men, than women.
The author also discusses his personal life. Like many great figures there was a discrepancy between what he preached and how he treated his family. He fathered ten children. His treatment of his wife (Catherine) in the latter years became more and more appalling. He had much more time for his vast array of friends than for his children. Overall, he found both his wife and children more of a nuisance than anything. He saw them as a drain on his time and finances. He sent his boys away to schools far from home.
This by far is the best biography I have read on Charles Dickens (I have read two others). In particular I liked how the author evaluated his timeless novels. It is most readable and has the immense spirit of the man.
Page 259 (my book)
Dickens kept going by taking on too much. He knew no other way to live, and no day went by in which he did not stretch himself, physically, socially and emotionally.
The author tells us of the anguish and poverty surrounding the young Dickens when he was growing up. His young life was in constant turmoil. His father was always borrowing and in debt to several people. The family at one stage was placed in a debtors’ prison. Dickens’ youth is always reflected in the myriad characters of his novels.
Dickens exposed the poverty and neglect suffered by the disenfranchised and the downtrodden. His writings were a crusade for the homeless, child labourers, and even to some extent women forced into prostitution. Due to the prudish conditions of the era, he could not write pointedly on this topic. Dickens, did for a time, manage a home to try to rehabilitate both young and older wayward women. This was most unusual during this Victorian time period.
The author discusses both the strengths and weaknesses of his many novels. The melodrama could be overdone, his female characters were often too angelic.
Dickens was always active and kept very long hours. One wonders how many hours of sleep he got!
Page 68-69 The Pickwick Papers
It was as though he was able to feed his story directly into the bloodstream of the nation, giving injections of laughter, pathos and melodrama, and making his readers feel he was a personal friend to each of them… this sense of a personal link between himself and his public became the most essential element in his development as a writer.
Aside from writing his novels he was an active journalist. He also took long walks in all areas of London, more so in the poorer slum areas. He was always observing and listening. These walks were transposed into his writings. He loved the tumult of these streets; the scenes and characters witnessed were motivating to him. This imparts to his books a realistic urban reality; he knew first-hand of what he was writing of.
He was constantly traveling and moving from house to house, much like in his childhood. One wonders about the psychological instability this imparted to his expanding family. He never seemed to be happy in one place. Like in his books he was far more comfortable in the company of men, than women.
The author also discusses his personal life. Like many great figures there was a discrepancy between what he preached and how he treated his family. He fathered ten children. His treatment of his wife (Catherine) in the latter years became more and more appalling. He had much more time for his vast array of friends than for his children. Overall, he found both his wife and children more of a nuisance than anything. He saw them as a drain on his time and finances. He sent his boys away to schools far from home.
This by far is the best biography I have read on Charles Dickens (I have read two others). In particular I liked how the author evaluated his timeless novels. It is most readable and has the immense spirit of the man.
June 10, 2013
This breakneck biography touches upon all the important events of Boz’s blistering life, omitting the copious detail on his journalism covered in Michael Slater’s exhaustively entertaining tome, along with too many of the pivotally opinionated rants on social reform and whatnot. Tomalin is stronger on Dickens’s personal relationships, especially with women and male friends, and creates a more emotional portrait of a restless but tormented man, in comparison with Slater’s love-in where Dickens is shown as a dynamo with sparks of lightning streaking from his quill, inflaming every room with his lively presence. Overly critical of many of the works, Tomalin’s enthusiasm for what Dickens does seems to lag at times, whereas Slater can barely bring himself to cast aspersions over a single shopping list, but the second half of this bio establishes a truly painful tone of weariness, physical pain and melancholy, which seems more accurate for Boz’s post-Catherine life: he’d lost out on true reciprocal love, and clearly his heart had been wounded beyond repair when he embarked on some his most trenchant books. Dickens simply seems lost, aggressive and lacking the same mercurial magic of his younger years: his transformation from energetic buck to grizzled lion is much clearer and painful with Tomalin. Detail of the Nelly affair is discussed more speculatively here, offering a more convincing case that Boz did consummate: Tomalin published The Invisible Woman about this dark part of his life in 1991. Otherwise, a serviceable, brisk bio. Given Tomalin’s pedigree—several bios of major writers in under a decade—this can’t be taken as an essential work, but the writing is adorable.
March 29, 2023
He saw the world more vividly than other people, and reacted to what he saw with laughter, horror, indignation - and sometimes sobs. He stored up his experiences and reactions as raw material to transform and use in his novels, and was so charged with imaginative energy that he rendered nineteenth-century England crackling, full of truth and life, with his laughter, horror and indignation - and sentimentality.
Claire Tomalin has done a marvelous job of painting a realistic image of the most well-known of all English novelists in the world, Charles Dickens. Dickens’ life is set before the reader as one of great struggle complete with turbulent and disruptive experiences, almost a rags to riches story. His parents did not see the need for his education and thus sent him to work in a blacking factory at an early age. He witnessed his own father being imprisoned for debt and never heard a word of praise. By the time of his death at age 58 in 1870, he was a household name and a highly respected author, performer and English national treasure. He championed for the downtrodden and poor. He lit a fire to his career and never let up until the day his body gave up. Father of 10 children and husband to a wife he struggled to love, he has written some of the most important and well-known novels in the world. Dickens is known throughout the entire world and even more so are his characters and his London. If you have read any of his novels, I guarantee that you’ll never forget them. He called himself “inimitable” for a reason.
This quote sums him up 100%:
He left a trail like a meteor, and everyone finds their own version of Charles Dickens. The child-victim, the irrepressibly ambitious young man, the reporter, the demonic worker, the tireless walker. The radical, the protector of orphans, helper of the needy, man of good works, the republican. The hater and the lover of America. The giver of parties, magician, the traveller. The satirist, the surrealist, the mesmerist. The angry son, the good friend, the bad husband, the quarreler, the sentimentalist, the secret lover, the despairing father. The Francophile, the player of games, the lover of circuses, the maker of punch, the country squire, the editor, the Chief, the smoker, the drink, the dancer of reels and hornpipes, the actor, the ham. Too missed to be a gentleman - but wonderful. The irreplaceable and unrepeatable Boz. The brilliance in the room. The inimitable. And, above and beyond every other description, simply the great, hard-working writer, who set nineteenth century London before our eyes and who noticed and celebrated the small people living on the margins of society.
Claire Tomalin has done a marvelous job of painting a realistic image of the most well-known of all English novelists in the world, Charles Dickens. Dickens’ life is set before the reader as one of great struggle complete with turbulent and disruptive experiences, almost a rags to riches story. His parents did not see the need for his education and thus sent him to work in a blacking factory at an early age. He witnessed his own father being imprisoned for debt and never heard a word of praise. By the time of his death at age 58 in 1870, he was a household name and a highly respected author, performer and English national treasure. He championed for the downtrodden and poor. He lit a fire to his career and never let up until the day his body gave up. Father of 10 children and husband to a wife he struggled to love, he has written some of the most important and well-known novels in the world. Dickens is known throughout the entire world and even more so are his characters and his London. If you have read any of his novels, I guarantee that you’ll never forget them. He called himself “inimitable” for a reason.
