The way Dickens writes about Florence's unrequited love for her father is incredible. Right up there with his descriptions of Amy Dorrit's love and care for her pre-occupied father. I work as a Family Therapist and would very much like to write a book about the families in Dickens' novels, especially the dependent relationships between the young characters and their main carers (eg Little Nel and her grandfather, Lizzy and Gaffa Hexam).

@katiejlumsden

8 ай бұрын

That would be a fascinating book!

I just finished this a little over a week ago, my second Dickens this year (and ever actually) and I absolutely LOVED it. Instantly in my top 3 books of all time. I can’t even totally explain how much I love it. I started reading Martin Chuzzlewit right after, which I am loving, but the first few days I still just wanted to be reading Dombey and Son! I cried so much in this book. There were so many beautifully written moments. I can’t wait until I’ve finished all of Dickens and I get to read this one again!

@katiejlumsden

5 жыл бұрын

So glad you enjoyed it :)

Love Dombey and Son. Very underrated among Dickens’ works!

Finished this some hours ago! Definitely a favourite. Mr Dombey and Edith Dombey stand out so well; Mr Dombey is probably my favourite Dickens character now.

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

Glad to see how much you liked it! Although I'm not with you on Florence and Mr Dombey being incestuous. Nope.

I just finished Dombey and Son. I enjoyed the novel and re-watching this video was very good in allowing me to reflect on my reading experience. The plot is fairly interesting and there are a number of well developed characters. Edith is a very strong woman and her character is well realised. Mr Toots and Captain Cuttle are great fun and good contrasts to the somber Mr Dombey. Mr Carker is a very 'what's in it for me' character. An interesting villain. I may have missed it, but did we ever find out what his brother did that lead to the 'demotion' in the Dombey and Son business? Yes, I wasn't sure how 'bad' (sic) Mr Carker was, though his treatment of his brother and sister and the bad feelings Florence had of him whenever she was in his presence were hints enough that he was to be the villain. Thanks for the recommendation.

First edition Dombey and Son....wow! Dickens' 1th edition books are extremely rare and sought after, you're very fortunate to own such a great book

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

For the slightly lesser-known books, and the later ones where there were a lot more editions, they're not too difficult to get your hands on. It's lovely to have it :)

@ABACUStoPC

6 жыл бұрын

Love rare books.. I wish I can find a 1th edition book like yours but they are VERY expensive especially if in good conditions. My current goal is to collect all 5 Christmas books in first edition but for me achieving that goal is not easy.. Btw I admire your knowledge and passion for books and literature, well done.

Though not my number 1 favorite book, it is in my top 5. Two of my favorite Dickens' descriptive quotes comes from Dombey and Son. 1) The description of Edith's mom after the collapse. "...then they put what was left of her that was real, in the bed." 2) Florence declaration of love to Walter. sigh! Dickens is the best!

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

Agreed - two great moments!

@7:00 The moment reminds me of a very, very similar moment in "The Newcomes" by William Makepeace Thackeray. (Woefully underrated! I'd take it were I banished to the moon, I love it so!) There is a scene where a young fiancé is talking to her grandmother (a Lady) & she tears up the whole institution, decrying it as slavery, etc...But! What I love in Thackeray's scene is, she also turns it around on the grandmother, who is in on the whole marriage arrangement situation & has been since the girl's birth (because of her ladyship's inheritance) & she says basically: "You're telling me to just accept this, just as all women do...but you built this world." She faces the previous generation & criticizes the generational cycling of it all. And wants to find a way to break that wheel. Whether she does or not....I leave to you to learn! The way you feel about the underrated status of "Dombey & Son," is how I feel about "The Newcomes." I don't know why it's less well-known Thackeray than even "Barry Lyndon"...because it's so, so so good!

Just finished this and thought it was fabulous, wonderfully paced and moving. The dramatic scene between father and daughter that causes the flight of Florence is perfect, shocking, believable and deeply emotional. This book turns into a quick read despite its many hundreds of pages.

Wow. Dickens 1st edition.

I am half way through Dombey and Son right now and I am loving it. I appreciate your insights. They definitely help in understanding the Victorian times and Dickens' perspectives. Thank you and keep up the great work!

You have inspired me! I will soon be beginning reading, Our Mutual Friend, and I will be working my way through your top four Dickens books in these next couple of years. In the past, I've only read, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol (a beloved story of mine) and A Tale of Two Cities. I am so glad to be pointed toward the best of his and focus on these, as you have so wonderfully described in your intelligent and enthusiastic fashion. Thank you so much!

