Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens (1848)

As a huge fan of Charles Dickens I have read all of his better-known works, and I'm now working my way through his more obscure novels. Dombey and Son came 11th in a recent poll to find Dickens' most popular book, but is it a hidden gem?  

[Spoiler Alert - Don't read this post until you have read the book]

Dombey and Son focuses on the eponymous character's pride and obsession with the grandeur of his business, and the effects of this obsession on his relationships. The hero of the book is his daughter Florence, who struggles unsuccessfully to win her father's affection for nearly 900 pages.

What I liked:

While many critics dismiss the book as becoming pointless after the early death of Dombey's son Paul (and Dickens felt the same about it), I was engaged and touched by Florence's struggle for love and acceptance. This may be because I have a daughter of the same age as Florence is when the novel opens (although my daughter has no such struggle to contend with).

As always with Dickens there are several wonderfully depicted supporting characters, amongst whom the lovable imbecile Captain Cuttle stands out especially. The haughty and self-destructive Edith Granger is an interesting departure from most of Dickens' female characters and Mr Carker makes a suitable panto villain.

It's not big and it's not clever, but lovers of unintentional double entendres are richly rewarded by this book - mostly because of the character Walter Gay. Who could read the following passage without at least a smile?:

'Gay,' said Mr Dombey, turning a little to look at him over his shoulder. 'Here is a—
'An opening,' said Mr Carker, with his mouth stretched to the utmost.

Snigger.

What I didn't like:

Like Oliver Twist, Little Nell and Little Dorrit, Florence Dombey is perhaps almost too perfect for me to fully embrace her. We get to see her grow up from 6 to 17 over the course of the book (unlike those three characters) but over that time her character nevers evolves far beyond the timid girl we meet on page 2.

A fair amount of time is spent arousing our interest in Alice, an interest which feels slightly wasted by the time she dies towards the end of the book having had little impact upon the story's key events.

There is no surprise whatsoever when Gay miraculously reappears after being presumed dead for the past 500 pages - explaining that he has been too busy to write a letter in the year since his shipwreck.

Lastly, the happy ending (drawn out rather longer than usual) is marred for me because we are not privy to Dombey's inner thoughts (he is too grand to allow us that) and we don't really come to feel sympathy for him or understand the thought process by which he finally realizes that he has wronged Florence and that he does love her after all.

Score:
7/10 - a good read, a page turner at times, but not up to the standard of his finer works.

Do you like pandas? I'm rather partial to them. They seem to like eating bamboo.