This quote sums him up 100%:
He left a trail like a meteor, and everyone finds their own version of Charles Dickens. The child-victim, the irrepressibly ambitious young man, the reporter, the demonic worker, the tireless walker. The radical, the protector of orphans, helper of the needy, man of good works, the republican. The hater and the lover of America. The giver of parties, magician, the traveller. The satirist, the surrealist, the mesmerist. The angry son, the good friend, the bad husband, the quarreler, the sentimentalist, the secret lover, the despairing father. The Francophile, the player of games, the lover of circuses, the maker of punch, the country squire, the editor, the Chief, the smoker, the drink, the dancer of reels and hornpipes, the actor, the ham. Too missed to be a gentleman - but wonderful. The irreplaceable and unrepeatable Boz. The brilliance in the room. The inimitable. And, above and beyond every other description, simply the great, hard-working writer, who set nineteenth century London before our eyes and who noticed and celebrated the small people living on the margins of society.
February 16, 2025
4,5 stars
Thank you for the recommendation, Sammy, about our "non-mutual friend". 🤭
This was just how I like my biographies: respectful, but neutral, did not shy away from praise or from criticism without raising the subject to a pedestal or slinging mud at them.
This is not to say that I did not find Dickens a colossal... well ... D*ick(ens) most of the time and equally fascinating at others, but I had known of his questionable behaviour as well as about his strong points beforehand, so it's not as if the world has suddenly fallen apart on me with any kind of big revelations. :)
author Claire Tomalin handled it all with a sure hand and kept me interested and entertained all the way through with the help of the excellent narration by Alex Jennings.
Very much recommended.
Thank you for the recommendation, Sammy, about our "non-mutual friend". 🤭
This was just how I like my biographies: respectful, but neutral, did not shy away from praise or from criticism without raising the subject to a pedestal or slinging mud at them.
This is not to say that I did not find Dickens a colossal... well ... D*ick(ens) most of the time and equally fascinating at others, but I had known of his questionable behaviour as well as about his strong points beforehand, so it's not as if the world has suddenly fallen apart on me with any kind of big revelations. :)
author Claire Tomalin handled it all with a sure hand and kept me interested and entertained all the way through with the help of the excellent narration by Alex Jennings.
Very much recommended.
November 27, 2012
Oh! Now it all makes sense! Now I understand why so many of the characters in Dickens' novels seem so theatrically dramatic. Read Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin and you too can unlock such mysteries as they expertly unfold in this top-notch biography!
After reading so many of his novels I figured it was high time I got to know the man behind the words. Tomalin combines his personal story with just enough historical detail while sprinkling in a compact summary and review of all of his works as each was produced when that point in time is reached in an ever-unfurling scroll upon which his life is written. Always with energy and passion the poor, unfortunate Dickens becomes the famous, benevolent Dickens, who then decays into the elderly and selectively vindictive Dickens. See how the man of the people rose to untouchable heights so high he felt free to snub the Queen, and yet remained earth-bound and ever-able to reach into the souls of the lowest of the low and play sorrowfully sweet upon their heartstrings. Finally understand what in the dickens was going on in Dickens.
After reading so many of his novels I figured it was high time I got to know the man behind the words. Tomalin combines his personal story with just enough historical detail while sprinkling in a compact summary and review of all of his works as each was produced when that point in time is reached in an ever-unfurling scroll upon which his life is written. Always with energy and passion the poor, unfortunate Dickens becomes the famous, benevolent Dickens, who then decays into the elderly and selectively vindictive Dickens. See how the man of the people rose to untouchable heights so high he felt free to snub the Queen, and yet remained earth-bound and ever-able to reach into the souls of the lowest of the low and play sorrowfully sweet upon their heartstrings. Finally understand what in the dickens was going on in Dickens.
March 3, 2012
Claire Tomalin is a no-nonsense schoolmarm of a biographer, marshalling her facts into order and marching them across the page in seemly double crocodile lines, one two one two. A sort of Joyce Grenfell type, pleasant, but firm - George, don't do that - No, Susan, put Sydney down dear - No, Neville, you can't go home. The effect of this patting and prodding and pummelling into shape is that Dickens' life appears oddly reduced. The Slater biography gives the impression of a man constantly struggling to keep all the plates spinning at the same time, and often in danger of letting them slip, whereas Tomalin has him taking holidays. Slater gives details (perhaps too many for most readers) of exactly how each work was produced, how often he over- or underwrote, how many months ahead of publication he was, all the other articles, letters, speeches he was producing at the same time as his novels and stories, whereas Tomalin even occasionally just says something like he wrote a book over the next year and a half and then took a break.
Slater interprets the works, but when it comes to the man's private life he gives facts and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. Tomalin, again rather like a firm schoolmistress, knows exactly what she thinks of Mr Dickens, and is more than willing to take the readers firmly by the hand and guide them to the 'correct' conclusions, her conclusions, i.e. that he was a rotten husband and could be ruthless and cruel as well as cheerful and wonderful company, and that yes, his Nelly bore him a son, who died. There's even a theory that he may have collapsed at the home he shared with Nelly in Peckham and she had to get him back over to Gad's Hill secretly, by brougham, where he later died. A most singular idea, that is backed only by the evidence of some missing cash from his pocket. It seems to be pure speculation, and as such, you wonder why it sits there. Thanks to my GR friend Troy I was able to read the review at the LRB in which Deborah Friedell also questions the inclusion of this highly speculative alternative death scene; Tomalin's answering letters can be read here.
All in all, I think that Tomalin's assessment is very similar to the one I had already reached after reading the Slater, but I'm certainly glad I read Slater first. I like to have the feeling I've made my own mind up, deceptive as it may be.
Slater interprets the works, but when it comes to the man's private life he gives facts and allows readers to draw their own conclusions. Tomalin, again rather like a firm schoolmistress, knows exactly what she thinks of Mr Dickens, and is more than willing to take the readers firmly by the hand and guide them to the 'correct' conclusions, her conclusions, i.e. that he was a rotten husband and could be ruthless and cruel as well as cheerful and wonderful company, and that yes, his Nelly bore him a son, who died. There's even a theory that he may have collapsed at the home he shared with Nelly in Peckham and she had to get him back over to Gad's Hill secretly, by brougham, where he later died. A most singular idea, that is backed only by the evidence of some missing cash from his pocket. It seems to be pure speculation, and as such, you wonder why it sits there. Thanks to my GR friend Troy I was able to read the review at the LRB in which Deborah Friedell also questions the inclusion of this highly speculative alternative death scene; Tomalin's answering letters can be read here.
All in all, I think that Tomalin's assessment is very similar to the one I had already reached after reading the Slater, but I'm certainly glad I read Slater first. I like to have the feeling I've made my own mind up, deceptive as it may be.