@katiejlumsden

7 жыл бұрын

I hope you enjoy Our Mutual Friend :)

Hi... Just to tell you that your love for Dickens is so contagious... That's it: I just started Dombey and Son after I've seen your Dickens series... So far, it's sooo fun and Dickens is so readable comparing to his french collegues wich I like but I think Dickens do a really better job!

@katiejlumsden

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Dickens is amazing :D I'm so glad you liked Dombey and Son.

wow what a great book. live everything about you thank you

I've just started "Dombey and Son ", the fourth Dickens novel for me this year (I read Our Mutual Friend, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield earlier in the year). Your gushing praise of the novel influenced my choice somewhat, but I do hope to read all Dickens novels eventually, not this year but maybe by 2025.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks - Dombey and Son is amazing, I hope you like it!

Paul Dombey Jr. is possibly my favourite Dickens character.

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

He is brilliant!

Thanks for your review. I agree with most of what you say except about James Carker. On my reading, there was no way he was anything other than an out and out villain. Yes he had capacity for charm, many bad people do, but Dickens keeps referencing his teeth when he smiled and I think that that was intended to tell us that the charm was accompanied by the bite of a shark. Just a mention too for the humour in this book. Toots and Cuttle, especially the latter, are two of the funniest characters Dickens created. I love the scene towards the end, not particularly important to the plot, but hilarious, when Cuttle tries to rescue his friend Bunsby from the marriage ceremony he is going through..

@HampsteadOwl

2 жыл бұрын

As I have been thinking about this book quite a lot since I finished it, and having seen your and other reviews, something else occurs to me about Edith that bothers me and particularly the portrayal that you and others have of her as this gutsy heroine willing to stand up to the wicked men in her life. I am not sure it is as clear cut as that. For one thing, we only have Edith's word for it that she was as manipulated and as exploited as she says she was by her mother. All we know when we first meet her is that she is a seemingly respectable widow from a first marriage that ended in tragedy (including the death of her son) and which might have been perfectly good for her while it lasted. I also question her motives in marrying Dombey. She says that it is in effect to take her off the "market" where she feels she has been abused. If so, however, why does she so stridently set out to bring the marriage to an early end once she is in it? I understand that Dombey behaves like a tyrant towards her, but I am guessing that if she is as smart as her fans make her out to be, she could have pretty well worked out that that was his character before she married him. I think a darker explanation of Edith's behaviour is that she married Dombey knowing that it was her intention of finding a way to break and humiliate him - something she finally achieves, though not unassisted - and that she was thereby in some way revenging herself on the world that she feels had mistreated her. She also deceives Carker, thereby bringing him down too. Dombey, it might be said, deserved to be broken and humiliated, and Carker brought down; but Edith is also I think a rather more serpentine character than a simple gender-strikes-back agenda allows.

Really enjoyed your enthusiasm for D and Son - which I totally share. I've got book club tonight where we are talking about it - and - NEWSFLASH for my book club where often books remain unfinished, we have ALL finished it!! Captain Cuttle one of my all time favourite comic characters and I agree with you about Susan Nipper. I did Bleak House for A level and have always put it as my favourite book when asked. I think when you know something so well it stays with you for ever (ditto Hamlet). I am going to watch you on Our Mutual Friend , but tomorrow, when i've finished revising through skimming through my posti it notes, tonight's book. I should bring a bottle of madeira shouldn't I? PS you remind me of one of myu all time favourite students (Secondary English /Drama teacher here) whose eccentric and brave articulacy was such a boon in a class full of mute (but sweet) students. Glad to have discovered your KZread presence.

Started this two days ago! Very, very, very promising and who could have known!? A Dickens book where it does not take at least 3 instalments to start the plot but instead the very first chapter kicks things into motion!? A Female protagonist?! I have felt the shift from MC and would never have guessed Dickens would be delving into his themes right away. Although this seems so much more promising by the previous works, I am a tad reserved as characters appear simplistic in their presentation; only further reading should tell!! :) I am super excited with the Dickens completion and the journey the 'Inimitable' has taken me so far.

Okay, I have ordered the book. It better be good. ☺ Thank you for this great review.

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Enjoy!

Such a powerful book. I finished it yesterday and really enjoyed it !!

@katiejlumsden

7 жыл бұрын

Isn't it brilliant? :D

@ziadnadda4740

7 жыл бұрын

Books and Things it really is 😍

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! The social critique of this one is so fascinating, and you make it even so! And I think I surmised the spoiler you were trying to hide but fret not, I might be wrong just like the past conjectures of mine. I can't wait for tomorrow's discussion!

@katiejlumsden

8 жыл бұрын

+IAmBroke I hope not, I don't want to give anything anyway when it's such a brilliant book! :/ Either way, I strongly recommend it as it is so, so good!

