Status Updates From Sketches by Boz

Miss Evans and the Eagle—now THAT is a case of massive, comedic escalation!! 🤣🤣

“A Christmas Dinner” is truly delightful.

A Visit to Newgate—a complete masterpiece. Starts from the vantage point of a visitor to Newgate Prison, but ends from the perspective of a condemned man living through the final hours of his life prior to his journey to the scaffold.

Dickens just described the furniture in his local pawn shop as “deceitful”. It struck me so funny!! He also said that “sofa beds” are ashamed of their real use, so they strive to fraudulently appear as an article of luxury and gentility, but that they miserably fail—they have neither the respectability of a sofa nor the virtues of a bed! 🤣🤣🤣 He’s so hysterical!!

The First of May is such an interesting commentary on class distinctions, as well as the inevitability and permanence of change.

The River might be one of the funniest things Dickens ever wrote!

So many stories also involving fairs and theatres—reminds me so much of certain episodes from Nicholas Nickleby and The Odd Curiosity Shop!

Such INCREDIBLE wit, humour, and social observation and commentary in these, especially Hackney-Coach Stands!! 😂😂😂

Chapter 6–another sad one, that talks about he story you can read in the clothes one finds in a used clothing store 😭. Reminded me of the six-word story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Scotland Yard—a terrific and poignant reflection on the inevitability of change.

Our Next Door Neighbour—OK, I am 💯 aware of just how manipulative and sentimental this one is, but it simply doesn’t matter—it’s so devastating and heartbreaking!!!

Whew! It’s undeniable that Dickens is a master at the dismal portrayal of poverty. 😭

Dickens’s comedic genius is unparalleled in Victorian writing!! 😂😂😂

Now that my reread of the novels of Jane Austen is complete, I’m starting a reread of all of Charles Dickens’s published works, via audiobook this time! 🎉❤️ These early stories and journal articles already embody Dickens’s trademark wittiness, incisive social commentary, and eccentric characters! I love them so much, and I think they are a great place to start with his work, in their bite-sized morsels!