January 30, 2019
For many years I have meant to read a biography of Charles Dickens and this year, I finally got around to it – both enjoying Claire Tomalin’s book and visiting the Dickens museum, to try to get a sense of this fascinating man.
Tomalin opens with an event which shows Dickens at his best – aiding a poor servant woman, accused of a crime. Throughout this book, you get glimpses of Dickens at both his best, and his worst, and you get the sense that he was aware of his own failings, but did not always fight against them as much as, perhaps, he should – and, indeed, many of us share this fault, myself included.
I knew parts of Dickens life, of course. The blacking factory, his father’s debts, the collapse of his marriage, his love of theatre, his public readings, and more, are all covered here. Tomalin is more interested in his life, than his work; although, of course, she does put his writing in perspective. She also makes his childhood, and how it coloured his adult life, much clearer. His need for control, his resentment at the responsibility put upon his shoulders, his need for respect, and acclaim, are much more understandable to me, since reading this.
Although I found this an interesting read, I do feel that Tomalin did Catherine something of a disservice. Not only was she rejected by her husband, but her voice was somewhat stilled in this biography. I would have liked to have known more of what Catherine felt about events and how she coped with the humiliations heaped upon her, which she seemed to bear with fortitude and courage. Dickens was irreplaceable, but it was, perhaps, his faults which made him so. Reading this, you are impressed by how much he achieved, his humanity and yet, at times, all too aware of how personally unkind he could be.
There are, of course, many biographies of Dickens available and I have read only one. However, I am keen to read, not only more books about his life, but to reacquaint myself with his writing. There is so much to explore and to admire.
Tomalin opens with an event which shows Dickens at his best – aiding a poor servant woman, accused of a crime. Throughout this book, you get glimpses of Dickens at both his best, and his worst, and you get the sense that he was aware of his own failings, but did not always fight against them as much as, perhaps, he should – and, indeed, many of us share this fault, myself included.
I knew parts of Dickens life, of course. The blacking factory, his father’s debts, the collapse of his marriage, his love of theatre, his public readings, and more, are all covered here. Tomalin is more interested in his life, than his work; although, of course, she does put his writing in perspective. She also makes his childhood, and how it coloured his adult life, much clearer. His need for control, his resentment at the responsibility put upon his shoulders, his need for respect, and acclaim, are much more understandable to me, since reading this.
Although I found this an interesting read, I do feel that Tomalin did Catherine something of a disservice. Not only was she rejected by her husband, but her voice was somewhat stilled in this biography. I would have liked to have known more of what Catherine felt about events and how she coped with the humiliations heaped upon her, which she seemed to bear with fortitude and courage. Dickens was irreplaceable, but it was, perhaps, his faults which made him so. Reading this, you are impressed by how much he achieved, his humanity and yet, at times, all too aware of how personally unkind he could be.
There are, of course, many biographies of Dickens available and I have read only one. However, I am keen to read, not only more books about his life, but to reacquaint myself with his writing. There is so much to explore and to admire.
January 20, 2020
I just finished Our Mutual Friend, which completed my journey through the novels of Charles Dickens. Okay, I was unable to finish The Pickwick Papers. Let us not speak of that. Anyway, it seemed appropriate to read a biography of said intrepid author. He was an amazing man who had an extraordinary impact on the culture of his day, an impact that continues to echo to the present. The guy made a difference.
This is a very well written and evenhanded biography. It’s maybe not quite the massive construct that John Forster’s biography of Dickens is reputed to be, but I think there are advantages to having one written by someone who wasn’t a close friend. Someone who was free to reveal things about Charles that Forster never could, or would.
Here we see the man in all his complex and contradictory glory, both the good and the bad. I love Charles Dickens for his compassion for the poor and downtrodden, for the brilliant literary legacy he left us, the evocative descriptions of 19th-century Britain, the unforgettable collection of lovable, hateable and often wildly eccentric characters. I deeply dislike Charles Dickens for the way he treated his wife. I understand when you were on the outs with him, that was it, you were done. But when he applied that particular personality trait to the woman who’d quietly borne him ten children and endured miscarriages along the way, at a great cost to herself, then I dislike Charles very much. He behaved like one of the nastier villains in his own books.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be dwelling on the bad, but I was really dreading the point where the middle-aged Dickens, struggling in a marriage in which neither of them was suited for each other, would see a pretty young face and lose his mind. I dwell on it because it was so painful. It’s a hard thing to forgive. Lots of famous people have had crappy marriages and even separated from or divorced their spouses for selfish reasons, but few of them took the nastiness to the level that Charles Dickens did. He cut her off and tried to destroy her reputation just to make himself feel better about what he was doing because he wanted to construct a narrative where he was in the right.
I didn’t want Charles Dickens to be that kind of person. I wanted him to be this great man who cared about everyone and just wanted to make the world a better and fairer place. The man who was outraged by the monstrous treatment of the poor and the complacency of the rich and powerful. I wanted that man to shine through because that man was real and he accomplished marvelous things. He left us with a literary legacy that is part of the heritage of the entire world.
Through his books, we saw a very different view of England during the Imperial age. We got to see it from the point of view of those living on the margins struggling to survive, people with no voice. Through Charles Dickens, we heard them. He brought their world to us in all its painful, tragic, stinking wretchedness. He showed us that those people were capable of being every bit as heroic, loving and honorable as any romantic hero. We need to listen to that voice because the poor and downtrodden are still with us.
I found it interesting, but not surprising, to read about his fascination with acting and the theatre. He often has his characters, particularly his villains, giving long soliloquies is if there was an audience in front of them. I suppose if he figured it was good enough for Shakespeare, it was good enough for him. This is one of the odder things, in my opinion, about the novels. After all, they didn’t need to say their thoughts out loud. These were not plays. He could’ve simply told us what they were thinking. Sometimes I wondered if that hadn’t occurred to him, or maybe he was just keeping his options open for public readings.
I also thought it interesting, as I read this biography, to realize the Charles didn’t just die before his sixtieth birthday because 19th-century medicine was, well, 19th-century medicine. He literally wore himself out with that frenetic lifestyle of his. He was like a shooting star that burned bright across the sky and then vaporized. He got plenty of exercise, but he failed to get the rest he needed. I doubt all those cigars helped much either.
I think if you’re going to read a biography of the man who left us such a great literary legacy with a conscience, you could do a lot worse than this one. Claire Tomalin does a fine job. She has clearly read and enjoyed the novels and knows what she’s talking about.
This is a very well written and evenhanded biography. It’s maybe not quite the massive construct that John Forster’s biography of Dickens is reputed to be, but I think there are advantages to having one written by someone who wasn’t a close friend. Someone who was free to reveal things about Charles that Forster never could, or would.
