Craig’s Reviews > The Old Curiosity Shop > Status Update

As painfully tedious as the first half of this book was, it has gotten a little better lately. Dickens' humor can be hilariously biting when he wants. The scene in which Kit arrives at a church sermon where everyone is fighting back sleep--most unsuccessfully--is one of my favorites so far.

As painfully tedious as the first half of this book was, it has gotten a little better lately. Dickens' humor can be hilariously biting when he wants. The scene in which Kit arrives at a church sermon where everyone is fighting back sleep--most unsuccessfully--is one of my favorites so far.

Sad to say it's not really getting any better.

I'm having trouble getting into this one. The two characters that you would think at the outset would be the most interesting -- an angry, wife-abusing dwarf and a guy named Dick Swiveler -- are actually kind of boring so far. It might not help that 70s-esque porn music runs through my head every time the Dick Swiveler character is mentioned, distracting me from the story Dickens intended.