@katiejlumsden

8 жыл бұрын

+Books and Things Although in fact I mentioned / avoided mentioning two spoilers in this video. One is big, one small. Who knows!

Ok Books & Things. Here goes. OMG. Just finished Dombey & Son. Thank you so much for recommending it. I absolutely loved it. It has everything. I laughed on so many occasions. I also cried too. I don’t think I have read any book that has had so much of an affect on me. But as Toots would say ‘it is of no consequence’. What a wonderful character he is. My summary is all over the place. I need to calm down and have some Madeira Wine with Sol to talk it over. Thank you. I will start Our Mutual Friend and report back ❤️

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

So glad you enjoyed it!

I am now about halfway through Dombey and Son and while it was a slow burn for me, i am really enjoying it.

@katiejlumsden

7 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you're liking it :)

Just bought a copy! Excited. Sixth Dickens book

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Enjoy :D

@keretaman

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden i just read the first 3 chapters. It's so sad. Am I right to guess that this won't be as funny as David Copperfield and Great Expectations? I was laughing every few pages for those two. Poor Florence :( Also, Dickens has a thing for children losing their mothers :/

On your recommendation i choose D&son as my next Dickens read and i thank you for that. I found the story heartbreaking and didn't 'enjoy' it as much as some of the other books. I think it will stay with me for some time and would be the most enjoyable revisit (after i finish the remaining four of Dicken's books).

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you found it powerful, if not exactly enjoyable. Good luck with your four remaining Dickens.

Great book. In the process of reading it for my Channel. Thanks for the video.

@katiejlumsden

4 жыл бұрын

Hope you like it :D

The last time I read this book I celebrated the spirit of the Midshipman and bought a bottle of Madeira. This Boxing Day a toast to Edith who is one of my favorite Dickens' characters.

@katiejlumsden

6 жыл бұрын

She is absolutely one of my favourite characters too.

Cool

Which scene you have been describing as your most favorite? mine is the Midshipman parlor when Captain Cuttle was directing cinematic titanic like scene to Florence.

I'm currently reading Dombey & Son, Katie. It's much better than the literary intelligentsia would have led me to believe. You are right, it's not one of his better known novels and tends to be passed over. Pros and cons? Firstly, in Mr. Dombey Dickens created a two-dimensional character that does not give any self-respecting actor sufficient meat to put on the bones of a portrayal. Julian Glover does his best in the 1983 TV dramatisation, as does Lysette Anthony with Florence, but these two central figures are a little thin on personality. I am hoping that developments in the second half of the novel will prove a counterweight to my criticism. Little Paul Dombey is beautifully drawn as a quirky little boy living in a world of his own. The 1983 dramatisation leaves out Dr. Blimber and his school entirely, which was a big mistake as this provides a delightful interval in the narrative. I love Paul's fascination with Cornelia Blimber's sparkling spectacles. It is here that we are introduced to Toots, an eccentric superannuated pupil who has been left to his own devices. Mrs. Pipchin is also memorable. The dreadful self-centred Major Bagstock is one of Dickens' finest creations, he of the blue and purple face and constant self-promotion. In the dramatisation he is splendidly played by the late James Cossins. I agree with you about Susan Nipper, Florence's maid - another super character, and expertly played by Zelah Clarke, as is Mr. Chick, Mr. Dombey's brother-in-law - played by Ivor Roberts as a long-suffering husband given to humming tunes at inappropriate moments. Some of the descriptive passages are wonderful, among the best Dickens ever wrote, in my opinion. I am nearly halfway through already, after only two days - a record for me, but these are strange times and immersing oneself in an absorbing read like Dombey & Son is a needful distraction. Incidentally, Dickens wrote part of this novel whilst living at Albion Villa, a Gothic house in Folkestone overlooking the English Channel - just along the coast from here. (Colin, Hythe).

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Dombey is so great - I'd argue Mr Dombey isn't two-dimensional (but you haven't it yet, so I'll leave you to ponder), and there are so many other amazing characters. Edith is superb. Definitely one of my favourite Dickens!

@colinmarkham8465

3 жыл бұрын

@@katiejlumsden Thank you. I'll persevere with it as it's such a glorious read. Watching the TV adaptation is of secondary importance and I have to be careful I don't get ahead of myself progressing through the episodes. The adaptation omits some vital elements in the narrative. The plot is beginning to thicken but Dombey and Son is nowhere near as complicated as some other Dickens novels, such as Bleak House or Little Dorrit. I'll report back when I've finished.

I love your enthusiasm for Dickens. I will have to read another Dickens novel this year. I have read six with Great Expectations being my favourite to date. I haven't read Dombey and Son but you make a great case for this being my next Dickens read. Did you actually read the first edition?