Here we see the man in all his complex and contradictory glory, both the good and the bad. I love Charles Dickens for his compassion for the poor and downtrodden, for the brilliant literary legacy he left us, the evocative descriptions of 19th-century Britain, the unforgettable collection of lovable, hateable and often wildly eccentric characters. I deeply dislike Charles Dickens for the way he treated his wife. I understand when you were on the outs with him, that was it, you were done. But when he applied that particular personality trait to the woman who’d quietly borne him ten children and endured miscarriages along the way, at a great cost to herself, then I dislike Charles very much. He behaved like one of the nastier villains in his own books.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be dwelling on the bad, but I was really dreading the point where the middle-aged Dickens, struggling in a marriage in which neither of them was suited for each other, would see a pretty young face and lose his mind. I dwell on it because it was so painful. It’s a hard thing to forgive. Lots of famous people have had crappy marriages and even separated from or divorced their spouses for selfish reasons, but few of them took the nastiness to the level that Charles Dickens did. He cut her off and tried to destroy her reputation just to make himself feel better about what he was doing because he wanted to construct a narrative where he was in the right.
I didn’t want Charles Dickens to be that kind of person. I wanted him to be this great man who cared about everyone and just wanted to make the world a better and fairer place. The man who was outraged by the monstrous treatment of the poor and the complacency of the rich and powerful. I wanted that man to shine through because that man was real and he accomplished marvelous things. He left us with a literary legacy that is part of the heritage of the entire world.
Through his books, we saw a very different view of England during the Imperial age. We got to see it from the point of view of those living on the margins struggling to survive, people with no voice. Through Charles Dickens, we heard them. He brought their world to us in all its painful, tragic, stinking wretchedness. He showed us that those people were capable of being every bit as heroic, loving and honorable as any romantic hero. We need to listen to that voice because the poor and downtrodden are still with us.
I found it interesting, but not surprising, to read about his fascination with acting and the theatre. He often has his characters, particularly his villains, giving long soliloquies is if there was an audience in front of them. I suppose if he figured it was good enough for Shakespeare, it was good enough for him. This is one of the odder things, in my opinion, about the novels. After all, they didn’t need to say their thoughts out loud. These were not plays. He could’ve simply told us what they were thinking. Sometimes I wondered if that hadn’t occurred to him, or maybe he was just keeping his options open for public readings.
I also thought it interesting, as I read this biography, to realize the Charles didn’t just die before his sixtieth birthday because 19th-century medicine was, well, 19th-century medicine. He literally wore himself out with that frenetic lifestyle of his. He was like a shooting star that burned bright across the sky and then vaporized. He got plenty of exercise, but he failed to get the rest he needed. I doubt all those cigars helped much either.
I think if you’re going to read a biography of the man who left us such a great literary legacy with a conscience, you could do a lot worse than this one. Claire Tomalin does a fine job. She has clearly read and enjoyed the novels and knows what she’s talking about.
October 6, 2018
Charles Dickens, as revealed in Claire Tomalin’s excellent biography, is both more and much less than what I expected from a lifetime of A Christmas Carol and knowing pieces of his books. He is more in terms of his constant writing as an adult, his dedication to charitable interests, his working himself up in society from a difficult youth. He is less, often much less, in his domestic affairs, his relationships with his wife and children. He could be a very judgmental man.
To be continued....
To be continued....
January 10, 2012
Charles Dickens was a monster. I know, he spent enormous amounts of time and energy raising money for charitable causes. I know, he was sympathetic to the poor, demonstrated their plight in his books, and fought for social reform. I know, he was the most popular writer of the 19th century and his books are still read today, in part because of the vivid caricatures, those children of his fertile imagination.
But his ego was monumental. He was selfish on a scale hard to imagine, he was sarcastic about people who had done him no harm. He was almost unbelievably cruel to his wife, abandoning her after 20 years of marriage, 10 children, and at least two miscarriages, primarily because he fell in love with an 18-year old girl and his wife, was, not surprisingly, after all those children, growing fat.He was angry at her for having so many children - his sudden hatred for her was that irrational.
He spread lies about her so fantastic most people were embarrassed for him. But if, like Thackeray, his publishers, and other formerly very close friends did not back him entirely he cut them off. His daughters were instructed to cease being friends with Thackeray's daughters and never to speak to their maternal grandmother again. At a time when he was making 10,000 to 12,000 pounds a year he offered his wife 400 pounds a year in alimony. He hired a doctor to declare her of unsound mind. The doctor would have none of it. Mrs Dickens quietly did as he asked and moved out of their house, making little complaint and maintaining her dignity. She was a lady.
Dickens was no gentleman. He dressed like the 19th century equivalent of a used car salesman and his word was about as good. He broke contracts with his various publishers many times in order to get more money for his books. He lied with facility, verbally and in print, all his life.
His sentimentality knew no bounds. When he was writing about the death of Little Nell he worked himself into a tempestuous emotional state, demanding sympathy from all his friends. When the three-year-old daughter of one of those men died and another of Dickens' friends spent days consoling the bereaved father, Dickens wrote that he found this excessive.
Claire Tomalin has done a splendid job of presenting this larger-than-life character with all his strengths and his many horrifying weaknesses. Often a biographer will fall in love with her character and excuse behavior that is inexcusable. Tomalin does not do that. She is as fair to Dickens as it's possible to be and she evaluates his work with great skill and perception (meaning she agrees with me about which books are great and which are laughably bad.)
2012 No 7
But his ego was monumental. He was selfish on a scale hard to imagine, he was sarcastic about people who had done him no harm. He was almost unbelievably cruel to his wife, abandoning her after 20 years of marriage, 10 children, and at least two miscarriages, primarily because he fell in love with an 18-year old girl and his wife, was, not surprisingly, after all those children, growing fat.He was angry at her for having so many children - his sudden hatred for her was that irrational.
He spread lies about her so fantastic most people were embarrassed for him. But if, like Thackeray, his publishers, and other formerly very close friends did not back him entirely he cut them off. His daughters were instructed to cease being friends with Thackeray's daughters and never to speak to their maternal grandmother again. At a time when he was making 10,000 to 12,000 pounds a year he offered his wife 400 pounds a year in alimony. He hired a doctor to declare her of unsound mind. The doctor would have none of it. Mrs Dickens quietly did as he asked and moved out of their house, making little complaint and maintaining her dignity. She was a lady.
Dickens was no gentleman. He dressed like the 19th century equivalent of a used car salesman and his word was about as good. He broke contracts with his various publishers many times in order to get more money for his books. He lied with facility, verbally and in print, all his life.
His sentimentality knew no bounds. When he was writing about the death of Little Nell he worked himself into a tempestuous emotional state, demanding sympathy from all his friends. When the three-year-old daughter of one of those men died and another of Dickens' friends spent days consoling the bereaved father, Dickens wrote that he found this excessive.
Claire Tomalin has done a splendid job of presenting this larger-than-life character with all his strengths and his many horrifying weaknesses. Often a biographer will fall in love with her character and excuse behavior that is inexcusable. Tomalin does not do that. She is as fair to Dickens as it's possible to be and she evaluates his work with great skill and perception (meaning she agrees with me about which books are great and which are laughably bad.)
