Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

This is one of Dickens' earliest novels and is not among the most well known of his books today, but back when it came out in installments it was a best seller. It is more humorous than most of the later novels, although it did reveal some abuses that needed to be corrected, and actually appears to have succeeded in bringing about societal changes. Few works of fiction can make that claim.

The problem addressed is that of boarding schools existing at the time which were schools in name only, being more like prisons for children who were unwanted and inconvenient for the parents, where boys were brutally mistreated and almost starved, all for profit. After Dickens brought this to the public's attention, most were closed.

This Dickens crusade, however, is only a part of a long account of the trials, travails, and triumphs of the title character, as he valiantly strives to make his way in the world while providing for his widowed mother and beautiful younger sister. He is opposed at every turn by an avaricious and spiteful uncle who continually plots against him, but helped along the way by kind friends, who recognize the nobility of his character.

We have high melodrama here, with not one, but two, virtuous and unselfish beautiful young women who are threatened with dishonor and ruin at the hands of unscrupulous villains. We have love stories, not one, but three, with all the right people ending up together. We have pathos, with the death of an innocent. But most of all, we have humor.

The humor comes from the characters rather than from the situations. Of course they are exaggerated, but barely. One of the most absurd characters in the novel is the mother of Nicholas, whose remarks are all at length and somewhat stream of consciousness. I was forcibly reminded of her yesterday when I met a neighbor at the grocery store, and it took 20 minutes to say hello. Dickens includes an interlude wherein Nicholas becomes part of a theatrical troupe, which actually has no pertinence to the plot line, but which includes some of the most humorous characters in the novel.

I perhaps stray from review into ranting here, but I hate the way what passes for humor seems to have changed. Much of the humor of Dickens depends on the slight exaggeration of recognizable human characteristics, and it always carries a tone of fondness. Most of today's humor (especially American humor), both in books and television, seems to be either bitterly satiric, based on insult, or dependent upon sexual innuendo. That's kind of sad.

This novel is recommended for those who love Dickens, those who appreciate Victorian literature, and those who have time to read 900 pages.