@katiejlumsden

8 жыл бұрын

+Georgejazz56 Dombey and Son is very brilliant and I highly recommend it :) And no, I didn't read it from the first edition - I'd be too afraid of damaging it!

I am learning English and I have read Oliver Twist, Great Expectation and David Copperfield. I could understand wherever I have read. But I am not able to generate overall picture in my brain. Do you have any suggestion?

@katiejlumsden

Жыл бұрын

Perhaps try A Christmas Carol - it's only a short one and the plot is a bit less fiddly, so it might be worth trying.

did you know leo Tolstoy was a big admirer of Dickens?he said Dickens was the greatest writer of the century.

@katiejlumsden

5 жыл бұрын

I did not - that's fun!

@raysierra4279

5 жыл бұрын

Books and Things he was particularly fond of David Copperfield.he also said "all Dickens characters are personal friends if mine".he was open about his admiration of Dickens.....in the book about charles Dickens by Catherine Moriarty.(who also wrote the invisible woman.about the Dickens/ tiernan affair)tolstoy had Dickens picture on his wall.he said Dickens was the greatest writer of the century

@raysierra4279

5 жыл бұрын

because I always here that tolstoy is the best writer/novelist of all time.but sounds like tolstoy gives that title to dickens

@adeel-eh7xq

4 жыл бұрын

He didn't like the French equivalent Honore De Belzac, which always surprises me.

You may be the world's biggest D&S fan. Most listmakers put it well below perennial winners such as GE or BH. I've noticed that those who put OMF highest are MAs or PhDs. Wonder why that is? Academics appreciate OMF more.

@katiejlumsden

8 жыл бұрын

+TimeAndChance I feel Dombey and Son is so underrated and so brilliant! And that's interesting for Our Mutual Friend - possibly just because it's less well known than Bleak House and Great Expectations, so more likely to be read by scholars of Dickens. Like I think most people who've read a Dickens or two probably end up reading Great Expectations way before Our Mutual Friend. Hmm interesting :)

@SunriseFireberry

8 жыл бұрын

The number of PhDs & PhD students on booktube is rising. The number of those who have a Masters or equivalent, while not great, I expect is also rising. What does this mean for booktube? Whatever else it means, the alphabet soup of letters specialists aka 'soupers' are here in town. :-) Whether they all are super remains to be seen. Maybe.

@katiejlumsden

8 жыл бұрын

+TimeAndChance Interesting. I've no idea what it means for Booktube - I guess literature students always want to talk about books and sometimes have a little more time to be able to make videos, depending.

hello,I have a huge task to cope with and i have only 1 month... can you help me? İ have to write an essay on an assigned literary topic "Analyze the character of Edith Granger from Dombey and Son. How does she compare to the other female characters in Charles Dickens’s novel? Provide examples from the novel to support your point of view.” CA 1 000 words . Pleasee if you can help me i wil be veeery happyy😍

I liked it but didn't trully love it the way you did. There's no denying its well written by a great author. Its better than our Mutual Friend I think. I found Mr Dombey so aloof and business minded that you can't really relate to him in anyway or know him as a character, he's so shut off from the reader. The other characters were good and the way different plot points converge was well handled. On the other hand the story slowed down so much it almost stopped at points in the first half. I thought Florence represented innocence and goodness, a bit like Oliver Twist and Little Nell. The reasons and facts v feelings conflict is pretty central in Hard Times. Some other similarities to it too, fathers, daughters, all head no heart, business. Maybe it was just the fact I read Hard Times first and it was shorter. Its not as funny as the Pickwick Papers or Nicholas Nickleby and it didn't stand out to me the same way David Copperfield and Great Expectations did. The ending is lovely though yes. The passage where Dickens describes a journey through France is some of my favourite passages of writing too. I didn't see it as a polemic against any of the victorian institutions like the schooling system or the justice system but I've found in a lot of his books the moral often comes down to 'if only people could be kinder and more generous to each other all would be well.' That was an Orwell critique anyway.

You and I have totally different reading tastes. This novel (unlike Nicholas Nickleby) bored me stupid. I gave up about a third of the way through.

"Nobody but myself can tell what the capacity of that woman's mind is. If ever Rights of Women, and all that kind of thing, are properly attended to, it will be through her powerful intellect. -Susan, my dear!" said Mr Toots ....(chapter 60)... maybe some proto-feminism there, too....

@katiejlumsden

3 жыл бұрын

Dombey and Son is such an interesting book in terms of gender!

Think I'm weird or not: the relationship between Florence and Mr Dombey was all kinds of incestuous! Florence had such an excessive adoration for Mr D, coming across as quite obsessive with him; Mr D, likewise, harboured some feelings for Florence that were not and could not be interpreted as paternal...

wow what a great book. live everything about you thank you