2012 No 7
October 23, 2023
4.5 stars! I started this randomly on the first day of Victober because I had audiobook space open in my reading schedule and it clicked. Alex Jennings' narration is superb, five stars! He uses a different voice when he is quoting Dickens' own writing, and I thought it was effective and enjoyable. Just like Dickens' writing lends itself so well to performance, Tomalin's biography also makes for compelling listening. Dickens lived at an absolutely breakneck pace of life with his many novels and other writings, a family of ten children, near constant travel for both work and pleasure, editing two literary journals, maintaining a vast network of family, friends, acquaintances, and business associates through letter writing and visits, and being an active philanthropist. There was one period of time (I can't remember exactly how long but no more than a couple years) where he crossed the Channel back and forth to the continent around seventy times! His pace of life and his output speak to his creative genius.
Part of Dickens' genius is, of course, his fiction and his characters. Tomalin writes about some characters that Dickens modeled after people he knew, but for the most part, his characters seem to have sprung out of his deep well of imagination. It's marvelous fun to read about his chronology of writing and what was happening in his life as he was writing his different works, but reading this also convinced me that it's not necessary to know about Dickens' life for his fiction to stand on its own.
I found this interesting: Dickens' fiction made him a celebrity in his day. Getting tickets to a performance of Dickens reading his own work (which he did frequently in the last 15 years of his life) was like buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert today. The performance halls were packed. Dickens made hundreds of thousands of pounds out of his readings. (And he needed it! He supported an incredible number of dependents, was very generous, and had very expensive tastes.) When he died, there was a petition to bury Dickens in Westminster Abbey instead of in a grave in Rochester, Kent, outdoors, which Dickens had stipulated in his will.
The other part of Dickens' genius was the man himself with his many shades of light and dark. He had a gift for maintaining friendships over decades, which had its shadow side in that he could also mercilessly sever a relationship whether or not the reason was apparent to anyone else. His most egregious example of this is his disposal of his wife, Catherine, after over 20 years of marriage. Whatever the crisis was (midlife? mental health?) that led to his separation from Catherine, he handled it poorly and made it infinitely more tragic with his cruelty to Catherine and his attempts to protect his reputation with the British public. As Tomalin tells the story, this episode in Dickens' life and his later relationship with Ellen Ternan (which is shadowy at best) caused significant damage to his friends and his dependents (including his children). How does one reconcile this side of Dickens with his acts of genuine goodness? It's a mystery on this side of eternity.
Because there is no doubt that he could also be a good man. He routinely raised money and contributed his own money to families of his acquaintance who were left widowed and fatherless. Who can calculate the social change that was effected because of Dickens' novels and his personal involvement in the lives of the poor and working class? I know that an individual human life is so much more than a balancing scale of good and bad deeds, but one person who has such outsize goodness and badness is a sobering reminder of the complex nature of being human.
I would take off half a star for the biography itself because Tomalin was often oddly critical when she was describing plots and characters in Dickens' novels. A couple times I had to ask myself if she even likes reading Dickens! She would write something like: "The second half of Dombey and Son does not measure up to the first half. It is all melodrama." And I'd yell at my phone: "But I LOVE Dombey and Son!!!" So that was a bit odd and complex in itself. But beyond that, Tomalin's actual writing and storytelling were both top notch. I look forward to reading more by her.
I also have to say that I really love Dickens. When I started reading his novels, I was ready to pooh-pooh them as being popular without cause. But it's not true!! They're brilliant, and I feel deeply grateful for Dickens as a human being whose life was just as complexly plotted and peopled as one of his novels.
Part of Dickens' genius is, of course, his fiction and his characters. Tomalin writes about some characters that Dickens modeled after people he knew, but for the most part, his characters seem to have sprung out of his deep well of imagination. It's marvelous fun to read about his chronology of writing and what was happening in his life as he was writing his different works, but reading this also convinced me that it's not necessary to know about Dickens' life for his fiction to stand on its own.
I found this interesting: Dickens' fiction made him a celebrity in his day. Getting tickets to a performance of Dickens reading his own work (which he did frequently in the last 15 years of his life) was like buying tickets to a Taylor Swift concert today. The performance halls were packed. Dickens made hundreds of thousands of pounds out of his readings. (And he needed it! He supported an incredible number of dependents, was very generous, and had very expensive tastes.) When he died, there was a petition to bury Dickens in Westminster Abbey instead of in a grave in Rochester, Kent, outdoors, which Dickens had stipulated in his will.
The other part of Dickens' genius was the man himself with his many shades of light and dark. He had a gift for maintaining friendships over decades, which had its shadow side in that he could also mercilessly sever a relationship whether or not the reason was apparent to anyone else. His most egregious example of this is his disposal of his wife, Catherine, after over 20 years of marriage. Whatever the crisis was (midlife? mental health?) that led to his separation from Catherine, he handled it poorly and made it infinitely more tragic with his cruelty to Catherine and his attempts to protect his reputation with the British public. As Tomalin tells the story, this episode in Dickens' life and his later relationship with Ellen Ternan (which is shadowy at best) caused significant damage to his friends and his dependents (including his children). How does one reconcile this side of Dickens with his acts of genuine goodness? It's a mystery on this side of eternity.
Because there is no doubt that he could also be a good man. He routinely raised money and contributed his own money to families of his acquaintance who were left widowed and fatherless. Who can calculate the social change that was effected because of Dickens' novels and his personal involvement in the lives of the poor and working class? I know that an individual human life is so much more than a balancing scale of good and bad deeds, but one person who has such outsize goodness and badness is a sobering reminder of the complex nature of being human.
I would take off half a star for the biography itself because Tomalin was often oddly critical when she was describing plots and characters in Dickens' novels. A couple times I had to ask myself if she even likes reading Dickens! She would write something like: "The second half of Dombey and Son does not measure up to the first half. It is all melodrama." And I'd yell at my phone: "But I LOVE Dombey and Son!!!" So that was a bit odd and complex in itself. But beyond that, Tomalin's actual writing and storytelling were both top notch. I look forward to reading more by her.
I also have to say that I really love Dickens. When I started reading his novels, I was ready to pooh-pooh them as being popular without cause. But it's not true!! They're brilliant, and I feel deeply grateful for Dickens as a human being whose life was just as complexly plotted and peopled as one of his novels.
March 6, 2016
I know things about my father's character that no one else ever knew; he was not a good man, but he was not a fast man, but he was wonderful! Katey Dickens speaking about her father.
Reading this in a relentless spree, I was helpless but to observe similarities to the recent Bob Dylan biography Behind the Shades I had finished just about a week ago. Despite their massive reputations, both men were guarded about their privacy, both had a number of children (19 between the pair?) and both embarked upon whirlwind tours late in life. Ms. Tomalin is fairly evenhanded in her analysis of Dickens' novels but appears undecided to a degree about his contradictions as a person. I felt likewise distanced by both the biographer's prose as well as the detailed nuances of the literary titan.
