Play Book Tag discussion

Simon Vance was the narrator for this audio version of David Copperfield. I wanted to read it because I had just finished reading Demon Copperhead and had heard that Barbara Kingsolver based the story of David Copperfield but a more modern book set in a very different place and time. At first I was captivated by the little similarities and differences.

As time went on, I just couldn't deal with the constant repetition in the dialog. If I had to hear Uriah Heap say "we are humble" one more time. . . But I carried on and it just kept happening with so many of the characters it was driving me wild. Did people really talk like that!?

After listening for days, every chance I got, I looked at the progress, expecting that I was at least 50% or even 75% through the book. It was only 30%. I knew I just couldn't deal with this anymore. The story is great - it's the way it is written. I know Dickens is considered one of England's greatest writers but I also know that he wrote in serial publications. Perhaps that's it, taking it from that publication and putting it in a single book. As a serial, it was probably very entertaining - if you could get past the language. I couldn't.

As I said, the story itself is great and I want to know more about David Copperfield so, I'm going to get hold of the movie and finish it there! The story and the narrator just couldn't get me past the writing.

I do understand. I own this audiobook and I tend to re-listen to my favorite scenes. I love Dickens and especially this book. But, I think I've developed a method of skipping to the good parts whenever I sense that he was just trying to add filler for the current episode to be published.

I'm so fond of this book, I'm having trouble completing Demon Copperhead. I actually think Demon is funnier than David. I like his sardonic outlook. But the rest of the parallel characters in Kingsolver's book are just depressing me. Half way through they still lack the humor and eccentricity of Dickens' characters.

You are right that Dickens wrote as a serial so that he had to remind people about his characters. He also had to fill a certain number of pages a week so the writing isn't as tight as we might like. As an English and French major, I am fine with the old-fashioned writing, but it's not what we are used to today.

I loved how Barbara Kingsolver paralleled so much of the book, though it's depressing to think that modern children can still have a "Dickensian" childhood. The one part of Demon that dragged for me was in his young adulthood, when David Copperfield was actually doing ok, but Demon and his cohorts were struggling with opioids (which is largely the point of the book.)

There are several good movie versions, including one with an adorable young Daniel Radcliffe as David and Maggie Smith as his aunt.

That adaptation with Daniel Radcliffe and Maggie Smith is the 2 part BBC adaptation for television and I suggest tracking it down! It is excellent and so enjoyable. Radciffe is perfect as the young David and in fact it was this performance that brought him to the attention of the team behind HP. The rest, shall we say, is history.