My favorite aspect of the biography was surprisingly Dickens first trip to the United States, especially his two meeting with Poe, the possibilities of such I imagine to be dizzying. I was also struck by a casual omission: when one crosses the Ohio River from Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky there is plaque which notes that Charles Dickens once spent the night at a hotel on that site. This "flyover moment" didn't merit mention in the chapter on America. I don't find that as interesting as the fact that it is difficult to locate acknowledgement in Louisville as to its past as a hub for the slave trade.
Reading this in a relentless spree, I was helpless but to observe similarities to the recent Bob Dylan biography Behind the Shades I had finished just about a week ago. Despite their massive reputations, both men were guarded about their privacy, both had a number of children (19 between the pair?) and both embarked upon whirlwind tours late in life. Ms. Tomalin is fairly evenhanded in her analysis of Dickens' novels but appears undecided to a degree about his contradictions as a person. I felt likewise distanced by both the biographer's prose as well as the detailed nuances of the literary titan.
My favorite aspect of the biography was surprisingly Dickens first trip to the United States, especially his two meeting with Poe, the possibilities of such I imagine to be dizzying. I was also struck by a casual omission: when one crosses the Ohio River from Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky there is plaque which notes that Charles Dickens once spent the night at a hotel on that site. This "flyover moment" didn't merit mention in the chapter on America. I don't find that as interesting as the fact that it is difficult to locate acknowledgement in Louisville as to its past as a hub for the slave trade.
November 4, 2011
This is more of a 3.5, but certainly not a 4. Tomalin took on a great challenge - telling the story of Dickens (an oft-told tale) in a mere 400 some-odd pages. What we get is a solid overview of Dickens' life. We start with his complex and often sad childhood, the frenzy and energy of his early years, his struggle in middle age to find understanding and security, and finally the crisis of Nelly Ternan and his decline. Tomalin is particularly strong in the early chapters, her care in charting Dickens' peripatetic lifestyle and inability to stay put in one place for a few months really gives the reader the sense of his energy, all that was bubbling just below the surface and ready to explode. Her discussion of his domestic arrangements give us a Dickens who was clearly supported and tolerated by a select group of minders - his sister in law Georgy and his best friend Forester paramount in this group who tended to the somewhat mercurial Boz. She is taking on the image of "the great man" and giving us a more interesting, if certainly flawed, person.
But in the middle, there's a muddle. There's a sense that Tomalin is ticking off the boxes, touching on the novels and the major characters in his life without really delving too deeply into his motivations, feelings etc. Tomalin finds her voice again when Nelly Ternan enters the scene (I heartily recommend that everyone read The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens). But that might not be enough to make this a truly great biography. Other than a handful of pithy, penetrating asides, Tomalin really isn't saying anything new - which, in the case of Dickens, is a herculean task and not something that many people could accomplish at this point.
However, this is an excellent overview of his life and perhaps a better start for those new to Dickens than the towering tome by Peter Ackroyd or the more scholarly work by Michael Slater. Her prose remains throughout light and buoyant, with the occasional raised eyebrow, but never smirk, that makes her books a joy. But for those of us already deeply familiar with his story and his struggles, Tomalin doesn't give us much to chew on.
But in the middle, there's a muddle. There's a sense that Tomalin is ticking off the boxes, touching on the novels and the major characters in his life without really delving too deeply into his motivations, feelings etc. Tomalin finds her voice again when Nelly Ternan enters the scene (I heartily recommend that everyone read The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens). But that might not be enough to make this a truly great biography. Other than a handful of pithy, penetrating asides, Tomalin really isn't saying anything new - which, in the case of Dickens, is a herculean task and not something that many people could accomplish at this point.
However, this is an excellent overview of his life and perhaps a better start for those new to Dickens than the towering tome by Peter Ackroyd or the more scholarly work by Michael Slater. Her prose remains throughout light and buoyant, with the occasional raised eyebrow, but never smirk, that makes her books a joy. But for those of us already deeply familiar with his story and his struggles, Tomalin doesn't give us much to chew on.
December 12, 2019
Most students in the West are introduced to Dickens either in school or in some version of A Christmas Carol. (The biggest worry in Philly at one point was when Wanamaker's was sold. Everyone worried what would happen to the Christmas Carol walk though. Still there, still free). Yet, not many people learn about his personal life. Thankfully, there are plenty of biographies out there to correct that.
Tomalin's is a cut above because while one gets the sense that she likes Dickens, she doesn't hero worship him. I love Peter Ackroyd, but watching him tie himself into knots to argue that Dickens did not have a mistress is painful. Tomalin does not use rose colored glasses.
If you enjoy biography, Dickens, or Victorians, check out this bio.
Tomalin's is a cut above because while one gets the sense that she likes Dickens, she doesn't hero worship him. I love Peter Ackroyd, but watching him tie himself into knots to argue that Dickens did not have a mistress is painful. Tomalin does not use rose colored glasses.
If you enjoy biography, Dickens, or Victorians, check out this bio.
February 4, 2012
It is a monumental task. To summarise a life – especially a life like Dickens’ – into a 400 page volume. If anybody was up to the task, it would be Claire Tomalin, biographer extraordinaire. Her Charles Dickens: A Life is a rambunctious, whistle-stop tour through the life of one of Britain’s – nay, the world’s – greatest novelists (if not the greatest?). It takes in births, marriages, deaths, affairs, walks, and shines a light into the dirty corners of the great man’s life. His affair with Nelly Ternan, his treatment of his children, the neglect and cruelty to his ex-wife in later years – all is exposed in thrilling, page-turning prose. For those who know nothing of Dickens’s life, this biography is most certainly the place to start.
Here, though, is the biography’s biggest problem: A life such as Dickens’s cannot be adequately summarised in just over 400 pages (417 to be precise). There are numerous moments in this biography where you wish Tomalin would just slow down, take pause, consider the true ramifications of a certain decision, or what such an affair truly meant to Dickens and to those who knew of it. Of course not all knowledge is at hand – Dickens was brutal at times to future biographers, burning letters, demanding correspondence kept by others be destroyed – and he knew in life how to protect his reputation intact. In many respects he was the proto-celebrity, a man whose every aspect of his life needed to be presented to the public in certain deliberate ways to help maintain the myth. If he were alive in the twenty-first century, it is certain Dickens would be employing the greatest PR men in the world: though it is certain his affair would have come out in the tabloid press.
Tomalin, then, has done something very admirable in her biography. She has distilled the essence of the man, laid him bare on the page, and told a cracking true story with deft skill, and with an eye on being fair, but not uncritical, to a man who deserves no less. I am sure Tomalin’s biography will remain the definitive word on the man for at least a decade now, and much read: but as with Dickens, there is always more to know, and I am certain this will not be the last word on the great man.
Here, though, is the biography’s biggest problem: A life such as Dickens’s cannot be adequately summarised in just over 400 pages (417 to be precise). There are numerous moments in this biography where you wish Tomalin would just slow down, take pause, consider the true ramifications of a certain decision, or what such an affair truly meant to Dickens and to those who knew of it. Of course not all knowledge is at hand – Dickens was brutal at times to future biographers, burning letters, demanding correspondence kept by others be destroyed – and he knew in life how to protect his reputation intact. In many respects he was the proto-celebrity, a man whose every aspect of his life needed to be presented to the public in certain deliberate ways to help maintain the myth. If he were alive in the twenty-first century, it is certain Dickens would be employing the greatest PR men in the world: though it is certain his affair would have come out in the tabloid press.
Tomalin, then, has done something very admirable in her biography. She has distilled the essence of the man, laid him bare on the page, and told a cracking true story with deft skill, and with an eye on being fair, but not uncritical, to a man who deserves no less. I am sure Tomalin’s biography will remain the definitive word on the man for at least a decade now, and much read: but as with Dickens, there is always more to know, and I am certain this will not be the last word on the great man.
December 4, 2011
I actually had very mixed feelings about reading this biography of Charles Dickens once I actually had it in my hands. I fell in love with the writings of Charles Dickens back when I was a teenager. I love the Victorian England time period. I loved the characters Dickens created... even the odious ones. I admired his superb ability to use the english language to create characters and scenes that were absolutely unforgettable to me. I think the thing that drew me to his writing was my discovery that he had this huge sense of social consciousness. He could not only see the plight of the poor.... he had an incredible ability to empathize with them. He wrote about these characters with such compassion. I was afraid of what I would find out. I have to say though that what I found through this impeccably researched book was that Dickens was indeed all of the things I had hoped he would be.... but at the same time he was exactly the opposite of what I hoped he would be. I don't wish to just list facts... you can read those for yourself. What I discovered by reading this wonderful biography is that Charles Dickens was a complex man with many contradictions in his personality. He did indeed feel compassion for the poor and mistreated in society but he often seemed to be lacking in compassion when it came to people closest to him.. his family and friends. He not only was socially conscious... he actually worked very hard to help those who were unwanted. At the same time, he seemed to easily turn his back on family members if he didn't approve of their behavior.
This book was a wonderful look at the life of Charles Dickens... starting with the time period of his grandparents and ending with several years after his death. It was well researched (as the huge bibliography demonstrates) and always interesting. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't long enough. It left me wanting more.
This book was a wonderful look at the life of Charles Dickens... starting with the time period of his grandparents and ending with several years after his death. It was well researched (as the huge bibliography demonstrates) and always interesting. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't long enough. It left me wanting more.
Read
December 18, 2014An impressively readable biography that will give you so much insight into what drove Dickens to write what he did. Tomalin successfully walks a fine line: she lets Dickens be the genius that he was, but she never lets him off the hook for being a jerk (and he was often a jerk). Hero worship in biographies of “great” men and women bothers me to no end, and there’s none of that here. If you know little to nothing about Dickens and just want an intro course, go here.
From Our Favorite Biographies of Dead Writers: http://bookriot.com/2014/12/18/favori...
From Our Favorite Biographies of Dead Writers: http://bookriot.com/2014/12/18/favori...
February 13, 2012
Where I got the book: my local library.
Claire Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen has been on my bookshelf for what seems like 20 years, although the Goodreads editions roundup has 1997 as the earliest date. Whatever. I'm quite surprised, seeing how much I enjoyed that biography, that Charles Dickens: A Life is only the second Tomalin biography I've read.
From this very limited sample I would say that you go to Tomalin for the close-up, human portrait of your subject. In 417 pages of narrative, Tomalin displays Dickens in all his contradictions: generous yet selfish, open-handed but capable of great secretiveness, a man of enormous warmth yet able to turn ice-cold on a friend or family member once he decided he was done with them.
My strongest impression was of Dickens' vast reserves of energy; he strides about the pages as he would walk the London streets, always immersed in action, always moving. Tomalin's narrative moves forward at a fast clip, eating up the years chronologically, although there are occasional irritating bursts of foretelling (to keep us reading? As if I wouldn't.)
I would say that Tomalin comes down on the side of Catherine Dickens in the story of the couple's doomed marriage, and on behalf of plump wives everywhere, I thank her. On the whole Dickens gets a poor rating as a husband, father, friend and even occasionally as a writer (it's certainly true that he wasn't always on top form in his books, but considering he wrote for serialization these were pretty much first drafts, an astounding thing when you think about it.)
Good bibliography and index, and lots of interesting photos including a very arresting one of the mature Dickens, clean-shaven. It is the clearest glimpse I've ever had of Dickens the businessman, and Dickens the man of susceptibility to the ladies. It's a shame they were inevitably such young ladies, but he clearly had a very Victorian ideal of womanhood and it wasn't his wife. Hmm, do you think Tomalin's sympathies were persuasive?
Claire Tomalin's biography of Jane Austen has been on my bookshelf for what seems like 20 years, although the Goodreads editions roundup has 1997 as the earliest date. Whatever. I'm quite surprised, seeing how much I enjoyed that biography, that Charles Dickens: A Life is only the second Tomalin biography I've read.
From this very limited sample I would say that you go to Tomalin for the close-up, human portrait of your subject. In 417 pages of narrative, Tomalin displays Dickens in all his contradictions: generous yet selfish, open-handed but capable of great secretiveness, a man of enormous warmth yet able to turn ice-cold on a friend or family member once he decided he was done with them.
My strongest impression was of Dickens' vast reserves of energy; he strides about the pages as he would walk the London streets, always immersed in action, always moving. Tomalin's narrative moves forward at a fast clip, eating up the years chronologically, although there are occasional irritating bursts of foretelling (to keep us reading? As if I wouldn't.)
I would say that Tomalin comes down on the side of Catherine Dickens in the story of the couple's doomed marriage, and on behalf of plump wives everywhere, I thank her. On the whole Dickens gets a poor rating as a husband, father, friend and even occasionally as a writer (it's certainly true that he wasn't always on top form in his books, but considering he wrote for serialization these were pretty much first drafts, an astounding thing when you think about it.)
Good bibliography and index, and lots of interesting photos including a very arresting one of the mature Dickens, clean-shaven. It is the clearest glimpse I've ever had of Dickens the businessman, and Dickens the man of susceptibility to the ladies. It's a shame they were inevitably such young ladies, but he clearly had a very Victorian ideal of womanhood and it wasn't his wife. Hmm, do you think Tomalin's sympathies were persuasive?
February 29, 2012
Charles Dickens was such an alive and energetic figure, a ball of energy who seemed to dominate and encapsulate his age; so much so that to read about his life – even these two hundred years later – is to be inspired, invigorated and somewhat dazed. For most people those heavy books alone would have been difficult to manage, let alone the reading tours, plays, charitable pursuits and overseas tours (let alone an extremely complex personal life). He was a complicated man, one who seems to have been totally overwhelming to be around (or, if we're honest, read about).
However if I was going to point a curious reader in the direction of a fantastic Dickens’ biography, I would send them to Peter Ackroyd before I sent them to Claire Tomalin. Ackroyd’s larger book really gives scope to the epic quality of Charles Dickens’ life, and of the world around him. While Tomalin’s slighter tome just feels more truncated and rushed.
The main point on which these two authors disagree (as is flagged up in Tomalin’s book) is what level of intimacy existed between him and the companion of his later life – Nelly Ternan. Even though I lean more towards Tomalin’s view that sexual relations existed, it’s where – if you’ve read her earlier book, ‘The Invisible Woman’ – this new biography falls down. It feels like a retread of what went before, heated up and turned into something akin to gruel, so a lot less substantial than it once was.
No book about Dickens will be a dull read, but still you don’t want any book about Dickens to be in too much of a hurry.
However if I was going to point a curious reader in the direction of a fantastic Dickens’ biography, I would send them to Peter Ackroyd before I sent them to Claire Tomalin. Ackroyd’s larger book really gives scope to the epic quality of Charles Dickens’ life, and of the world around him. While Tomalin’s slighter tome just feels more truncated and rushed.
The main point on which these two authors disagree (as is flagged up in Tomalin’s book) is what level of intimacy existed between him and the companion of his later life – Nelly Ternan. Even though I lean more towards Tomalin’s view that sexual relations existed, it’s where – if you’ve read her earlier book, ‘The Invisible Woman’ – this new biography falls down. It feels like a retread of what went before, heated up and turned into something akin to gruel, so a lot less substantial than it once was.
No book about Dickens will be a dull read, but still you don’t want any book about Dickens to be in too much of a hurry.
June 19, 2018
There seems to be a never-ending stream of biographies on Charles Dickens. Johnson, Ackroyd, Smiley, Slater and Tomalin. I have recently read Claire Tomalin’s and find it the best. Let’s face it, The life of Charles Dickens has been effectively documented, analysed and speculated upon. Scholar upon scholar has brought their own slant, twists and insights, but the overall biography remains generally the same.
So why give Tomalin 5 stars? To me it was her style and willingness to poke around the established details of Dickens’s life. I found that reading her biography was like finding a new view from a window that others have looked through before with scholarship but not the touch, the personality, the occasional surprising anecdote, speculation or even guess that both delighted and intrigued me.
Any of the great biographies will bring the reader closer to Dickens both as a person and a writer. For me, however, it is the Tomalin I would refer to most and recommend most highly to others.
So why give Tomalin 5 stars? To me it was her style and willingness to poke around the established details of Dickens’s life. I found that reading her biography was like finding a new view from a window that others have looked through before with scholarship but not the touch, the personality, the occasional surprising anecdote, speculation or even guess that both delighted and intrigued me.
Any of the great biographies will bring the reader closer to Dickens both as a person and a writer. For me, however, it is the Tomalin I would refer to most and recommend most highly to others.
December 31, 2011
I'm a long-time Dickens fan and have read several biographies of him before this one, as well as the complete Pilgrim letters, so a lot of the material in this book was already familiar to me. I found Tomalin's writing style very readable and her love of Dickens comes across, although I think she is sometimes a bit dismissive in her brief accounts of the various novels and stories. For instance she says that the very late short story 'George Silverman's Explanation' is a failure - I can't agree; to me it is a masterpiece.
Tomalin draws quite a bit on her own fascinating book about Ellen Ternan, but I think she gives Catherine Dickens rather short shrift and she sometimes skates over things - for instance, you'd never know from her book alone just what a terrible emotional state Dickens was in on his first visit to America. She does give some new insights into his character, though, and gives a feeling of how volatile and mercurial he must have been.
Tomalin draws quite a bit on her own fascinating book about Ellen Ternan, but I think she gives Catherine Dickens rather short shrift and she sometimes skates over things - for instance, you'd never know from her book alone just what a terrible emotional state Dickens was in on his first visit to America. She does give some new insights into his character, though, and gives a feeling of how volatile and mercurial he must have been.
December 13, 2023
He left a trail like a meteor and everyone finds their own version of Charles Dickens: the child victim, the irrepressibly ambitious young man, the reporter, the demonic worker, the tireless walker, the radical, the protector of orphans, the helper of the needy, the man of good works, the republican, the hater and the lover of America, the giver of parties, the magician, the traveler, the satirist, the surrealist, the mesmerist, the angry son, the good friend, the bad husband, the quarreler, the sentimentalist, the secret lover, the despairing father, the Francophile, the player of games, the lover of circuses, the maker of Punch, the Country Squire, the editor, the chief, the smoker, the drinker, the dancer of reels and hornpipes, the actor, the ham. Too mixed to be a gentleman but wonderful. The irreplaceable and unrepeatable Boz.
After reading this book, I was left with the question that I've often pondered before. Can you not respect the writer and like their work? For me, the answer depends on the writer's work and whether I know about their detestable qualities before I pick up their work.
I appreciate Dickens's work ethic, his ability to capture 19th century London, and his notice and celebrations of the small people living on the margins of society. I appreciate his charity work at a time where most people didn't care about women in prostitution, innocent people accused of crimes, or orphans.
What I couldn't appreciate was how he didn't extend this same charity at home. .
I did appreciate Dickens's zeal for acting out scenes from his books and learning more about his personal relationships. The book also did a good job about talking about his major and minor works and how the pubic received them at the time without going into long and drawn out plot summaries.
If you only look at Dickens the man, he was brilliant. But once you start examining who he was in relation to the women closest to his life, he starts looking more like the scumbag he was. I can appreciate some of his work but going forward, I'll definitely be looking more closely at how he portrayed the women in his books. Casting women as one note angels or demons isn't going to cut it for me.
After reading this book, I was left with the question that I've often pondered before. Can you not respect the writer and like their work? For me, the answer depends on the writer's work and whether I know about their detestable qualities before I pick up their work.
I appreciate Dickens's work ethic, his ability to capture 19th century London, and his notice and celebrations of the small people living on the margins of society. I appreciate his charity work at a time where most people didn't care about women in prostitution, innocent people accused of crimes, or orphans.
What I couldn't appreciate was how he didn't extend this same charity at home. .
I did appreciate Dickens's zeal for acting out scenes from his books and learning more about his personal relationships. The book also did a good job about talking about his major and minor works and how the pubic received them at the time without going into long and drawn out plot summaries.
If you only look at Dickens the man, he was brilliant. But once you start examining who he was in relation to the women closest to his life, he starts looking more like the scumbag he was. I can appreciate some of his work but going forward, I'll definitely be looking more closely at how he portrayed the women in his books. Casting women as one note angels or demons isn't going to cut it for me.
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